Redshirts cover art

Redshirts

A Novel with Three Codas

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Redshirts

By: John Scalzi
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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About this listen

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. Fantasy Fiction First Contact Science Fiction Transportation Funny Witty Time Travel Comedy Space Jokes

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All stars
Most relevant  
I loved the main story but was very nonplussed about the three epilogues tidying up loose ends.

Lovely meta main story

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This was a book I was looking forward to. It started off quite well but quickly deteriorated. It was read so badly as to be grating on the flow of the narrative. Read his other books first.

Worst Scalzi I've come across

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A really great story, about halfway through I was praying for a sequel, but by the end I was fully satisfied with the story closure, brilliant.

Funny, Deep and Meaningful

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Another good story by Scalzi, and Wheaton does a good performance narrating (I actually forgot it was him until the end of the book). I thought the epilogues were a little throw away, but otherwise worth a listen

Very enjoyable

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While the story is more than ok, Wil Wheaton does a superb job telling it. I enjoyed this very much, allthough the book itself falls short sometimes. The premise for this book is funny and clever, but it could do with some editing. It is far to long and drawn out at some points, but unlike many other reviewers, the "he said, she said" etc style of writning didnt bother me. To me, it feels like it is written as a script, and fits the book very well.
Bottom line; If Wil Wheaton had'nt narrated this, I might not have enjoyed it so much. As it is, I recommend this to all science fiction fans, and trekkies in particular.

Enjoyable story, masterfull narration

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Very funny to begin with but has more to it than I had expected by the end.
I prefer the story proper to the codas as it feels like the story has taken a different turn. But I enjoyed this listen overall.
Wil Wheaton does a good job and handles the comedy moments well.

Funny and deep

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The concept of this novel is just as delightful as you're probably imagining it. It works well as a satirical love-in for whatever space opera holds a place in your heart (Stargate Atlantis, for me, but it hardly limited itself to a single show, as most of the concepts and conceits were universal to the genre). The lead characters are fun, but its the secondary characters who really make this awesome - they're the dumber substitutes for Shatner and co, and it MAKES SO MUCH SENSE. With some intimations of self-love including body doubles, which is pretty much everything the internet has ever laughed about in clones and Mirror Universe episodes.

The execution was occasionally slightly confused. Aside from the main plot line, the three codas (taking up a surprising chunk of the whole novel) are probably not going to suit everyone. One or two moments resonated with me, but there were long philosophies of the writing process (not Scalzi's process), and writers writing about writing is not everyone's favourite thing. There is a surprising happily ever after I didn't expect, so the codas aren't worth avoiding, just a little odd.

The narrator has a mellow, sarcastic way of speaking, which was for the most part awesome and added to the experience. The combination of speed and snark meant that dialogue stretches of, 'he said, she said, Dahl said' were occasionally confusing, and hard to follow who was saying what (though this usually didn't matter much). This gripe wasn't hugely annoying, however, and probably was neat in print form.

A delight for a snarky sci fi fan

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This is a brilliant parody novel made all the better by Wesley Crusher (sorry Will) doing a brilliant job of reading the story.

The main story riffs on some of the most prevalent tropes of the genre by making some of the minor characters or redshrits on the crew of an Enterprise style ship aware that they are in someone else's story. The writer has a lot of fun with this before getting down to the elements of the main plot and it works really well

There are 2 sections to the novel, the main story and a really great set of "what happened next" stories covering some of the minor character and elements from the main plot. Its really nice to get some closure on these stories



To make one small complaint, the writer needs to work on their "he said/she said", it gets a little distracting especially when read out loud

A fun listen for Star Trek fans

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This was an incredible listen. I loved the idea and the execution is amazing. Not just the story, but Wil Wheaton's performance was top notch.

Fantastic!

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This is a sci fi of 3 clear parts - the beginning, the middle to end type thing and the meta bit. Of these I felt, if I ignored the “he said, she said”, then the beginning was enjoyable (and certainly the best part). The beginning is interesting and lighthearted with plenty of “poke fun at Star Trek” energy. The middle to end type thing is not in keeping with the beginning: it’s a tenuous self referential “will they, won’t they, do I care?” situation and I found myself caring barely enough to see how it ended… and after a swift end it goes meta. I liked how the beginning was meta, I didn’t really care about meta by the end. I expected the meta bit to bring it all together… I don’t feel it did. I wanted to love it… but I don’t… in fact I don’t recommend it… have I totally missed something?

Not all it’s cracked up to be

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