The Kaiju Preservation Society
Ratings312
Average rating3.9
I loved the characters! I loved the pacing and the world that was created. I loved the way they played with monsters. This was a really fun read.
Standard Scalzi. Fun/snarky, not much substance. He said he wrote it in 2 months after struggling to write another book and it showed. Not my favorite book, but enjoyable for what it is.
Scalzi creates a fantastic universe and one in which plot is secondary. It's a quick and fun read and a universe to which I'd like to return in a sequel or even a series!??
Scalzi does not disappoint with this latest novel! Personally, I'm a big fan of everything that he writes, so maybe I'm a bit biased, but one thing I'm not overly excited about is Jurassic Park/Godzilla/monster-type narratives. But, that being said, Scalzi made me love this kind of story.
The world was imaginative and the events were exciting. I loved the characters, especially Martin Satie (give it up for my fellow Québécois! He was such a badass, I love him) and Jamie Gray (who supposedly just “lifts things” but is obviously much more useful and helpful than that). Jamie's friends at Tanaka Base were all colourful and interesting to read about (except Niamh–they were too whinny and annoying to my taste).
The Kaiju themselves were characters in their own right. The naming tradition was so banal that it made it hilarious (a several hundred-foot tall monster named Kevin? Let's go!!). The whole mating scene with Bella and Edward (yes, that Bella and Edward) was so funny and irreverent, I think I'll remember it forever.
Despite the seriousness of the situation behind some of the scenes in the book, the characters find a way of being snarky and funny throughout, which lightens the mood and makes giant Godzilla-like creatures seem like moody Pomeranians rather than monstrous killing machines. As I said at the beginning of this review, I don't particularly like monster movies like Godzilla, but the fact that Scalzi's story doesn't take itself seriously makes it much more fun and exciting than a typical Hollywood cash-grab.
All in all, this is a great book amidst pandemic anxiety (which is constantly referenced in the novel) with the signature humour and frequent pop culture references that readers of Scalzi will be accustomed to.
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
You have no idea how difficult it was for me to not say, ‘Welcome to Jurassic Park!’ to all of you just now.”
“Jurassic Park didn’t end well for anyone in it,” I pointed out. “Book or movie.”
“Well, they were sloppy,” Tom said. “We’re not sloppy. And, they were fictional. This is real.”
WHAT'S THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY ABOUT?
Jamie Gray drops out of his Ph.D. program (writing a dissertation on utopian and dystopian literature) thanks to a quarter-life crisis that gets him to want to make a lot of money. So he goes to work for a tech startup, starts to make decent money, and gets fired just as COVID lockdowns start. He starts scraping by on his savings and meager work for a food-delivery app.
Until he delivers shawarma to Tom one day—the two were acquaintances in college, and they have a brief conversation where a couple of things come out—Jamie hates delivering food, and the NGO that Tom works for has an immediate need of someone on his team. He doesn't give Tom a lot of information, but that the work involves travel and large animals. His team is set to depart soon, and they can't without a full team. They just need someone who can, and is willing to, lift things. Tom points out his nice condo as proof that they pay well. Jamie signs on.
A few days later, Jamie and a few other new people on the team find out what the initials in KPS stand for—after it's too late for them to back out. They've traveled to a parallel Earth populated by Kaiju for a six-month stint at one of the human bases.
Obviously, like the book and movie referenced above, things go wrong. They just have to for the sake of a novel, right? (but up until then, I think I could've made a case for this being an entire novel without that—it exists as one for longer than I expected—and I would've liked it just as much as the one Scalzi delivered).
THE SCIENCE FICTION-Y BITS
Given Tom's work, and Jamie's, Scalzi's able to gloss over a lot of the how-they-eat-and-breathe (and other science facts...la! la! la!) stuff, but he does reference things like the square-cube law when it comes to enormously big creatures. Jamie's new friends include scientists who can deliver some of the biology, chemistry, etc. that are needed for the story—but when it's needed, they're always explaining it to the liberal arts guy on their team, so the reader doesn't have to wade through the heady stuff (something Michael Crichton could've used, for example).
It's not a perfect way to deal with these things, but it sure works well, and Scalzi feeds it to the reader in his usual charming way, so I embraced it.
POP*.* FICTION
In his Author's Note, Scalzi states:
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. I had fun writing this, and I needed to have fun writing this. We all need a pop song from time to time, particularly after a stretch of darkness.
I'd been describing it as a popcorn movie in a book. He says pop song. It's pop-something.
It's the movie you escape to in the middle of a heatwave and forget about the oppressive weather, the sun, and everything else to enjoy the heat and some pure entertainment. It's the song you find yourself overplaying because it's just so catchy until you get sick of it (although you can't help singing along) and abandon it for years until it comes up on some random mix and you become obsessed with it again for a couple of weeks.
What I found striking about Scalzi saying that is that it reminds me of Seanan McGuire's comments about the last Toby Daye novel—she needed to write something like that (and I enjoyed it for similar reasons to this one). Are we going to see more books like this from other authors soon? Did 2020/2021 gift us a slew of authors writing happy books as a way to shake it off? (I wonder if Winslow's Free Billy fits here).
Frankly, I hope so.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY?
“Why isn’t he eating us?” I asked. We were now close enough to Edward that this was not an entirely irrelevant question.
“He’s asleep,” Satie said.
I glanced over at him. “Asleep?”
“They sleep, yup.”
“How can you tell when he’s asleep?”
“He’s not eating us, for one,” Satie said. “You can’t see his eyes, for another.”
I love popcorn movies, I love pop songs like that...and well, you can probably see where that's going. I'm not the world's largest Kaiju fan (don't actively dislike them, either), but it really doesn't matter, this book skips all that and jumps right to the pleasure center of the brain the same way a catchy tune can.
Reading The Kaiju Preservation Society reminded me of the first time I read Ready Player One (before the movie, distance, and the sequel made me take a second/third/fourth look at it). Or Snow Crash (a wise reference for Scalzi to make early on). It sort of reminded me of the first time I read High Fidelity, too. The catchy, irreverent narrative; the snappy dialogue; the first-person narrator you click with right away*...it just took me a few pages to know that I was going to find nothing but joy in these pages.
*or probably never.
And really, I don't have a lot to say about the book beyond this. It brought me joy for a couple of days. Thinking about it now is doing the same thing. Go get your hands on this text-based dopamine hit in your preferred medium (I bet Wheaton's audiobook narration is perfect), sit back, and enjoy yourself.
Originally posted at irresponsiblereader.com.
I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I was going to. To be real for a minute, I've been having a bit of a bad mental health month and needed something lighter, or as the author himself puts it “pop music.”
I had such a great time with it, the characters were great, the dialouge witty and sciencey, but not in a way that made my eyes glass over, and SPOILERS! there was no twist villain! If you hate greedy billionaires as much as I do you will love this book.
There are also gay, trans, and non binary characters that just get to be, no fanfare no big deal and I love reading books like that.
The only thing holding this book back from being a 4☆ Enjoyment read is that it is incredibly dialouge heavy, with very few descriptions of at all. The plot starts to pick up in the last third.
I loved this book so much and it's exactly what I needed.
I truly enjoyed the book. To be honest I would say that the Author is right when he describes it as a hit pop song. It was quick, fun and catchy. A light read thay i enjoyed but did not have to take too serious.
Overall, I would happy encourage people to read this book for a quick fun time!
This was a quick fun read. I quite like Scalzi's writing style and would be curious to pick up more from him. I do wish there was more to describe the kaiju and also to distinguish the characters from each other in the story as they all sounded like the same person spouting witty one liners, but still a fun ride. 3.5⭐️!
What a fun introduction to John Scalzi! The Kaiju Preservation Society isn't a book that will be on everyone's top reads, but for those who love Kaiju battles, and a world that you would love to explore more of this book is perfect for you. This was a fun read and I cannot wait to dig into more of John Scalzi's works!
Basically the plot of the story is that there's an alternate reality earth with huge kaiju (think Godzilla) and it's the Kaiju Preservation Society's job to look after them.
The main character is a fan of sci-fi novels, so as a fellow sci-fi fan it was fun picking up on the references (is this what it's like to read and actually enjoy Ready Player One??).
However I did feel like the climax/resolution was a bit of a letdown, a bit too much of an invincible, main characters can do no wrong, vibe. But otherwise fun if you don't take it too seriously. Hence why I couldn't give it a 5 star!
Originally posted at www.emgoto.com.
The Kaiju Preservation Society is an excellent new novel by John Scalzi. After losing his job, Jamie discovers a new opportunity that is out of this world. Literally. Now employed by an organization that seeks to preserve giant monsters known as Kaiju, Jamie discovers friends, adventure, and terrifying danger along the way. This book is a lot of fun. It's great for sci-fi fans and those who have enjoyed Scalzi's previous works such as Agent to the Stars, etc. The audiobook is read by Wil Wheaton who is excellent as always. Highly recommended ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another excellent book by Scalzi. Very fun and, dare I say, the only truly essential pandemic pop culture.
This is surely not one of the best by Scalzi and I was tempted with 1 star but then I read the postfaction by the author and his struggle with retrieving a balance after the crazy 2020 year. And as I felt in a very similar way, I think 3 stars is all right and I hope he's going to get back to full force soon.
The whole thing felt kind of shallow and undeveloped. Lots of build up and then the “problem” resolved very cleanly and quickly with few surprises. This would probably make a good Michael Bay movie.
3.5 stars!
A light, fun read. Liked the writing.
I actually love the way the chapters are designed. Similar page counts and completely a scene start - end style!
So you can keep reading. It was never boring at any point. Ending felt a bit rushed, to me!
Wish there were actual descriptions of Kaijus, all we got was hundreds of meters tall, huge, large Kaiju, with multiple references to Godzilla. Other than that, all the characters sounded the same, spouting quips straight out of a bombed Ryan Reynolds movie.
The book had some moments, but was a slough to complete. Another one of my biggest gripes was the word behemoth wasn't used ONCE.