Redshirts

Locations
Call Number: Science Fiction, Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / Scalzi, John
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Science Fiction	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / Scalzi, John	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / Scalzi, John	4-week checkout	Due 05-24-2024

"A Tom Doherty Associates book."
Enjoying his assignment with the xenobiology lab on board the prestigious Intrepid, ensign Andrew Dahl worries about casualties suffered by low-ranking officers during away missions before making a shocking discovery about the starship's actual purpose.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Excerpt
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Better Than I Thought submitted by librarian0485 on December 17, 2012, 1:28pm I recently finished this book and it turned out to be a lot better than I had thought it would be. Looking at the book and reading the description, I thought for sure it would just be one really long Star Trek joke, but it ended up being a lot more, to the point that it kept me wanting to read what was next!

Star Trek meets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead meets Stranger than Fiction submitted by cherylo on June 14, 2013, 11:04am What if you could recognize the hidden rules your reality is ruled by? What if you noticed that the new guy always dies? And, what if you could get the attention of the writer responsible for your predicament? A funny and sometimes poignant look at personal agency, and what it means to be autonomous or not. Highly recommended for even the most casual Star Trek or SF fan. If you enjoyed Galaxy Quest even a little bit, you should read this book.

Parody, yes, and much more. submitted by crwilley on June 14, 2013, 7:11pm Any Trekkie would recognize the significance of the title: ever notice that the landing party is Kirk, Spock, Bones, and some ensign in a red uniform that you've never seen before? Guess which three are going to make it back and which one isn't... You're led to believe, really, that you're reading a parody of Trek, from the perspective of poor Ensign Redshirt, and a handful of his colleagues who have noticed a certain pattern. You are. And then at some point you realize you're also reading a book about what it means to be human....and I have to say that the third "coda" brought a tear to my eyes. Highly recommended.

Fun read submitted by slugwhisperer on August 4, 2013, 3:58pm Interesting perspective on the Star Trek universe. The last 100 pages of the authors notes and commentary are filler fluff.

Excellent submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on August 13, 2013, 9:32pm I think I read this in 24 hours... maybe 36 if I'm not remembering it well. It's fast and light... and absolutely hysterical. A geeky version of a total beach read. It's cotton candy for the SF reader, with in-joke after in-joke that tickled me completely.

It might be that you have to have watched a lot of Star Trek and other SF shows, as well as be the kind of person who really liked Mystery Science Theater 3000, to enjoy this book to its fullest. But this book is *meant* to be self-referential to all of these things, and Scalzi does them brilliantly.

(The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because, as much as I loved it, in the end it is just too fluffy to qualify for that high bar.)

Smashing submitted by Fevvers - STAR473 on August 7, 2014, 1:58am Redshirts starts clearly as Star Trek pastiche, but the apparently expendable low-level crew members pool observations about how the Captain and his high-ranking best buddies are never casulties of mission snafus - and there sure are a lot of mission snafus. The story broadens and becomes elevated as the "redshirts" themselves learn more about their dangerous and strange situation. It pokes fun but is also a unique love letter to science fiction and to storytelling in general. Scalzi doesn't so much as break the fourth wall as construct entirely new types of walls and then go at them with sledgehammers. There is a strong emotional arc which builds and becomes more complex as the story continues. Highly recommended.

Great plot/awful writing submitted by eknapp on September 1, 2015, 7:56pm "Redshirts" is about the disposable, low-ranking crew of the Universal Union flagship Enterprise Intrepid, who get killed off at a statistically alarming rate. They live in terror of being called upon for "away missions" by the ship's heroic captain, science officer, doctor, engineer, and navigator.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:-D It's flat out hilarious and geekishly satisfying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
X-( The atrocious dialogue and boring, one-dimensional characters made my head hurt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:-D Scalzi cleverly calls out Star Trek for a slew of sins against logic and science. His redshirt characters compile statistics about the absurd death rate and question why High Command takes it in stride. They observe the ways in which the laws of physics are bent or broken during dramatic incidents: pointless explosions on the bridge, the navigator and engineer leading dangerous exploratory missions for no reason, plot-convenient facts popping into their heads when they didn't know them before, etc. It's gratifying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
X-( The characters' conversations sound painfully awkward, like they're reading from cue cards and don't know what the words mean. It's stilted, wooden, and cringe-inducing. "The fungus relaxes people, not makes them attack anyone in the room, requiring them to defend themselves." That's an actual line from this book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:-D The whole thing is very meta and Scalzi handles it skillfully, at one point even subtly acknowledging the reader. The post-climax codas at the end of the book are a nice inclusion, exploring some of the tangential fallout of the big plot resolution. I'm glad to have read "Redshirts". Easy five stars.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
X-( Each character is given one superficial distinguishing trait, that's it. They're otherwise identical. And even in a book ABOUT bad science fiction writing, the author's lack of knowledge stands out. I don't think he'd recognize science if it walked up and formulated a hypothesis at him. One star and that feels generous.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

("Redshirts" left me feeling pretty ambivalent.)

Last Names, Friendships of Chance, and Red Shirts (of course) submitted by Madeleine.Pritts on August 7, 2018, 9:47pm First of all I'd like to say: Read this book. "but what if I'm not a sci-fi fan-" read this book. "But what if I don't like reading-" read this book. "but what if I-" read this book.
I first heard of this book from my dad, and immediately checked it out, devoured it, and fell in love.
John Scalzi's wit, sarcasm, and dear hatred for the repeated deaths of the Redshirts in Start Trek are clear in this beautiful satire.
wow I just freaking love this book. I bought it after borrowing it from the library 3 times. it now resides on my favorite books shelf.