^^Awesome video.
On a related note, the novel's out now, anyone get it yet? Mine is in the mail.
On a related note, the novel's out now, anyone get it yet? Mine is in the mail.
Redshirts by John Scalzi
- Thread starter elric428
- Start date
nickyboy and I saw it in Galaxy (Sydney, Australia) on Thursday, but mine was pre-ordered from Amazon and it's en route.
I'm probably gonna wait till paperback, since I've found his books rather hit or miss.
Yeah, that about sums it up for me as well.
Can Scalzi write characters that aren't hard-boiled smart-asses? Based on the two of his books I've read (Fuzzy Nation and now Redshirts) the answer seems to be "no."
The codas seemed to have been tacked on to beef up a slim word count, and the ending of the third coda was a sub-rom-com "meet cute." He did some entertaining stuff with the concept, but nothing really memorable. It might seem fresher to less jaded readers, but I give it a "meh."
I laughed out loud in several parts of this book. If this is truly novel length, it's just barely. It could have been a little meatier, in my opinion. I'm going to give it a 4/5 though. Cool concept.
I for one am very happy the publisher gave away the first 4 chapters for free. That enabled me to start it and see that it was going to be like someone else mentioned, a bunch of smart-ass, sarcastic characters. In the end, I am not going to buy it. That may not be what the publisher had in mind by the free chapters but I appreciate keeping my $25.
I finished reading this today. I think I'll spoiler code my review since the novel has a definate twist and works best if you don't know about it.
As others have said, the first half is excellent. It makes fun of Star Trek with plenty of injokes, the Intrepid, the fleet's flagship has TOS inspired senior staff, a heroic captain, stoic science officer, cranky doctor, even a Russian bridge officer who boasts about his ancestry and is frequently endangered. The Intrepid itself seems somewhat TNG inspired, what with it being so huge and the bridge described as resembling a hotel lobby.
Not all the jokes are Trek-related. For example, there's a planet named Forshan, which I doubt the similarity between that and website 4chan is coincidental. Also, the Intrepid's medical officer is named Dr. Hartnell, which I'm very certain has to be a Doctor Who referance.
But, injokes aside, the first haf is also relatable as a tale of starting a new job and having to learn all the unofficial rules that seem to dictate the social order in the workplace, or having a new co-worker who has an outsider's point of view on some of the fucked aspects of the job which everyone else accepts as normal.
Eventually, the characters learn something is weird about their ship, namely there's a high mortality rate among the lower ranks and the senior staff always survives at the end of the day. But we also got problems such as plot idiocy (why do bridge consoles blow up during battles when the enemy hit the ship far away from the bridge) and bad science (when the captain wants a "counter bacterial" a magic box soups one up at just barely the last minute). This rather amusing look at the tropes of sci-fi television provides some good laughs.
Finally, the characters learn the truth, they are in fact on a TV show. A particularly bad rip-off of Star Trek. Seriously, it actually says that in the book.
The solution, go back to 2012 in an alternate reality, meet the actors who play them and convince the show's writers to stop killing them. To be honest, at this point the plot feels like a retread of Red Dwarf's Back to Earth story.
When all is said and done we have a rather scathing criticism and commentarry of sci-fi television, which although funny, not quite laugh you ass off funny.
Then there's three codas to finish things off, which to be honest I found to be a bit of a downer, though the first one is funny in parts. Basically the message "life is short, live it up," is repeated three times which just feels jarring and out of place at the end of what is essentially a comical commentary of televised science fiction. Not to mention the codas get so melodramatic they border on being depressing.
The book is enjoyable, definately, and I would recommend it to any Trek fan as a must-read. But it's hardly a classic, or a masterpiece. I'd say a 7 out of 10 would be what I'd give it.
Not all the jokes are Trek-related. For example, there's a planet named Forshan, which I doubt the similarity between that and website 4chan is coincidental. Also, the Intrepid's medical officer is named Dr. Hartnell, which I'm very certain has to be a Doctor Who referance.
But, injokes aside, the first haf is also relatable as a tale of starting a new job and having to learn all the unofficial rules that seem to dictate the social order in the workplace, or having a new co-worker who has an outsider's point of view on some of the fucked aspects of the job which everyone else accepts as normal.
Eventually, the characters learn something is weird about their ship, namely there's a high mortality rate among the lower ranks and the senior staff always survives at the end of the day. But we also got problems such as plot idiocy (why do bridge consoles blow up during battles when the enemy hit the ship far away from the bridge) and bad science (when the captain wants a "counter bacterial" a magic box soups one up at just barely the last minute). This rather amusing look at the tropes of sci-fi television provides some good laughs.
Finally, the characters learn the truth, they are in fact on a TV show. A particularly bad rip-off of Star Trek. Seriously, it actually says that in the book.
The solution, go back to 2012 in an alternate reality, meet the actors who play them and convince the show's writers to stop killing them. To be honest, at this point the plot feels like a retread of Red Dwarf's Back to Earth story.
When all is said and done we have a rather scathing criticism and commentarry of sci-fi television, which although funny, not quite laugh you ass off funny.
Then there's three codas to finish things off, which to be honest I found to be a bit of a downer, though the first one is funny in parts. Basically the message "life is short, live it up," is repeated three times which just feels jarring and out of place at the end of what is essentially a comical commentary of televised science fiction. Not to mention the codas get so melodramatic they border on being depressing.
The book is enjoyable, definately, and I would recommend it to any Trek fan as a must-read. But it's hardly a classic, or a masterpiece. I'd say a 7 out of 10 would be what I'd give it.
Finished Redshirts today, and loved the "book" part. Not so much the Codas, but I understand they were there to increase page count. Indeed, those 3 Codes took up a quarter of the pages, so it was a short, quick novel. But oh, so fun.
If you watched Galaxy Quest and enjoyed it, you'll probably enjoy this book, and for exactly the same reasons.
Several quotable lines, and fun characters, my favorite being the Doctor ... Hartnell. There is no way that's unintentional. 4/5 stars
If you watched Galaxy Quest and enjoyed it, you'll probably enjoy this book, and for exactly the same reasons.
Several quotable lines, and fun characters, my favorite being the Doctor ... Hartnell. There is no way that's unintentional. 4/5 stars
Just finished my copy of the book, 8 years too late:
Redshirts by John Scalzi review
Sometimes you run into a book that seems tailor made for you. John Scalzi is an author that I have very much enjoyed the works of, including Old Man's War or The Collapsing Empire. He has a delightful appreciation for the absurd and a wonderfully snarky observational humor that reminds me a great deal of my own. His books sometimes go in odd and bizarre directions but that's part of the journey.
Redshirts is half Star Trek parody and half metacommentary on the nature of reality. The premise is that the protagonists are ensigns onboard the starship Intrepid, which is a transparent stand-in for the starship Enterprise that the narrative even acknowledges in the most hilarious way possible. There's something very strange going onboard the Intrepid.
The number of deaths on away teams are horrific and far in excess of what would normally happen. Its ensigns just make stupid errors left and right, often at dramatically appropriate moments. Also, the science onboard the ship is nonsensical as well. The dedicated geniuses onboard don't understand why "The Box" is able to do half the things it does. Finally, there's a deranged scientist living in the ship's Jeffrey's tubes (sorry, cargo ducts), that know's what's going on but has been driven mad by the realization.
The four protagonists are a bit interchangeable with the exception of Dahl and Duvalle. Dahl is a former alien seminary student and Duvalle is the only woman in the group. They're all incredibly snarky, irreverant, and very entertaining but could have used a bit more differentiation. Part of that is the joke, though, that they exist to be interchangeable parts on a ship that values their lives less than a french fry in a happy meal.
This is a book that benefits significantly from your knowledge of Star Trek, especially The Original Series. In fact, I'd argue that the joke for Redshirts doesn't really apply to subsequent series of Star Trek. The "redshirts are disposable" joke started in the Sixties and was so ubiquitous that they actually made two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, to specifically counteract it with "The Bonding" and "Lower Decks." Indeed, the cartoon series "Lower Decks" kind of feels like it took some inspiration from Redshirts since its about the elaborate inner lives of the disposable faceless crew.
Still, bad writing jokes will never go out of style nor will the existential crisis a person would face if they discovered they were secondary to the plotline of someone else. Indeed, all of human life is pretty much us dealing with how we're just bit players to someone else's narrative. Politicians, corporate leaders, and even the ex who decided that we were best to be fired from the show of their own personal romantic comedy.
I would normally give this book a 5 out of 5. It is a Hugo-winning award after all and deservedly so. However, I feel this is a book that suffers from the fact that has way too many endings. The actual story ends roughly 75% way through the book and what follows is a series of vignettes following up on the events. These are done by bit players (ha!) in the story and expands on their story. Honestly, they don't really hold a candle to the main narrative and I wish they'd just been left out.
Redshirts is, for lack of a better description, a science fiction version of Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead. That play dealt with themes of bit characters, unnecessary deaths, being completely confused about what the hell was going on, and in-jokes that only someone who absolutely loves the subject being discussed (in that case: Hamlet) would get. There are much worse things to be compared to. I should note that I listened to the audiobook version and strongly recommend it for the fact it has the meta-casting of Will Wheaton as narrator.
Redshirts by John Scalzi review
Sometimes you run into a book that seems tailor made for you. John Scalzi is an author that I have very much enjoyed the works of, including Old Man's War or The Collapsing Empire. He has a delightful appreciation for the absurd and a wonderfully snarky observational humor that reminds me a great deal of my own. His books sometimes go in odd and bizarre directions but that's part of the journey.
Redshirts is half Star Trek parody and half metacommentary on the nature of reality. The premise is that the protagonists are ensigns onboard the starship Intrepid, which is a transparent stand-in for the starship Enterprise that the narrative even acknowledges in the most hilarious way possible. There's something very strange going onboard the Intrepid.
The number of deaths on away teams are horrific and far in excess of what would normally happen. Its ensigns just make stupid errors left and right, often at dramatically appropriate moments. Also, the science onboard the ship is nonsensical as well. The dedicated geniuses onboard don't understand why "The Box" is able to do half the things it does. Finally, there's a deranged scientist living in the ship's Jeffrey's tubes (sorry, cargo ducts), that know's what's going on but has been driven mad by the realization.
The four protagonists are a bit interchangeable with the exception of Dahl and Duvalle. Dahl is a former alien seminary student and Duvalle is the only woman in the group. They're all incredibly snarky, irreverant, and very entertaining but could have used a bit more differentiation. Part of that is the joke, though, that they exist to be interchangeable parts on a ship that values their lives less than a french fry in a happy meal.
This is a book that benefits significantly from your knowledge of Star Trek, especially The Original Series. In fact, I'd argue that the joke for Redshirts doesn't really apply to subsequent series of Star Trek. The "redshirts are disposable" joke started in the Sixties and was so ubiquitous that they actually made two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, to specifically counteract it with "The Bonding" and "Lower Decks." Indeed, the cartoon series "Lower Decks" kind of feels like it took some inspiration from Redshirts since its about the elaborate inner lives of the disposable faceless crew.
Still, bad writing jokes will never go out of style nor will the existential crisis a person would face if they discovered they were secondary to the plotline of someone else. Indeed, all of human life is pretty much us dealing with how we're just bit players to someone else's narrative. Politicians, corporate leaders, and even the ex who decided that we were best to be fired from the show of their own personal romantic comedy.
I would normally give this book a 5 out of 5. It is a Hugo-winning award after all and deservedly so. However, I feel this is a book that suffers from the fact that has way too many endings. The actual story ends roughly 75% way through the book and what follows is a series of vignettes following up on the events. These are done by bit players (ha!) in the story and expands on their story. Honestly, they don't really hold a candle to the main narrative and I wish they'd just been left out.
Redshirts is, for lack of a better description, a science fiction version of Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead. That play dealt with themes of bit characters, unnecessary deaths, being completely confused about what the hell was going on, and in-jokes that only someone who absolutely loves the subject being discussed (in that case: Hamlet) would get. There are much worse things to be compared to. I should note that I listened to the audiobook version and strongly recommend it for the fact it has the meta-casting of Will Wheaton as narrator.
Curiously, I feel just the opposite. I found the main narrative to be amusing but not terribly compelling. By contrast, the three codas, with their clever use of shifting point-of-view style (first-person, then second-person, and finally ending back in omniscient third-person) were, in my opinion, the best part of the book.
Ah, a necro thread.
For those interested, Wil Wheaton is the narrator off the audio book.
"Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas" by John Scalzi, read by Wil Wheaton, 2012, Audible Frontiers download, 461 min.
Several people pointed out the similarity to Scalzi on his Twitter, prompting him to comment on the matter on his blog:
Redshirts was the first Scalzi novel I read, and while I enjoyed it enough to check out his other novels, which I quickly became a fan of and indeed to this day I buy his new ones as they come out. But I got to say, Redshirts is probably now near the lower end of the pile as far as his novels go. I wouldn't call it my least favourite Scalzi novel, but it's definitely not what I consider his best either.
I don't think Necro threads apply in the Literature thread actually. That's just been my experience. All of the books have one thread.
That is the house rule for review threads in TrekLit, though, based on precedent, it's also likely this thread is going to be kicked over to SF&F since it's not actually a Trek book.
But it's very much a Trek-related book, a direct pastiche. I think it has valid reason to be here.
It wasn't a dedicated review thread, though. It started out as a publication announcement thread. And had been abandoned since 2012.
We have certainly been reprimanded for necro threads in Trek Lit.
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