Review: I am Buying Full Version Today! (5 Stars)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 26, 2013
I have been told to read John Scalzi by many of my friends since they know I love sci-fi. I was a bit worried though since although I love his blog I was worried that when it came time to read one of his novels that I wouldn't like it. A friend suggested I get this book since it was free (prologue and first four chapters) and that I would be able to see if Mr. Scalzi was going to be an author that I added to my "must always buy no matter what" category. I am pleased to say he is definitely added to this category!Anyone who has ever watched any of the Star Trek television shows (Generation is my favorite, I love Captain Picard) and the movies knows that anytime you see some poor no-name in a red shirt on an away mission he/she is going to die. Seriously I think it's a law up there with always uttering "The Prime Directive" in each show (maybe that is not true but seriously it started to feel that way when I watched Generation and Voyager).Mr. Scalzi takes this little factoid and spins it on its head into a funny novel. The prologue alone looking at Ensign Tom Davis gives the reader the opportunity to see that something funny is going on with anyone that serves on the Intrepid. I don't want to get spoilery but I have to say that the end of this prologue caused me to spit the water I was drinking out everywhere because I just cracked up through it.From there (Chapters 1-4) our main protagonist, Ensign Andrew Dahl, has found himself assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid.  We get some introductions to a few new crew members and some backstory on them that does not bog down the novel.I loved Dahl and his new crew members slowly starting to realize something is up and why is everyone so crazy with regards to "away missions" and how are some crew able to quickly disappear anytime the Captain comes around asking about people going on away missions.This free peak ended way too soon but I am definitely going to download the rest of Redshirts and finish up this novel so I can the conclusion.