Ensign Andrew Dahl has been assigned to the xenobiology lab aboard the flagship, Intrepid. Even though Away Missions are not necessarily part of his job description, there is always the opportunity for him to serve on one along with the famous Captain Abernathy and Commander Q’eeng. But Dahl begins to notice something strange aboard the Intrepid: crew members scurrying out of the senior officer’s path, he is often left alone in the lab when Q’eeng arrives “unannounced” everyone having left for “coffee” or to “check inventory”. There’s also the magic box that does impossible things and away missions that really serve no purpose but always end with the senseless death of a crew member.
After enjoying Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi I was excited to read his latest, Redshirts; especially when I learned what it would be about. If you are familiar with Redshirts in the Star Trek universe, you know they don’t always fare well on away missions. I was curious where he would go with this and I was looking forward to the great dialogue I liked so much in Fuzzy Nation.
In Redshirts, I got the dialogue and while I think I understand what Scalzi was going for, I felt a little let down. I was hoping for something a little more sinister behind the demise of the poor redshirts. What I got was a silly premise straight out of a bad sci-fi show, with bad science and someone saying something very dramatic . The characters didn’t feel fully fleshed out; a little too one dimensional where any of them could have come and gone without much notice. This is what I think Scalzi wanted to present but it wasn’t what I was looking for.
I was able to take something away from this as a wannabe writer so it’s not like this book is a waste of time. There are some funny moments that make you laugh out loud. There are also some sentimental moments contained in the three codas at the end. So even though I was disappointed it was still a good read and there are lots more Scalzi books out there I'm sure I'll really enjoy.
I wasn’t really planning on writing up anything about what books I plan to read this summer. But Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings put up a Mr. Linky and I thought, why not, backlinks are never a bad thing. This will also give me a reason to brag about Venessa.
Barnes and Noble has a summer reading program going on. Read any eight books, record them in the reading journal provided by B&N, bring it it and get a free book. Well, Venessa has already read eight books and is on to her second reading journal with two already added to that! I’m so proud of her. The free book she picked out was Half Magic by Edward Eager. The library also has a summer reading program so she’s been keeping track of her books in the journal they provided. The library gives out stickers each week to mark their progress. She’s reading a mix of graphic novels like the Avatar series and Babymouse, along with some chapter books like the Ivy & Bean series. I also have her read aloud to me. Last week she read Father Bear Comes Home and Little Bear’s Friend to me. These were books I grew up reading and I’ve handed down my battered copies to Venessa. If you’re curious what books make for good reading for an eight year old, I created a shelf on Goodreads with the books Venessa has read so far this summer: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6116848?shelf=venessa-s-summer-reading-2012
As for me, this summer I plan to read Night Watch and Thud! by Terry Pratchett. They are part of the Discworld series so they’ll be read for the Summer In Discworld reading challenge. Currently I’m almost done with Redshirts by John Scalzi. I’m hoping to get to The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson, The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma and A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton. The other day me and a friend were bashing 50 Shades of Grey and it somehow led to how much the Anita Blake books disappointed me. My friend suggested the Meredith Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton. He said it’s completely crazy and trashy but no matter how nuts it was he couldn’t stop reading so I will see how that goes with the first book. I will also try to squeeze in The Thief by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott and The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett. The Clive Cussler book has a cover that caught my eye so when I saw it at the library it was an impulse grab. I’ve never read any Cussler so we’ll see how that goes as well.
We’ll see how any of this goes since I’m a mood reader and right now I’ve been feeling like I’m in a reading slump. I haven’t been blown away with my latest reads and it’s been disappointing.
So now it's your turn. Tell me what you will be reading this summer.
