Redshirts by John Scalzi
Oct. 7th, 2013 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the flagship Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid. It’s a prestige posting, and life couldn’t be better … although there are a few strange things going on …
- every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces
- the ship’s captain, its chief science officer and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these encounters
- at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.
Suddenly it’s less surprising how much energy is expended below decks on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned an Away Mission. Andrew’s fate may have been sealed … until he stumbles on a piece of information that changes everything, and offers him and his fellow redshirts a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives …
It’s the 25th century. Ensigns Andrew Dahl, Maia Duvall, Jimmy Hanson and Crewmen Finn and Hester have just been assigned to the Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union. It’s a prime assignment and Dahl’s excited by the opportunity. But it’s not long before all five begin to realise that something’s terribly wrong on the Intrepid. For starters the other crew members try to avoid the captain, chief science officer and Lieutenant Kerensky. Then there’s the fact that every Away Mission results in the fatality of a junior crew member and serious injury to Kerensky.
In between dodging Away Missions, Dahl and the others try to work out what’s going on. Help comes from an unlikely source but the answers they get are too crazy to be believed ...
The idea behind John Scalzi’s SF comedy will be familiar to anyone who’s seen GALAXY QUEST and it makes no secret of its reference to the pitiable STAR TREK red shirts who died in the service of Kirk. While Scalzi skilfully builds meta upon meta and there are some neat lines about the predicament that the crew members find themselves in, it can’t hide the fact that this is basically a one joke book and that joke gets seriously thin towards the end. This would be fine if the characters were deep and complex but they’re little more than broad cut outs interchangeable with each other (and the use of surnames beginning with the same letter doesn’t help) and the prose is workmanlike rather than inspired with the exception of three codas at the end, which I thought to be the best parts of the book. It’s an enjoyable enough read, but I’m surprised it won the Best Novel Hugo 2013.
There’s a lot of fun to be had with the various ways the Away Team members meet their deaths (particularly the ice sharks) and I also enjoyed the confrontations the various characters have with their reality. Scalzi also puts his experience as a TV creative consultant to good use with some sly in-jokes that SF TV fans will enjoy. Emotionally though, for all the death in the book there’s no real emotional impact to any of the deaths and that’s because the characters never really spark off the page. Ultimately it’s a fun bubble gum read that kept me turning the pages but don’t read it expecting any depth.
The Verdict:
The idea behind John Scalzi’s SF comedy will be familiar to anyone who’s seen GALAXY QUEST and it makes no secret of its reference to the pitiable STAR TREK red shirts who died in the service of Kirk. While Scalzi skilfully builds meta upon meta and there are some neat lines about the predicament that the crew members find themselves in, it can’t hide the fact that this is basically a one joke book and that joke gets seriously thin towards the end. This would be fine if the characters were deep and complex but they’re little more than broad cut outs interchangeable with each other (and the use of surnames beginning with the same letter doesn’t help) and the prose is workmanlike rather than inspired with the exception of three codas at the end, which I thought to be the best parts of the book. It’s an enjoyable enough read, but I’m surprised it won the Best Novel Hugo 2013.
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the flagship Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid. It’s a prestige posting, and life couldn’t be better … although there are a few strange things going on …
- every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces
- the ship’s captain, its chief science officer and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these encounters
- at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.
Suddenly it’s less surprising how much energy is expended below decks on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned an Away Mission. Andrew’s fate may have been sealed … until he stumbles on a piece of information that changes everything, and offers him and his fellow redshirts a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives …
It’s the 25th century. Ensigns Andrew Dahl, Maia Duvall, Jimmy Hanson and Crewmen Finn and Hester have just been assigned to the Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union. It’s a prime assignment and Dahl’s excited by the opportunity. But it’s not long before all five begin to realise that something’s terribly wrong on the Intrepid. For starters the other crew members try to avoid the captain, chief science officer and Lieutenant Kerensky. Then there’s the fact that every Away Mission results in the fatality of a junior crew member and serious injury to Kerensky.
In between dodging Away Missions, Dahl and the others try to work out what’s going on. Help comes from an unlikely source but the answers they get are too crazy to be believed ...
The idea behind John Scalzi’s SF comedy will be familiar to anyone who’s seen GALAXY QUEST and it makes no secret of its reference to the pitiable STAR TREK red shirts who died in the service of Kirk. While Scalzi skilfully builds meta upon meta and there are some neat lines about the predicament that the crew members find themselves in, it can’t hide the fact that this is basically a one joke book and that joke gets seriously thin towards the end. This would be fine if the characters were deep and complex but they’re little more than broad cut outs interchangeable with each other (and the use of surnames beginning with the same letter doesn’t help) and the prose is workmanlike rather than inspired with the exception of three codas at the end, which I thought to be the best parts of the book. It’s an enjoyable enough read, but I’m surprised it won the Best Novel Hugo 2013.
There’s a lot of fun to be had with the various ways the Away Team members meet their deaths (particularly the ice sharks) and I also enjoyed the confrontations the various characters have with their reality. Scalzi also puts his experience as a TV creative consultant to good use with some sly in-jokes that SF TV fans will enjoy. Emotionally though, for all the death in the book there’s no real emotional impact to any of the deaths and that’s because the characters never really spark off the page. Ultimately it’s a fun bubble gum read that kept me turning the pages but don’t read it expecting any depth.
The Verdict:
The idea behind John Scalzi’s SF comedy will be familiar to anyone who’s seen GALAXY QUEST and it makes no secret of its reference to the pitiable STAR TREK red shirts who died in the service of Kirk. While Scalzi skilfully builds meta upon meta and there are some neat lines about the predicament that the crew members find themselves in, it can’t hide the fact that this is basically a one joke book and that joke gets seriously thin towards the end. This would be fine if the characters were deep and complex but they’re little more than broad cut outs interchangeable with each other (and the use of surnames beginning with the same letter doesn’t help) and the prose is workmanlike rather than inspired with the exception of three codas at the end, which I thought to be the best parts of the book. It’s an enjoyable enough read, but I’m surprised it won the Best Novel Hugo 2013.
