this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2025
23 points (96.0% liked)

Books

10941 readers
76 users here now

Book reader community.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml
wraptile@lemmy.ml
23
Redshirts - John Scalzi (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Apytele@sh.itjust.works to c/books@lemmy.ml
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Definitely a 4.5-5 stars from me. Reminds me a lot of John Dies at the End which is one of my all-time favorites. It's got a very similar sarcasm + meta mix. At the end though in the acknowledgements he comments on having been a writer for Stargate Universe and how he felt it was a good show and like DUDE. It was... fine. But a lot of what made the earlier stargates so good was the contrast between the dark sad moments and the utter hilarity of things like playing golf through the gate. SGU was just depressing through and through. Good book though, but again at least in part because there's enough levity to level out the dark shit.

The other two books I have checked out currently are:

  1. A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Becky Chambers)

  2. All Systems Red (Martha Wells)

...if you have any suggestions for which I should read first (or any other books to see if my library has).

top 10 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] HexadecimalSky@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Top of my feed a book I know and loved! It was definitely a fun book and didn't forget its premise at the end. I agree If it was all dark it wouldn't be such a fun read, but even some of the darker moments are given some humour, I loved the take on trope. That book lead me to read some other series such as "Old man's war" which was, imo, another intresting take. That one has the premise of "Alien intergalactic war fought by senior citizens given the bodies of super soldiers". So you get wisdom and dont give af of a seasoned widow with the power of a 20's genetic super soldier.

[–] Lazycog@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago

Definitely Old Man's War if you like Scalzi's humor!

The book series was great and really funny while exploring interesting, deep and sometimes dark topics.

[–] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

I read it like 11 years ago and remember nothing more than that I absolutely loved it. 😁💜

[–] sevan@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I loved this book, so I will definitely check out John Dies at the End. Thanks for the recommendation!

[–] Jackhammer_Joe@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's so crazy to me how many people love that book. I'm one of the few who absolutely hate it. To me it was so boring and flat. Maybe I had too high expectations?

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ooc what do you usually consider interesting? Genuine question; trying to look at this through your eyes.

[–] Jackhammer_Joe@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Sci-fi in general is my favorite genre. From light hearted (The Martian), over more complex (Wool Triology) to really complex ones (Three body problem). I also like Star Wars novels, so I thought Red Shirts would be something for me.

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

With that background I'm surprised it wasn't.

[–] Jackhammer_Joe@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Me too! I guess I was more expecting to see Red Shirts get blown up in bits and pieces and not them realizing their situation. To be honest I can't remember much of the real story / ending