Redshirts
Author: John Scalzi
Published: 2012
Genre: Sci-Fi
Series: N/A
Rating: B –
Redshirts is the first book I’ve read by John Scalzi and won’t be my last. The book is filled with a lot of humor and a clear affection for cheesy sci-fi.
When ensign Andrew Dahl is assigned to the Universal Union’s flagship, the Intrepid, he’s excited to have such a prestigious posting. However, he quickly starts to notice a couple of odd things. First, his fellow crew members have the tendency to disappear whenever a senior officer approaches. Second, every away mission goes insanely bad and ends with a high body count. Somehow, though, the senior officers always make it back alive….even when it’s against all odds.
The first half of this book is great. It pokes a lot of fun at Star Trek and I liked seeing the parallels between the two. I was having a blast reading about crew members fleeing at the approach of the senior officers and the baffled reaction of Dahl as the away missions went completely off the rails. The humor in all these scenes are spot on and actually had me laughing out loud on a couple of occasions.
Where the novel started to lose me was in the second half, when things got super meta. I was able to shrug off most of it until time travel was introduced into the story. Personally, I hate time travel. I try to avoid books with it because I know the chances of me enjoying the story are low. While the time travel didn’t kill the novel for me, I did find myself less invested with what was happening.
Overall, I still really enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it. If you enjoyed the movie “Galaxy Quest”, you’ll probably find something to love here. I’ll definitely be checking out more of Scalzi’s work in the future.
I’m not a big Sci Fi fan, but I think I should get into it! Maybe this one isn’t the best one to start me off with. I’m not a big fan of time travel either. Nice review 🙂
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Yeah, if you’re not a huge sci-fi or time travel fan then I think I wouldn’t read this book as an introduction to the series. Maybe try “The Martian” if you haven’t read it yet?
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This looks like a fun read. Nice review!
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Thanks, Lekeisha!
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Glad you found a new author to check out and enjoy!
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Thanks!
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Totally, this is perfect for Galaxy Quest fans! I was a little disappointed how shallow it was though (even if I did go in expecting a light, humorous and satirical read) and I was surprised my favorite part of the book was actually the codas at the end.
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Yeah, I think because the story stayed fairly shallow is why some of my interest started to wane in the second half of the story as well.
The codas were nice wrap-ups and they kind of started going a little deeper. I just wish it would have been done more with Dahl and the cast of the Intrepid.
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Nice review Samantha 🙂 Do you think this book would still be as fun if you don’t get the Star Trek references?
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Thanks, Nath. I had to think about that for a minute. Honestly, I think that if I wasn’t familiar with Star Trek I would have been a little bored.
I haven’t read anything by else by Scalzi, but if you’re looking to check him out, I think I’d recommend starting with one of his other books.
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I’ve only read one Scalzi book so far, which was the sci-fi police procedural Locked In. Quite enjoyed it, probably because it’s touted as one of his least shallow books (it includes discussions about ableism and racism, among other serious topics). Redshirts is on my TBR because I loved Star Trek growing up, but I’m glad you mentioned all the time travel stuff because I don’t usually enjoy that either!
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Oh good! I was wondering how Locked In was. It’s the book of his that I was considering reading next. From what you said, I like the sounds of it. Going to go place it on hold at the library.
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