Title: Redshirts
Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor Books, 2012
Length: 320 pages
Price: $24.99
ISBN13: 978-0-7653-1699-8
The Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid is a weird ship. It doesn?t take long for Ensign Andrew Dahl to figure out there?s something strange going on, even if this is his first posting as a Space Fleet member. When an odd, ill-kempt man comes out of the cargo tunnels with the nonsensical warning to ?avoid the narrative,? things start making even less sense as they begin to make more sense. Dahl and his crewmates have a hard time grasping the reality of their situation, but it?s up to them to stop it.
Redshirts is the third stand-alone novel by award-winning author John Scalzi. Scalzi has also authored a number of series books, short fiction, and non-fiction, such as Old Man?s War, The Ghost Brigades, and The Android?s Dream. His blog, Whatever, is a favorite with fans, and has been the basis of his books You?re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing, and Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: Selected Writing, 1998-2008.
John Scalzi is a master storyteller, with humor oozing out every finger. Redshirts was a delight to read. The story is brilliantly written, with clear imagery and perfect comic timing. I can?t imagine any Trekkie not loving this book. Jam-packed with serious laugh-out-loud humor, Redshirts is a glorious work of fan(tastic) fiction. The premise of the book is not a totally new idea, but Scalzi has found a totally new and wonderful way of presenting it.
Hidden away in all the comic goodness of Redshirts, though, are some priceless nuggets of wisdom. Seriously real, existential topics are covered in such a way as to make readers go from tears of laughter to tears of nostalgia and sadness in the blink of an eye. When one character is telling another the importance if doing something with his life, with the admonition, ?You don?t win by getting through all your life not having done anything,? any reader who has had a difficult time figuring out where their life was going (and really, who hasn?t?) is going to feel a twinge. It?s sadness and gratitude and identification of the highest order, capable of inducing real reflection into one?s own life. For a book rife with comedy, adding these tidbits without disrupting the flow isn?t something just anyone could pull off, but Scalzi does it, again and again.
The message really hits home that it?s the choices we make that lead us to where we are. This is obvious when it?s spelled out, of course, but in the busy-ness of life, we need to slow down and think about that more often. As Scalzi?s characters must make a conscious decision to guide their own lives to where they want to be, so must we all. Sometimes it takes a slap upside the head, an unreal life situation we can?t believe we?ve gotten ourselves into, to see just how far off track we?ve gone from where we want to be.
Redshirts is a great book a lot of readers will find something to love in, and it?s a really easy read. I recommend it highly to anyone (probably mid-teen or older, for slight sexual humor) who loves science fiction and fantasy, particularly of the Star Trek and Stargate variety. Of all the books I?ve read so far this year, Redshirts is one of the best.
Like this:
Be the first to like this.
Source: http://allwaysunmended.com/2012/08/17/book-review-redshirts-by-john-scalzi/
robert deniro mexico news the talented mr ripley weather new orleans orcl the hartford illinois primary 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.