polaris_7's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
isabellarobinson7's review against another edition
4.0
“ 'Well, that's science fiction television for you, though,' Abnett said. 'Someone's got to be the red shirt.' ”
Rating: 4 stars
So there's a giant starship with thousands of crew, dangerous situations are their forte. Someone's got to die, right? Can't be the Captain, we need him to run the ship. Can't be the First Officer, we spent all that time building up the relationship between the Captain and him, we're not going to waste all that good character work. We can't get rid of the doctor in case someone gets injured. Engineer? Nope, we need the ship to keep working. Helmsmen? Nope, need the ship to move. Female assistant? Definitely not, we need those legs to keep audience ratings up. Tom, Dick and Harry though...*
Redshirts by John Scalzi is about exactly that: the expendables. The cannon fodder. The lowly ensigns. The security officers. Those guys in the back of every OG Star Trek episode wearing red. There are so many genius lines that sum up the general premise of this book (including the one I opened this review with) but this one is equally as brilliant:
“The moral of the story was not to wear a red shirt. Or go on away missions when you’re the only one whose name isn’t on the opening credits.”
What unfolds is a book entirely as tongue and cheek as you would imagine from such a premise. John Scalzi has his tongue so firmly lodged in his cheek I worry he pulled a muscle or something in there.
With this premise, Scalzi knew precisely what audience his book was going to reach, and wrote accordingly. I mean, I vaguely recognised his name, but the title was what grabbed me and the description what sold me. I even made my dad read the synopsis on Wikipedia.
Speaking of Wikipedia... I just have to insert this line here:
“ 'For all we know, this'—he scrolled up on the phone screen to find a label—'this Wikipedia information database here is compiled by complete idiots.' ”
Yes. This is an actual line John Scalzi wrote in his book. And as one of said "complete idiots" I can say that personally I often have little to no idea what I am doing on Wikipedia.
But anyway, back to the book. So all the extras- ah, I mean ensigns run away from the senior staff because everyone dies around them. They even have a method where they tell each other where the officers are in the ship so others can avoid them. And, naturally, no one wants to be assigned to an away team where their chances of biting the dust hit warp speed (yes, that pun was 100% contrived).
“ 'Is it just me,' Hester said, 'or is everyone on this ship monumentally fucked up about away missions?' ”
I mean... number one cause of death for people wearing a red shirt.
“ 'Yes, death by away team. Very effective on this ship,' Jenkins said.”
I could copy and paste the whole book here, every line is just perfect, but I decided to cut my quoting off at a point in the story when going any further would be giving away a significant plot element. Just know that there are many more hilarious lines, I am just not including them for spoiler reasons (also I am way, WAY over due to post this review, so I'm kind of using that as a mental block to stop myself getting carried away).
One thing this book did do, was make me want to watch Star Trek, and I count that as a major success. That is in spite of this absolute blasphemic line:
“ 'That as far as I can tell,” Jenkins said, “it’s not actually a very good show.' ”
How dare you. I feel personally attacked. Star Trek: The Original Series has some of the best scenes in all of- ok yeah. We all know TOS often falls into the "so bad it's great" category.
Now, how do I say this next part properly. I was kind of surprised when I found out that Redshirts won the Hugo. Not because I didn’t love it, I obviously did, but it doesn’t really seem like a Hugo-type book, if you know what I mean. It’s not very… deep. The messages are exactly what you expect them to be. It's surface level, dare I say. And I'm not saying every book has to be this ultra philosophical, awe inspiring examination of the human condition that is such a Debbie Downer you have to read it in spurts to avoid a depressive episode. It is totally fine, essential even, to have lighter books every now and again (or more consistently than tonally darker ones, some would argue) but regardless, in my experience any award-type book has to have some kind of underlying message or thematic element that sets it apart from the rest. Now I haven't read any of the other nominees the year Redshirts won, but unless 2012 was a real dud for SFF books, I don't really understand why Scalzi's book was chosen.
...but then there is that episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, "A Night in Sickbay" that was nominated for an award, too. (Yes, the episode with that scene with T'Pol and Archer.) It still baffles me how it was even considered, so maybe I just don’t understand the Hugos full stop. Or maybe the episode and Redshirts are both super deep and introspective and it just went over my head. Wouldn’t be the first time.
Lastly, the book ends with three epilogues or "codas": First Person, Second Person and Third Person respectively. And yes, the titles are indicative of their perspective. That means a second person one. Ewwwwwww. I hate reading from second person with a passion. With all the "you" this and "you" that. No! "Me" is not doing any of that stuff! Fortunately, this was only a short epilogue, so it didn't drag on for too long and therefore only elicited a small amount of ire from me. The last epilogue was the best though, and that’s not because third person is my preferred perspective. I know this is the worst book to say this for, but it’s just a coincidence I swear!
But now this review is done. DONE. No more touching up. No more editing. Or, more realistically, no more staring at my nonsensical notes wishing them into coherence. 218 days since I finished reading Redshirts by John Scalzi I have completed its review, and with its publication my goal to review every book I read in 2022 is finally accomplished ...over half way into 2023.
*Harry Kim and Tom Paris are exempt from this rule.
iviarelle's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I knew the twist going in, so that didn't have much effect for me, but I still had a fair bit of fun. As a lifetime fan of Star Trek, this book was basically written for me. The ending was a little weak, though. A part of that is the intentional aspect of it, and a part of it is that there's a big philosophical bomb dropped on it without time to really unpack, as though the questions posed by the whole text weren't enough. Still, it was fun, and I'd probably pick it up again for something reasonably lighthearted despite all the deaths.
lxndrw's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
almech's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I feel your enjoyment of this book depends entirely on if you haven't seen Galaxy Quest. If you have, you probably won't enjoy this book as much as you would think because Galaxy Quest, it isn't.
The premise of pointing out and laughing at many of the tropes of Sci-fi, especially Star Trek, is nothing new. Redshirts starts off strong with an Ensign stuck on a planet with man-eating worms wondering about how the Captain's inexplicable unprofessional decisions led them to this point and how he's the only person wearing a red uniform still alive. However, the narrative quickly shifts from being a pastiche of these tropes into something much more meta and I feel this takes away from the humour and life of the story.
The characters themselves are fine, not particularly deep or developed but they have ok chemistry. Two or three do all start with the same letter though and were so interchangeable that I completely forgot one existed until the last few pages of the book.
The humour is fine, a light sprinkling at best rather than outright funny. The pace is quick too at least but the second half certainly drags because of:
*SPOILERS*
It turns out the crew are actually living out a TV show. Their fates are preordained by bad script writers and its up to them to cross dimensions/go back into time (it's a bit convoluted) to find these script writers and get the show cancelled so they can regain their free will.
The time travel to the modern day because it's cheaper to film than having to build new sets or costumes is a time honoured Trek trope, but that doesn't mean it's a good one. Unfortunately, Redshirts doesn't break this mould as it does nothing new or interesting with the formula. When the characters actually run into the actors who play them on the show...nothing much really happens. This happens in the final fifth of the book and it both drags and feels rushed. Everything sort of happens quickly to wrap up the plot while nothing of note seems to happen at all. There's no real stakes.
The biggest fault is that the story just isn't very interesting, which is a shame when the premise has so much it could utilise. Red Dwarf did something almost exactly the same to better effect and that's the problem. Should you read this book when the same thing has been done multiple times elsewhere, usually better?
The premise of pointing out and laughing at many of the tropes of Sci-fi, especially Star Trek, is nothing new. Redshirts starts off strong with an Ensign stuck on a planet with man-eating worms wondering about how the Captain's inexplicable unprofessional decisions led them to this point and how he's the only person wearing a red uniform still alive. However, the narrative quickly shifts from being a pastiche of these tropes into something much more meta and I feel this takes away from the humour and life of the story.
The characters themselves are fine, not particularly deep or developed but they have ok chemistry. Two or three do all start with the same letter though and were so interchangeable that I completely forgot one existed until the last few pages of the book.
The humour is fine, a light sprinkling at best rather than outright funny. The pace is quick too at least but the second half certainly drags because of:
*SPOILERS*
It turns out the crew are actually living out a TV show. Their fates are preordained by bad script writers and its up to them to cross dimensions/go back into time (it's a bit convoluted) to find these script writers and get the show cancelled so they can regain their free will.
The time travel to the modern day because it's cheaper to film than having to build new sets or costumes is a time honoured Trek trope, but that doesn't mean it's a good one. Unfortunately, Redshirts doesn't break this mould as it does nothing new or interesting with the formula. When the characters actually run into the actors who play them on the show...nothing much really happens. This happens in the final fifth of the book and it both drags and feels rushed. Everything sort of happens quickly to wrap up the plot while nothing of note seems to happen at all. There's no real stakes.
The biggest fault is that the story just isn't very interesting, which is a shame when the premise has so much it could utilise. Red Dwarf did something almost exactly the same to better effect and that's the problem. Should you read this book when the same thing has been done multiple times elsewhere, usually better?
saradoxical's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.75
One of the most meta books I've read, Redshirts was an easy read. Andy Dahl is a decent protagonist and the glimpse into the lower decks of a huge spaceship was great. I would have read that book without the meta aspect that developed and enjoyed it, maybe more?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident
CW: Motorcycle accidentSpoiler
I had to select car accident, but there's a detailed, second person account of a motorcycle accident that should have ended in the victim's demise.danga5's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
lissajean7's review against another edition
4.0
This book was really funny and extremely irreverent...for Trekkies or sci-fi fans in general (of which I count myself). But it worked. Really well. There were several laugh-out-loud moments for me, but many more shockingly amused moments. There was more language in the book (the F word in particular) than I am used to (which is none, usually) so that is something to know before-hand. There's also a lot of sexual humor. Just fyi.
There are so many awesome things about this book. From the idea of a redshirt getting to be the star, to the explanation of bad science on sci-fi dramas, to the writer/character relationship thing, it was well-crafted and smart. His characters were vivid and dynamic even as they were fulfilling their roll in a badly scripted show... So funny.
Anyway, I highly recommend reading it. It was light and fun and amusing. Plus, it's longer than most light and fun books, so you get more bang for your buck! :)
There are so many awesome things about this book. From the idea of a redshirt getting to be the star, to the explanation of bad science on sci-fi dramas, to the writer/character relationship thing, it was well-crafted and smart. His characters were vivid and dynamic even as they were fulfilling their roll in a badly scripted show... So funny.
Anyway, I highly recommend reading it. It was light and fun and amusing. Plus, it's longer than most light and fun books, so you get more bang for your buck! :)