#24: John Scalzi, Redshirts

[kareila]

Once upon a time, I wrote this about the book How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe:

My problem with the fundamentals of the story is this: it's never explained how the characters know they live in science fiction, how they understand in what ways the rules of their universe differ from what is referred to as reality. It took a long time for me to realize that the protagonist had lived in this universe all his life, as opposed to having purposefully entered it to escape from reality. So I don't understand how he has that frame of reference.

Redshirts solves exactly this problem, neatly and cleverly. Of course there's some suspension of disbelief involved, but that goes with the territory. Besides, it's a heck of a fun ride.

This was my first Scalzi, but it won't be my last.