Booklog 48/2019 - John Scalzi: Redshirts

[jacey]

I've had this lined up on my kindle for a couple of years and not managed to read it, which is simply too bad. I've been missing out because it's brilliant. Anyone who's ever seen Star Trek (or Galaxy Quest) will be familiar with the concept of the crewman who's on an away mission for the express purpose of being killed off, but Scalzi takes that concept and turns it on its head. Written from the point of view of the redshirts assigned to the Universal Union flagship, Intrepid we start with Ensign Andrew Dahl, newly assigned to the Xenobiology laboratory. He's delighted until he works out why his fellow crewmembers avoid going on away missions at all costs. A) Every away mission involves some kind of confrontation with aliens in which at least one low-ranking crewmember is killed. B) The ship's captain, the chief science officer and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive. C) Kerensky always gets hurt, sometimes with the kind of injuries that should kill him, but the following week he's recovered enough to go on the next away mission. Dahl and his fellow redshirts (with a bit of help) finally figure out that they're suffering from narrativium and work out a high risk way to fix it, but it involves kidnapping Lieutenant Kerensky and time travelling. And just when you think the story is over there are three delicious vignettes from the viewpoint of… well… you'll see. If you haven't read this already READ IT NOW! This really deserved its Hugo win!