A Review of the Book "Redshirts" by John Scalzi

Title: Redshirts
Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
Year: 2012
314 pages

If you are a Star Trek fan, especially of the original series, then this is a book for you!

John Scalzi uses excellent writing and ridiculous humour to tell the tales of starship life from the point of view of people wearing red shirts. If you haven't seen Star Trek, it is essentially assumed that anyone wearing a red uniform shirts is likely going to die. Even if you don't know Star Trek very well, it is likely you have heard the running joke.

I watched Star Trek growing up so I pretty much laughed my entire way through this book. It has a really good story line that has a hint of sarcastic humour in the form of the movie "Stranger Than Fiction". (If you haven't seen it, please do!)

Throughout the book, jokes are played on how events are wrapped up neatly in weekly episodes, the sometimes ridiculous science to make the show work, how characters beat up one episode are perfectly fine the next, and how anyone wearing a red shirt dies each and every week.

I thought the book might be corny, as it often is with spoofs, but that was not the case with Scalzi's book. His character and story building draws you in and the humour makes you stay.

Even if you never watched a single Star Trek episode, the book is still a good read and the humour would not be lost to you, but it is definitely heightened if you are a Star Trek fan.