A review by almech
Redshirts by John Scalzi
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?