I love John Scalzi, and after Redshirts, this is my favorite book of his! I enjoyed his Interdependency series, but it was nice to read one of his standalones again.

Growing up, I was generally on the side of the kaiju, it was really human greed and destruction that made them lash out. Who could blame them? John Scalzi, in only the way that he can, creates a world that lets the kaiju fan in us all experience life around the fantastical creatures that just as easily will eat you or stomp on you. Action packed, with plenty of humor, the book delivers on what you want the good and bad of living in a kaiju world.

THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY by accomplished, prolific, wry, author John Scalzi is exactly the tonic I needed heading into a new year of unforeseen events and hopefulness, following the insane ravages of 2020 and 2021. I would never have chosen for my first read of 2022 something comic; but Mr. Scalzi manages to deliver nevertheless a feel-good, hopeful, inspiring, SciFi, one full of growth, friendship, geek riffs, SciFi film lore, Lovecraftian influences, "monsters" and monstrous [indeed there is a vast difference], character evolution. I came away from this book believing that yes, 2022 may shine light and maybe we can globally climb out of the tunnel of the last two Pandemic years, because at the foundation of life, there IS trust, friendship, compassion, Science, Nerdiness, Science Fiction, and bonding together to Beat the Bad Guys and Save The World(s). Enormous thanks to John Scalzi: at last I feel hopeful again. Maybe Science and Science Fiction can save the Day.

I received an ARC of this book from Tor in exchange for an honest review.

The following contains no spoilers for The Kaiju Preservation Society (or at least, none that the title doesn't immediately provide on its own).

I don't like reading about the current pandemic. I don't like side references to it, I don't like plots that depend on people wearing masks or staying inside or getting vaccinated, and I don't like near-future or parallel-present books that have cute references to similar events. The Kaiju Preservation Society starts out with its protagonist looking for a way to make money after COVID-induced layoffs, which meant I was immediately predisposed to dislike the book. Still, give Scalzi credit--he doesn't linger too much on the here and now, and when he does, it's with the snarky dismissiveness that he's honed so well. For this reason alone (and also because Redshirts remains an all-time favorite, and Scalzi books tend to be upbeat and hopeful, and it's worth reading for a few good jokes alone) I give this book a pass on the "near-future that is too near" front. Once the initial stage is set, Scalzi delivers on an entertaining romp with just enough pseudo-science to keep the nerds happy and enough giant monster fights to keep the action junkies on the edge of their seats. The Kaiju Preservation Society is unabashedly fun--it's a love letter to monster movies, parallel world stories, and people who are sick of doing boring grunt work just to get by. The main cast is filled in enough around the edges to make them likeable, but not so much that we are bogged down in backstories; it's a plot-first book, after all. Scalzi develops a rich and entertaining fictional ecology which is as much a character in the story as any of the humans, and delivers a satisfyingly self-contained monster-of-the-week story that wouldn't be out of place as a TV episode in an anthology show. In an era of huge, sprawling sagas that feel like they need to take themselves seriously in order to justify putting out a nineteenth season, The Kaiju Preservation Society is refreshingly un-serious and has no pretensions about changing the world. It's the story of a poor deliverator who just wants to lift things, the asshole rich people who get in his way, and the giant lizards (forgive me the abuse of notation here, Scalzi) who make it all work out in the end. Not Scalzi's best work, but certainly worth tracking down for an entertaining and escapist afternoon.

Three and a half out of five stars (leaning towards four--to paraphrase Wolverine, Scalzi is the best there is at what he does even if what he does isn't always the best).

This is the perfect stress release easy read. Scalzi's humor and penchant for building truly wonderful characters shines through. It's not a deep treatise on the meaning of life; it's the kind of book that you share with friend and laugh with over drinks. It's laugh out loud funny with characters you root for and a satisfying conclusion. It's book comfort food.

QUICK TAKE: definitely scratched that Michael Crichton Jurassic Park itch with the humor we've come to expect from a Scalzi sci-fi novel. I had heard he wrote this book in a month last year, and it does feel a bit rushed (especially the ending), but overall I really liked this book a lot.

John Scalzi isn’t just good, he’s deceptively good. Here’s what I mean. You pick up one of his novels and settle into your favorite reading chair, and maybe you mean to just read a chapter, but all of a sudden you look up, bleary-eyed, and three hours have gone by without you realizing it. He’s so damn readable that it’s easy to miss all the things he’s doing better than most folks writing science fiction today, from drum-tight plotting, to world-class world building, to believable characters, to solid, believable science. Scalzi pumps thrilling hard science fiction straight into your eyeballs, and makes it all look effortless.

Case in point: The Kaiju Preservation Society. Kaiju, the monolithic creatures (think Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, etc.) most often found stomping all over Tokyo, are real. They live on another Earth in an alternate dimension, and are sometimes able to cross over to ours when we explode nuclear bombs, which thin the barrier between worlds. I should probably mention that the kaiju have evolved to have internal, biological nuclear reactors. A small group of scientists, backed by our world’s governments, large corporations and billionaires, have established outposts on Kaiju Earth to study the beasts, to preserve them, and, perhaps most importantly, to keep them in their world and stop them from crossing into ours.

Scalzi takes this premise and has a rollicking good time. This is a thrilling, fast-paced adventure that had me flipping pages so fast I would have gotten paper cuts if I wasn’t reading on a Kindle. He’s worked out the flora and fauna of Kaiju Earth in exacting detail, so everything that happens, no matter how wild, feels utterly believable. Of course, when you mix giant creatures, their equally oversized and deadly parasites, snarky scientists, and nefarious billionaires, bad things are bound to happen, much to my delight. I can’t remember the last time I had this much pure fun reading a novel. Exactly what I needed to close out this dumpster fire of a year.

The Kaiju Preservation Society releases March 15, 2022. Preorder your copy today. If 2022 is anything like 2021, you’re going to need this.

The thing about John Scalzi, the thing that makes him a legend, is in addition to his immersive, science driven world building, his dialogue reads like a funny conversation between you and your three best college buddies dropped in a center of a fantastical strange universe. The Kaiji Preservation Society-- a story about "the foreign legion for nerds" --is no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed the whole way. Favorite quotes out of context: "The choices here are homicidal maniac or shit tornado." "I lift things." "Tumors have no friends." "Jizz Thermos is a good band name."

I'll be honest--I don't often read science fiction. My husband is a big fan of John Scalzi, and since our reading interests rarely align, I wanted to read this book.

If you want an entertaining and funny science fiction story, this is for you. If you find science fiction forbidding, try it. Don't miss Scalzi's afterword, in which he explains how this book came to be (it might have been helpful to have it at the beginning of the book rather than the end, so readers can adjust expectations).

Librarians/booksellers; Scalzi fans are already eager to read this! Fans of Andy weir might also like this as well.

Many thanks to Macmillan/Tor-Forge and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The perfect book to end the year with. Reminiscent of Jurassic Park, it was a delight to read. Can’t wait for the movie or tv adaptation, cause it needs one. This was my first Scalzi and good thing he has a lot of books because it will not be my last.

4.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for the ARC.

Despite a longish but reasonably entertaining infodump at the start, the KPS moves at Scalzi's characteristically quick pace. It's an inventive story fueled by the early upheaval of the COVID pandemic and the shaky economic footing of the millennial generation.

I don't want to put out any spoilers because half the fun of the book is being surprised (although a quick Google search of the title would at least give hints). Jamie's early discovery that she is a pawn in a capitalistic game ends up netting her a far more interesting job. One that her experience (although no doctorate-a running joke) in analyzing science fiction novels makes her uniquely qualified to undertake.

She's an appealing main character who shares many of the characteristics of Scalzi's protagonists-smart, practical, without much interior emoting. Through her, the author also gives us a more than subtle savaging of our current economic and political system. It's a fun ride with Jamie at the helm, but I knocked off half a star because I did wish for a little more emotion from the characters especially towards the end. The wisecracking is great, but the bonds between the characters seemed very surface level.

In fairness after reading the author's note about how COVID upended his plans for a serious, emotional novel I can see why he kept this one light and mostly humorous. Except for the fact that humans really are the worst monsters, aren't they?

I had a lot of fun with KPS-read it and enjoy!

This is a story about a dude who is just here to lift things.

I loved this. It was hilarious and timely- also there are giant Kaiju. So much fun! There’s something so delightful about the idea of people studying and trying to save creatures from another place that’s sort of like ours, but also sort of not. I think more than anything this stood out to me as a story about the kind of people who want to preserve things, vs the kind of people who want to exploit them… but with a heavy dose of comedy & sardonic, witty conversation.

Thank you so much Netgalley, Macmillan Tor-Forge & John Scalzi for the eArc. It made my nerdy heart happy.

I had very mixed feelings about this book when I was finished, which I couldn't quite figure out at first. I mean, I love kaiju, don't I? I do. And don't I love it even more when big monsters are neutral or even positive forces? Yeah, of course. Do I love to see people (and monsters) dunking on sociopathic tech bros? Definitely. Do I like some quippy dialogue? Sure. Do I like it when people explain science to me? Absolutely, I loved The Martian. So am I the audience for this book? Er...

Well, I'm sort of the right audience, but I read it at the wrong time. I should have read it on a beach somewhere, or in a car on the way to a beach. It's a great book to pick up and put down and then pick up again later, because you can't forget the premise and the details aren't really that detailed. When there was a plot--so, right in the beginning and then right toward the end--it was fun and engaging. The prose ready quickly.

But it was not the right book to focus all my attention on and use to try to escape the ongoing days of a dismal pandemic, winter of 2021 instead of 2020. The POV character is very much a self-insert character , and the others have no real personality beyond either "clever smart alecks from a Joss Whedon project" or "evil." Even the kaiju were barely described--the kaiju! The whole reason for being! While this might help some people who enjoy filling in those kinds of blanks, the lack of particularity really hinders my enjoyment.

Scalzi himself said in his Afterward that this was written quickly during 2020 as a response to the pandemic, and I don't begrudge him or anyone the wish-fulfillment. The ideas are cool and the action is fun. This would make a great movie. If you added visuals and sound effects and big triumphal music as smart cool people ran around protecting the environment, I'd be on board. But ultimately, it's meant to be a blockbuster, to be popcorn. It's not bad for you, but it doesn't stick with you.

This is a fun, easy read. It's a neat story about a secret non-government operation that protects Godzilla-like monsters on an alternate Earth. There's nothing here that could be considered 'deep' in any way, it's just fun with very little filler.

I really liked the relationships between the main character Jamie and their group of friends. The dialog was snappy and at times hilarious. Jamie, however, doesn't have much of a personality that sets them apart from everyone else. In fact, most of the characters either have no personality or a one-note personality. And that brings me to my one gripe about this book: everything is superficial and lacks description of any kind. None of the characters are ever described. No description of Jamie is ever given by anyone; age, gender, hair color, height, it's all left up to the reader's imagination. None of the locations, buildings, weapons, etc., you name it, it's not given much of a physical description, if at all. The kaiju are monsters, their only descriptive characteristic is their size (mountainous). The kaiju have parasites on them which are scary monsters themselves, but their only description is their size (about as big as a panther). Aside from that, it's up to the reader's imagination to fill in the rest. I have to assume that this was done deliberately, but I'm not sure it was the best choice to leave absolutely every visual element up to the reader to fill in the blanks with no information. It feels like lazy writing at times, especially when it comes to the kaiju. I want to know what these things look like without having to use Pacific Rim as a visual reference in my head.

That complaint aside, it's still a fun book which I enjoyed quite a bit. It's a fun distraction with a satisfying ending, and it's just the kind of book I needed right now. I just wish there was a little more substance to it.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and the author John Scalzi for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In his afterward to this book, Scalzi describes it as “…a pop song. It’s meant to be light and catchy…” Well, he absolutely nailed it. This book was, to put it simply, just a whole lot of FUN.

The plot was deliciously nerdy, the characters immensely likable, and the banter delightfully witty.

The Kaiju Preservation Society is a literal ton of fun! A cool romp through alternate realities, monster anatomy, corporate villainy, and sarcastic science!

The set-up is this: Kaiju are real and there's an organization that makes sure they stay on their own world and, in the process, learns about them and takes care of them. Enter some characters, a little drama, some explodo goodness, stir liberally, and you get a story that reads fast and satisfies muchly.

This is the first book I've read that talks about Covid-19 as a part of life. And while its cheery optimism about vaccines isn't quite right, it did inform the work and add a layer to the story.

I am going to recommend this to several of my friends. If you're reading this, I recommend it to you. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the fun!

If you’ve been looking for the perfectly escapist science fiction thriller novel, one that’ll keep you laughing, give you characters to care about, and let you lose yourself in a better world – look no further, because John Scalzi is here to help.

It’s early 2020, and Jamie Gray has just had an involuntary career change from füdmüd executive to delivery agent. It’s not what dreams are made of, even before the Covid 19 lockdown arrives in New York, rendering Jamie’s flatmates unemployed and dependent on a salary that was already struggling to accommodate one person, let alone three. But then Jamie encounters an old classmate, one with an offer that sounds almost too good to be true; his employer, “animal rights organization” KPS, needs another person willing to travel, work with large animals – oh, and receive a salary that’s almost suspiciously generous.

It’s not until a trans-dimensional gateway in Iceland takes them to a surprisingly tropic jungle world that Jamie learns the truth – KPS stands for Kaiju Preservation Society, the animal rights they preserve are those of the kaiju that inspired any number of Japanese monster horrors, and they’ve effectively joined what’s quickly dubbed “the Foreign Legion for nerds”. Is this the escape of a lifetime, or has Jamie leapt without looking one time too many?

John Scalzi has a track record that almost speaks for itself, and The Kaiju Preservation Society is a great new addition. Told with his trademark blend of humor and imagination, this is science fiction that provides exactly what it promised – giant monsters, banter, and a plot that packs some surprisingly thoughtful moments into all that. But for the most part, Mr Scalzi has held back any heavy messages or allegories in favor of providing his readers with just as much of a temporary escape as he’s created for his latest protagonist. Entertaining, funny, and just so easy to disappear into for hours, The Kaiju Preservation Society was a sheer delight.

A fun read! In his note and acknowledgements, Scalzi happily admits that “KPS is not […] 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.” Even by starting the book in 2020 with our characters reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, he quickly takes us to an alternate Earth where kaiju are studied and a global pandemic is not the greatest threat. In a community of scientists, Jamie Gray is your “regular guy” whose job is to lift stuff. As readers would expect, not all goes as planned—particularly when a kaiju and her nesting eggs disappear. A fun escapist story featuring characters of a variety of nationalities, as well as a character who uses they/them pronouns. Our hero Jamie Gray presents as white. I see this is an excellent contender for the Alex Awards and would recommend to teens who enjoyed The Martian or Ready Player One.

Sometimes at the lighter end of the sci-fi genre, Scalzi still never disappoints. In this one, his characters might not be so finely drawn, but it does what it says on the tin: it's a fun take on the concept of alternate dimensions and how humans would react to them - especially if they were populated by Kaiju. Oh yeah, and throw in a global pandemic and attendant economic effects, AND some idiots who think they can weaponise this world. So, Scalzi packs a lot into a couple of hundred pages. The pace is fast, the plot resolves satisfactorily, and the Bad Guys are thwarted. I particularly liked the depiction of responsible humans' interaction with the Kaiju, reminiscent of Alan Dean Foster, no mean compliment. If it all feels a bit neat, remember, this is avowedly meant as a light escape, and Scalzi definitely succeeds in that.
My thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Danger: The pandemic may force you to take dangerous jobs!

Danger: Kaiju in heat!

Danger: Nuclear reactors may be reacting. Danger!

The Kaiju Preservation Society is the story of Jamie trying to find a way to make ends meet during the first wave of Covid. His time being a Deliveranator for füdmüd (Yes to the lower case “f” and umlats😂) ends when one of his frequent Deliveranatees offers him an opportunity.

Next thing Jamie knows he’s being flown across the world, all expenses paid by KPS. Hired as a gofer/ grunt dude, he’s quickly put to work preserving kaiju…

“…three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along to…” – This is how Scalzi describes this novel… After trying to work through the early pandemic on another novel and trashing it, the idea for KPS just drops in his head almost fully formed. Filled with his signature humor, but a bit more cinematic and at about 250 pages, a very quick read. 90 min of fun? Ok, it took me a little longer to turn the pages, but you know what I mean!

A bit formulaic: Meet Jamie. Pandemic hits. New job. New teammates. Learn new job. Take on mission to save the world. Yet, it’s a formula that works, especially if you add in Scalzi’s character building and believable sciency explanations.

Throw this one on your TBR and you won’t be disappointed!

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Books, and the author for an advanced copy for review.