This science fiction novel certainly caught me off guard. It starts out with a group of wise-cracking newbies about to board a starship for a tour of duty. It reminded me somewhat of Heinlein's Starship Troopers, and I thought it would proceed according to that formula. But no. After serving on board for a time, the new crew members start noticing that every Away Mission from the ship involves a confrontation with lethal aliens, that the senior officers on the Mission always survive, and that at least one low-ranking crew member is always killed. That's when I caught on to the meaning of the title and realized that I was reading a satire of the Star Trek formula.
Then come many very funny bits, as the crew resort to hiding and subterfuge to avoid being selected for Away Missions, and the officers spout scientific nonsense. Just when the book might have devolved into a one-joke spoof which lasted too long, Scalzi takes the story in an unexpected direction with the possible solution to the crew members' problem. And then, just when the problem seems to be solved and the reader assumes that the story is ending, it's not. There's more, in three Codas, which give the book an entirely new implication.
This is a laugh-out-loud and extremely inventive book. It constantly surprises. It won the Hugo and the Locus Awards. I enjoyed it immensely.
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