John Dies at the End review

 “We've already established whoever is writing us is an asshole.”

A novel written by John Scalzi, Redshirts is very different from any novel you've probably read in the last year or so. It won the Hugo for best sci-fi novel in 2016 and I can definitely see why. It has popular appeal and it resonates with anyone that's watched Star Trek before. You don't even have to be a sci-fi fan to enjoy the book and since the Hugo nominations are voted on by fans it makes sense that the book's large popular appeal would be an asset. The audio book is narrated by Wil Wheaton(lt Crusher from Star Trek) so that's a plus for listening instead of reading. You can also check out Geek and Sundry where Will Wheaton plays table top games with celebrity guests or just friends.

“You’ll notice that the Intrepid’s inertial dampeners don’t work as well in crisis situations, Dahl remembered Jenkins telling them. The ship could do hairpin turns and loop-de-loops any other time and you’d never notice. But whenever there’s a dramatic event, there goes your footing.”

The "Redshirts" title is a reference to the unnamed crew that die in away missions in Star Trek, while the captain and named characters always manage to come out alive from whatever adventure they went through at the end of the episode. The book shows a lot of the shortcuts the producers of shows took to pump out an episode a week. From poorly thought out monsters to things blowing up needlessly on the ship to stealing/borrowing ideas from sci-fi books everything is called out and it makes for great reading.
There were a few dialogues that felt a bit forced-comedy but we'll let it slide as most of it flowed pretty well.
The direction the book takes is surprising and the POV switches were unexpected. If you do not enjoy breaking the 4th wall you will not like this book, there are quite a few times this happens throughout it.
“Sooner or later the Narrative will come for each of us.”
I laughed, but I was also moved by some parts of this book - which is something I did not expect from the synopsis. You will go into it expecting starships and battles and monsters and while it has that
it's only a rather small part of what the book is.
I don't like John Scalzi that much as an author. I've read Old Man's war and I found it a bit lacking and outdated, something that never happened with an Asimov or Frank Herbert book. That being said this book is so different it's definitely worth picking up.
The plot felt a little forced at some points to keep the book going in the right direction. You could kind of guess something was going to happen. I'm talking about the first part of the book, after the main plot finishes, shit gets weird and the point of view changes dramatically. While it's still related to the main plot, it deals mostly with the consequences of what happens and goes really meta at some points. But it stays funny throughout and you even start to care for the characters.

The first part is what Terry Pratchet's Discworld books would be if they were science fiction instead of fantasy. What follows I can't really compare to other books.

“Is it a shark made of ice?" Hanoen asked. "Or a shark that lives in ice?”

My favorite creatures in the book were the ice sharks, closely followed by the Borgovian Land Worms.

Pros:
- Very original
- Funny
Cons:
- Dialogue a big forced at times
- Too meta
- Main plot a little too predictable.

Grade : 7.6 out of 10..