Rob's Recommendations: Redshirts

One of the books Rosalie and I listened to on our recent road trip was Redshirts: A Novel With Three Codas by John Scalzi. I had read the book about a decade ago when it first came out and loved it. It had been long enough that listening to it this time was like experiencing it again for the first time and I was delighted by how much I enjoyed it again. Plus it was read by Wil Wheaton (best known for his portrayal of Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation) who has read many audiobooks and is one of my favorite readers (next to James Marsden).

Here's a quick tease for the novel:

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 fact 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.

Redshirts is the winner of the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

If you're familiar with Star Trek at all (especially the original series) you'll love the book. It's a humorous take on the science fiction genre where not all is as it appears. The book gets very meta, and then even more so as it reaches its wonderful conclusion. 

I was unfamiliar with John Scalzi's work, but am reading through (chronologically) his earlier work and am currently devouring his book Old Man's War. He has a wonderfully casual style with a lot of humor mixed in.

If you're looking for a good book to read or listen to, and you are at least familiar with Star Trek, I'd give Redshirts my highest recommendation. A+