The premise of Redshirts is part of what made me want to read this book so much, but first you might need a little background information. The original Star Trek television series ran back in the 60s. During this time it was plagued by fledgling Nelson ratings and NBC ended up cancelling the series, despite petitions and awards (including the Hugo). It soon gained cult classic status and ended up spawning multiple movies and other television series. In order to add a dramatic and dangerous feel to the show's many settings and situations, a random extra would, more often then not, die in some tragic way. These extras were always ensigns, soldiers of low rank and their uniforms always included a red shirt. This fact has spawned multiple parodies and jokes (including this particularly nerdy shirt that I got for a gift and this hilarious de-motivational poster I found online).
Redshirts takes this idea and runs with it. The story takes place on the Intrepid Starship, the flagship of the fleet. The story focuses on a group of ensigns assigned to the ship. These low ranking people discover that the ship's crew has an extremely high death rate, except for the commanding officers. They discover further oddities: a magic box that miraculously finds the solutions to complex, near impossible to solve problems, a lieutenant that seems to recover miraculously from near death experiences on an almost weekly basis, and times when the very laws of physics don't seem to work. These characters try to learn what is causing this and, upon finding a theory that, despite all logic, works come up with a plan to save their own lives.
Sounds pretty cool right? The idea was cool and it was what made me finish the book. Why don't I recommend this then? Simply put it was the language and vulgarity that ruined this book. The book has so much major cursing (mostly the big baddie) in every chapter. I can understand this in some books where a character uses language and that is a device the author uses to explain that characters personality, but ALL the characters swear. Even the deeply religious ensign that was raised in a monastery curses and uses sexual acts to describe things. I mean come on. These are highly intelligent people with advanced degrees in xenobiology and linguistics, why is their vocabulary so limited?
So there ya go, an awesome idea that was poorly executed. I was excited to read this book as it is by a very highly regarded author of Sci-fi, but now I'm not sure if I'll try out his other books.
Have you read this book? Do you agree or disagree with me? Let me know.
