When Jamie Gray loses his cushy job at a big firm in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, he doesn't think too long and hard about an offer for a secretive gig in 'large animal care'. It doesn't involve delivering food in New York and that's all he needs to know, so he gladly spends a whole day in mysteriously detailed medical tests and agrees to work for the next 6 months somewhere out of contact with society.

My favourite thing about The Kaiju Preservation Society was the idea of there being an organization that looks after kaijus just like pandas are looked after in the real world, and the way the kaijus are portrayed in this book is quite sweet (unless when they're "venting", of course). The level of gentleness and concern with which the people in KPS care for these gigantic, dangerous creatures is also pretty endearing, and I enjoyed all the nerdy excitement they displayed whenever finding out something new about the kaijus.

As far as the writing is concerned, the dialogue was mostly fine, but some things were repeated too many times in an attempt at humour, which didn't work for me. The villains were a tad underwhelming too, but I enjoyed how the story progressed thanks to the bad guys' part in it and I thought everything ended up being nicely wrapped up.

This short and punchy book is a beach read for people who prefer science fiction to rom coms. The Kaiju Preservation Society is not extremely technical nor intellectual, but it's fun throughout. Think Jurassic Park but less scary and sciency. John Scalzi himself refers to this book as a light and catchy pop song, and who am I to disagree with that. It's not too serious nor dark so if you're feeling overwhelmed with difficult literature (or just life in general), pick it up and let your brain relax for a few hours.

The Kaiju Preservation Society comes out on March 15. Huge thank you to NetGalley, John Scalzi and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the advanced reader copy.

This is not a weighty book and I'm not sure it will age well, but it is a fun romp with lots of characters you can root for, a cartoonish villain, a few nice big ideas, and lots of Scalzi's brand of snark. If you've read his Old Man's War, you might remember the fun scenes of the training camp where the protagonist forms a smart, snarky friend group. Now imagine an entire book like that, and add some giant monsters. Viola, the light adventure I for one needed coming out of this pandemic era (knock on wood).

Welcome to the Kaiju Preservation Society, where the kaiju roam free and the humans run for their lives.

Your new job promises all the fun of a classic kaiju film festival held in Jurassic Park—the screams, the laughs, and the aura of modern science that sounds like it could almost hold water.

(It certainly holds more water than Godzilla vs Kong. Not that we watch kaiju films for the science, but still. They could have tried.)

Arriving March 15, John Scalzi’s The Kaiju Preservation Society has already been optioned for television. Yep, you read that right—optioned before publication.

Living. The. Dream.

So whip out that résumé and take our Kaiju Quiz to find out if you’re KPS material! Ready, set, go!

(We really did build a quiz. You can take it here: https://mygeekology.com/kaiju-quiz-co... )

How’d you do? If you scored 0–4, you’re in luck! You’re perfectly qualified for the KPS job of “person who carries stuff,” casting you as the hero of Scalzi’s latest adventure.

When Jamie Gray gets fired during the pandemic, they’ll take any job they can find to stave off that looming eviction notice. Little do they know they're going to end up in an alternate reality preserving living, breathing kaiju.

Or at least carrying stuff for people who preserve living, breathing kaiju.

Either way, it’s a pretty sweet job. The pay is great. The food is free. (Weird, but free.) And the people are chock-full of their two favorite things: snarky repartee and profound loyalty.

Oh wait, maybe those are my two favorite things.

At any rate, Scalzi delivers, with rapid-fire dialog that’s guaranteed to make you laugh out loud or your money back. (Your money back on this free blog post, you understand, not on the book. If the book doesn’t make you laugh, that’s on you. The book’s hilarious.)

And a loyal crew that will make you wish they were your real-life friends—and that you could live with them for free in their apartment.

One part action-adventure, one part stand-up comedy, and one part biting social commentary (which, let’s be honest, is also stand-up comedy, things being how they are these days), The Kaiju Preservation Society is a wildly fun ride that will keep you flipping those pages all the way through.

This is my second Scalzi novel, and absolutely not my last. I first read Lock In, which was heady and deep and dark and I loved it. This? This is not. It is fun and funny and an absolute freaking delight.

In the Author's Note at the end, Scalzi says "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 am smiling.

I had no idea what the kaiju looked like, and many other things were only vaguely described. So I ended up just imagining they all looked like Godzilla.

All of the characters sound the same and have the same sense of humor. It didn't really matter who said what or how many people were in a conversation.

It was ok, a fairly shallow and fast read, which I think is what the author intended.

The Kaiju Preservation Society follows Jamie, who lost their job due to Covid and is now a delivery driver. Jamie ends up delivering food to Tom, an old acquaintance, who offers Jamie a job lifting things at the company Tom works for. He says it's an animal rights organization, but what it really is is an alternate Earth with giant dinosaur-like creatures called Kaiju. Their job is to protect the animals but it's not always easy, and sometimes people on our Earth have different plans for the Kaiju.

Think Jurassic Park but alternate Earth meets Godzilla. Those connections are even made in the book. I loved all the science fiction references as Jamie and the other new recruits got used to the KPS. This book was so quirky and nerdy and fun! It's a slow burn, with most of the book showing how Jamie acclimates to the new world and working with'/around the Kaiju. Jamie is a likeable, funny main character, frequently saying "I lift things" when asked what they do or to do a job that isn't lifting things.

As is natural for monster stories, of course things will eventually go wrong. And of course, it's humans that cause the problem and not the monsters. The last act of the book is action packed and quick, a nice counterpoint to the slow build of the first two-thirds. But the book is never boring, with weird monster mating habits, sciencey talk, and world building throughout. If you like Godzilla or Jurassic Park, this book is for you.

The Kaiju Preservation Society

[Blurb goes here]

John Scalzi writing style is something that I've always enjoyed. This adventure is no different, it's funny, it's interesting, and something I will read again in the future. Scalzi delivers an original and fast paced story. His unique world and character building shines here. Wether you're a Scalzi fan or not, this is one book I truly recommend, and one you'll surely find hard to put down.

Thank you for the free copy!

Wow this was such a fun book! Set during the COVID pandemic (which could be a grim setting) - Jamie loses a supposedly good job and ends up as a food delivery person, which also ends when the company gets sold. Luckily one of the food delivery customers was an old acquaintance, who recommends Jamie for a job with the KPS.
Discovery of what the KPS is, and what it does is half of the fun, so I won't way more. This was a "popcorn book" - kind of like a summer blockbuster film - enjoyable in all the right ways. When I wasn't reading it, I was wishing I could be reading.
Thanks to netgalley for giving me an ARC to read, and a special thanks to John Scalzi for writing it. I'll definitely be recommending this one frequently!

John Scalzi is writing a sci-fi novel with dragons?! Hell, yeah!

WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Jamie Gray is a delivery driver for a food delivery app. It's a dead-end job for a man with Jamie's skills, but what with the pandemic, any job is a good job. But things aren't going well and Jamie wants to do something better. This hits home even more-so when his roommates, whom he relies on to help pay the rent, tell him they are moving out. As luck would have it, Jamie runs into an old friend, Tom, who works with an animal rights organization and they need someone to do mostly grunt work. Tom makes the arrangements for Jamie to get an immediate interview and then the job offer. The job itself is kept mysteriously vague. All Jamie needs to know is that he'll be paid well, he'll be out of communication with society for his contracted time away, and that his job will be to lift and move things.

Jamie joins a few other 'newbies' on a plane - their whereabouts still a mystery. Even as they land in Greenland, he learns that this isn't his final destination. It turns out that Greenland is just the first step in accessing an alternate earth. Yup, you read that correctly. This alternate earth has many similarities to our earth, but many unique and dangerous to humans differences as well. Including dragons. Well, 'kaiju' to be more precise. 'Kaiju' is a Japanese term meaning 'strange beast of Godzilla size.' And if their size wasn't scary enough, the Kaiju on this planet are heated internally through a nuclear process and when a Kaiju dies, it sets off a nuclear explosion.

There are a number of things going on, Jamie discovers, as scientists are here studying and hoping to preserve the Kaiju, but also, the volume of nuclear explosions from dying Kaiju is weakening the space between Earth and this alternate world. Should there be a new opening, the Kaiju, and all its scary parasites could travel to Earth.

But a bigger problem turns out to be the humans who are working against the Kaiju Preservation Society to create that opening and bring in those Kaiju because ... well ... greed, of course. Who wouldn't want to tap into the potential for 'free' nuclear energy?

Man... Scalzi creates a remarkably complex, unique world, full of scientific technobabble and still manages to bring in the fantasy element of dragons?! This is awesome.

The book is a really fast read. Maybe a little too fast as it seems we're only just getting started with the story after getting all the background on the characters and the location and the story is nearly done as soon as it gets started.

I'd also add that while I really enjoy the snarky attitude and comments from Scalzi's main characters in nearly all of his works, there were a couple of times when I actually felt it was out of place here ... almost more like having the author interfere with the idea that 'this is really clever and witty, you need to say this' rather than what the character wanted to say in a given situation. In other words, I saw Scalzi, not Jamie, at these moments.

Still, I really had fun here. It was exciting and thrilling, just enough conflict to make it a story, and lots and lots of action and danger. It's a great beach read, or airport read, or 'stuck-inside-due-to-the-cold' read.

It is supposedly a stand-alone novel, but there's plenty of opportunity here to build an on-going story, and frankly I hope we'll get to revisit this again sometime.

Looking for a good book? The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi is an exciting, thrill-ride. And like the thrill-rides at your local carnival, it is over much too soon - you'll want another go.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

John Scalzi is an author I'll read basically anything from, so I was excited to dive into this one. Right off the bat we get plenty of that humor that is present in a lot of his books, and the bonus was a very interesting premise as well.

I went into this book as blind as possible, so while I had an idea of what was going on, it was still a surprise to me to see how we got there.

I found the main character pretty relatable and someone I could root for. The rest of the characters, though, felt like kind of a mashup of all the same people. I had a hard time remembering which friend did which science thing. I also found the constant bickering between characters to get a bit tiresome at times.

I also found some little bits of the plot to be totally unrealistic. Yes, I am totally fine with kaiju's being real things, but a phone that is unlocked when it's turned on, because it was unlocked when it powered off? These little things took me out of the narrative unfortunately.

Overall, I thought the plot was fun and light, and this was a quick read. Definitely a must for all Scalzi fans!

I didn't finish this book because, I just didn't like it from near the beginning, unfortunately.
Thank you, however, for the opportunity to read and review this work.

I loved this! I've read other stand alones form Scalzi and I'm always finding myself wishing that they were more than just one-offs. This book takes you on a multi-verse adventure from a chance meeting to the opportunity of a lifetime to be part of project that protects creatures the likes of Godzilla.

Wonderful adventure, well-drawn characters, full of snark, peril, fun, and delight, this was an all-round good read. Highly recommended for anyone who's looking for something that's not like anything else on the shelves!

The past two years have indisputably affected us all, one way or the other, and yet it was still a surprise for me to learn that even a cheerful personality like that of writer John Scalzi, who comes across as an individual gifted with an inexhaustible reserve of whimsical humor, suffered from the heavy toll of the situation: in the Author’s Note at the end of this book he shares his difficult journey with a book he was attempting to write, a book that was ultimately put on the back burner in favor of this one. In Scalzi’s own words, that other book was a “brooding symphony”, while The Kaiju Preservation Society is a “pop song”, one “meant to be light and catchy”: I, for one, am very grateful that he was inspired to write it, because it turned out to be a delightfully escapist story that for a couple of days managed to entertain me, making me smile often and laugh out loud in several occasions. In these times, this is a precious gift, indeed.

At the onset of the Covid pandemic, Jamie Gray works in the marketing department of a food-delivery startup named füdmüd, from which he’s suddenly fired: in dire need of paying the bills, and with job opportunities vanishing quickly due to the crisis, he has no other choice but to accept work in actually delivering food to füdmüd’s clients. Having been befriended by one of them, Jamie is offered a chance to work with the KPS and he accepts eagerly: what he does not know is that the job will entail direct contact with huge, Godzilla-like creatures in a very unusual, very unexpected environment. While making new friends and adjusting to the new work situation, Jamie will need all his resourcefulness and dexterity to deal with the unexpected challenges presented by this job, and to defeat the dastardly plot of the (required) evil corporation - and to lift things, of course, because that’s what he was hired to do…

Jamie is an easy person to get attached to, not least because he’s a nerd, his dialogue crowded with pop-culture and SF references that bring instant recognition and a sense of easy kinship: in the course of the story, he turns from a simple Things Lifter to a hero (even if an unassuming one) and where other less skilled writers might have fallen into the “Gary Stu Trap” with him, Scalzi takes that trope and turns it on its head, creating a fun, very relatable main character we can all root for. He’s the lone Everyman in the midst of a group of quite talented scientists, and yet his penchant for SF-related themes allows him to take the mental steps necessary to adjust to the KPS environment and to thrive in it: I’ve often maintained that the kind of “mind training” offered by speculative fiction makes us nerds able to bridge chasms that might scare other people, because we can go that extra mile with no effort at all, and Jamie is indeed proof of that.

As far as personal interactions go, I found The Kaiju Preservation Society enjoys the same kind of easygoing, humorous banter I first encountered in Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series: here it serves both to define characters and to provide the necessary scientific explanations (both real and imagined) that might otherwise have felt like weighty info dumps and that instead flow easily and at times even become entertainingly informative. The sense of camaraderie, and then friendship, that binds these different people is a joy to behold and serves to balance out the unavoidable drama and loss that at some point hit the small community, forcing these dedicated, peaceful scientists (plus the Weight Lifter) to tap their reserves of courage and face an impending threat and the high stakes it brings about.

That threat comes - of course - from corporate greed and in particular from an individual Jamie knows well: this guy is the epitome of the mustache-twirling villain and, again, he might have turned into an unavoidable trope, but once again Scalzi manages to poke some fun at this particular cliché by shining a bright light on it instead of trying to mask it. It’s a well-know (and much scorned) habit for villains to launch in detailed monologues about their intentions before attempting to kill the heroes, and this particular bad guy indulges in it quite a bit, but here the habit of “monologuing” is openly addressed both by the villain and his would-be victims, turning what could otherwise have been a trite situation into another opportunity for John Scalzi’s peculiar brand of humor. In other words, this is a… tongue-in-cheek villain, one I both loathed and enjoyed.

Last but not least, this novel focuses on a singular and fascinating environment inhabited by these huge, towering creatures - and their proportionately big parasites - and sporting its own well-crafted ecosystem in which even the most outlandish feature has its reason to be, and is part of the fun in the story. I quite enjoyed The Kaiju Preservation Society, not only for its amusement quotient, but because of its hopefulness and optimism: these elements might look utopian, given that in the real world things almost never work so well, but as I said at the start of this review, we all need a bit of light in the darkness now and then, to believe that good can triumph over evil, and this book provided these features at the right time. For which I’m certainly grateful…

Mr. Scalzi reinforces his no-miss reputation for fun as well as carrying on the tradition of Science Fiction of making people think about what could be. Mr. Scalzi while exceedingly talented at telling tales of the future is even better at humanizing the future and the relationships involved in the future.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review*

What a wild ride! This book felt like an action/adventure/monster movie, in the best way; like Jurassic Park on steroids. This was my first John Scalzi book, and I’m sure it won’t be my last.

I loved the concept; in pandemic times, we all need a little escapism, especially our protagonist Jamie Gray, who entered the 2020 COVID lockdown as a takeout delivery guy for new startup füdmüd after being fired from their office team on the whim of the egocentric CEO. Cut to Jamie getting a once in a lifetime opportunity working for a mysterious organization known as KPS, which shuttles him to a top secret location in Iceland and promptly blows his mind with an alternate dimension of supersized Godzilla-like creatures, known as kaiju. The enormous creatures are more ecosystems than animals, and Jamie and the rest of the Kaiju Preservation Society are tasked with studying and protecting the kaiju and their world.

Of course there are all sorts of mishaps and adventures and signature Scalzi humour throughout. I did find that though the dialogue was consistently great, the narrative writing was light on descriptive imagery, but I didn’t mind so much, as it let my imagination run wild.

Overall, I had a blast reading this; it was a fun sci-fi novel with a lot of humour and heart, and I’m looking forward to reading more of the author’s work.

Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was absolutely delightful to read, and I was surprised at how much I ended up loving it. The writing and humour is right up my alley - it's witty and fun, but with a bit of a darker edge to it at times. I think if you've read Finna by Nino Cipri, it's a very similar sense of humour and tone, so if you liked that book, I think you will like this one as well. I adored our eccentric cast of characters and the bond they formed over this short novel. What I loved about this book is how it made me feel. There's a sense of wonder and amazement, as well as a curiosity about the entire situation that Jamie finds himself in that is just so utterly addicting, and a perfect book to escape the reality of the world with. It definitely reminds me a lot of Jurassic Park (the movies), both tonally and thematically. That sense of wonder and awe at nature is very present in this book, as well as some of the critique on corporate greed. All in all, I definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a fast-paced, lighthearted read.

The Kaiju Preservation Society (Hardcover)
by John Scalzi

Wow, I don't know if John Scalzi knew about the recent revelations that the earth is currently in the same position in the galaxy as when the dinosaurs lived on earth, it makes his first idea of this book even more relevant. The story is an amazing idea that their are not only multiple earths, but that by connection through the use of nuclear power you can blur the lines. His idea that those in power would use a new world for profit is a recourse of the modern spectacle. The idea of Kaiju being investigated and protected so they do not attack our world is interesting. Like their use of nuclear power for energy is a different perspective.
He throws the reader right in with the corporate world, showing how companies and tycoons make money by expletive means. It's a great warning for the public to not esteem the business practices of those who care not for that which they do. Please take the warning.
Oh an you monster lovers Kaiju can be beautiful and very deadly.. dont run into them with a helicopter.

THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY by John Scalzi
Publication Date: 3/ 15 / 2022 by Macmillan - Tor / Forge Books


This amazing fun journey is tantamount to eating desert before the main course. The title
alone of the book tantalizes all science fiction and horror movie aficionados. Anyone worth
their salt knows that Godzilla was a kaiju, and was the first Japanese monster that stomped
through the big screen in 1954. Scalzi supplies enough pseudo-science for all of us to suspend are disbelief and jump on this exciting train and gobble-up this fun preposterous premise.
Jamie Gray is about to have his six-month performance review at FudMud (“FoodMood”).
He has genuinely innovative ideas how to enhance the performance of this food app service.
Instead of a promotion or advancement, he is unceremoniously fired by his “dicknozzle” CEO in the face of upcoming lockdowns due to COVID-19. In desperation to avoid homelessness he reluctantly accepts a delivery job at FudMud. At one of his frequent delivery sites he encounters Tom Stevens …. an acquaintance from his past. Tom presents him an opportunity
for a better future …. and thrusts a business card in his hand for KSP. … “call for an appointment for a great opportunity in an animal rights organization.” The next tour of duty is in days, and one of his team members has just quit.
After acceptance and signing an NDA …. absolute confidentiality and secrecy is vital to
the security of their organization. They seemed quite impressed by his Master’s thesis on the bioengineering in science fiction novels. Starting salary was a hundred twenty-five thousand dollars …. how could he pass this up? After arriving at the NYC airport , he was presented with a ticket to Thule Air Base in Greenland…. and from there he was shuttled to Camp Century US Base inland. This was a military research facility, equipped with a nuclear reactor, that was closed in the 1960s … but, actually was still functioning and utilized by KSP. Once there, he along with a group of team members, entered a room in icy Greenland, only to leave t by another door with the aid of the nuclear reactor, into a steamy jungle setting. His first observation in this “alternate earth” was the sun being blocked out by a flying dragon … actually his first introduction to the Kaiju. He was going to work for the Kaiju Preservation Society.
John Scalzi weaves a complex narrative, featuring elegant world building along with
multi-layered characterizations, and as always laced with his snarky humor seeping through the pages. He excels at seamlessly spinning a twisted journey containing all the elements of a great story …. conflict, complications, crisis, and finally an exhilarating conclusion, after building escalating tension and intrigue.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan - Tor / Forge Books for supplying an Uncorrected Proof
In exchange for an honest review.

John Scalzi has created something that is not like the rest of the genre. No, there isn't anything super unique about this book. What he has done is write something that is purely about the fun and about putting a smile on your face. The scifi is extremely soft to not detract from the sense of wonder and adventure that he wants us as readers to feel. If hard science fiction and huge world building is your thing, this might not be the book for you. If you are looking for something that has great humor and brings a great idea to life, then you will not regret picking this up.
The only gripe that I have, is that there is a lack of detailed descriptions of the Kaiju and other life forms that we are introduced to. I can understand that it could take away from the fast paced adventure, but it would be nice to have some sort of visual of what the characters are looking at.
With all that said, I still loved this book. The characters are extremely diverse (multiple nationalities and inclusion of nonbinary persons), the humor hits very well, and the idea of a Kaiju wildlife preservation is imaginative and fun..

The Kaiju preservation society by John Scalzi.

I was excited when I got the new John Scalzi book from NetGalley and Tor in exchange for an honest review - I’m a big fan of his work. But his last few novels have been weaker than some of his earlier work, and I think it was due to his habit of rushing through writing them to make his deadlines (as he has eloquently described on his blog). I also had some concerns about this new book, since on his blog he described it as also being written very quickly after a different novel idea fell apart.

The first two chapters are a REAL turnoff. Scalzi’s protagonist is a glib millennial in New York City in March 2020 at the very beginning of the pandemic, and as someone who lives in New York and works in Manhattan, I can tell you that Scalzi has failed utterly to capture the mood and attitude of the people living through that specific time and place. Instead his characters feel flat and unreal in a way that totally destroys any ability or desire to want to read any further.

It feels like a failure of worldbuilding, except the world he fails to build realistically is OUR real earth, before it even gets to the parallel earth filled with giant monsters. He envisions a global conspiracy that thousands of people know about but no one talks about that is supported by every government on the planet. Throw into it a secret effective one-dose covid vaccine early in the pandemic that gets kept solely for the benefit of this global conspiracy, and it’s not just a world that’s unbelievable, but one I wouldn’t want to exist.

Once the plot gets going, the writing doesn’t get better. The characters are all ciphers. At 1/3 of the way in, none of the characters have any individual personality. They all exhibit that trademark Scalzi-character wit, but in an undifferentiated way. This is especially frustrating in dialogue exchanges without tags, because it is very easy to lose track of who is talking. I know from his blog that Scalzi has done this to make it sound better in audiobook format, but it really shortchanges the clarity of the words on the page. By the end of the book, i still could not differentiate the characters, breaking them down only into Narrator, Villain, and Everyone Else (and they all sound just like Narrator).

The writing also feels noticeably weaker than in prior books. For example, here is a paragraph from chapter ten: “We all screamed and Satie did a thing and our helicopter did another thing and somehow we got past Edward, but not before I saw an image I would take to my grave.” This really feels like phoning it in to me. There are SO many instances in this book of the narrator telling the audience that they can’t describe something, or they can’t explain something, or it makes no sense, but it just happens. If the author cannot explain something, maybe that’s a sign that there is a problem?

I will keep rereading my older Scalzi novels and I will look forward to whatever new novels he comes up with and I will keep enjoying his blog like I have for years. But I can’t give this one a pass.