Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas

I might return to this book someday and wish past self hadn't been quite so dismissive.

If so, I'll be glad that past self took the time to honestly point out that parts of the book (the first third or so, esp. - then with spikes through the second third) were absolute FIVEs and lots of fun.

But past self, who is current self, isn't going to let go of the fact that the book was too caught up in its own cutesy cleverness to lay out a good story for the reader. It's a middling story, told in a ponderous way (hey, I like puzzles, I rated a bunch of the ponderousness five stars) that ended up being a masturbation session by the time the Codas (three of them - comprising the last 20% of the book) took hold.

I hope there are page count standards that made the last 20% a necessary evil. Or maybe the line between novel and novella... I don't know, SOME GOOD REASON - but whatever the case, it out-Fonzi'ed the shark jump and nuked the fridge.

I ended up thinking (past me in the present) that this cute playful wankitude is precisely why we can't have nice things, when it comes to mixing humor into fantasy/sci-fi genres. It activates my gag reflex. I know what you're doing, oh my god - stop belaboring this - who are you writing for now - okay, it's dead now.

All that - and I give it a STRONG 3. This is a fun book up until the Codas - it slumps for a while, recovers in smart fun and interesting ways, then starts stuttering around like a malfunctioning thing.

Hopefully the play seen here will get out of everyone's systems and we'll be able to get back to stories. Remember stories? Old Man's War... now THAT'S a story! ( )

Writen by John Scalzi, this is any nerd or Reddit user’s dream come true.

This book follows a group of, you guessed it, Redshirts on a very Star Trek like ship. And yes, they do always die.

Quick witted and dry, the humor leads and drives the story – yes, both ends – and keeps you smiling. The end does get very stretched and almost feels like a fan fiction piece, but it brings the story back home.

I recommend this book to everyone. It isn’t the best book, but it is a joy to read. ( )

Una novela liviana y muy entretenida, es una lectura veloz donde a se agradecen los toques de humor. ( )

If you're a fan of Star Trek in all its various incarnations and you have a reasonable sense of humor then you will enjoy [Redshirts]. If not don't go here. Scalzi makes fun of the fundamental tropes that have become essential to the Star Trek oeuvre. Probably the biggest achievement though is creating characters who you can care about enough to lift the book out of cleverness. **** ( )

A meta Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for Star Trek (technically a bad imitation of ST) where the characters do become aware of their situation and peril and use the artificiality of it to rescue themselves - and incidentally help others. It had too few jokes for it length, but didn't quite get painful. Though the asteroid should have been left out or insisted upon. ( )