Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas

John Scalzi

Jun 2012 · Sold by Macmillan

About this ebook

Redshirts is John Scalzi’s Hugo Award-winning novel of the starship ensigns who were expendable...until they started comparing notes.

Tor Essentials presents new editions of science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure.

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, with the chance to serve on "Away Missions" alongside the starship’s famous senior officers.

Life couldn’t be better...until Andrew begins to realize that (1) every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces, (2) the ship’s senior officers always survive these confrontations, and (3) sadly, at least one low-ranking crew member is invariably killed. Unsurprisingly, the savvier crew members belowdecks avoid Away Missions at all costs. Then Andrew stumbles on information that 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.

With a new introduction by Mary Robinette Kowal, author of the Hugo-winning The Calculating Stars.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

I enjoyed the light hearted nature of much of the dialogue. It was a nice break from the more heavy handed sci-fi I had been reading. However, the story still has great depth and character development. Finn's lines were some of the best. "Oh, please stop. I'm going to have to frag you." Finn needs to show up in another book.

I really enjoyed this book. In a way, I am surprised that it had not been written before. Let us all be glad that it had not, because it is doubtful that anyone else could have given the topic the treatment that it deserves. Scalzi takes the science fiction television (particularly Star Trek) tropes and thoughtfully skewers them, bringing the reader into the "minor" characters lives and helping us to see the world through them. And what a world it is. A world where death is a certainty not because of random chance, ill luck, superior strategy or forces, or the like ... but because of plot device. And as the characters realize their plight ... well, that is when things get interesting. The book flows along nicely, and Scalzi, always a master of witty banter and tense action, finds his groove, it really shows. But in my opinion, as good as the main book was, it was the codas which really made the read worthwhile. They elevate Redshirts from a light-hearted satire to an examination of the writer's responsibility to the art that they create. If you are looking for a fun and yet thoughtful science fiction comedy adventure, look no further. Scalzi has this in his pocket.

Lambasting Star Trek for its troupes may be low hanging fruit, but at least it's fun. However, Scalzi only manages to hit on about half of them before kind of giving up and just rushing to the finish. The reason behind this is probably because this book is more of a caricature of a caricature than it is of Star Trek. Red shirt wearing ensigns dying on away missions has been referenced throughout popular media for years. Scalzi took those references and ran with them. If you were going to parody Star Trek, make fun of the pretentious nature of the show. He parodies Kirk a bit with Abernathy, but only two of the other 5 officers are even seen, and they don't have much of a point. All of the characters are one-note, they all have the same purpose, and dialogue is usually one character setting up another for a punch line. Funny? Eh. Scalzi is a decent author, and I assume he liked this premise, and then got bored with it over 100 pages and didn't want to expend the effort to turn it into something better than what it turned out being. I'm not one to not finish books, but I gave up 50 pages before the ending and thumbed through the final pages. I don't think I missed much.

About the author

JOHN SCALZI is the author of several SF novels including the bestselling Old Man's War sequence, comprising Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, and the New York Times bestselling The Last Colony. He is a winner of science fiction's John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and he won the Hugo Award for Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, a collection of essays from his popular blog Whatever. His latest novel, Fuzzy Nation, hit the New York Times bestseller list in its first week on sale. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.