Redshirts is a funny, action-packed, meta romp through the lives of a group of random, bit-part ensigns on a Star Trek-like series. The protagonist, Andrew Dahl, arrives on the Intrepid with his friends only to find something very weird going on: everyone seems to be trying to avoid going on away missions after random incidents (including run-ins with alien diseases, land worms and ice sharks) keep killing the other low-ranking crew.

I loved the first two-thirds of this book as Dahl and friends investigate their colleagues' mysterious behaviour and try to survive bizarre away missions. I found myself laughing out loud at the loving fun this book pokes at Trek and other sci-fi tropes. And the story itself was hard to put down. How would Dahl and co. stop the redshirt slaughter?

But I think I would've preferred this as a novella without the three lengthy "Coda" chapters at the end. These only helped to reinforce messages I felt were already pretty clear, answer questions I was fine not knowing the answers to, and round out characters I don't know really needed more dimension. As I listened to the audiobook, this last two hours of the book felt like a slog after what had otherwise been an enjoyable cruise.

I did really enjoy Wil Wheaton as audiobook narrator. His tone reading the dialogue was pitch-perfect, capturing the essence of crewmembers like Hester and Captain Abernathy without needing to do voices.