The Kaiju Preservation Society

264 pages

English language

Published April 5, 2022

ISBN:
978-0-7653-8912-1
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Goodreads:
57693406

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4 stars (24 reviews)

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.

5 editions

Popcorn, but good popcorn

3 stars

As Scalzi says in his afterword, this is a three-minute pop song of a novel, not a complex symphony. However, even the lightest of pop songs needs effort to make it work, and this does work on its own terms. It's a fun book that rattles along at a good pace, throwing enough big ideas into the mix to keep you reading and not asking too many questions about whether it all makes sense. Spends a lot of time setting up for not much plot, and relies a lot on coincidences to give the ending a personal stake for the protagonist, but does what it says on the tin and people who like this sort of thing will like this.

Mindless fun

5 stars

This is written and set in late 2020. Much like Netflix' Glass Onion, it uses COVID in the backdrop, and then gets onto its main bit. This is about as much COVID as I want in a book.

Equally you get the feeling that Scalzi has a lot to say about US politics and is resisting only dropping a few things before getting back to his main hobby of dropping his favourite nerds in as backing mentions (or ship names in Old Man's War).

This was exactly the right amount of silly for me, I didn't quite get into Redshirts. It gets a bit close when they discuss how kaiju are tropes but then follows with a Peter-Hamilton-level exposition dump about how the pretend science works.

Who cares, there are kaiju, and also a bunch of characters who respect others' chosen pronouns. It's like a much snarkier Becky Chambers book.

Standard Scalzi, as expected

4 stars

Is this a fun ride with lots of satisfaction, a good story and a quick pace. Definitely. Is this a good book? No, not really. Scalzi is an amazing storyteller, but not a particularly good writer. (Having said that, he is far better than he used to be, and he's even commented on problems with his writing that he has tried to correct.) I started this as a light vacation read and it performed exactly as expected.

Scalzi being Scalzi, in a good way

3 stars

KPS is not, and I say this with absolutely no slight intended, 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.

Not much to add to that, really.

Review of 'The Kaiju Preservation Society' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I really enjoyed this book, and I like that Scalzi himself says that it’s basically a feel-good fluff piece that was fun to write. Not that all of his writing is intended to be “fluff,” but this book does fit well with his catalog.

The concept of the Kaiju as ecological systems with an interdependence with a variety of life forms is really cool, and seems unique to me. Very creative. I also like the second dimension, the Earth that exists because no Chicxulub impactor ever happened. Also, like Jamie, I didn’t know the meteor that killed the dinosaurs had a name.

“I lift things,” will forever be how I describe my profession from now on regardless of accuracy. Plus this description of vegan cheese, “shredded orange and white sadness that mocks cheese and everything it stands for,” priceless.

I read a few reviews before I really got into the …

Review of 'The Kaiju Preservation Society' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Absolutely perfect. I was hooked within 7 minutes of cracking it open. Not a deep and meaningful read, but as we're told in the author's notes at the end, sometimes, a pop song is what you need. This delivers tremendously and I enjoyed every page. The action was fast. The characters, great fun. The synergy of the whole book was just a jolt of happy escapism, and I'm hugely glad to have read it.

Review of 'The Kaiju Preservation Society' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Ok, that was a fucking blast!
This was the pandemic novel that I didn't even know I needed. Smart, funny, light and made me laugh out loud more than once.
Scalzi delivers again. Quality entertainment from start to finish. This is very much a 'Hollywood flick' of a book but none the worse for that. Don't get me wrong, there are depths here but the intent is clearly to entertain.
Dammit Scalzi, you have pulled another 5 star rating from me.
An obvious recommend if you like fun. If you don't like fun then I can't help you with this review.

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