Redshirts by

10 December 2013


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p>Read for the 2014 Sci-Fi Experience

Ensign Dahl has just been assigned to The Intrepid. In many ways this is an honour. The Intrepid is the flagship of the fleet, she leads the way. The only negative is the death count. Statistically speaking it is the most dangerous ship to be aboard. But try telling anyone that, they’ll just say that The Intrepid takes on high risk missions. It is unfortunate, but only makes sense, that it has such a death rate. But for the crew-members the only thing that makes sense is avoiding being sent on an Away Mission. They always lead to a fatality.

I read this book in almost one sitting. Part of that is I had time to kill, but another part is that I was really enjoying it. It isn’t the greatest book ever written, I certainly would not call it ingenious as a reviewer on the back cover does, but it works well for what it is. A look at the craziness that makes up episodic tv where unreal drama is often created by peril to the main characters. Peril created by the deaths of people around them, Star Trek fans have long known this as the Redshirt effect, hence the title.

It is a well told story, although I found the characters a little interchangeable and easy to mix up. But I liked the general idea and the way the story was told. The whole meta-fiction narrative was a fun idea, although it never made total sense. I don’t really think it was supposed to though.

Overall, there are a lot of worse ways to spend your time than enjoying a book like this.

Buy or borrow

The 2014 Sci-Fi Experience Review Site
Links : Stainless Steel Droppings | Little Red Reviewer | Frivolous waste of time

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6 Responses

  1. Kailana says:

    I listened to the audio of this at the beginning of the year and thought it was a lot of fun! I can see me rereading it in the future when I need something entertaining!
    Kailana´s last blog post ..Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on my TBR

    • Fence says:

      I'm not sure if I'd reread this one Kailana, but I will certainly read more of Scalzi's. I've only read one other of his so far so I have a fair few to get through. I have The Android's Dream out from the library but think I want something non-sff for my next read. Haven't quite decided what yet.

  2. I enjoyed this book, although I agree the characters were very interchangeable…which is either unfortunate or deliberate, considering the whole book is making a commentary on the facelessness of the walk-on (and quickly die) characters.
    Cheryl @ Tales of th´s last blog post ..Blog Hop: Christmas Wishes

    • Fence says:

      It probably is very deliberate :) but at the same time it didn't quite work for me. Although did like the way one of them pointed out that they knew nothing about each other, not even surnames at one point.

  3. Grace says:

    I'm hoping to read this one as part of the Science Fiction Experience. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
    Grace´s last blog post ..“The Mad Scientist’s Daughter” by Cassandra Rose Clarke