Redshirts by John Scalzi
Winner of the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Novel
Synopsis
Andy Dahl has just arrived the galactic ship Intrepid. But things aren't... quite normal. For one thing, people seem to die a lot, especially on away missions, and especially newer people who come on board. People act weird too, suddenly saying things or having knowledge and skills they never mentioned before, along with incredible technology that has no explanation. And it all seems to center around the Captain and four of his closest crew members, who manage to survive every away mission. So Dahl and his friends decide to do some investigating to figure out what's going on, and potentially save their own lives. What he discovers isn't at all what he was expecting.
Review
This is one of the more clever and humorous books I've read. It's great satire on the tropes and stereotypes of science fiction shows *cough*Star Trek*cough* (before anyone gets on my case, I was raised on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Have you watched some of the earlier seasons? My goodness, it was an awful show). "Redshirts" of course refers to the plethora of superfluous and expendable extras/characters on Star Trek, who were known to die off while the main characters lived.
The book takes place 400 years in our future, on the spaceship Intrepid, plus on various planets that they make excursions to. They encounter lots of crazy alien species, like ice sharks and sand worms, and also random cultures, religions, and traditions.
The characters were fun. Dahl is the main character, and with him you have his group of fellow Redshirts and crew members who are trying to figure out this mystery together. Plus, there's the captain and his close crew members, who always act erratically and give big speeches for dramatic effect and are never in any danger. The characters aren't super deep, but they're not meant to be. They do have sarcastic, humorous dialogue and emotional and touching interactions.
One of the things I liked about this story was it was very self-aware, which was fun. The characters recognize things happening that made no sense, and try to figure out what was going on. It's very fast-paced, and the story builds quickly. What I loved was that I thought I had totally figured out where the book was going--and I was right, to an extent. I saw the main plot twist coming (the author doesn't hide it that much anyway). But then BAM! It happened way sooner than I expected and the story took a completely unexpected turn and just went really meta, while managing to carry on the action and the humor. I had set myself up for a pretty fun, easygoing story, and I got way more than I was expecting.
As always with comedy, there needs to be some meat beneath the laughter; moments where the humor pulls back and we get the dramatic heart of the story. This book delivers on both accounts. The character interactions with each other were great, the dialogue was quick and witty, and some very heartfelt moments came out of the story.
It was a fun, quick, laugh-out-loud read. If you're a fan of sci-fi, especially TV shows and movies, you'll enjoy this book.
Rating
I give this book 4 stars
Details
Genre: Science Fiction, Humor.
Sex: Characters talk about sex and sex acts openly and humorously; two characters are known to be sleeping together.
Violence: Characters die, often in gruesome, though funny and ridiculous, ways.
Language: Lots of heavy swearing, F-bombs are frequent.
Winner of the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Novel
Synopsis
Andy Dahl has just arrived the galactic ship Intrepid. But things aren't... quite normal. For one thing, people seem to die a lot, especially on away missions, and especially newer people who come on board. People act weird too, suddenly saying things or having knowledge and skills they never mentioned before, along with incredible technology that has no explanation. And it all seems to center around the Captain and four of his closest crew members, who manage to survive every away mission. So Dahl and his friends decide to do some investigating to figure out what's going on, and potentially save their own lives. What he discovers isn't at all what he was expecting.
Review
This is one of the more clever and humorous books I've read. It's great satire on the tropes and stereotypes of science fiction shows *cough*Star Trek*cough* (before anyone gets on my case, I was raised on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Have you watched some of the earlier seasons? My goodness, it was an awful show). "Redshirts" of course refers to the plethora of superfluous and expendable extras/characters on Star Trek, who were known to die off while the main characters lived.
The book takes place 400 years in our future, on the spaceship Intrepid, plus on various planets that they make excursions to. They encounter lots of crazy alien species, like ice sharks and sand worms, and also random cultures, religions, and traditions.
The characters were fun. Dahl is the main character, and with him you have his group of fellow Redshirts and crew members who are trying to figure out this mystery together. Plus, there's the captain and his close crew members, who always act erratically and give big speeches for dramatic effect and are never in any danger. The characters aren't super deep, but they're not meant to be. They do have sarcastic, humorous dialogue and emotional and touching interactions.
One of the things I liked about this story was it was very self-aware, which was fun. The characters recognize things happening that made no sense, and try to figure out what was going on. It's very fast-paced, and the story builds quickly. What I loved was that I thought I had totally figured out where the book was going--and I was right, to an extent. I saw the main plot twist coming (the author doesn't hide it that much anyway). But then BAM! It happened way sooner than I expected and the story took a completely unexpected turn and just went really meta, while managing to carry on the action and the humor. I had set myself up for a pretty fun, easygoing story, and I got way more than I was expecting.
As always with comedy, there needs to be some meat beneath the laughter; moments where the humor pulls back and we get the dramatic heart of the story. This book delivers on both accounts. The character interactions with each other were great, the dialogue was quick and witty, and some very heartfelt moments came out of the story.
It was a fun, quick, laugh-out-loud read. If you're a fan of sci-fi, especially TV shows and movies, you'll enjoy this book.
Rating
I give this book 4 stars
Details
Genre: Science Fiction, Humor.
Sex: Characters talk about sex and sex acts openly and humorously; two characters are known to be sleeping together.
Violence: Characters die, often in gruesome, though funny and ridiculous, ways.
Language: Lots of heavy swearing, F-bombs are frequent.
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