Redshirts
by John Scalzi
Hardcover, 217 pg.
Tor Books, 2012
This warmed the cockles of my Geek Heart like no book since Ready Player One. I’m not sure how much I can say without getting into spoiler territory, but I’ll try.
It starts off as a funny–but obvious–Star Trek parody, where all the lower ranking crewmen are terrified to go on away missions, for fear of getting killed in stupid and/or horrible ways. Entertaining enough, but…after a couple of chapters, I started to worry this gag was going to get really old over 300 pages.
Which is when Scalzi shook things up by a clever spoilery twist, which he followed quickly by another spoilery twist. And before I knew it, this had become a serious SF book with a comic flair. The codas at the end turn this from a fun adventure into something with a lot of heart and soul–and even more cleverness than the large amount displayed in the main body of the novel.
I so less-than-three this book. Go and read.
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