On the spaceship Intrepid, low level crew members die at an alarming rate. The premise is right there on the cover: They were expendable…until they started comparing notes. Whether you have watched the original Star Trek series or not, most people know that the guy in the red shirt was going to die. In Redshirts, Scalzi explores what would happen if, rather than actors who went home at the end of a day of shooting, the characters were just going about their lives until everyone started […]
Scalzi’s new space opera: Please, sir, I want some more?
It’s been almost two years since The End of All Things was published, and I’ve been jonesing for some new Scalzi. Unfortunately, all The Collapsing Empire has really done is make me want more. It’s like how when you bake a fresh batch of cookies and you eat one hot from the oven, how that one cookie does nothing to curb your craving for cookies. All it makes you want to do is shove five more cookies down your gullet. (Your potentially upset tummy is […]
Business is Business
I was planning on saving Lock In for another time, but after listening to The Dispatcher, I needed to listen to Lock In. I listened to the Wil Wheaton narration. Listening to Wheaton’s narration made me think of Armada, which I had just listened to him narrate. Very briefly, the title of this review was “That’s how you do nostalgia, Cline!” I changed it because that would have been unfair to John Scalzi, Ernst Cline and their respective books. Just so you know, though, Scalzi […]
Wil Wheaton is a hell of a narrator.
I listened to Armada, narrated by Wil Wheaton. Wil Wheaton can make an ok book into a great listen. (Thanks, Natalie!) I am glad I put some space between Ready Player One and Armada. RP1 is a masterpiece of nostalgia, while Armada trades in the same nostalgia, it’s less graceful. It’s impossible not to compare the two, however I think I put enough distance between them that my disappointments and delights are all related to this book on it’s own. Mostly. The central idea of […]