Redshirts by John Scalzi - Sci-Fi Book Review

Art by Chris Shehan

I first started Redshirts while on a 13 hour roadtrip—listening to the audiobook as I weaved through the truck traffic of the Virginia highways. The prologue immediately gripped me, but after about the 500th "Dahl said," I was about ready to take a break. However, I continued on, and I'm so very glad I did so. Redshirts is a blast. It is funny, clever, and ends up delving into some incredibly deep themes.

In terms of prose, they are a bit clunky. As I mentioned prior, it was a huge distraction for me at the start. (Learning that Scalzi wrote this over the course of five weeks made a lot of sense. Props to him). It is VERY dialogue heavy at the start, and he doesn't really provide much substance outside of the dialogue itself during these moments. The content of the dialogue is hilarious, natural, and has great worldbuilding. I just found myself distracted with the lack of prose variety.

I'll avoid spoilers, but let's just say that there's a certain moment when the book really picks up. It showed me how wrong my expectations were, and took me on a wild sci-fi adventure. Oddly enough, it reminded me of... wait for it... Star Trek. Not in the sense of aesthetic, as it is a brilliant parody, but more along the lines of how zany and creative it goes.

Overall, Redshirts was a highly enjoyable read. The prose can be a bit awkward at times, but the quality of the themes and characters make it all worth the while. If you like funny, creative and sometimes wild science fiction (and Star Trek, duh), Redshirts won't let you down.

-H.