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.

Pretty good

The ending really dragged but the overall story was pretty good. Interesting twist as long as you don't think too hard about it.

Decent Book hurt by the Narrator

So, I feel like this book will have a huge "your millage may vary". I went in depth on my goodreads review on why I feel this way, but it contains a lot of spoilers. If you want find my review there for that, I can not seem to add spoiler tags here and I do not want to spoil someones experience.

Overall, this audiobook is a decent book with plot twists that do not work for me at all along with humor that is hit or miss. What you see in other reviews of the audiobook is true, Wil does a horrible job here compounded by bad writing on Scalzi's part. To many one liner dialog ended with "he said" "she said"., names that are to close together so its easy to be confused, and Wil simply reading the entire novel in his own voice. I have listened to other books read by WIl and enjoyed them, here it is just bad.

Bazinga

This was an interesting story. It wasn't my favorite Scalzi book but I enjoyed it. It was funny but just not as good as his other works. I enjoyed Agent to the Stars far better. The narrator was phenomenal as always. Wil Weaton is amazing in everything I've listened to him in.

Disclaimer: I've been listening at 2x speed for so long anything else sounds like slow motion. My enjoyment of the narrator is based on my listening speed. I only leave 5 stars for books I've listened to multiple times. I'll update my review if I listen again.

Shut up, Wesley!

Would you try another book from John Scalzi and/or Wil Wheaton?

As far as John Scalzi goes, I have read several of his books so far, I honestly prefer End of Empires or whatever it's title is to this one. The concept in this book was kind of cool, but by the end the most amusing concept was that it was bad writing writing about bad writing (awkward sentence).

Who was your favorite character and why?

I didn't realize there was a likable character...

What aspect of Wil Wheaton’s performance would you have changed?

Shut up, Wesley.

Did Redshirts inspire you to do anything?

It inspired me to make this concept better. Honestly the author could have done so much more with this.

Any additional comments?

If you are looking for a good read, do not get this book. If you are looking to waste 8 hours, go right ahead.

No offense Will...

First off this is a great book. I am also a big fan of Will Wheaton. However I can now say I am not a huge fan of him reading books. He speaks clearly and the quality is good but I have become used to readers who vary their voices for characters. -1 star on performance for that. (5 stars for me are for multi cast ones ).

Great book

Funny ... Great to listen to while cleaning house and doing laundry.. I laughed so much. There are some sad parts.

good

was good till the last 3 chapters or so. the book was just a comedic take on the star trek world. light and fun.

Good story, not a great audio book

The amount of back and forth dialogue in the story means you hear a lot of he said she said over and over. Other than that it's a good book, would still recommend it.

A little out there

This one is rather good. Not liostened to any other of hiswork but plan on listening to more of his work

A great mix of serious science fiction and fun.

I couldn't stop listening. Yes, it was that good. I read the description and was a little worried about the plot but John Scalzi pulled it off fantastically.