The Kaiju Preservation Society

A Godzilla cheese fest.

Jamie Gray loses his job and is thrown into a role of delivering food to people's doors. Until one day, he serves an old friend who invites him on a journey, one that will change him forever.

The story is fairly short and I managed to finish this within an hour or two. KPS doesn't break down any new doors and it isn't very deep, however it was fun at times. I couldn't get used to the humour, it felt like a cheesy sit com and I wanted to roll my eyes one quite a few occasions. I really can't see anyone living with their sense of humour, it felt like you were waiting on the fake audience laughter.

This was maybe not my type of book, it had big potential and it could have been something special but fell flat.

2.5 stars out of 5

When Kaiju ruled the world!

That???s the premise in John Scalzi???s Kaiju Preservation Society. Jamie Gray has given up their college course to work for a startup company called M??df??d.

At an appraisal with their boss, Jaimie???s life is irrevocably changed when they are ???let go??? from their job. They are offered a job as a delivery person. However things are about to change when the pandemic strikes.

Whilst out delivering, he happens to deliver to an old friend who seems to have done
quite well for themselves. Over a period of time they reacquaint themselves and Jamie is offered a job.

What Jamie does not realise is that the job is on an alternative earth, studying massive Kaiju, who have developed on an alternative evolutionary trajectory.

This is the first book by John Scalzi that I have read and found that it was a good introduction to his writing as it is a light read that is just entertainingly fun. The prose is light and breezy, and by his own admission, this is a bit of a pop novel that is simply there to entertain, which it does with ease.

One of the strengths of the book is the relationship between the new comrades as they become orientated to this new earth. There is plenty of snarky dialogue between the new recruits as they become familiar with both their new roles in the job, and this other earth that is vastly different, where in all honesty it is not the massive Kaiju that is the main danger, but everything else.

As the story progresses we are treated to the scientific reasons why the Kaiju exist and how they differ from our perceived ideas of just being behemoths that terrorise the world they live in and are in fact massive ecosystems that are a part of the ecology of the world. You are never overwhelmed by the ???science??? of the world that Jamie now inhabits and it adds to the fun of the book.

There is a solid cast of characters that are well realised. The characters are all diverse, and John Scalzi doesn???t make any issue of this, for example, we have non binary characters, and this is treated as part of the culture. No judgement, no source of conflict etc, which makes it refreshingly inclusive.

The book is peppered with pop culture references, and there are references to things like Godzilla and other things that make you smile as the references become more apparent.

However, underneath the fluff and bubblegum, there is a satirical swipe at our current world and the corporate dictation that has emerged and shines a light on the fact that this culture regularly puts profit at the forefront of its ethos and the disastrous results this can have.

The book itself is lighthearted and playful, and will be a delight for those of us who have grown up on monster flicks, and wondered about the science behind the creature.

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.

Yes, everyone is including this quote from the Author's Note in their reviews, but I can't resist. This is such a perfectly self-aware encapsulation of the novel. This is fun. There are sympathetic characters who make jokes and become friends. There's bonkers sci-fi stuff, some action, and eventually there's an overarching plot arc that comes to a satisfying conclusion. It does take more than half the book for the main conflict to really come to the fore, but the setup before that is a lot of fun, so who cares?

Also - I love that the main character could be any gender. In general I could have used a little more physical description of characters (and especially of kaiju!), but this choice was lovely.

ALERT: The Author's Note at the end is not to be missed, even if you don't normally read them.
I must pause to recommend reading the Author's Note. It bumped this book from 4 to 4.5 stars for me. Everyone will relate, and it just made me feel seen and understood, and like we all went through something together. I'm glad it will be there decades from now to be read by young nerds who view 2020 through a fuzzy, history-class lens, and give them a surprise: a very poignant, personal time capsule of what this time felt like to live through.

I'll close with a quote from Murderbot (who is lovingly name-dropped in Chapter 1 - yes, I cheered!) that almost perfectly summarizes KPS:

(It was called Worldhoppers, and was about freelance explorers who extended the wormhole and ring networks into uninhabited star systems. It looked very unrealistic and inaccurate, which was exactly what I liked.)

I had really high hopes for this book as I'm a big monster movie fan. I made it to page 60 before calling it and there were barely any kaiju in what is overall a short book. What there was was a constant onslaught of sarcastic one-liners and current pop culture references. I wouldn't want to spend time with the main character in real life and I won't waste my time with him in a book either. DNF at page 60.

I found this to be fun and quick-paced. It drew inspiration from monster movies and the conflict was one that is often used: “billionaires are evil.”

Scalzi used dialogue to tell the story 90% of the time. This was efficient and started out entertaining until I realized that every character had a similar personality and and sense of humor. The cast of characters was only superficially diverse since they otherwise spoke the same “language” of smart-ass-ery and there was no conflict among the group of colleagues.

At first, the humor seems fresh and then it quickly gets old. Since the premise isn't that original either, I don't have strong feelings about the book either way. Mediocre entertainment.

The author writes “KPS is not a brooding symphony of a book. It's a pop song. Light and catchy.” And too right!

I loved this silly little book and I think everyone should read it. Not because there are any truly meaningful takeaways, but because it is well-written, thoughtful, inclusive, creative and delightful.

This was written in the vein of hard SF with a lot of scientific research going on behind the scenes and provided, but just tongue in cheek enough for me to know it didn't take itself too seriously.

Honestly, this was just perfect. Cannot recommend it enough.

J'ai beaucoup aimé ce livre. Il commence un peu comme un “slice of life”. On suit alors le personnage principal et 3 autres protagonistes dans leur nouveau job pour cette organisation de protection des animaux puis, arrivé au 2/3 du livre, les choses se compliquent un peu jusqu'au dénouement final. Très agréable lecture.
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I really liked this book. It starts out a bit like a “slice of life” book where we follow the main character and 3 other protagonists in their new job for this animal protection organization and then, at 2/3 of the book, things get a little complicated until the final outcome. Very pleasant reading.

This is five star popcorn. Pure frivolity written by a master of conversational prose. If there is a thing that is a downer is that it is very short. Just when other novels would only just be setting the tone and elaborating the premise we are already at the denouement. Get the audible version read by Wil Wheaton. He makes everything even better

Terrific book. Funny, exciting and interesting.
I liked the discussions of the biology of kaiju and the adventures of our heroes exploring the environment.
The vaccine scene had me laughing hard enough that I was nearly limited to making squeaky noises.
It is important when reading this to know that is is set in 2020/2021 or some of the references will be confusing.
This is highly recommended.

First of all: Giant monsters. Need I say more? No, those of you for whom those two words said it all, have already ordered the book and started reading. This is vintage light Scalzi. He had me before we even got into double digit page numbers (Character loses job, has to pay for crappy NYC apartment, complete with tiny drafty room and creaky floor, by a demeaning delivery job, second chapter pores on love for cyberpunk author Neal Stephenson ... and that's before any kaiju show up ...). In the afterword, Scalzi says this is the light fun novel he needed to write during the pandemic, and it is that. We're given a hefty quick and massive dose of the typical Scalzi sarcastic tongue in cheek take on everything, and my only minor complaint is that fun fades in the latter half of the book for a running around plucky kids save the universe comic book like narrative push - but, hey, that's not actually a bad thing. Recommend for Scalzi fans (alright you've left this review already by now), for others, if you want a quick, cute fun read, Redshirts style, go for it.

I appreciate a book that gets me in and out doesn’t get too mucked down. So for that, I thank KPS and I can’t rag on it too much.

Will rag on it for a bit though. The characters feel overly engineered, like they are improv actors busting out quips at any given moment. These people are not of this planet. And then throw on the modern references that have no way of translating to probably even 5 years from now. You can’t make a DOOM ETERNAL reference.

The book works best when going into the “science”. Sure it is just exposition dumps but I’m a sucker for scientists going back and forth like this.

CAWPILE
C: 10
A:8
W:9
P:7
I:9
L:9
E:10

What a book. I couldn't put this book it was so exciting. Even the parts that shouldn't be exciting are exciting. Scalzi has done it again. The writing is excellent. Scalzi in his acknowledgements says this book is like a pop song and I love his choice of analogy.

CAWPILECharacters.The characters are amazing in this book. Most if not all seem 100% fleshed out. The interactions between characters is some of the most real especially between Jamie and Rob Sanders and between Jamie and the other NewcomersAtmosphereThe book really engages you in the new world and Scalzi competently uses multiple senses to give you a true feel of the worldWritingGreat writing. Economical, but gets everything across without being stingy. Lots and lots of references. I'm sure I missed some of the ones that were explicitly called outPlotThe Plot is good, took a little bit to get to the main plot, but I couldn't help but rush forward to the end, because of how engaging the mini first plot was.InvestmentLiterally had a hard time putting this book down. Once I started Scalzi sucked me in and I couldn't stop.LogicI loved how Scalzi used the sciences to his advantage, that while everything can't be 100% true to science as we understand it, he does a great job of changing just what is essential while leaving the rest. I also appreciated Scalzi explaining many of the science things that I had no idea what they were.EnjoymentI so enjoyed this book. Again had a very hard time putting the book down.Loved when Jamie took Rob down the ground floor and scared him, also when Rob died. So many other good scenes if I was to name them all it'd be the whole book. The doctor scene near the beginning was great though.
I will be talking about it on Libromancy https://libromancy.podbean.com/

After reading the author's note at the end, it is clear that this is exactly the book he wanted to write: fast, fun and light. Having said that, while reading it, I did sometimes start to get a little tired of how everyone had a snappy one-liner comeback for every. single. event. It was a little like spending several hours/days of Ryan Reynolds doing his shtick - fun in small doses, but eventually a little wearing. So, if you're looking for character development or depth, go elsewhere, but if you simply want something distracting, this does the job effectively.

It's been decades since I stayed up well past midnight devouring a book! I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with me, with all the books I've been dropping and moving on to something else, searching for the right mix of light heartedness, a collection of friends that have each other's backs and love them warts-n-all, and a sprinkling of science; but not too much!There are so many nerdy references it reminds me of [b:Ready Player One 9969571 Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) Ernest Cline https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1500930947l/9969571.SY75.jpg 14863741] and it's references to video games. I wasn't much into the games and that culture, but I'm definitely into science fiction and other references to the year of the story. I am! a science fiction nerd.