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.

Seemed like it would be cute and fluffy...

...and it was, at first. A chapter or two of silly brainlessness starts you on a trip that ends in tears and makes you think serious thoughts about life

Way better than what I was expecting

I expected the meta humor, and it was fun. What I didn't expect was how much deeper this book would take me emotionally. Given its previous reviews, my expectations were low. I'm so glad I took the chance anyway. Redshirts was a rewarding read.

not unique, but well done.

want sure where this novel was going as I didn't read the summary before starting it. I hoped it was going somewhere because Scalzi writes better than the beginning of this novel. Hang on because it does come clear, and gets better soon.

great imagination dialogue and pacing, BUT

Little Fuzzies was one of the best books in years. This book is nearly on a par with it. The plot is ingenious, the pacing outstanding, the character development is good. There was only one negative for me. As the book progressed, the profanity became more and more frequent. Just a personal preference for me, but I find it very distracting.

awesome all the way around

so worth the time of any trekkie or even a science fiction fan. loved it

Hilarious and Intriguing!

Based off of a certain sci-fi TV series in space comes this great book. The Intrigue is a head space ship for the Federations space exploration. It's a ship that just doesn't quite make sense. The story is centered around all the extras you find in a ship, people who aren't the main characters. Due to unfortunate circumstances new crew members are constantly being added to the ship. This brings our main crew to believe there is something utterly wrong with the ship but they just can't place it. this is their story ok how they figure out how to survive on this death trap of a ship.

This was a great listen!

I couldn't stop listening the first day, but had to stop to go to bed! it was very entertaining with an unexpected plot twist. I also liked the three ending codas . I will look for other books by this author.

Interesting story that needed more voices.

This is not a jab at the narrator, for all I know having one person doing, roughly, the same voice for every character was part of the formula. But I felt it would have been a much better performance if there was more voice variety to represent the many characters. Def worth the listen!

good overall, bit of cringe though

pretty good, bit cringey at times. parts get annoying to listen to. xxx said, yyyy said, xxx said zzz said.

occasionally annoying scripting, but worth it

Yeah, LOTS of "he said" & "she said", and it can get annoying at times, but it does work, and you'll get over it, as the storyline sweeps you along.