Redshirts, by John Scalzi
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
This is a book I almost quit listening to about 1/4 the way throu. The writing and dialogue was terrible and cliche. So bad that I put the book on and went out to mow the lawn knowing that it didn't much matter if I missed something. Then I got it! About a quarter of the way throu it the book changed. The narration got better the dialogue got better (much better). The book isn't just a story about redshirts on a Star Trek like series. Its also a critique on the genre and the writers who follow formula to create stories that don't matter.
Im as follower of scifi. Ill watch just about anything and reading this book points out to me how much TV I've watched that was just a rehash of other stories or how I was setup to care about a character that the writers new was going to bite it an episode or two later. If more fans of scifi read this book I think it would change how we consume this media and in effect make the stories better.
The last quarter of the book has really nothing to do with scifi at all. Its just good story telling and character development. It does a great job of making us care about the characters were reading about. Its also an example of the type of stories we could have if we were better consumers and better writers. If your a fan of scifi I highly recommend this book. It gives you a different perspective on how to look at mass market storytelling.
Wil Wheaton was the perfect choice for the narrator. It took me a while to forget that it was Wi Wheaton reading but when I "got it", when I understood the book I also understood that there was no better person that could have read it.