John Scalzi: Redshirts (2015, Thorndike Press, A part of Gale, Cengage Learning)
451 pages
English language
Published April 29, 2015 by Thorndike Press, A part of Gale, Cengage Learning.
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, with the chance to serve on "Away Missions" alongside the starship's famous senior officers.
Life couldn't be better...until Andrew begins to realize that 1) every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces, 2) the ship's senior officers always survive these confrontations, and 3) sadly, at least one low-ranking crew member is invariably killed. Unsurprisingly, the savvier crew members below decks avoid Away Missions at all costs.
Then Andrew stumbles on information that 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. Redshirts by John Scalzi is the winner of the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Layers and layers of (mostly) fun and thought provoking reading.
Most importantly: DRM-Free
A quick read, I enjoyed the humor and the discovery of the narrative qualities of this universe. The three codas were also well done. In between the two was the actual ending of the story, which was lacking somehow. Can't quite put my finger on it.
When available through the library, I'll re-read this as an audio book, read by the incomparable Wil Wheaton.
Addendum: Read while traveling in January 2015. Wil Wheaton rocks this reading. Think I was digging too far for a deep ending; was satisfied with the ending on the re-read.
