Review: Redshirts

Redshirts by John Scalzi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What the heck? _This_ is what you give Scalzi a Hugo for?

Don't get me wrong; it's not a terrible book. It's just probably the least-interesting one he has written. I'm something of a Scalzi fanboy - really enjoy his light touch on deep topics, and snappy Tarrantino-esque dialogue - but this was merely workmanlike. Go read literally everything else he's written first.

The first two-thirds are a well-written but uninspiring Galaxy Quest-like running joke poking fun at Star Trek. Mildly amusing, but two stars (ok) at best. It reads like a late-night-at-the-bar-at-a-con idea that got away from itself. The last third adds some depth to some of the characters, which dragged it up to a third star in my book, but felt a bit tacked-on. I got a chuckle out of this, but that's about it, and I'm thoroughly dumbfounded at the amount of lavish praise heaped on it.

View all my reviews