Thursday, May 17, 2018

Redshirts

RedshirtsRedshirts by John Scalzi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Universal Union's flagship the Intrepid is a deadly place to be. Every time they go on an away mission someone dies. The captain, chief science officer, and Lieutenant Kerensky always manage to survive though. Ensign Andrew Dahl, who just joined the Intrepid, has learned about the away mission mortality rate up close and personal. He's watched other members of the Intrepid avoid away missions as though their life depended on it. Dahl is sure something is wrong and he intends to find out what that is and how to stop it.

Redshirts is a thinly veiled parody of the original Star Trek series. The story gives voice to the plight of those nameless redshirts who were slaughtered on seemingly every away mission. Unfortunately that premise is the best part of Redshirts.

After the deadly away missions have been established, the story seems to run out of ideas quickly. There is little in terms of descriptions and the story is heavy in dialogue. I felt like Scalzi wanted to beat me to death with the word said. I don't know that I've ever read a story this short with so many uses of the word said.

Redshirts simply became uninteresting too quickly and didn't manage to come up with a worthwhile ending.

2.5 out of 5 stars

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