This is the first book I've read from this author and it's definitely an interesting read. I can't wait to read more from the author.

I received a copy of this work from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

John Scalzi is one of my favorite authors, which is why I was surprised by The Kaiju Preservation Society. This is not to say that it is a terrible book, because it isn't. I'm also a huge fan of Kaiju, so I thought that this would be entirely up my alley. It is well written, and the concept is decent, however I think that is where the problem arises. Scalzi is an innovative writer and perhaps this raised my expectations too high, however I did still find this to be a disappointing book. It is by no means bad, it simply lacks the well thought out worldbuilding that I have come to expect from Scalzi. If you are looking for a light read, that is well written with decent characterization and a fun, if implausible concept, then this might be the book for you. 6 out of 10.

An excellent romp! Scallion says in his excellent afterword that he intended this novel to be like a pop song: light, fun, and right for the moment. KPS is all of those things and more.

What a fun story! I absolutely loved this contemporary sci-fi romp. I haven't read the author before and didn't really have any expectations going in but boy what I got was a real treat!

The protagonist Jaime is totally lovable, the kinda guy you'd like being friends with, and the whole cast is so enjoyable. Tom was another favorite of mine but they all are a lot of fun. There is so much witty banter and I had a blast chuckling along with them. I like stories where the characters are dropped into somewhere or something totally unexpected and this is 100 percent that. The setting is interesting and surprising with plenty of danger and action and the 'science' is neat.

This is just the kind of book I love recommending to literally anyone who reads. It's fun even in the tense moments, the characters are a joy to be around, and there's always something clever or inventive around the corner. Definitely pick this one up!


Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

Imagine taking up a job offer to work with “large animals” in an “animal rights organisation” only to end up looking after Kaijus on an alternate earth 💀

I picked this up after suffering through a few less-than-average reads and I’m so glad I did because
x it’s a standalone sci-fi that you can probably finish in a few sittings. Shorter read = perfect when you are in a slump.
x it’s hilarious! I was laughing out loud so many times.
x a fast-paced storyline makes the read quite addictive and I could hardly put it down. (I finished this at 3AM on a work day 🤡)

There were really so many cool things about this book and so many cool characters in it that now I find myself wanting to read more books by Scalzi.

In short: I loved every bit of this book. Totally recommended if you are looking for something light, comforting and hilarious!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

I’m going to start with this: The Kaiju Preservation Society was not what I was expecting. It’s kaijus—big, massive monsters—so I wasn’t expecting hard science fiction, deep characters, or a story that went beyond the stereotypical, climatic finish with kaijus locked in battle with one another or with humans flying jet aircraft or controlling giant robots armed with the latest in kaiju killing armaments. The Kaiju Preservation Society (TKPS from now on) is none of those things. TKPS is more fantasy than science fiction, its characters are developed only superficially, and there is no big, climatic finish of any kind. Not really, anyway.

Our lead character, Jamie Gray, is likeable enough, though he has no skills or training to warrant his inclusion in the society other than that he’s an expert in science fiction. Meaning, he really has no business being involved in the society at all except he is in the right place, at the right time, and knows the right person who recruits him. Jamie is then introduced to a world parallel to our own where nuclear reactions thin the barrier between them. In the past, kaiju have entered our world through these barriers. It is the job of the society to prevent these crossovers from happening or, when they do, to shepherd these errant monsters back to their own world and to make sure the general public remains none the wiser.

That’s all fine and sounds like an interesting enough premise for a story. But, as is often the case, it’s all in the delivery. Now, I will say first that Scalzi admits this book was one he needed to write to get him past a difficult time. Specifically, he says:

“This is a special book to me, and among other things helped get me through a rough moment in the world.”

He says more in the book’s closing, so I won’t get into that other than to agree that, yes, the world shutting down and everything else that’s gone on during the past two years has taken a toll on each of us to varying degrees. I’m glad he was able to use the experience of writing this book to relieve some of those feelings. I also wish I came away from the reading experience with better feelings towards TKPS. Unfortunately, while it was mildly entertaining, it didn’t really work for me.

So what went wrong? For me, it was the tone. It’s very lighthearted. Hey, if that’s what you’re after, then this is the book for you. But I wanted something with suspense, drama, riveting characters, spectacular monsters, and a good dose of science fiction. Even something shallow like Pacific Rim would have been just fine. It’s shallow, but it’s got big, freakin’ robots fighting kaijus! Members of the society, in contrast, are very hands off. They’re not there to fight the kaiju. They’re visitors to the kaiju world, there to observe and make sure the kaiju stay on their side of the fence. These are not the ingredients for a riveting storyline.

Then there’s the characters. Honestly, I don’t remember any of them other than Jamie. They’re all very whimsical and friendly, and that’s the problem. There’s nothing unique about most of them other than their scientific discipline, which isn’t enough to really distinguish themselves from one another since the science is really treated lightly. None of them really have a backstory other than Jamie, and his isn’t that interesting. More could have been done here.

The only thing I’ll say about the writing is that it’s very readable and dialog heavy. The worldbuilding is minimal even by Scalzi standards.

TKPS is a great premise, but the storytelling just didn’t work for me. I have enjoyed Scalzi’s other work, so I consider this a case of a book not fitting the reader as opposed to the author not working for me. I’m giving TKPS two rockets because, while an enjoyable enough read, it’s mostly forgettable and not something I would revisit. Regardless, I do want to thank the publisher for providing a free review copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Redshirts was John Scalzi’s homage and love-letter to all the tropes and cliches of the original (and still the best) Star Trek.

With his latest novel, The Kaiju Preservation Society, Scalzi brings the same level of love, homage, and poking fun to monster movies involving large creatures destroying large swaths of our world.

I’ll admit I’m not as steeped in the world of kaiju as I was Star Trek, so I probably missed a lot of the deeper nudges and easter eggs that Scalzi includes in this book. However, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy another great offering by one of my favorite writers.

As 2020 begins, Jamie Gray’s professional career is set. Heading into his performance review, Jamie sees great things ahead at his tech company that offers an alternative to UberEats or DoorDash. Jamie is blindsided when his boss not only demotes him but takes away his opportunity at a huge financial windfall that could see Jamie up for the foreseeable future. Instead, he’s offered the chance to be part of the team delivering meals to people.

At first, Jamie is dead-set against it. Then a real-world pandemic sets in and Jamie finds himself unable to find other work and so he begins delivering meals. While delivering one, he meets an old friend from college who needs a guy to “lift heavy stuff.” The pay is great and Jamie jumps at the chance — only to find himself on a plane to Greenland and a whole other universe that includes real-life kaiju creatures like the kind we’ve all seen in movies.

What follows is a fascinating, fun story that, like all good science fiction, brings up more than its fair share of big ideas and world-building. You can be forgiven if you don’t notice that as Scalzi is tickling your funny bone that he’s also engaging your thought processes along the way. In his afterword, Scalzi compares this book to a pop song–an entirely accurate description since a lot of the books will get stuck in your head and pop up when you’re least expecting it.

Overall, this is yet another winner by an author who’s been on a heck of a streak since Old Man’s War debuted all those years ago.

I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved The Kaiju Preservation Society!

It was just so much fun and I was highly entertained!
I haven't read any of John Scalzi's other work but I definitely will be giving them a go now.
If you like Jurrassic Park I highly recommend you read this book!

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Scalzi’s work so knew what to expect going into this one. I love his sense of humour, his snappy writing style and his out of the box thinking while also having intelligent and creative characters and just fun adventure plotlines that make for the perfect fun filled read.

I think Scalzi describes this book best himself in the books acknowledgements:

"As a Writer I am grateful to this novel, because writing it was restorative. KPS is not, and I say this with absolutely no slight intended, a brooding symphony of a novel . It’s a pop song." … "We all need a pop song from time to time, particularly after a stretch of darkness

This is the perfect description for this book. It is just filled with light hearted fun that really just made me smile. The writing is light and humorous but still filled with wit and cutting social commentary. My personal politics matches Scalzi’s so I enjoy his social observations and the observations of the events of 2020 added some much needed light humour and catharsis now that we can look back on it. There are a number of references to classic sci-fi dotted throughout the book which are fun to spot.

I really liked Jamie as a character. Again, like Lock in, the gender of the main character is never eluded to, Jamie being a more common female name in the US and a more common male name in the UK. The same is true of Jamie’s ethnicity and general appearance. Scalzi is really skilled at allowing you to connect to a character without any visual clues to that character, I find I end up with my own image of the character which makes me really invested in that character. Scalzi is also really good at slipping in subtle rep of all kinds into his work in an effortless and subtle way giving you a full cast of side characters with different sexualities, social backgrounds, ethnicities, races and religions making the worlds and environments he creates feel real. Especially as the employees of the KPS are drafted from all across North America you would expect to see a range of diversity that mirrors that of North America.

I really liked that Jamie was an expert in science fiction, it allowed them to blend into the world of the science behind the Kaiju but also to allow the science to be explained to them. I loved the hypothetical science in this book. Like his other works there is just enough real well researched science to make the hypothetical science plausible. This makes me, a Scientist, really happy, the real science is just good enough that when they hypothetical science is introduced its fun to play with the same what if’s that Scalzi has and there are some awesome what if’s creating the most interesting world building in this book.

Overall this is just FUN. Its exciting escapism at its purest and I loved it.

Oh, hello, Kaijus.

This book can easily fall under the pandemic literature we talked about in class, because yes, this book takes place during the pandemic. Yes, this book has kaijus-wish it had more so that it could be a more awesome book-but it does deal with one particular kaiju named Bella, but let’s put Bella to the side so we can talk about the characters.

Jamie Gray had just gotten fired by a start up called füdmüd, who then made him go and deliver food (oof). One day, he starts to deliver to a man named Tom, who works somewhere else, and tells Jamie that he’s invited to get another job…which he does. He lifts things-and also help take care of some huge dinosaurs called kaijus. With his friends who are very sciency, they help take care of the kaiju and make sure everything is okay.

Unfortunately, one of the kaijus, Bella, started laying some eggs, and they are watching her closely, since she’s sitting near one of the nuclear radiators I believe it was?? And then one day, she just…disappeared. Through a hole. No one knows where she went, and they came up with a whole bunch of hypothesis…until they decided to go out to where Bella was, to see if she’s alright.

When they go there, they saw that all of their equipment was destroyed, and the only thing that had evidence was Tom’s phone, which was dropped on the ground. Jamie picked it up, and they unlocked it to find a video of someone taking Bella somewhere else-to the other side. Earlier, Jamie had to take around his old boss and a Colonel, and he tricked his old boss into going outside and scaring him a bit with the white bug crabs. Even though he was scared and he learned the truth, Jamie thought that Rob had learned his lesson with trying to get something on a kaiju and bringing it home (he actually tried to bribe a pilot to bring him closer to Bella…didn’t work).

Turns out the whole time it was Rob who kidnapped her and my god, he sucks as a baddie. He really does. But at least he died quite pathetically, and Bella was returned to the forest in the New Earth. After that, everything was good. I was expecting more about Kaijus, but I kinda understood why, and that in my mind, there’s a bunch of kaiju scattered around that they’re looking at, and more and more people are coming to appreciate these beautiful kaijus. I really enjoyed this one, had a tiny bit of memes in it as well, but it was really good, really enjoyed myself.

I generally enjoy John Scalzi books and while this one was fun, I think it would translate better to a movie as it was fast-paced and too shallow to act as a full novel, for me. You would enjoy it if you want something shorter and more action-oriented, with some humor but not as much as his other novels. If you have never read his books before I'd recommend a different one to start with!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I loved this book! This is a book that is best going into not knowing too much but if you love speculative sci-fi, huge creatures that are otherworldly ,a main character with a wonderful sense of humor that had me laughing out loud a few times and movies or books like Jurassic Park, then this is a must read!

Thanks to Mcmillan-Tor/Forge books and to NetGalley for the ARC.

I wasn't sure about this book. I am not a big sci-fi fan, and I am often disappointed by books with lots of press. But- I really liked this one! Hard to put down. The whole theory of parallel Earths- not so much, but loved the idea of kaiju and the way the various characters were portrayed. All the various academics doing real work, trying to rectify problems, come up with solutions worked for me. The evil businessman- also worked for me. The setting, although not believable, was so nicely described I felt like I could envision it. The main character proved to be mulit-faceted and pulled everyone together.

Highly recommended. If you liked The Martian, you'll love this one too.

4.5*

John Scalzi has hit it out of the park with his newest book, The Kaiju Preservation Society. So far, this is my favorite book of 2022. Although I had an early copy, I decided I needed the audiobook because… Wil Wheaton! My dream team of Scalzi and Wheaton! What could be better?

This story is being compared to Jurassic Park and it’s fitting! If you like dinosaurs, and science, and FUN… This is your book. For me, it was like candy for my brain!

Jamie gets swept up in the 2020 COVID pandemic and loses his job. He runs into an old school chum who offers him the lifetime opportunity of a new job joining him at a large animal preservation job. All details are kept secret until Jamie is swept off to to a remote location for 6 months.

When Jamie arrives, he finds that he’s actually on another earth in an alternate dimension and that he’ll be helping to care for dinosaur like creatures called Kaiju. Think Godzilla!

What follows is a series of adventures to save their own earth against billionaires and trying to keep Edward, Bella, and their offspring safe.

I seriously loved this story!! I need more Scalzi!

*Thank you so much to Tor Books and NetGalley for the advance copy!*

This was such a fun time! I loved everything about it, from the characters to the little sci-fi book references. I know Scalzi said it’s not a series but if he changes his mind, I would not mind in the least.

I like books about kaiju so I was chuffed to be approved for an ARC via NetGalley. Describing kaiju as giant pandas in the blurb caused a few misgivings until I encountered the first kaiju in the book and realised they were not being passed off as panda-looking. I’m still baffled by the description in the blurb.

I really enjoyed this book. It had plenty of action without resorting to the somewhat stereotypical trope of kaijus on the rampage. There were shades of Jurassic Park in the story at times, which isn’t a bad thing in my view since I love the Jurassic Park books. This story deals more with the ethics around keeping the endangered kaiju from becoming extinct and/or going out with a bang due to their built in nuclear reactor systems. I enjoyed the science and liked the scientists and the setting. All in all this was a very fun read with the potential for it to be developed into a series.

I had this book sitting only my "to-read" shelf and when I picked it up to read, I really had no idea what to expect. But within the first 30 pages I was laughing and slightly questioning what I was reading, but I was hooked. I needed the humor, Godzilla references and other nods to pop culture. It was a very fun read.

The Kaiju Preservation Society is fun, clever, current, and unique. Scalzi navigates through the beginnings of the pandemic with this book and how people navigated it. But then when you least expect it, you are thrown into this alternate universe that Jamie and his team have to learn how to navigate in a fairly short period of time. I feel like summarizing this book wouldn't do the story justice. It is one of those books that you have to read for yourself in order to get the full effect. I caution that it will not be for everyone, but I think most will find it hilarious and get sucked into the fantastic story and fast paced dialogue.

I would recommend this as a read that has that potential to get you out of a reading slump, or if you're looking for something that is just a fun read!

This isn’t my first John Scalzi book, having read Old Man’s War a couple of years ago. I liked that one, but I haven’t read any of the other books in the series. This book surprised me, as I didn’t think it would live up to the promise of Old Man’s War.

The characters in this book were great! Our main protagonist, Jamie, is just your average guy. He could be any one of us trying to make our way through the world during the pandemic. And that’s what makes this book so great. Jamie was on his way to a doctorate when he decided to drop out and live his life just like all of his friends, so he’s not a slowpoke in the brains department, but when he arrives at KPS, he’s nothing special. Just a guy.

And this everyman is very well written. He takes his responsibilities seriously, and given the circumstances, he has found himself in, that’s actually a good thing. He has a great sense of humor, a quick wit, but a realistic side to him that I can appreciate.

But Jamie doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into. In fact, none of his doctorate-holding companions do. They’ve all been left in the dark as to what exactly it is the KPS does.

Our side characters’ interactions with Jamie are great. They all have fun together and they have real and genuine friendships that help when the time to be heroes comes.

There is a lot of exposition in this book that comes from those side characters. At the beginning of the story you learn as they do, but later on, they are the ones explaining things. And they explain those things in a way that assumes the audience listening to them is smart. Which is always nice.

I found no issues with the pacing and the writing style kept me engaged the entire time I was reading. Just to give you an example, I was at 35% when I picked up the book today. I finished it once I actually sat down to read it. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times and when I told the Hubs one of the funny things, he laughed too, and he hasn’t even read the book.

One of the things I didn’t like was that I called the villain the second I met them. I hated being right, but, surprisingly, it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story. I still wanted to know how everything played out.

I wasn’t expecting it, but I really loved this story. I happily give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Jamie Gray loses his management job as Covid-19 hits, ending up as a food delivery driver. But one of his customers offers him a job in large animal management. It would be worth a fairly large amount of money, but he would need to commit in the next day or so and be willing to travel. Jamie takes the deal and finds himself the Kaiju Preservation Society! Now, if you have watched Japanese monster movies, you will have a clue as to what Jamie will encounter! The KPS was a fun read that kept moving quickly and twisting enough to keep the reader guessing what would come next. This was exactly the read I needed right now!

This book was a lot of fun. Parts of it had me laughing out loud. As John Scalzi mentioned in his author's notes it is a pop song. Meant to be light and catchy. I prefer to think of it as a big bird flip to the years 2020 and 2021. And it succeeds on all levels.
A slight warning though---the language is a little salty so if you are sensitive to the fall of F-Bombs you may want to give it a pass.
Although I was under the impression there would be giant pandas--no giant pandas. :(
Thank you to #NetGalley #Tor #JohnScalzi for the ARC copy. It made my weekend.