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Redshirts

A Novel with Three Codas

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Redshirts

Written by: John Scalzi
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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About this listen

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 facts 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.

©2012 John Scalzi (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Fantasy Fiction First Contact Science Fiction Transportation Funny Witty Mind-Bending Time Travel Comedy Space Jokes
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What listeners say about Redshirts

Average Customer Ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    212
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 3 Stars
    51
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

fantastic and meaningful

fast pace story. events unfold at light speed. interesting twists. thought provoking end. and lots of F worlds

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome for anyone but especially perfect for...

Awesome for anyone but especially perfect for Startrek lovers. The story is very well put together and the narrator just makes it ask that much better. Very cool play on one's imagination. I loved it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Great start but . . .

one of the best Sci fi stories out there. Wil Wheaton was amazing. he made me a fan of his work moving forward.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Engage

It reads like a mix between Hitchcock and a star trek movie, sprinkled with star trek reffrences and f-bombs.

Magic

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

BEWARE Loads of fun until chapter 24

This book is a parody of Star Trek and its storylines with a twist . If you’re looking for fun the occasional laugh and lots of silliness this is definitely the book for you! It actually had me gasp at the end of chapter 23 and burst out laughing at chapter 24! Unfortunately everything goes downhill after that. The book spent two hours on material that is boring, uninspired and irrelevant to the characters and storylines that the reader has been investing in over the last 24 chapters. It feels like the editor told the author ‘this is not long enough for an audiobook we need another two hours of material’. If you don’t mind being ripped off with two terrible hours then I recommend reading the book up until chapter 24. Don’t waste your time with anything else. But if you want to get full value for your money then look elsewhere. The two hours are completely a waste and opposite to the lighthearted silliness that pervades the rest of the book.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not bad, but not as good as I had hoped

The premise was very interesting. I was expecting a quirky and humorous tale of what those miserable redshirts get up to when they realize what is being done to them in a sci-fi movie. The “captain Kirk” persona should have been a gold mine of laughs waiting to happen.

The author did end up breaking the fourth wall, but took it in a different direction. That’s perfectly fine even if it is light on humour, but for a story built on unfortunate supporting cast breaking the fourth wall on a spaceship in the future, it fell short. Think mundane struggles being discussed in a coffee shop in 2012. I would possibly still give it four stars as the story was enjoyable enough mostly and had some nice moral conclusions and thought-provoking dialogue if not for the overuse and unnecessary use of f-bombs; they add nothing to the narrative that couldn’t be done without and ruin the experience a bit.

The performance is very solid and well done, but I have listened to others that go above and beyond by changing the voice and/or bringing the role to life. This one was just well done.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Funny, meta romp for sci-fi fans

Redshirts is a funny, action-packed, meta romp through the lives of a group of random, bit-part ensigns on a Star Trek-like series. The protagonist, Andrew Dahl, arrives on the Intrepid with his friends only to find something very weird going on: everyone seems to be trying to avoid going on away missions after random incidents (including run-ins with alien diseases, land worms and ice sharks) keep killing the other low-ranking crew.

I loved the first two-thirds of this book as Dahl and friends investigate their colleagues' mysterious behaviour and try to survive bizarre away missions. I found myself laughing out loud at the loving fun this book pokes at Trek and other sci-fi tropes. And the story itself was hard to put down. How would Dahl and co. stop the redshirt slaughter?

But I think I would've preferred this as a novella without the three lengthy "Coda" chapters at the end. These only helped to reinforce messages I felt were already pretty clear, answer questions I was fine not knowing the answers to, and round out characters I don't know really needed more dimension. As I listened to the audiobook, this last two hours of the book felt like a slog after what had otherwise been an enjoyable cruise.

I did really enjoy Wil Wheaton as audiobook narrator. His tone reading the dialogue was pitch-perfect, capturing the essence of crewmembers like Hester and Captain Abernathy without needing to do voices. #Audible1

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Once Again Thought Provoking. ..

disguised as lite entertainment. John Scalzi is a master story teller with a sense a humour. There was one point I was worried. Thought the story was heading in a reckless direction. Wrong. Just a necessary plot point to turn us in the right direction.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Only ok, not bad but not great

I appreciated the premise but two things prevent this from being great
First is the constant use of “He said/She said”. Scalzi does a reasonable job giving his characters some personality but the constant use of He said/She said distracts from the narrative
The second is unfortunately Wil Wheaton himself. His narration is good but he does little to make the characters distinct such as accents and different vocal cues. It was impossible to tell the characters apart without being told so
Despite these flaws overall this was still a good listen

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Another enjoyable read

Began slowly and frustratingly with a lot of short choppy "... he said" dialogue. Then, poof, characters established, the story took off. Scalzi turns the traditional upside-down. Fun, fun, fun. Was surprised when where I considered the novel would end was actually 2 chapters short, without the codas. I'm enjoying discovering this author's works.

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