Redshirts
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It's a prestige posting, with the chance to serve on "Away Missions" alongside the starship's famous senior officers. Life couldn't be better...until Andrew begins to realize that 1) every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces, 2) the ship's senior officers always survive these confrontations, and 3) sadly, at least one low-ranking crew member is invariably killed. Unsurprisingly, the savvier crew members below decks avoid Away Missions at all costs. Then Andrew stumbles on information that transforms his and his colleagues' understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is...and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives. Redshirts by John Scalzi is the winner of the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Stats for nerds
11recommend
18mentions
17people
2015–2026years
67% recommend28% neutral6% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Somewhat lesser-known sci-fi novels I read in the past:
The Unincorporated Man (and three sequels)
Cross between science fiction and fantasy: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality ("HPMOR") - the premise is that Harry Potter is raised by a good aunt and uncle, and is taught the Scientific Method and so he uses that when encountering magic.
Old Man's War (and sequels) by John Scalzi
Redshirts by John Scalzi
Science-reality: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Ra by qntm
There is no Antiemetics Division by qntm
- Much of a fan as I am of his works, some of them certainly fall flat. Lock In is a great example; I loved his world building, but both of his first two books felt like it channeled Matlock or CSI with their endings, with exposition and some kind of reveal that felt out of character. I also admit lost interest in Old Man's War after The Last Colony.
Redshirts however is a master class in satire of Trek, and Starter Villain made me laugh.
I also admit Wil Wheaton's narration of his books always feels spot on to me.
- Redshirts was great.
I think I tried to read Old Man’s War but it got kind of mixed up in my brain with, and I think almost entirely eclipsed by, The Forever War.
Maybe I should give it another try though. Scalzi seems like a good guy, and if I remember correctly he’s got a nice light pulpy style.
- If you haven’t read it, you may enjoy Red Shirts a book about the lives of extras from sci fi shows.
https://www.amazon.com/Redshirts-John-Scalzi-audiobook/dp/B0...
- Scalzi is definitely one of my favorites right now. While I actually don't like the Old Man's War universe that much, his one-off books and smaller series have been absolute delights. They become even better when he gets Wil Wheaton to narrate his audio releases (I still smile thinking of Redshirts).
Nice to see Scalzi use what influence he has to actually help someone else like this.
- I really like that he's not afraid to publish reasonably sized one-off novels. That is becoming so rare these days with so many other author wanting their first novel to be the first of a series of thousand page tomes absolutely chock full of wheel spinning and padding.
You can pick up something like Starter Villain and read it in an afternoon and thoroughly enjoy it. Other novels to check out include Androids Dream, Agent to the Stars, Redshirts, and Kaiju Preservation Society.
