Scalzi gives those no-name crew members some love and attention
Redshirts – An Overview
We’ve all seen it happen a hundred times. Kirk, Spock, Bones and an unnamed crew member set out on an away mission on some alien world. Wanna take a wild guess as to which of the landing party members isn’t making it back to the ship?
If we couldn’t guess who the doomed person was, a big clue was always given to us. The crew member wearing the red shirt was a goner.
Redshirts is an entertaining and hilarious look at a familiar sci-fi trope through the eyes of a group of low-ranking starship crew members.
Redshirts – What It’s About
Redshirts follows the story of Andrew Dahl and his friends as they are assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid. They are excited and thrilled to be serving on such a prestigious ship.
Their attitudes begin to change, however, when they start noticing that the away missions seem to be particularly lethal. This is especially true when they realize that the senior officers always manage to survive, while the unfortunate victim of the mission is always someone from their ranks.
Dahl and his fellow crew members begin investigating what is happening, coming up with theories to explain the unfortunate occurrences, while at the same time, doing whatever they can to avoid being selected for away missions. One crew member in particular has a theory that is so unbelievably insane that it couldn’t possibly be true…could it?
Hilarious and at times heart-warming, Redshirts is about people that most see as expendable, but whose lives have meaning and value.
Redshirts – What I Didn’t Like
There isn’t much to dislike from this book, but few books are perfect. One thing for me were the character names. Several of the names were similar, and I would get confused as to which character was which. This obviously became less of a problem as I read more, but it took longer for me to get the characters straight in my head than it usually does.
The first half of this book is fantastic. The second half is…good. About halfway through the book, certain things are revealed to the characters. At that point, the goal for them changes and the story takes on a slightly different feel. This is a normal thing in books, but instead of getting more interesting, it kind of slowed down for me. Don’t get me wrong, I really like this story. It just didn’t really build to the climax I was hoping for.
Redshirts – What I Liked
This book is genuinely funny. I like the characters and the chemistry they have with each other. Many of the senior officers are clearly based on Star Trek archetypes, and it’s great! There are some laugh out loud moments involving them. The whole thing is dripping with Star Trek tropes, but it doesn’t feel like a parody at all, which I enjoyed. This is more like a love letter to Star Trek, and it’s done in a respectful and loving way.
I mentioned before that the second half of the book kind of slowed down for me, and that the ending was a little anti-climactic, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. The ending was very satisfying, just not exciting. There are also three codas at the end of the book that add a lot of depth to a few of the characters. One of them is done in a way that, frankly, you just have to read. It’s fantastic!
Redshirts – Conclusion And Rating
I love this book, and I highly recommend reading it. If you are a fan of Star Trek, it’s basically required reading. Not only do I love this book, it has made me want to read more from John Scalzi. His style is very entertaining, and I really enjoy it.
