RS: Finished...Thoughts?

[Dara]

I think that was my problem too. It was too meta. Didn't work for me.

[Erik]

Jo wrote: "In my opinion, this book would have been amazing without the meta. If Scalzi had concocted an in-story reason for the tough lives of the redshirts, this book would have clicked with a lot more peo..."

Yeah, I was expecting REDSHIRTS to be the sci-fi version of the film THE CABIN IN THE WOODS and explain why the phenomena of "redshirts" exists not only within this novel but throughout the genre of science-fiction. Obviously, that's not where Scalzi went with it. I still enjoyed the book, but a better story was definitely there for the telling.

[J. Alberto]

Deon wrote: "Mike wrote: "Are there just a bunch of Trekkies who are falling over themselves in love with the in jokes?"Yup. I loved it, but that has a lot to do with loving Trek. Of course, I am his intended..."

Same thing happens to me. I did feel a disturbance in the Force at some point though (did I mention I'm a star wars fan too?).

[Ben]

I love the OMW books, but Redshirts was really not my cup of tea. Too meta-cutesy, and I listened to the audiobook so all the 'said' was like nails on a chalkboard. Also would have been nice if Dhal/Duvall names were more differentiated - most of Scalzi's characters dialogue is already similar without adding such similar names to the mix as well.

[Ric]

I give this this 3 stars, averaging 5 for the first half and 1 for the second half including the codas.

[Rick]

Mike wrote: "This wasn't a terrible book, but the execution was much worse than the concept. The writing was mediocre and the characters were totally forgettable. The plot was fine, but hardly gripping.

I am j..."

Well, suffice to say that a lot of people don't agree with your first paragraph (I do love it when people state their opinions as fact though).

As for the Trek thing, let me put it this way... When Scalzi was in Seattle for Fuzzy Nation he read the first bit of Redshirts and asked us what we thought the book should be titled... half the 200 people in the room yelled "Redshirts!". I'm sure you can read this without knowing Trek, but there's SO much here that calls back to it (even the time travel to an earlier version of Earth) that you're just not going to have the same relationship to it if you don't get or like Star Trek

Me, I liked it, but it's a 3 star book for me. When I first heard of it I thought it would be more of a twisted conspiracy thing from the red shirts point of view. After all, if Star Trek were real, people in those ranks WOULD start to wonder what was going on.

However, as I think about this... the metafictional aspect might be necessary. Without that it really stretches believability to have a redshirt die on every away mission and the Chekov character almost die (but not). So, to explain why that happens, metafiction.

[[deleted user]]

I loved this book. I went in expecting a parody (duh, redshirts says it all) and found a clever story embedded in humor. I had those laugh out loud moments many times and I liked the codas putting a finishing touch on things. It seemed appropriate.

All in all, a very fast and enjoyable read.

[Firstname]

Neil wrote: "I am probably alone in that I really didn't like this book. It just felt tiresome. The concept was interesting and I love Scalzi as a writer but this book did not click with me at all. Luckily i..."

I read half of Redshirts, lemmed it and picked up OMW. Much better book. Later I skimmed a bit more of redshirts and then just gave up altogether. Maybe later.

[Peleken]

Erik wrote: "Jo wrote: "In my opinion, this book would have been amazing without the meta. If Scalzi had concocted an in-story reason for the tough lives of the redshirts, this book would have clicked with a l..."

I was hoping a Q-like being was behind it all creating drama for his own amusement.

[Chad]

I listened to this thru audible, if I had read it, probably would have said all the same stuff as posted previously. However, listening to it, by Wil Wheaton, makes a difference. I have listened to it twice and loved it both times!

[Buzz]

Jonathon wrote: "I read this book about a year ago and going in, I knew it was going to be some sort of parody of Star Trek - how can it not be with a title like Redshirts?..."

Same here. I read it when it first came out after hearing the Jonathan Coulton song and was expecting a lighthearted read. Laughed out loud several times.

There's a lot of criticism in these threads about the literary quality of this book... I don't know; I read it for fun, fully expecting a non-serious experience and loved it as a result. While I would admit it's not the best book I've ever read, the entertainment value was very high. :-)

[Nick]

As both a Trek fan and a lover of all things meta, I really loved this book. I really can't say it any better than that.

Addressing certain people's issues with it -

1. I got the feeling that the implausibility of the some of the books explanations for things was intentional. The book is a parody of lazy sci-fi writing, it only makes sense.

2. To those who felt that Redshirts relied too heavily on the dialogue - writing a story that relies upon the dialogue to carry it is abominably hard. The fact that Scalzi pulled it off so well is a testament to his skill as a writer.

[Neb]

To me, this book is to SF novels what "Galaxy Quest" is to SF movies...more specifically to "Star Trek". I'm bemused but not surprised by all the "I don't like this apple because it's not an orange" reactions. I'm confused by the folks who were expecting something deeper and with more "heft". Seriously? With a title like "Redshirts", and all the satire that implies, they were expecting...what? This may fall into the category of readers expecting an author to crank out the same kind of thing all the time, which is why many writers are forced to use pen names for separate genres.

I found it witty, charming, and a brisk read with just enough metaphysical sleight of hand to make my head hurt just a teeny bit. The codas are an unexpected and lovely touch. Very satisfying and sweet after the avalanche of sly snark and catastrophe. Two thumbs up.

Also: I saw Q'ueeng as Dr. Lazarus/Alan Rickman, too.

[Matth1982]

I agree with a lot of the comments above mostly how I was taken out of the book when reading 'he said she said' it didn't flow well so I felt I was stopping and starting.

I did stick with it and there were moments which I liked but over all I felt a bit flat this was my first Scalzi book I have 'Old Man's War' ready to read on my Kindle and I will read it but so much was hyped up about Redshirts and it was just ok.

I hold out hope Old Man's War is a better read

[Clyde]

Matth1982 wrote: "... I hold out hope Old Man's War is a better read "

I think OMW is much better.
For what it is worth, I gave Old Man's War five stars vs three stars for Redshirts.

[Matth1982]

So I've now read Old Man's War and ......


Loved it, I am a little taken back that it was by the same author. Redshirts seemed almost amateurish in comparison, if you want to read a Scalzi book read Old Man's War and skip Redshirts.

Got Old Man's War Book 2 to read once I've finished my current book 'Red Sea's Under Red Skys'

[Jim]

I was enjoying it while I was reading it but when I got done and after I had considered it for awhile I decided it wasn't as good and I had previously thought. It made me reconsider how much I liked his writing (in a downward direction).