Redshirts

This book wasn't what I expected, and I appreciated where it went. I thought it was going to basically be a Star Trek book written from the POV of the infamous redshirts. The twist and premise was more clever than that, and that is when the book went from being readable to being enjoyable.

I am finding that Scalzi is a readable author, but “it's not Shakespeare” to quote the book itself. I've read Old Man's War, The Collapsing Empire, and now this, and have enjoyed them all.

My biggest drawback was the way he wrote his dialog.
“Now,” she questioned.
“No,” he said.
“Soon,” she asked.
“Maybe,” he said.
“Okay,” she said.
“You'll know,” he said.
I don't know if that was done on purpose to add to the facetious and parodistic nature of the story, but it was painful at times. Once I noticed it I couldn't stop seeing it, and now it makes me want to look at the other books to see if that was done there, too.

I thought the Codas were quite clever, especially as they were titled First Person, Second Person, and Third Person, and written in those POVs. I almost considered not bothering to read them, but I'm glad I did, and they didn't take long to read.