Redshirts / John Scalzi.
Publisher: New York : Tor, 2013Copyright date: ©2012Edition: First trade paperback editionDescription: 317 pages ; 21 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780765334794 (pbk.)
- 813/.6 23
- PS3619.C256 R43 2013
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Cherry Hill Public Library | Cherry Hill Public Library | Science Fiction | Science Fiction Collection | SF SCA (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Checked out | 05/10/2024 | 33407003924873 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
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, with the chance to serve on "Away Missions" alongside the starship's famous senior officers.
Life couldn't be better...until Andrew begins to realize that 1) every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces, 2) the ship's senior officers always survive these confrontations, and 3) sadly, at least one low-ranking crew member is invariably killed. Unsurprisingly, the savvier crew members below decks avoid Away Missions at all costs.
Then Andrew stumbles on information that 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 by John Scalzi is the winner of the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Old Man's War Series
#1 Old Man's War
#2 The Ghost Brigades
#3 The Last Colony
#4 Zoe's Tale
#5 The Human Division
#6 The End of All Things
Short fiction: "After the Coup"
Other Tor Books
The Android's Dream
Agent to the Stars
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded
Fuzzy Nation
Redshirts
Lock In
The Collapsing Empire (forthcoming)
"A Tom Doherty Associates book."
Enjoying his assignment with the xenobiology lab on board the prestigious Intrepid, ensign Andrew Dahl worries about casualties suffered by low-ranking officers during away missions before making a shocking discovery about the starship's actual purpose.
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
When he's posted to the starship Intrepid, Ensign Andrew Dahl discovers that invariably, whenever senior officers lead an away team mission, one of the anonymous low-ranking crewmen-like Dahl and his friends-accompanying them dies in a horrible way. The more deeply he investigates the mystery, the more bizarre twists the situation takes, until Dahl and his expendable "redshirt" comrades end up on an unexpected mission of their own to try to escape their fate. Wil Wheaton provides an enthusiastic narration (as well as another Trek connection). The comic novel ends on an unexpectedly touching note. -VERDICT Recommended for fans of Star Trek and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as well as those who enjoy Scalzi's more serious novels. ["Dealing with issues of time travel, identity, love, and loss, this humorous and thought-provoking novel should appeal to fans of sf (especially Star Trek devotees) who like a good laugh along with their big ideas and space action," read the review of the New York Times best-selling Tor hc, LJ 5/15/12.-Ed.]-Jason Puckett, Georgia State Univ., Atlanta (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
In a world where junior starship officers inevitably and dramatically die on planetside missions-a problem any Star Trek fan will be familiar with-ensign Andrew Dahl joins the crew of the Universal Union ship Intrepid, the pride of the fleet, and quickly realizes his life is at risk. As Dahl's fellow officers drop like flies and backstab each other to escape away duty, he decides to figure out exactly what's going on. The first third of the book is a darkly comic romp, skewering common plot holes and lazy genre conventions while making the reader eager for the ingenious reason for the "coincidental" deaths. Sadly, Scalzi reveals all too soon that they're just characters in a story, an explanation that neither surprises nor satisfies. The rest of the book is increasingly strange and unfunny as Dahl breaks the fourth wall to demand answers. Scalzi explores life among the doomed redshirts with ingeniously morbid glee, but that's not enough to save the story from collapsing in on itself. Agent: Ethan Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Agency. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.Kirkus Book Review
Scalzi (Fuzzy Nation, 2011, etc.) takes a stab at metafiction--and misses. In 2456, when Ensign Andrew Dahl is assigned to the xenobiology laboratory of the Universal Union starship Intrepid, he looks forward to participating in Away Missions. Peculiarly, however, experienced crew members invariably vanish just before the officers arrive with the mission assignments. Capt. Abernathy, science officer Q'eeng and astrogator Kerensky always go along, whether their skills are required or not, along with a handful of anonymous juniors. Worse, each mission always entails a usually unnecessary confrontation with improbable and hostile entities (ice sharks, killer robots with harpoons, Borgovian land worms) during which one or more of the hapless juniors get killed in dramatically horrible fashion. Abernathy and Q'eeng always emerge unperturbed and unscathed, while Kerensky consistently gets mangled but miraculously survives. If all this sounds like they're trapped in a bad episode of Star Trek, you're not wrong: They are. Somehow, and Scalzi declines to discuss the details, the actions taking place are being dictated by the half-baked scripts of a Star Trek clone series back in 2012. This, and its entirely predictable resolution, occupies 200 pages or so. The remainder comprises three codas set in 2012 that attempt to ground the aftermath in some sort of reality. Fittingly, the starship characters, those who aren't ciphers, sound and behave like teenagers. The plot you know about. Intriguing developments, fresh ideas, dashes of originality? Forget it. It's all vaguely amusing in a sophomoric sort of way, which is fine if you're an easily diverted sophomore with a couple of hours to kill. Check the date. If it isn't April 1st, you've been had.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.There are no comments on this title.