Sep 30

Sep 30 The Kaiju Preservation Society

Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls "an animal rights organization." Tom's team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on.

What Tom doesn't tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They're the universe's largest and most dangerous panda and they're in trouble.

It's not just the Kaiju Preservation Society that's found its way to the alternate world. Others have, too—and their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.

TL;DR Review

The Kaiju Preservation Society was a complete and utter delight. The perfect snack of a sci-fi novel, fun and funny and engaging.

For you if: You love a good sci-fi set-up beginning with a plotty ending.

Full Review

I have never read John Scalzi before, but with this book nominated for the Hugo Award, it was finally time. What a fun party I’ve been missing out on!

I don’t think I could put it better than John himself did in his author’s note:

“[This book is not] a brooding symphony of a novel. It’s a pop song. It’s meant to be light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you’re done and you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face.”

And truly, that’s exactly what’s going on here. As the pandemic hits, a man named Jamie goes from employed at a start-up to delivering food to pay the bills, which lands him the gig of a lifetime: a job where he spends six months of the year as “off the grid” as you could LITERALLY get in a sci-fi novel, working for the Kaiju Preservation Soceity. (If you, like me, did not know what a Kaiju was, it’s essentially like a movie monster a la Godzilla or Jurrasic Park). And that’s all I’ll say, because the discovery is more than half the fun.

This is definitively sci-fi, with lots of sciency worldbuilding, but what a fun and engaging time of it. The banter between characters is full of levity and jokes. The tone of the prose is wink-winky. The plot is just enough until all of a sudden it takes over and you rush to a fast-paced ending. And throughout, there’s just enough heart here to squeeze ya.

If you’re looking for something quick and fun, this is ABSOLUTELY it. Now, on to Scalzi’s backlist!