Redshirts by John Scalzi – Review

Tags

4 stars, Adventure, Book Review, John Scalzi, satire, scifi, scifi adventure, scifi TV, series, space opera, Star Trek, Tabitha Lord

About Redshirts by John Scalzi

Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.
Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that:

(1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces
(2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations
(3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.

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Review of Redshirts

I’m just going to start out by saying that if you are not a Star Trek TOS fan, you are probably not going to get Redshirts. Well, maybe you will, but only if you read the entire book! If you a fan of the original series, you will immediately grasp the way of things.

TOS fans will latch onto the plotplot very soon into the book. I just made that compound word up: plotplot. It needed to be coined. Kind of like a plot within a plot, but more like a plot that is made up of a plot. Hmmph. Yeah, that did not make sense to me as I typed it, but it does make sense to me in terms of the story of Redshirts. All I can say is, read it. And feel free to use my new word.

Redshirts have a rep. I know it. You know it. Unless you are a chief, if you wear a red shirt, your life is on the line every time you step onto that transporter pad. Ensign Dahl is a redshirt. Or as they are called in the book – ensign.

Dahl quickly learns that other crew members are somewhat aware of their very precarious place on the Intrepid and have devised a system to make life just a little bit safer. This inspires the intrepid ensign to take his scientific curiosity and apply it to his life on (and off) the Intrepid.

As a nearly life-long fan of Star Trek, I loved the references to the characters, ships, missions and monsters of TOS. Finding and anticipating the parallels became a game, to see if I was right about who was who and what was what.

The ending postludes were amusing, but I actually think I could have done without them. Rather than add to the story, they actually told different stories – which were marginally interesting.

Star Trek TOS is both revered and ridiculed by fans all over. Redshirts is like a TOS fan, reverent of the show, but also poking much fun at the series. Mostly, poking fun. Can fans who only love and adore TOS appreciate this book? Doubtful. If you read Redshirts, bring your ability to laugh at this sacred icon of science fiction television.

My review copy came from the local public library.  I had to give it back after two weeks.  This review is my honest opinion.

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Alien Redeemed (Zyrgin Warriors, #7) by Marie Dry – Review

Tags

4 stars, alien world, aliens, Book Review, human interaction with aliens, Marie Dry, romance, scifi, scifi romance, spaceships

About Alien Redeemed by Marie Dry

On a harsh alien planet, in a faraway galaxy, Sarah, a gentle human woman, is determined to start a new life, far away from the hardship she endured on Earth and the pitying glances of her friends.

Once on Zyrgin, Sarah finds that, instead of being the empress and helpmeet at the side of the Zyrgin leader, she is merely his breeder. She is trapped in a gilded cage, not allowed to go out and interact with the other women on the planet, until she’s proven her loyalty to the empire by birthing Zaar’s child. After her traumatic experiences in the raider camps, and the resultant PTSD, Sarah doubts she could ever make love to her Zyrgin warrior.

Zaar assures her he has a superior plan to cure her of her problem. But is he able to reach through all the barriers Sarah has erected against true intimacy?

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Review of Alien Redeemed

Sarah has gone through some terrible things in her past and, although Zaar is of the opinion that the people who wronged her deserve the worst, he is at a loss as to how to “fix” her.  Zaar thinks he is able to fix everything.  He is THE Zyrgin after all. Hmmph! 🙂

Sarah and Zaar have so much to learn about each other.  My favorite part about the Zyrgin Warriors series is where the Zyrgin warrior and the human woman must overcome vast cultural differences.  Sometimes it is frustrating, sometimes it is funny.  It is always entertaining.

Zaar says things like “walk a step behind me, you are my breeder, I am the ruler of all the know galaxies and soon to be ruler of the unknown galaxies.”

Sarah responds with, “no, call me parena (empress)”, and an eye roll.

It takes a bit to get them speaking the same language.

And then something terrible (danger) comes between Zaar and Sarah.  Of course, there must be some peril to overcome – and a way for Zaar to prove that he is the ruler of all the know galaxies and soon to be ruler of the unknown galaxies.  I love his arrogance, whether it is deserved or he is merely exaggerating his skills.

Between the escape from peril and the end of the book, Sarah was overly sentimental.  Yes, it was probably in character for her, but it made the ending drag a bit.

The Zyrgin Warriors series is such a fun series.  I recommend it for anyone that enjoys Scifi Romance with heart and humor.  Alien Redeemed is great addition to that series!

Thanks to the author who provided a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.

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Eternal Shadow (Fall of Gods, #1) by Trevor B. Williams – Review

Tags

4.5 stars, Book Review, doomsday, first contact, romance, science, scifi, series, SETI, Trevor B. Williams

About Eternal Shadow by Trevor B. Williams

What would you do if the world was going to end in ten years? For Jennifer Epstein, a by-the-books senior researcher at SETI, there is only one answer: prevent the apocalypse from happening. Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus were destroyed by an alien threat. The deck was stacked against humanity before the cards came out of the box.

But Jennifer isn’t alone. She has Samantha Monroe, her excitable but brilliant colleague. From South Africa, CEO Muzikayise Khulu of Khulu Global supplies his vast resources to the ultimate race for survival. The three find themselves in an unlikely alliance while political brinkmanship, doomsday cults, and untested technologies form ever-growing obstacles.

Will humanity unite to face the greatest challenge of their time, or will it destroy itself before the alien ship arrives?

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Review of Eternal Shadow

Shortly into the story, the reader knows that Earth is due to be destroyed in 10 years. Way to build the long, drawn-out tension. 10 Years. In some ways, people of Earth pulled together, but the 10-year warning meant that people had too much time to change their minds. In that time, so many things can happen on Earth in reaction to impending doom. And they do. From extremist religious groups, to inward thinking political regimes (who prefer to ignore the problem), it becomes obvious that, as a whole, humans are flawed, selfish, and without vision. The struggle to find the answer to this doomsday scenario will be vast and unrelenting.

When the book centers on the right people working in concert, hope and optimism become main topics. These themes are enhanced by the side stories of romance – people with common causes connecting even when the future of earth is so very bleak. Such relationships also offer the reader a way to further connect with the characters.

The story is told from shifting perspectives of people who are working to solve the problem. I appreciated the different scientific and corporate viewpoints. The collaboration between science and industry becomes critical to the story. The take away – collaboration is how we can solve problems.

Many of the political and corporate people and entities are real and presented with their real names. Their actions are totally fictionalized to fit the story. What this does is add a bit of a political slant to the story. Because it takes place in our own timeline (and a bit into the future), we can make connections between the book and real life. Good or bad.

Not long into this book, I could not help but draw comparisons between Eternal Shadow and the Star Trek (TOS) episode The Doomsday Machine. If you know the story, you can appreciate that in Eternal Shadow, the problem cannot be addressed in 1-hour TV episode.

The science is well-depicted as real and complete, but I am not a scientist. I suspect much of it was highly theoretical, though possibly based on current research theories. The fiction of it doesn’t matter, it is science fiction. I appreciated the author’s attempt to present it as if it were real, though it was a bit too detailed at times, causing the story to drag.  Which is really my only criticism. Still, points for such meticulous research!

Since the avoidance of total Earth destruction was the focus of the story, first contact seemed to be almost an afterthought in Eternal Shadow. The questions of who created the doomsday entity were never really answered despite access to some of the history of it. I don’t want to say too much about this part of the plot (read the book), but I will offer my opinion. Yes, there is a first contact, though not everyone will agree.

Eternal Shadow is standalone story. The book is billed as book 1 of the Fall of Gods series. For those of you that care about these things (like I do), there is no cliffhanger ending. Only the possibilities of something more…

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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