Redshirts

A Novel with Three Codas

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory. Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the facts that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces; (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations; and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.

©2012 John Scalzi (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Disappointing, but somehow still worth a listen.

There were a few reasons I was intrigued enough to purchase this audiobook. First, I was eager to read my first John Scalzi book and see what he could do. Second, I'm a fan of Wil Wheaton as a narrator. Third, I'm a huge Star Trek fan. So, the idea of a novel based around one of the funnier/sad aspects of ST:TOS, I was excited to read this book. My intrigue quickly turned to disappointment especially once the core story's big reveal took place and the course of the 2nd half of the novel came into focus. But to Scalzi's credit, I cared enough about his characters by that point that I wanted to find out what happened to them, so I read on. After finishing the book I had to endure the three codas. Interesting as they were, Scalzi had more than used up my patience by that point with the storyline and his writing. I was surprised to find the codas were written better than the main novel itself! I look forward to reading more Scalzi novels to determine whether this is one of his lesser works or if he really is this below-average a writer. Regardless, he should fire his editor who for some unknown reason allowed a novel to be published with a nearly endless stream of "he said" and "she said" on every page. You can even hear Wheaton begin to sigh at points after reciting "he said" nearly a dozen times over the course of 30 seconds. Wheaton continues to impress me with his narration skills, bringing life to a group of characters and making the story enjoyable enough for me to stick around. Fans of ST:TOS should enjoy the references as well as the take on the meaningless deaths of so many characters, but I for one think Scalzi could have approached the same idea in a different way with more success. Regardless, the characters are worth the time, if for no other reason than to hear futuristic space explorers/warriors cursing like modern-day truckers.

He said. She said. He Said. She said. They said...

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No.!

Though I have always found John Scalazi's humor and plot lines engaging his use of dialogue in this book so tedious it spoils the whole experience.

The meat and bones of what the characters have to say is fine but the connective tissue of he said's can, at best, be said to occasionally rise to the level of tedious.

The problem might not be so obvious on the printed page but as an audio book the the repetition of "He said"or "She said" as the link between almost every spoken phrase had me cringing in anticipation. If Pavlov had slapped the dog with a wet fish every time he rang the bell I imagine the effect would have been very much the same.

Would you recommend Redshirts to your friends? Why or why not?

No.

Any additional comments?

It's a pity, I really do like the way Scalazi thinks but I just couldn't enjoy this performance.

So, I'm a geek! Now I know for sure.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

ABSOLUTELY. I hang with a bunch of redshirts myself.

What other book might you compare Redshirts to and why?

This is sci-fy comedy. I don't have anything else like this.

Which character – as performed by Wil Wheaton – was your favorite?

Wheaton was awesome, I even really forgot it was him. til it was over.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, and I did TWICE in two days.

Any additional comments?

My geek/nerd card has officially been stamped! I never really thought about it until I figured the plot-line out before I got halfway through the book. No, it's not B.S.I was also laughing my butt off the whole time and subsequently lost 20 lbs doing so. Okay, that's B.S. However, I was laughing A LOT!

This book is really for the wanna be star trek extras (everyone alive ever!).

Alternatively, I usually don't like famous, OKAY somewhat famous, actors reading my books, it puts a face to the main character and I get irritated by someone taking my imagination away from me. Wheaton did an amazing job though and I was thoroughly surprised that it did not affect how I interpreted the characters at all. He was great.

The most amazing part of Scalzi's book, to me, is his awesome way of skipping over that embarrassing moment you wish you weren't "there for" or listening to. Every book I've ever read always has that one point I could miss the second time around and not care. This book did not, it was fun the whole time.

My only tiny gripe, and this was probably some kind of inside joke for the author, was the constant use of the "he said" or "she said" after almost every dialogue. It was kinda funny and annoying at the same time. Like is this really how he writes? I can't hack on him cuz he IS published right?

Anyway, the book is fantastic and worth the time and credit. If you want a good-time ride this is definitely it!

Disappointing story

To me, when a sci-fi story has too much "comedy", it starts being fantasy, which isn't a genre I look for. I had trouble keeping the characters separate in my mind, remembering who was female (no voice differences here and only last names used), and following the reasoning used in the plot. I even listened to a chapter twice but still couldn't comprehend. I am clearly in the minority here. I think I will stick with serious sci-fi from now on.
I love Will Weaton--he made it more enjoyable for me.

A novel-length Star Trek joke

I liked Redshirts. Fun. Entertaining. Quite funny at times. And yes, rather clever. Though clever more in a "Look at what I'm doing, isn't this cute, and you can feel clever too by getting all of the in-jokes (which are pitched low and soft)" way, rather than, say, a mind-blowing, genre-elevating, Big Idea, Hugo award-winning way.

Which is probably why I read this book with my eyebrows constantly going up and down. Because as the metaphysical pretension became outright self-indulgence, I just kept thinking... "Yeah, this is fun, but... a Hugo? Really?"

The main characters are redshirts on the starship Intrepid, the flagship of the fleet, captained by square-jawed Captain Abernathy, who is always seen with his excruciatingly logical Science Officer, and a good-looking but dim astrogator named Lieutenant Kerensky who has a disturbing history of surviving horrible wounds, diseases, maimings, and other catastrophes. Meanwhile, much of the activity aboard the Intrepid revolves around avoiding the attention of the staff officers, and especially, avoiding Away Missions.

Ensign Andrew Dahl is a newbie aboard the ship, and once he figures out what's going on, he also figures out that he is most likely to be the next sap sacrificed.

Okay. So, Redshirts is really, really meta. It's not even a little bit subtle, either. Once Dahl and his friends realize what's going on, they start researching early 20th century Earth television and refer to Star Trek by name.

Scalzi is not the first author to write about fictional characters discovering that they are fictional characters. And he knows it, and he makes sure you know he knows it, continuing his see-how-clever-I-am metaness by having other characters, whose minds are blown by the meta, researching and mentioning by name everything from Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo to Jasper Fforde.

Dahl eventually deduces that not only are they characters on a TV show, but the TV show isn't even real — it's actually a fictional creation in a novel!

Whoa, Scalzi, you are sooooo clever!

Joking aside, Redshirts was amusing. The characters are Scalzi's usual likable jerks tossing zingers at each other while eventually delivering heartfelt moral epiphanies. But most of the humor comes from "spot the genre reference," and much of the humor is diluted by the author making sure that dimmer readers don't miss the reference by having every dialog continue for a beat or two longer than necessary.

There is a lot of self-referential humor, about science fiction, about Hollywood, and about writing.

On an additional plus side, Wil Wheaton's narration was pretty awesome; Wheaton really "gets" Scalzi's voice and the voice of his characters.

Fun with the Familiar

John Scalzi's Redshirts is good fun for fans of Star Trek, science fiction TV or the genre in general. He plays with science fiction cliches and manages to provide some clever and poignant moments. Most of characterizations aren't deep but the novel is well-paced, funny and resourceful and there are genuine surprises along the way. This is far from the author's best (check out Old Man's War for a different side of Scalzi) but it's good fun.

A word of warning: another reviewer (T. Pell) mentioned how often Scalzi follows character dialogue with "he said", "she said", etc. in the book. She wasn't kidding. It really does become distracting and even irritating during sequences in which there's a lot of dialogue being exchanged in short statements. However, there are only a few brief portions of the book where I found it truly impacted my enjoyment so overall, it wasn't a problem. Nevertheless, if this sounds like the kind of thing that will truly bother you, think twice before downloading Redshirts.

One last thing: Wil Wheaton was a good (and obviously logical choice) to narrate the book and he does a fine job, as usual.

A short story stretched to the breaking point

The story within a story (or play within a play), what is real versus what's fiction is not a new or original concept, no matter how many readers seem to think it is. Shakespeare used it and as Scalzi himself bears witness, there have been a lot of movies, books, plays and so on that have used one or another variations on this theme. I don't have a problem with that. In fact, I like his wililingness to explore a classic theme and was interested to see where he was going with it. I also appreciated his acknowledgments of others who have used some version of this story.

I really enjoyed the first part of the book, the interaction of characters with reality/unreality. I wasn't bothered by "he said/she said" and didn't much notice it. What I did notice by the end of the first coda as he was moving into the next ending? variation? was I was getting bored.

It really was like a piece of classical music that has one coda too many,

I liked the first coda well enough. His exploration of the mind of a writer in the throes of writer's block was interesting, although a bit heavy-handed. By the final coda, I was antsy and felt as if I had slipped back in time to find myself in a college writing class .. not a good thing.

I listened through to the end, though I drifted a bit toward at the finish as the book pounded relentllessly to its conclusion.

Less would have been more. It was a good idea, a clever concept. It had good narration. But it needed more plot. It felt like a movie that runs out of script 20 minutes before it runs out of film, too thin a tale to support its own length. I've read lots worse ... but Scalzi has written much better.

Fans of Star Trek and Irony, Attend!

I recommend this book for those fans of Star Trek who enjoy the show yet don't take it too seriously. If you happen to watch another episode after reading this book, you'll have to admit that Scalzi just nailed them.

This book is well written with quick, punchy, stichomythic dialogue, clever set pieces, and absurd, recursive dilemmas. It's funny, and even more clever because the characters are in on the joke. This gives you the feeling of riding along with the protagonists as if they are going to turn to you next and ask your opinion.

It moves along rapidly. The novel fairly quickly bangs out any exposition and argumentation and then gets right on into a narrative that doesn't see much deviation. I am sure this is intentional given the premise of the novel. This is a bit of a blessing and a curse. While the story always keeps moving right along, even genuine plot twists do not change divert from an outcome you can see coming a light year away.

The codas are nice. Pleasant. Each is pretty endearing and gives a minor character a greater significance. This is also recursive in its way. Scalzi's way of apologizing to his own minor characters for the sin of having to have minor characters in a book about minor characters. My only problem (not a big problem, mind you) is that it seems like a heck of a lot of coda for a relatively short and simple story.

Wheaton's reading is good. Certainly, there is something appropriate about his reading the book having once played a Star Trek character. He certainly nails the proper moods of the individual character in fairly rapid dialog. My problem with the reading isn't so much in Wheaton's capabilities. The problem lies in trying to read this book aloud at all. There are so many multi-participant conversations requiring all the voices to be identified in text. This is no problem when you are reading silently to yourself, but when read outloud you feel like half the time is spent identifying the speaker. It really breaks up the rhythm. I understand this last comment is a little nitpicky and should not discourage someone reading this book. I would just say, if you were trying to decide between listening and reading, you might consider going with paper.

Loved It!

It took a couple of weeks of debate if I was going to get this book, when I finally did I found myself saying why did I ever wait. This book had me laughing aloud and even shedding a few tears with the emotion in the book. You will not regret getting it!

Well, at least the reader tried.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Someone who can ignore sloppy writing.

What could John Scalzi have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Not tagged "he/she/name said" to the end of EVERY LINE.

What does Wil Wheaton bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He has a wonderful reading style, I just couldn't take the repetition in the source material.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It might have had I managed to make it beyond the second chapter.