Redshirts in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jan 20, 2013 Blaine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, 2015, trade-paperback, 2022, audible, e-book, favorite-books

“Whether you're an extra or the hero, this story is about to end. When it's done, whatever you want to be will be up to you and only you. It will happen away from the eyes of any audience and from the hand of any writer. You will be your own man.”
…
“You don't win by getting through all your life not having done anything.”

It’s the mid 25th century, and Andy Dahl has just been assigned to Xenobiology lab on the Intrepid, the flagship of Universal Union. As he and his friends are settling in, they q ...more

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Aug 05, 2015 Jacqie rated it liked it

This book was...fine. I'm a fan of John Scalzi's blog, and know him by that far more than by his books- in fact I think I've only read one other book by him.

Redshirts is sort of a meta-fiction, breaking the fourth wall. As you know, Bob, the term "redshirt" comes from Star Trek, because on many many visits to strange planets, the crewman to die from the monster, the disease, the unexplained technology, wore the red shirt of a security officer. The death of the redshirt did two things: it allowed This book was...fine. I'm a fan of John Scalzi's blog, and know him by that far more than by his books- in fact I think I've only read one other book by him.

Redshirts is sort of a meta-fiction, breaking the fourth wall. As you know, Bob, the term "redshirt" comes from Star Trek, because on many many visits to strange planets, the crewman to die from the monster, the disease, the unexplained technology, wore the red shirt of a security officer. The death of the redshirt did two things: it allowed Dr. McCoy to utter his famous line "He's dead, Jim!" and also to let the audience know that things were Serious and death was on the line.

In this book, there's the starship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union, which seems to be having a lot of away mission deaths. We're introduced to five characters: Dahl, Duvall, Hester, Harmon, and Finn. While each character has one or two traits, they honestly aren't very distinctive. Their job is to catch on to the insidious nature of the Intrepid's away missions and decide to do something about it.

The book's a comedy, and some of the best parts are seeing what the Intrepid's crew does to avoid being on an away mission, and then how they try to figure out the right way to avoid being the dead redshirt should they be unlucky enough to be chosen.

Eventually, our little group of characters figures out that they are the outcome of a badly written science fiction show from the late 20th-early 21st century. They use the standard Star Trek navigate-a-black-hole-nonsense to time travel back to when the show was being written, to stop the carnage. Here's where the book gets less funny. Just like Galaxy Quest was the best when the TV crew was embedded in their science fiction setting instead of present day, Redshirts loses some steam in the 20th century.

The book is also quite short. The main story itself is only about 240 pages, and then there's another 60 pages of 3 codas, which are okay, but don't really add anything to the story except to give a couple of characters happy endings. I read the whole thing in 3 hours- dense writing this is not. There are a number of conveniences which allow everything to be resolved pretty easily, and there's no real tension. I never really attached to the characters or thought of them as real- they were set-ups to the joke more than literary constructs in their own right.

And this book won the Hugo. I think this fact is mostly a testimony to the popularity of John Scalzi, who has now won 3 Hugos and been nominated for 3 more as of this writing. There are some authors who get a Hugo nomination pretty much whenever they publish, and Scalzi is one. In that year he was up again Mira Grant, Kim Stanley Robinson and Lois McMaster Bujold, frequent darlings of the Hugos, and Saladin Ahmed, a newcomer who wrote a really good book (look him up! it's worth it!). Honestly, the Hugo award is not one that I find useful except as a barometer of what's popular. While the authors listed above are all skillful, they don't generally turn my crank personally. I find other science fiction awards more useful to turn me on to authors who I'm not yet familiar with and who I might like.

Redshirts is really a shout-out to fans of science fiction, a loving mockery of some of the tropes, an elbow nudge to make you feel like you're among friends. It's great for that purpose. ...more

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Apr 10, 2014 Marta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own-ebook, humor, sci-fi

A fun little book about sci fi Tv shows and writer's block. It skewers redshirts... literally, and satirically. Just fun! ...more

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May 04, 2017 Baroness Ekat rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-reading-challenge

Newly assigned Ensigns on the Starship Intrepid notice other crew members acting oddly when it comes to interacting with certain upper crew-members and when the topic of away missions comes up.

Not only is it noticeable that some lowly Ensign dies on almost every away mission, there really doesn't seem to be a reason for half the away missions to happen OR the people assigned to them make any sense. It's as if they were on a TV-show... a badly written TV show.

As a long time fan of Star Trek, I f ...more

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Aug 28, 2019 Pamela rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-popsugar-choice

This was great! Anyone who’s a Star Trek fan will love this. Scalzi voice is snarky and smart. I listened to the audiobook and it was perfectly narrated by Will Wheaton. My only quibble is
The 3 epilogues, felt slightly tacked on. 4.75/5

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