As they start putting clues together, they encounter Jenkins, a former science team member now hiding out in the ship’s cargo tunnels. When a scientific problem seems impossible, a mysterious machine called The Box is ready to spit out a solution within the designated time frame, usually only minutes before cataclysmic disaster is sure to strike.ĭahl and his four colleagues are doing their best to avoid away missions, but it’s only a matter of time before they get caught in one of the death-inducing assignments… and really, they’d rather not get blown up or eaten. An elaborate tracking system warns certain crew members when a senior officer is en route, at which point those in the know take convenient coffee breaks. At key times, pieces of previously unknown information just seem to appear in their minds. People die in ridiculous ways (Borgovian Land Worms! Ice Sharks! Killer robots with harpoons!). When Ensign Andrew Dahl is assigned to the Intrepid, it seems like a plum assignment - until he and his friends, also new to the ship, notice just how weird thing onboard truly are. Life kind of sucks, and death seems to be lurking right around the corner. In fact, the crew have taken to hiding whenever the senior officers are about, in order to avoid encounters that may lead to death, or they rely on unproven ideas such as that only one crew member ever dies in the company of a certain officer - so if one person has already met their death on a given mission, the rest will be safe if only they manage to stick with the officer.

Their deaths are gruesome, horrible, bloody, and sadly unavoidable. Junior crew members seem to die on a regular basis, particularly whenever they accompany senior officers on away missions.

It’s the year 2456, and being a crew member of the Universal Union’s flagship Intrepid is not a career move with a whole lot of job security. (Yes, I know it’s only January 6th I still mean it as a compliment). Redshirts is funny and surprisingly touching, and certainly the most original writing I’ve read all year. Reading Redshirts, I couldn’t help but wish that I’d watched more Star Trek episodes in my youth - despite clearly recalling that I never did enjoy the original Star Trek all that much. If this book doesn’t bring out your inner nerd, then you clearly lack the nerd gene, end of story.

Redshirts book review