It sounds like this book won't translate well at all in non-English speaking country, mostly because some SF classics never really had success (in France, Star Trek is not a reference at all, except maybe for the last movie).
Yes, Redshirts is very strongly tied to American pop culture. I doubt it would even be amusing to anyone not familiar with Star Trek and TV sci-fi in general.
I thought it was awesome, for the same reasons I thought Galaxy Quest was awesome. I love trope skewering when it's well done.
Is Scalzi really really clever? This is the first time EVER that I have read characters do the "I get it now--we're in a story!" thing, and not wailed in agony and fought back the urge to throw the book across the room. Redshirts is the only book I can think of that goes there and makes it work. If that isn't clever, what is?
I found the spirited first half more entertaining than the meta let's-go-beg-the-author-to-spare-us second half, and I really thought the first coda should have been as brief as the other two to work, but otherwise I was very very satisfied, and was glad to be able to renew it at the library so I could read it to The Redhead during our coming road trip.
I've read two of the other Hugo nominees, Blackout (super awesome) and 2312 (good, but not really my thing), and don't feel like either of them were cheated. I have Throne of the Crescent Moon checked out right now, and we'll see
( ... )
Of the two I would have voted for crescent moon because yaya awesome fantasy deeply immersed in non western history and mythology, but yeah liked this too, at least the non coda parts I actually read.
Like I said, I haven't yet read that one. Check my November Bookpost at the end of net month for followup...I note that it's the first in a series, so if it's good, we can rejoice that there will be more.
Seems to me, the last two codas were almost the point of the whole book. The first one was sort of necessary to get there, but it was too long and definitely weighed down the rest of it.
I enjoyed it and thought the codas gave it depth it would not otherwise have.
As far as the Hugos go, I thought the slate this year was fairly weak and I am not surprised it won. I think it would have been much less likely to win in a different year.
I personally voted for it second after 2312, but I can think of other books published in 2012 that I would have ranked above it if they had been on the ballot. The Killing Moon by NK Jemisin and Railsea by China Mieville come to mind.
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(P.S. Hey, you're back!)
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I thought it was awesome, for the same reasons I thought Galaxy Quest was awesome. I love trope skewering when it's well done.
Is Scalzi really really clever? This is the first time EVER that I have read characters do the "I get it now--we're in a story!" thing, and not wailed in agony and fought back the urge to throw the book across the room. Redshirts is the only book I can think of that goes there and makes it work. If that isn't clever, what is?
I found the spirited first half more entertaining than the meta let's-go-beg-the-author-to-spare-us second half, and I really thought the first coda should have been as brief as the other two to work, but otherwise I was very very satisfied, and was glad to be able to renew it at the library so I could read it to The Redhead during our coming road trip.
I've read two of the other Hugo nominees, Blackout (super awesome) and 2312 (good, but not really my thing), and don't feel like either of them were cheated. I have Throne of the Crescent Moon checked out right now, and we'll see ( ... )
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Like I said, I haven't yet read that one. Check my November Bookpost at the end of net month for followup...I note that it's the first in a series, so if it's good, we can rejoice that there will be more.
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Seems to me, the last two codas were almost the point of the whole book. The first one was sort of necessary to get there, but it was too long and definitely weighed down the rest of it.
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As far as the Hugos go, I thought the slate this year was fairly weak and I am not surprised it won. I think it would have been much less likely to win in a different year.
I personally voted for it second after 2312, but I can think of other books published in 2012 that I would have ranked above it if they had been on the ballot. The Killing Moon by NK Jemisin and Railsea by China Mieville come to mind.
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