Laid off from a corporate job, working as a delivery driver, trying to survive the pandemic--Jamie is not having a good time. So when an acquaintance offers him a job in "wildlife preservation," with benefits a high salary, he doesn't ask a lot of questions. And when it turns out that he's working with forty-story nuclear-powered monsters in an alternate earth...well, why not? Jamie finds himself fitting in well with the other members of their team, but when things start to go wrong, the stakes turn out to be even higher than he imagined. But hey, it still beats delivery service... Scalzi's writing makes for a fun, punchy, quick read that will leave you feeling like you too could take on interdimensional conspiracies and giant monster tree crabs.

I've been a big John Scalzi fan from early in his career, so I was very excited to hear he had written a Kaiju novel, since I'm also a huge Godzilla fan. I was not disappointed. I loved immersing myself in the alternate world featured in the book, and it was a lot of fun.

The characters are likable and engaging. The monsters are weird, and by turns, both funny and terrifying. I would not recommend this book to younger readers, but I would suggest it to older teens, as there is a fair amount of violence, and a little bit of gore. Basically, if they can handle the current crop of Godzilla films, this book should be right up their alley.

Thank you so much to net galley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book! I am a huge fan on John Scalzi so I was super excited to start reading this book! It did not disappoint, it made me laugh out loud. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the finale page

I loved this book! Recently, I've been on a science fiction thriller kick, and this is the perfect read for that genre. It has the thriller vibe of "Jurassic Park" with the narrative humor of "Project Hail Mary," and it was such a smash hit for me that I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fun thrill ride, or someone looking to mix up their genres.

Thank you to John Scalzi, NetGalley, and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for sending me the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Damn I really loved this book. Scalzi has created such vivid and lovable (and omg hate-able) characters and I will miss them all. Especially Niamh, I’ll love Niamh forever.

This book is the perfect escape from the grey despair of the world right now. And that’s the whole point. In the acknowledgments, Scalzi writes that this story is not some serious meaningful affair, it’s light and fun like a pop song. It’s meant to entertain and leave you smiling. It definitely does that.

The Kaiju Preservation Society is like Godzilla meets Avatar meets The Expanse. If you love any or all of those, you’ll love this story.

“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.”

Honestly, the author could not have put it better! This book was a very enjoyable read, it had me laughing out loud and with a smile on my face. However, that being said I went into this book expecting something totally different - thinking more Jurassic park/Godzilla dramatics and drama type thing, which it 100% wasn't. That being said, for what it actually is, it's a very enjoyable read and a SUPER quick read which is just what you need sometimes.

Overall I really quite enjoyed it - round it up to a 3.5stars. Would certainly be keen to read other works by this author in future.

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC (sorry took me so long to actually read it!)

If you're a Scalzi fan, sure -- but his charms wore thin on this one for me. The idea felt like it could've been a short story but instead got expanded to a novel. It's big melodrama, all Proper Noun Obvious, and while that's fun... I don't know, sometimes you just expect a bit more.

It's 2020, Covid is just starting to strangle New York City, and Jamie Gray is unexpectedly out of a job. Despite this opening premise, The Kaiju Preservation Society is pretty much an upbeat, positive, and humorous tale. Jamie's sudden introduction to joblessness is exactly what is needed to open up the world of The Kaiju Preservation Society, or KPS for short.

Reduced from a comfortable Analyst position to a food delivery driver, Jamie ends up delivering to Tom Stevens, an old acquaintance who just happens to be part of an organization with a job vacancy. He can't tell Jamie much about it, other than that it's an animal rights organization that works with large dangerous animals, pays well, has decent benefits, will require lifting and carrying things, and a Non-Disclosure Agreement is required. Jamie suspects they're spies or mercenaries, but agrees to give it a go given that it would be hard for life to get much worse.

And thus Jamie and the reader are introduced to a world that has always existed, but we didn't know about until the 1940s and the large-scale use of nuclear energy. It turns out creatures like Godzilla are real, it's just they don't normally live here on our Earth. But, under the right circumstances (I.E. nuclear energy), it is possible for them to cross over here, or for us to cross over to their version of Earth. The KPS serves the dual purpose of making sure they don't come over here and studying an entirely new world over there.

While the introduction necessary to get Jamie in place is pretty bizarre to start with, the bulk of the novel takes place where the Kaiju are. It's a place very similar to our Earth, but one where, if you're careless, you'll be eaten alive; literally. And Scalzi uses Jamie to great effect as a Point-of-View character teaching us how things work, and don't work, in this strange place. Naturally, the kind of people that would thrive in this place have a flexible outlook on life and have learned to deal with a new reality whether it makes sense or not. And in a world with Godzilla-sized creatures whose parasites have parasites, life frequently doesn't make much sense. But it's never dull.

Reader's warning: When you get to the part where Jamie has the mandatory medical review, don't drink anything while you're reading. I read it out loud and ended up laughing so hard I was incoherent. Trying to drink at the same time will not be pretty.

Best-selling author John Scalzi returns with another twist on a science fiction classic.

The Kaju has a long, storied history in pop culture, from the original Godzilla to Pacific Rim. Most of these stories involve the battle and destruction of these monsters. In Scali's Kaju Preservation Society, a group- must find a way to save them.

Our protagonist's prospects can't get much lower when he gets laid off from his developer job at a high-level startup. However, a chance encounter leads to a new opportunity. A super secret government program that works in an alternate dimension where Kaju rules the earth. Years before, when human earth discovered nuclear weapons, they thinned the dimensional portal between the two worlds. This group needs to track, preserve, and ensure Kajuis stay in their own dimension. When an entrepreneur tries to infiltrate the program, it will take all of their creativity and wit to stop a Kau escape and destroy an entire city.

I love Scalzi's play on traditional beloved science fiction worlds. Preserving and protecting Kaiju sounds really exciting, but it turns out that it is similar to working on a nature preserve with far more dangerous conditions.

About: 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, 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 who have found their way to the alternate world. Others have, too. And their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.

I absolutely adored this book. I want to be very clear that this is not my normal genre. I actually ignored every nudge to pick it up because it seemed so outside my comfort zone. I WAS WRONG. I picked this up because the author, John Scalzi, was going to be at the Savannah Book Festival. I go every year and always find something I should have given more credit to, so I picked this one up. It was absolutely perfect! It was funny, culturally relevant, and kept me on the edge of my seat. The author describes it as a "pop song" and it's an apt description. The book is pretty short but hits all the storytelling high notes and I look forward to digging into his backlist.

One of the best pandemic thriller that I have ever read. The plot, characterisation, pace everything was just fantastic for me. Enjoyed everybit of it. Scalzi's writing gave me the time I used to have with Crichton's books. And believe me they are just great.

I like John Scalzi, have been reaidng him since Old Man's War. This was a fun outing, but not a series I think I would continue reading.

This was a very fun, blockbuster style novel. I don't think the writing is a strong point, but the story telling and action scenes are incredibly fun. This is a great beach read or page turner and could serve as a leveling up point for my students who are reluctant to get into reading but love this type of genre storytelling.

This book was my favorite read of 2022! I loved the blend of humor and real work questions and the characters were a joy

Look, I kind of slept on John Scalzi’s The Kaiju Preservation Society. I got the ARC during the pandemic, read the first scenes set in the last few minutes of pre-pandemic New York, with the protagonist worried about shutdowns and making rent, and I just noped out of it. Sorry, Scalzi, no amount of love for Old Man’s War could make me read more about pandemic life. Just not happening.

But, it’s ok now. I’m no longer in early covid life, where the borders were closing and student visas were getting cancelled, and ESL schools were closing for the duration and then straight-up closing. Instead, I’m in the teacher shortage of late-stage covid life. Any teachers still standing are dancing around our classrooms, TikTok syncing to UNTOUCHABLE. And, ok, I might have done a little dance of joy when I returned to the classroom and moved chairs around for small groups card games. These things too have passed. Ok, I can try a pandemic read now.

Anyway, our hero Jamie has just been laid off from a tech job and starts driving for an UberEats knockoff food delivery app. He’s a deliverator, like Hiro Protagonist in Snow Crash, which is entirely lost on the tech bro founder. Jamie’s delivery life is a pretty standard regular-life opening before the heroic adventure, if you are not ready to cry over the missed opportunities of pandemic life. Jamie delivers a meal to a friend-of-a-friend, Tom, and gets chatting about Tom’s job, doing high-security work for some animal rights organization. Tom offers Jamie a vaguely defined low-level job, but it’s a job! With benefits! That’s not a gig worked deliverator for a terrible tech bro! Of course he takes it because, well, it’s a job. In covid times. Jamie isn’t too worried when the job description stays vague or the job location is vague or that there’s a 6-month contract where he won’t be able to call home or… I loved this part. Readers know that total adventure escapism is coming, while our hero looks forward to paying his student loans by lifting heavy objects or something.

I don’t want to spend too much time talking about the kaiju, because discovering them, their world and their total stunning weirdness along with Jamie and his friends is a real joy. Jamie’s new scientist friends are very smart nerds, having a great time on their research adventure. And that’s the overall mood the story — research adventure. This wonderful feel of exploration and discovery, with a strong streak of nerdiness, is what I always respond to in classic scifi. And this scifi novel even has women characters in it, too! There’s a non-binary character, as well, which I really enjoyed. Queer characters without tragic backstories! Just going around being good at their jobs and having adventures! Yes. Perfect.

As I read this, I thought several times of Charlie in Venus Plus X, the everyday working man who lands in a wild scifi universe. (I will spare any itchy @-ing fingers: I’m fully aware this situation is also found in other novels!) The idea that this new world is just so strange, all the usual rules are off, and there’s the underlying question of whether humanity can be trusted with this knowledge or whether the worst instincts of greed and fear will win out.

The Kaiju Preservation Society is definitely a message scifi, the villain’s an evil billionaire with no consideration for human or kaiju lives. Baddies with money and power who want more money and power feel like a comic book staple. The villain here has a fun bit of backstory, but I forgot his name already. Anyway, Evil Elon Musk is more like a device to power the friendship story here, and and provide a dark, greedy counterpoint to the optimistic discovery of KPS life. Yes, sure, they’ve gotta save the world, but it’s still a friendship story first.

Overall, The Kaiju Preservation Society is a scifi adventure, with a nerdy, loyal friend group at the heart.

I really enjoyed this story! The tone and fast-moving nature of the plot kept me engaged throughout. Though, some readers might find it hits too close to home (despite the Kaiju’s) as it takes place during the pandemic.

A fun read that carries author John Scalzi's voice through a tale of "science" fiction, humor, contemporary lit, horror and COVID genres. And, not too soon. This was a book I needed to read to pick me back up to reading after a brief hiatus. There's no deep message. There's no earth-shattering life transformation. Think Galaxy Quest or even Red Shirts, another of Scalzi's books. It's worth the romp and will hopefully lift your spirits the way it did for me.

One could call The Kaiju Preservation Society a pandemic novel because a) John Scalzi wrote it during the pandemic and b) the pandemic serendipitously leads the main character, Jamie, to a new job that sets the action in motion.

But the book is not about the pandemic. It’s about Kaiju, Godzilla-like monsters who live in an alternate Earth. This alternate Earth is rich in radioactive elements, and the Kaiju produce energy from their own internal biological reactors. This makes them a danger when, say, they end their lives with in nuclear explosion that thins the walls between Earths, but it also makes them an object of fascination for unscrupulous humans seeking new sources of cheap energy.

Read an excerpt of the episode featuring John Scalzi and The Kaiju Preservation Society on Literary Hub.

“So much of the way plant life and animal life on Earth works is through sunlight, which is just another type of radiation,” Scalzi tells me on the new episode of New Books in Science Fiction. “Plants photosynthesize, animals eat plants, other animals eat the animals that eat the plants and so on and so forth. But sooner or later it all comes back to sunlight. The only places where you don’t have that happen are in very specific places where, for example, there are sulfurous heat sources at the bottom of the ocean. And then things have evolved to take advantage of the energy source there. Well, in this alternate Earth, things like uranium and thorium in the crust are another possible energy source. It makes sense to me that life would evolve to take advantage either wholly or in part of that additional energy source. And then, of course, I just built out from there.”

Scalzi has contributed in myriad ways to the art of science fiction through many novels, his past leadership as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the platform he provides other writers on The Big Idea, a feature that appears regularly on his website. His writing has earned numerous awards, including what was once upon a time known as the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugos for Fan Writer and Best Related Book, and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

Goodness, this book is fun. It's like a light Ready Player One meets Jurassic Park - full of fun quips, nerdy references, and a quick, adventure plot. The author, at the end of the book, describes how this is the book he needed to write to get through the difficult pandemic years and it's exactly that: an entertaining, escapist ride that many of us need just now.

I firmly believe that beyond anything else, reading should always be fun. If there's one author who can always be trusted to remind their readers of that, it's John Scalzi. The Kaiju Preservation Society is fast-paced and unique, with imperfect, likeable characters and a completely unique setting. It's wonderfully written and an absolute page-turner but beyond anything else, it's FUN. And what more could you want than that? I loved it.