Redshirts, by John Scalzi

My first book review will be on the audiobook version of Redshirts, written by John Scalzi and narrated by Wil Wheaton. On audio, the book runs about 7 hours and 40 minutes and the hardcopy is around 317 pages.

Spoilers ahead!

Redshirts is a witty story based on a favorite trope of the sci-fi world: The Redshirt law, where red-uniformed crewmembers accompanying the main characters of Star Trek (Capt. Kirk, Commander Spock, and Doctor McCoy) on an away-mission become cannon fodder. The joke is that they die because, obviously, the main characters can’t.

After being recently assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456, Ensign Andrew Dahl quickly realizes that something strange is going on: Every mission on the Intrepid is a high-stakes mission; there’s this weird microwave that solves the impossibly difficult tasks assigned to the crew; the commanding officers don’t seem to be paying a whole lot of attention to what’s being said to them; and—oh, right. Every time said officers leave the ship with an away-team, someone dies in a ridiculous and terrifyingly unavoidable death.

“Someone” being “a random, usually red-shirted crew member who is not one of those officers.”

As the story progresses, Dahl and the other redshirts put the pieces together and realize something shocking: that the world in which they live is a poorly written science fiction television show and they are expendable plot devices on that show. (Note: As you could probably tell from the starship, the show is not Star Trek. It’s just based on Star Trek).

As far as these kinds of stories go, Redshirts is pretty good. Yes, "he said” and “she said” follows the quotations more often than is necessary. There are also a few awkward sentences, and the ending comes a bit suddenly. The voice acting, too, involves more reading than acting, making the story itself hard to follow as there is nothing to distinguish between the difference characters--even the male and female characters. 

But, that being said, the story itself, and the lessons therein, make Redshirts absolutely worth a read (or, in my case, a listen to). This is especially true if you’re a writer. After the writer of the show discovers that he is murdering someone every time he kills off a character, he is hit with a serious, job-threatening case of writer’s block. As he works out the cause, fleshing out the writing-metaphor that drives the book, he learns some very important lessons about being a good writer:

First, your characters having free-agency is not a bad thing. It’s true that it can be a little frustrating to have your characters running around doing whatever they want and messing up your nicely-planned plot. But, that is what makes a truly great story! A story is driven by the characters: The more real your characters are, the more real their actions and decisions will be. The more real their actions and decisions, the more real and relate-able your plot will be.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, you need to respect your characters (and your reader). One of the funniest things about the redshirt trope is how lazy a plot-device it is. But, even while we joke, the truth about the redshirt trope is that it is a lazy plot device—and lazy plot devices make lazy plots. Maiming, torturing, or killing off your characters to create cheap tension that doesn’t impact the story, even if it progresses it, might have worked for Star Trek. But, it doesn’t work anywhere else. It also isn’t fair—not to your readers and not to your characters.

There is also a lesson about living in a world that is big, scary, and unfair. There are some things you have to accept—this is unavoidable. But, there are some things that you can change. Some things that are worth fighting for, even if they’re crazy and hard and unlikely to be achieved. That’s because, even though life is unfair sometimes, it’s still your life. You have a right to live it in whatever way you damn well please. (Just please don’t serial murder people. That’s not cool).

All in all, I’d rate Redshirts 3-1/2 stars. It is a funny book about one of our favorite science fiction tropes and, while the writing and voice acting might not win any awards, the lessons it explores on writing and living are important. They, and the silly plot, makes Redshirts entertaining and smart, but without being too heavy or mentally taxing.