Review of Redshirts by John Scalzi. Redshirts is a loving satire inspired shows like Star Trek and Red Dwarf. The book is genuinely funny.
My review of Redshirts by John Scalzi
I loved it! Redshirts was so cool and funny and clever and very meta – in a good way. It is also very self aware. It made me think – it is a deeply existential book – without being in any way shape or form boring.
I very much recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi and who likes tv-shows or writers.
My review from 2014 of Redshirts by John Scalzi
Title: Redshirts
Author: John Scalzi
Genre: Science fiction, space opera, humour
I am writing this review because it has just been announced this month that FX is making Redshirts into a short tv-series. And I’m pretty excited about that! Scalzi is to be the executive producer on the series, so hopefully that should keep it from being cut into scraps and put together like Frankenstein’s monster.
I loved it! Redshirts was so cool and funny and clever and very meta – in a good way. It is also very self-aware. The book plays a lot with the tropes of Star Trek but mixes in other space opera tropes as well. There is a scene in the beginning of the book where the other scientists tries to explain to Andrew how their box that solves all problems just before the deadline runs out works. It is hilarious and it is reminiscent of so many bad action movie tropes.
While being laughing out loud funny, the book made me think – it is a deeply existential book – without being in any way shape or form boring. Mixed in with the humor and satire is quite a bit of thinking about what it means to be real, human and how narratives shapes out live – or at least how we think about out live.
I heard all of it more or less straight through in a day. I think this might even be a book I need to hear again – which is really rare for me. Will Wheaton does a very good job with the narration. And how very fitting that it is him that narrates this book.
I very much recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi and who likes tv-shows or writers.
The stats: Redshirts
Published: 2012 by Tor.com
Length: 320 pages
Read: September 18, 2012
Narrator: Wil Wheaton
Author: male, white, USA
The protagonists: Andrew Dahl, male, straight, white, scientist, able-bodied.
This review was originally posted: February 20, 2014. Updated and edited June 30, 2023
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