Redshirts

A Novel with Three Codas

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

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, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory. Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the facts that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces; (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations; and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely 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.

©2012 John Scalzi (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Quite enjoyable

Loved reading the book and listening to it was a genuine pleasure. Highly recommended and you don't have to be a fan of Star Trek to enjoy it.

Stay thru the three Codas

OMG. The book is great. Lots of twists and turns. After the “story line” is over there are three codas. I almost didn’t listen to them. But I did. Each one was better than the last! The third one brought tears. Don’t skip ahead, it will only ruin the joy of the surprise!!!

The ending is good if you can get there.

"He said, she said, he said, she said, he said, she said, he said, she said, he said, she said," ahhhhhh!

In a paper book it's very easy to skip past the dialogue tags, but narrator Wil Wheaton makes sure that you know every "he said, she said" is there in the audiobook. It's so frustrating that I almost stopped listening.

I've always heard amazing things about Scalzi and so I was so disappointed in my first foray into his works.

The story concept is good, but the characters are all exactly the same, with the same personality, and cracking the same jokes - that joke being repeatedly upset at each other over the crappy situation they are in. There are too many characters introduced too fast and since they all talk and act identically, it's hard to differentiate one from another. Scalzi tries to throw in a heartfelt moment to try to humanize the main character, but it felt tacked on and by that point, it was too little too late anyway. The story skips over large chunks of the plot that probably would have been interesting, but we'll never know.

The final ending is good, but it is such a frustrating journey to get there that I debated if it was worth it. At the end, there are two final Codas that talk more about what happened after the plot, but I couldn't listen to them. After I give my ears a few other books to listen to, maybe I'll go back and listen to the codas...then again maybe not.

Got better and better

Wasn’t sure what I thought about Redshirts. I stick with it and I’m glad I did. This is an original take on space opera fantasy. The pieces fit together well as the story progresses.

The story appears to end with more than an hour left. But it doesn’t. I’m not going to give anything away, but Scalzi brings a completely fresh take on how to end a book. I loved it. For me, the last hour was the best part.

I only have one complaint. I hate it when authors (and therefore narrators) pepper every little sentence with “he said” or “she said.” I realized it was pretty needed as Wheaton didn’t differentiate the voices of the characters at all. But I still hate it.

meta and does what you expect, but still good

Just get it. It's really a great book. Accept the premise as fact and you'll enjoy the remainder of the book a lot.

He said she said...

“John...” Sally said.
“Yes Sally” John said.
“When two people are having a conversation in this book...” Sally said.
“Yes Sally” John said.
“...why does John Scalzi insist on punctuating every line of dialogue with ‘he said’ or ‘she said’?” Sally said.
“Why Sally, I don’t know.” John said.
“Me neither John.” Sally said.
“Maybe - Sally hear me out - maybe it doesn’t look as boring and receptive when it’s written on the page.” John said.
“John, do you mean that this annoying and unimaginative repetition really stands out when each word is read to you, like in an audiobook?” Sally said.
“Yeah...” John said.
“It’s hard to tell if this was intentional...” Sally said.
“...or if it’s a sign of lazy writing.” John said.
“There didn’t seem to be any narrative point to it.” Sally said.
“....” John said.
“Exactly. I wish Scalzi had spent more time in composing his sentences and being a little more creative in sentence structure.” Sally said.
“I know what you mean. The premise of the book is great and mostly imaginative.” John said.
“The ending is a little contrived, but fits the sci-if genre.” Sally said.
“Yeah.” John said.
“John, I feel that if the writing itself had been out together with more thought, then this would have been an excellent book” Sally said.
“Instead of just 3 stars.” John said.
“Yeah.” Sally said.
“Sally?” John said.
“Yeah?” Sally said.
“Can we call this review finished?” John said.
“Yeah.” Sally said.

too much said

The story was great, however confusing at times. The only negative thing I have to say about it though is the amount of times "said" is said in this narration. Said is said so many times I end up only focusing on said and not what was said! It was torture to listen through and try to ignore the saids.

Excellent Story/Great Narration

Great voice work by Wheaton. Have listened to other audio books read by others. The narrator droned. Almost no inflection or voice changed. Fell asleep repeatedly I while listening to those books. This one was exciting and kept my attention. Great narration.

i promise i tried

I saw that Wil Wheaton narrates and was so excited to hear him but the content... I love the premise, and would probably recommend for it to be a screenplay instead since the dialogue is dynamic between characters and the humor would work best with action but it missed the mark as an audiobook.

Wonderful story; just needs voices

The story is well done, and the "coda" is its own wonderful story.

The singular week point comes in with Wheaton and Scalzi combined effort: Scalzi tends to use the phrase "says [character name]" repeatedly during any conversation. In some books, this is lessened by a good reader who uses character voices to soften the repetition. Unfortunately, Will Wheatong does not do character voices, and thus makes those sections of dialogue quite jarring.

That being said, if you can make it past these scenes of dialogue, it is well worth the listen.