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There’s a problem aboard the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid. Every time there is an away mission, the crew encounters some sort of deadly confrontation with alien forces. The ships captain and the bridge team always survive. Some poor sucker from the lower decks is always killed.
Now the ship’s crew are expending all their energy avoiding being assigned to Away Missions, until new crewmember Andrew Dahl stumbles across information that may offer him and his fellow redshirts a chance to escape with their lives.
This a well-written book and an enjoyable read, particularly for Star Trek fans, but with characters interesting enough that the story will appeal to anyone who likes Sci-Fi adventure with a heavy dose of satire. I’ve got more to say about it, but the rest of my review contains spoilers, so continue at your own risk.
I really enjoyed 99% of the book. Unfortunately, it comes with a rather large problem. The original title of the book was “Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas.” The editors, presumably, got rid of the subtitle. Unfortunately, they didn’t get rid of the three codas.
Almost all of this story is solid sci-fi with a fun central premise and lots of jokes that work well on their own and will have you giggling out loud if you’re a Star Trek fan. I particularly liked the Black Box, and the way it highlighted the craziness that is a staple for space fantasy. Until the last page of the book proper I had a thoroughly good time – I particularly enjoyed the unpretentious writing style, which spotlights an author confident in their own skills.
Then it all goes wrong on the last page. First, he finishes the book proper with a Dad Joke (then they all died – non not really.) If I’d been editing this there would have had so many red lines, I would have run out of ink: it totally ruins the pathos of the conclusion.
Then the three codas have this weird tonal shift, exploring the lives of characters we don’t care about in the aftermath of the novel. The impression I got was that the author thinks his idea is a damned sight cleverer than it actually is. There have been many, many stories of people who discover they are characters in a story. The original part of this book is the Star Trek satire (and even then, Galaxy Quest), and the quality characters.
So, the book ends feeling self-indulgent and clumsy. The deftness of touch from the rest of the book vanishes. It’s a shame, because until that point the book is excellent. An object lesson in the difference between trying to look clever and being clever. Still worth reading, however, and I’d read his other work.
