It is one of those you just can't let go until you have finished it, demanding your undivided attention. It's a pretty fast read too, I managed to consume the whole thing in two sittings. Redshirts is an incredibly inviting read that manages to ask some big questions in an off-the-wall manner and with such effortless charisma that reading the book is a real joy. As a result below decks there is always a desperate scramble to avoid being placed on an away mission, knowing that if you do you are unlikely to return.Īfter comparing notes with other crew members Ensign Dahl begins to put two and two together and makes a startling realisation about the Starship Intrepid and just what is going on. He quickly twigs that there is something very wrong going on, that just about every mission ends in someone being killed and yet the Captain, chief science officer and dashing Lieutenant Kerensky always survive. Almost every away mission seems to hold untold dangers and lethal encounters with alien forces.Įnsign Andrew Dahl is one such unfortunate wearer of crimson and has just been assigned to a prestigious posting on the flagship of the fleet, the Intrepid. The story follows the adventures of those titular red shirted star ship explorers, those that if you've ever seen Star Trek will know are highly expendable and very likely to die if they ever have the mis-fortune to be ordered on an away mission. It was therefore with more than a little joy that I received Redshirts from those good people at Gollancz and I couldn't wait to review such an intriguing book.

I was seriously impressed with the first novel I read by Scalzi, the book was Old Man's War and the exceptional prose and clever story really won me over so much so that I picked up Fuzzy Nation soon after - although I haven't had to read that book yet.

Scalzi red shirts