Redshirts by John Scalzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I start reading this book I thought it was going to be a parody of Star Trek and it is - but it's more than that. The writer, obviously, is a fan of Star Trek but I didn't thought while reading the book that he was mocking them but making an homage. Maybe I am wrong but...
This book deals with something more important than the myth of the Redshirts (check the web if you don't know what it means to be a Redshirt)
This book deals with some tropes that this series, and others in general, have/had. It's almost unheard in the old days a main character die, or almost unheard of an unaccredited character do something significant besides dying. Well, to take it simple, if your name wasn't in the credits you were there for one of three things: Died in a horrible way; being pretty and attract young guys; or just being there in the background being pretty and then die.
This book is not the best book Scalzi can write. I read Old Man's War and it's way better but nevertheless I enjoyed it and if I knew someone who enjoyed Star Trek I would lend it to him/her. Also, to anyone who enjoyes seeing tropes in tv series would be a nice reading material. Every series got at least one. When I say trope I mean cliche (I think its the same thing).
Nevertheless about this story is about several charactes who meet and as the story unfolds start to wonder that something is wrong like: Why Lt Kerensky never dies; why only some people do the discover science stuff; what a heck is that black box and Why some people act around the "Main" Cast.
It's good, humorous like a Pratchett book. A book to read, laugh in a train full of people wondering if you are going mad and in the end sit back, sigh and think about some of your favorite series and if you could do the same.
View all my reviews
Comments