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Redshirts

A Novel with Three Codas

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Redshirts

By: John Scalzi
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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Summary

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 Funny Witty Time Travel Comedy
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So yeah, a seriously mixed bag.

Firstly, the "said" issue that other reviewers mention is definitely a thing, together with a number of other grammatical and phrasing issues. If you are anything like me, you are going to have to constantly suppress a nervous tick while listening to this.

The story goes in a much more existential direction than I expected, but I have to admit I was totally hooked in the middle. I expected the Star Trek like setting to be a lot more relevant than it was, but the book still manages to keep you interested. I found myself thinking about the book in-between reading it, which to me is the sign of a good book. It's an interesting idea for a story and develops reasonably well.

It is worth a listen/read, but do yourself a favour and skip the last "Coda" (or both of them if you are not that bothered). The first is mildly amusing, but the second tries too hard to be sentimental, made worse by the author delivering it in an over the top dramatic style. I wanted to vomit a little bit.

A mixed bag...

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I’ve seen comments about poor writing, which is fair enough, “he said” “she said” does get repetitive, BUT... without too many spoilers the whole concept is that they are stuck in a BADLY written sci-fi show. It’s done deliberately and it stops as the story progresses. Wil Wheaton throws his heart and soul into the reading, the end codas tiring up the loose ends are equal parts heart breaking and heart warming. It’s good as a whole, don’t judge the audiobook but it’s sample

Stick with it!!

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superbly read and oddly believable I could imagine myself in the situations following the characters

gripping story

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A great book to get into! Story line and narration are really good. I'd highly recommend this!

Fantastic!

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Fun book overall, but those last few ending chapters could've maybe been interwoven with the rest of the narrative better. They felt tacked on and like a bit of a slog after the main narrative was finished. Still fun though.

Not perfect, but a fun and meta riff on Trek

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