(Cover image: Tor Books)
Growing up you had a dream and the sky was the limit. Well, actually the sky wasn’t the limit, it was just the starting point. For you are a citizen of the Universal Union and your dream has come true. You are Ensign Andrew Dahl and you have been assigned to the Dub U’s flagship, the Intrepid. The universe has just opened to you and your future holds, among other things, exciting away missions on exotic planets lead by high ranking members of the Intrepid crew. Could life get any better?
You think not, until experience shows that a great many of the crew members die on these away missions, many in unimaginably unpleasant ways. You are tapped early on for inclusion on these all-too-frequent excursions and thus you have front row seats to the fickle finger of Fate. Beyond the ever-present danger, something seems not quite right about these away missions. And as you ponder this feeling you discover that the finger of Fate may not be so fickle. For her choosing seems to be anything but random, and her fashion sense leans to one lone member of the color wheel: Red.
Author John Scalzi’s latest book is many things, but mostly a riff on the implausibility present in all hour long weekly action adventure television shows, most notably the long-running series–Star Trek–and the well known joke at the show’s expense that can be summed up in one word: redshirts.
John Scalzi has crafted a story that parodies this beloved franchise with a loving hand. He manages to poke good-natured fun at science fiction television without insulting the fans of those shows. One would imagine that this is a fine line to be walked and Scalzi walks it very well. As an adoring fan of the original Trek series I am not blind to its silliness and I was impressed while reading Redshirts that I never felt like John Scalzi was making fun of me as a fan nor of my devotion. In Redshirts John Scalzi takes a clever approach in examining the phenomenon that all Trekkies (or Trekkers) have joked about for years: the very short lifespan of an away-team member wearing the infamous red shirt. When I first heard the idea I was concerned that, while intriguing, it might either be too thin for a novel-length story or that the reader would be bludgeoned repeatedly with the joke. The story has its threadbare moments but John Scalzi keeps the things moving forward without overdoing the joke.
For the most part Redshirts tells its story from the point of view of Andrew Dahl, a very likeable character whose voice leads the reader very nicely through the narrative. Dahl is very much the everyman character and through him Scalzi unfolds the world he has created very skillfully. You don’t need to have been a Star Trek fan to enjoy this novel. As I alluded to earlier, there is a universality to the idea that characters in episodic television run into crazy, outlandish, dangerous and unbelievable situations with a frequency (once a week) that defies any logical explanation. This is very much the case in the lives of the Intrepid crew and it is fun to see realization dawn amongst the newest members of that crew. It is with this realization that Redshirts becomes more than a quirky homage to a major science fiction franchise but instead begins to examine the idea of story and the author’s role in telling a story. And this is where I suspect Redshirts will either work for readers or won’t.
I am an admitted fan of John Scalzi’s work, and am happy to raise the fan flag. Scalzi is a smart, funny and talented storyteller who knows how to tell a ripping good yarn. There has been a great deal of hype for Redshirts and its back cover is full of quotes by recent best-selling genre authors who unanimously laud it with variations of the phrase “laugh-out-loud funny”. Sadly for me this wasn’t the case. While I found the story to be clever, entertaining and worth reading, I did not find it to be “ruin-your-underwear funny” as author Joe Hill put it. Neither is it, in my opinion, the best John Scalzi has had to offer. It is a good story, but its shortcomings keep me from calling it “great”.
Redshirts is a “novel with three codas”. When the main story ends we get three smaller additional stories which build on what has gone before. It is in the codas that John Scalzi’s statements about creators and their creations is explored more fully. I have to admit that I was disappointed with the ending of the main story. It fell a bit flat for me. I wanted more closure with the cast of characters that I had come to enjoy. In a day where editors seem to allow authors to take way too much time (aka pages) to tell their stories, I believe that Redshirts could have been much better with some additional meat on the bones of the main story. The first coda is also somewhat weak in that it over-examines the breaking of the fourth wall that is a theme running through the narrative. The second and third codas, however, were very engaging and when all was said and done I felt like John Scalzi ended it on the perfect emotional note for me, while at the same time making one last clever observation about fiction.
I have struggled in writing this review in a manner that does not include tremendous spoilers, and in doing so I fear that my criticisms are not backed by anything but the most vague references as evidence. I’ve read some very high praise reviews of this book and in most ways I can understand those reactions. That is not what happened to me. I would love to get into deeper discussions about this book in the comments section so I would ask that if you too want to engage in deeper discussion that you are sure to put a big SPOILER tag at the start of your comment.
I rate Redshirts a 7/10 stars. Despite flaws it is an entertaining science fiction tale sure to appeal to anyone who has enjoyed any of the various Star Trek series. Beyond that it would appeal to those who like to take a break once in a while from “serious” fiction and need an infusion of humor. And then there is that third layer of the examination of creator and creations that I believe would appeal to anyone who is either currently a writer or wants to be a writer. It is that layer of Scalzi’s story that I see being a foundation for a lot of great conversations. I wanted to “love” Redshirts but instead ended up just “liking” it. At the end of the day, that is not a bad thing. I like the way John Scalzi tells a story and I would take what I consider to be a slightly flawed effort of his over many other available works any day of the week. I am already anxiously awaiting his next book. Until then I think I’ll fire up some original Trek on Netflix and scream fruitless warnings at the poor saps whose assigned outfits have sealed their doom.
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Mine is but a lone experience of the book. For an alternate viewpoint, or rather the viewpoint of someone who engaged with the book on a level much closer to the the back-cover advanced praise, check out Little Red Reviewer’s post.
“ruin-your-underwear funny”–that is a new one for me. Since I hate doing laundry, I hope to avoid this situation 😉 That is a shame that it didn’t live up to its hype, but 7 out of 10 ain’t bad. And I’m glad he was able to poke fun in a respectful way. I’m not into books that rip apart other genres or something that many people love. Can’t we all just get along people. Respect and still having fun sounds much better to me.
It did for a lot of readers, TBM. I am sorry that it didn’t for me but at the same time I did enjoy it. And of course people have different senses of humor. I can enjoy the good juvenile humor joke once in awhile, but in a few instances in this book Scalzi went for the dirty laugh and in each instant it felt very forced and unnatural to me so I really didn’t find those portions of the book funny. By contrast I started reading Terry Pratchett’s book Thud! and within the first 30 pages I hit my own giggle-aloud moment and I did just that.
Scalzi is definitely a big fan of SF and so that was one thing I wasn’t worried about with this one, I didn’t have any fear that he would be skewering the genre with villainous intentions. He pokes fun in the way only a fan can do and I give him mad props for that, the book was great in that respect.
I’m so excited to read this! Scalzi is such a fun author.
That he is. I’ll be interested in what you think of this in general and in comparison to other Scalzi books you’ve read.
I wish to hell Scalzi would get back to some old fashioned SF like the Old Man’s War books. I wonder if he even still has it in him.
I’m right there with you, Richard. The OMW books remain my favorite. Scalzi was able to reach back into the “good ol’ days” of SF and pull forward some of that sense of wonder that made those books special while also making the books feel contemporary. They had something to say yet they didn’t hit you over the head with the message and they had the mix of adventure and romance, “space opera” if you like, that I prefer in my SF reading.
I think you hit the nail on the head for me as well in regards to Scalzi. I have to say none of his Non-OMW books to me are as good as the one’s in that series.
wonderful review. looking forward to reading this one. I think the premise is awesome, and thanks to your introduction of Old Man’s War, I think Scalzi has just the sense of humor to pull this kind of book off. I am happy to see this thought confirmed.
a link for you: http://www.foxtrot.com/2010/12/12192010/
Ah, that is so great! Foxtrot is a favorite. I miss the days working in a bookstore when I could just read the collections for free. Then again I imagine that is what a library is for. Its been a long time, I should check and see if I can get some.
I would certainly add The Android’s Dream to my list of Scalzi books to pick up. The humor is more prevalent in that book, in my opinion. It has a nice caper feel to it and is very entertaining.
I love Scalzi, so I’m looking forward to this. It’s true I can find him a bit scatological at times, but I can gloss over those moments. For me the question mark is – dare I say it here? – that I’m not a big fan of Star Trek, but I did kind of grow up with the original series, so I’m guessing I’m going to be able to follow it okay. On the other hand, I love meta stuff about the writing process, so I might enjoy it for that as much as anything. However, it’s not out here in the UK until November, so I’ll have to be patient. Maybe I’ll read Fuzzy Nation in the meantime, to fend off any Scalzi cravings.
I’m sorry to hear that you have to wait that long. I wish publishers didn’t do those sorts of things. You don’t have to have any Star Trek knowledge to enjoy this, though a familiarity with the original series will add some flavor to the story for you. You’ll follow it tremendously well.
I’m wanting to re-read Fuzzy Nation. I enjoyed it very much when it came out last year. I would really like to track down an inexpensive copy of the audio version to hear Wil Wheaton’s narration.
LOL, I downloaded Fuzzy Nation and read it last night – enjoyed it every bit as much as the original, Little Fuzzy. Such a charming story, and I did giggle out loud. Loved your namesake, Carl – he’s a great character.
Great! I haven’t read the original, I am sorry to say, but I was charmed, to use your words, by the story. And yes, I liked my namesake quite a bit.
I am curious about this one. I will probably read it eventually because it sounds fun!
It was fun, I hope you can get around to it sometime, especially since you are no doubt running out of things to read. 😉
it was laugh out loud funny for me. even the dirty jokes, mostly because they came out of left field. but hey, I have a pretty filthy sense of humor, just goes to show. 😉
Scalzi never makes fun, or pokes fun at us nerds, he’s laughing with us, not at us. sure, it’s not the most intelligent book ever written, and the characterization isn’t deep, but it was just so much fun to read!
I’m sure it was for many, Andrea. Humor more than anything else I think can strike us in different ways depending on when it catches us. What doesn’t seem funny one day can seem gut-busting the next. I don’t really care that it wasn’t laugh out loud funny for me, was more surprised by the fact that it wasn’t though after all the hype.
It was a fun read, no doubt about it. I just wanted something more given what I’ve gotten out of Scalzi’s previous novels.
You have perfect timing. I’ve been hearing about this one, but somehow didn’t grasp the concept until this morning when a friend discussed it–and on to the To Be Read list it went! I’ve always been a great fan of the poor, short-lived red shirts on Star Trek, and have been known to play with some parodies myself. Can’t wait to see what Scalzi does with the idea–and the exploration of storytelling sounds intiguing too. I haven’t read any Scalzi–sounds like he’ll be an interesting author to explore.
You’ve got it now! 🙂 John Scalzi is a really fun author and he is far and away one of my favorites in the contemporary SF field. While this one isn’t his best, in my opinion, it is really good and worth reading. Grace just reviewed Old Man’s War:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/old-mans-war-by-john-scalzi/
Which is my favorite novel of his and is in my top 10 of favorite SF novels. That whole 4 books series is excellent.
All I could think about when I first heard about Redshirts was that it would probably be hard to both satirize and pay homage to the mere concept of a redshirt. The more reviews I read of the book, however, it seems like that aspect was pulled off rather nicely. If you’re saying that the main character is likable, this definitely marks another positive point in Redshirts‘ column.
I haven’t read anything by Scalzi (in part because a good friend of mine doesn’t like his writing and has kept me dissuaded), and I’ll admit skepticism regarding the humor factor of Redshirts (indeed, the humor factor of most books is nowhere near what is marketed!), but if I’m going to start somewhere with Scalzi, it’ll probably be with Redshirts. I can’t help it – the premise is overwhelmingly entertaining.
The “joke” can run a bit thin at times, but really he did a great job of pulling off those two seemingly contrary things. I myself would not recommend starting with this book, but if you are really intrigued by the premise it is okay. I’d either suggest starting with Fuzzy Nation or, with arguably his best book, Old Man’s War.
I just finished Redshirts myself today. I also would rate it a 7 out of 10. I would have went even lower if not for the 3 codas at the end which pulled it up from a 5 to a 7 for me. I just didn’t find the book that funny. I feel like I was a victim of over hype and I’m judging the book too harshly perhaps due to such high expectations. I heard Scalzi hype this book so much on his blog that when I finally read it I found it just didn’t deliver in the humor category for me. I didn’t laugh out loud one time in the entire book. I did enjoy the book as it was light and fun. Kinda like a summer popcorn flick movie of a novel. All in all not a bad book but certainly not a great one.
I’m right with you, those three codas, really 2 and 3 for me, pulled out what was an okay story that did not end good enough for it to have stopped there. It is very popcorn-flick-ish, not that this is a bad thing.
I too felt like there was a lot of promotion for this one and kudos to the author and Tor for all the promotion, but for me this did raise my expectations through the roof and the book didn’t get close enough to that roof for me.
In a weird side note to your post I unsubscribed from Scalzi’s blog today. I just felt like I was getting TOO many posts from him anymore and I’m sure it influenced my expectations for this book. I know it did. Also, I know soon we will be going into the fall political season and I’m not sure I want to read what I’m sure will be an increase in political posts from him as well. I just want to be surprised and look forward to his books. Just like you I can’t wait for his next book. I know I’ll be buying it on release again as I have some many others since The Last Colony.
I’ll let you know if anything that I think you’ll like comes up on Whatever and forward you the email. I know what you mean, I’m not looking forward to all the social/political posts either, but I end up deleting those emails unread.
Oh, thave to get this!! I wrote about it a few weeks ago, but when I saw the price and that it was hardcover, I put it back on the shelf. I have to read it though – devoted Trekker that I am! I admit that while I like John Scalzi, I’m not a devoted fan, so I am hoping for a light read that takes me into space, and life on a space ship. As a writer, your comments interest me on how he talks about fiction, too, and writing. So now I’m definitely wanting to get my hands sooner rather than later on this. Long live Star Trek! The latest movie version was on tv last night, so I enjoyed watching that 🙂 And the token redshirt that died in the plummet to the drill over the planet Vulcan. 🙂 Good review, Carl!
I really love the Star Trek reboot film. I own it on DVD and just went and bought it on bluray now that I have a bluray player. Such a fun film with its heart in the right place.
I hope you enjoy Redshirts and I will of course want to know your thoughts either way.