Dah DJM reviewed The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Save Godzilla!
4 stars
Just like in "Starter Villain", there are plenty of fun ideas in this book. It's light and a quick read. Had a French version of the book.
eBook, 336 pages
English language
Published March 14, 2022 by Tom Doherty Associates.
Jamie’s dream was to hit the big time at a New York tech start-up. Jamie’s reality was a humiliating lay-off, then a lowwage job as a takeaway delivery driver. During a pandemic too. Things look beyond grim, until a chance delivery to an old acquaintance. Tom has an urgent vacancy on his team: the pay is great and Jamie has debts – it’s a no-brainer choice. Yet, once again, reality fails to match expectations. Only this time it could be fatal.
It seems Tom’s ‘animal rights organization’ is way more than it appears. The animals aren’t even on Earth – or not our Earth, anyway. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures roam a tropical, human-free world. And although Kaiju are their universe’s largest and most dangerous animal, they need support to survive.
Tom’s ‘Kaiju Preservation Society’ wants to help. However, others want to profit. Unless they’re stopped, the walls …
Jamie’s dream was to hit the big time at a New York tech start-up. Jamie’s reality was a humiliating lay-off, then a lowwage job as a takeaway delivery driver. During a pandemic too. Things look beyond grim, until a chance delivery to an old acquaintance. Tom has an urgent vacancy on his team: the pay is great and Jamie has debts – it’s a no-brainer choice. Yet, once again, reality fails to match expectations. Only this time it could be fatal.
It seems Tom’s ‘animal rights organization’ is way more than it appears. The animals aren’t even on Earth – or not our Earth, anyway. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures roam a tropical, human-free world. And although Kaiju are their universe’s largest and most dangerous animal, they need support to survive.
Tom’s ‘Kaiju Preservation Society’ wants to help. However, others want to profit. Unless they’re stopped, the walls between our worlds could fall – and the consequences would be devastating.
Just like in "Starter Villain", there are plenty of fun ideas in this book. It's light and a quick read. Had a French version of the book.
Imagine Jurassic Park, but instead of a T-Rex, there's Godzilla - no, actually quite a few of them, and tending to these monsters is not a billionaire's private project, but in humanity's best interest. Sure, this is a fantasy-colored satire, a light snack of a read, not a real science fiction novel like Jurassic Park. But Scalzi's writing is enjoyable as always, and with the author's practiced pacing, the action just keeps coming, interrupted only for some comic relief and genre-suited banter. I found it pretty hard to put down, and felt well entertained from the first to the last page.
As the author states himself: This is the book equivalent of a pop song and not meant to go very deep. With that in mind, it was entertaining to read. The characters are a bit flat and predictable, the story needs a lot of suspending one's belief from the reader (so much that even Scalzi needed to make the main character explain what the literary term "lamp shading" means, in a meta-nod to his own story). If you're up for something light with a lot of quips and pop culture references, I recommend to read this book.
It was difficult to give this one 3 stars, because it was such a brisk, entertaining read. The premise is fascinating, and I'm craving more information and stories about this world Scalzi has created.
But... and I know this critique is going to sound contradictory when we're discussing a novel about kaiju and alternate earths, but the characters just weren't realistic enough. Not believable or grounded enough. Every single character in the world has the same razor-sharp wit, snappy comebacks, and elevated charisma. As if they were all cut from the same model and then just given different names, pronouns, and histories.
To put it bluntly, while the dialogue is downright hilarious, it just wasn't remotely believable. Regardless of the dire circumstances we see them in, they're cheery and witty, cracking jokes and barely showing any speck of genuine human emotion.
That's just my opinion as someone who really values …
It was difficult to give this one 3 stars, because it was such a brisk, entertaining read. The premise is fascinating, and I'm craving more information and stories about this world Scalzi has created.
But... and I know this critique is going to sound contradictory when we're discussing a novel about kaiju and alternate earths, but the characters just weren't realistic enough. Not believable or grounded enough. Every single character in the world has the same razor-sharp wit, snappy comebacks, and elevated charisma. As if they were all cut from the same model and then just given different names, pronouns, and histories.
To put it bluntly, while the dialogue is downright hilarious, it just wasn't remotely believable. Regardless of the dire circumstances we see them in, they're cheery and witty, cracking jokes and barely showing any speck of genuine human emotion.
That's just my opinion as someone who really values dialogue and deep characters I can sink my teeth into. This is absolutely worth reading though! And I hope Scalzi revisits this world at some point.
It's what it says on the tin. It was a super light hearted romp. There was enough world building to feel solid and enough action. The pacing was great. It read like a summer blockbuster.
As Scalzi says in his afterword, this is a three-minute pop song of a novel, not a complex symphony. However, even the lightest of pop songs needs effort to make it work, and this does work on its own terms. It's a fun book that rattles along at a good pace, throwing enough big ideas into the mix to keep you reading and not asking too many questions about whether it all makes sense. Spends a lot of time setting up for not much plot, and relies a lot on coincidences to give the ending a personal stake for the protagonist, but does what it says on the tin and people who like this sort of thing will like this.
A bit light in some parts, a bit obvious the desire to make into a movie or show I guess, but still enjoyable.
At the end of the book, in the Author's note, Scalzi describes this book as a pop song, and it's a great description. It's about a secret organisation that looks after Kaiju. It's about billionaires being dicks. Best of all, it's hilarious.
A big helping of nerdy fun!
Fun just really good fun.
This was a perfect read for a terrible, horrible, absolutely no good week. Funny, silly, and a fast read. The title pretty much sums up the plot, but it also involves alternate universes and some cool science. Niamh is without a doubt my favorite character.
A fun, breezy story about unexpectedly landing a job at a secret scientific base on a parallel world studying giant Godzilla-like animals. Which is about as dangerous as it sounds. Plus, of course, not all humans are interested in the kaijus' welfare, and the KPS has to step up the "Preservation" part of its name.
There's some interesting world-building in terms of what kind of environment and ecosystem would actually support 100-meter-tall animals, what kind of biology would be able to handle the size, the energy, shooting beams of radiation, etc. And what might evolve to protect itself in a world with kaiju. And of course: what role nuclear explosions have in the whole thing, because these are kaiju after all!
It's also weird because it takes place in 2020. Like, real 2020, complete with Covid-19 lockdowns and everything. The main character starts out working for a GrubHub competitor at …
A fun, breezy story about unexpectedly landing a job at a secret scientific base on a parallel world studying giant Godzilla-like animals. Which is about as dangerous as it sounds. Plus, of course, not all humans are interested in the kaijus' welfare, and the KPS has to step up the "Preservation" part of its name.
There's some interesting world-building in terms of what kind of environment and ecosystem would actually support 100-meter-tall animals, what kind of biology would be able to handle the size, the energy, shooting beams of radiation, etc. And what might evolve to protect itself in a world with kaiju. And of course: what role nuclear explosions have in the whole thing, because these are kaiju after all!
It's also weird because it takes place in 2020. Like, real 2020, complete with Covid-19 lockdowns and everything. The main character starts out working for a GrubHub competitor at the beginning of the pandemic.
excellent summer fun
The author says, basically, the world was too harsh in 2020 and 2021 for him to write a serious novel. So he wrote this instead, for which I'm grateful. It's not deep, it's not artful, it's just good plain fun. Highly recommended as a summer vacation read.
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.
Not much to add to that, really.
When COVID-19 hits New York, a recently fired executive who now makes deliveries ends up making deliveries to a certain person who recognizes his (nerdy) skills and asks him to join the 'non-profit' KPS. It is only later that he learn what KPS means, and it's there in the title. Indeed, the society moves its members to an alternate earth where Kaiju exists. The KPS is there to study them and to make sure they are safe from the monsters from our world.
I decided to read this novel based on the title and the premise, but ended up enjoying it. What starts out sounding ludicrous ends up being a really fun, breezy novel to read, where most characters treat each other with respect while putting up with horrible puns and Kaiju in-jokes. The science is, of course, hand-wavy, but in the context of the novel, it works and there …
When COVID-19 hits New York, a recently fired executive who now makes deliveries ends up making deliveries to a certain person who recognizes his (nerdy) skills and asks him to join the 'non-profit' KPS. It is only later that he learn what KPS means, and it's there in the title. Indeed, the society moves its members to an alternate earth where Kaiju exists. The KPS is there to study them and to make sure they are safe from the monsters from our world.
I decided to read this novel based on the title and the premise, but ended up enjoying it. What starts out sounding ludicrous ends up being a really fun, breezy novel to read, where most characters treat each other with respect while putting up with horrible puns and Kaiju in-jokes. The science is, of course, hand-wavy, but in the context of the novel, it works and there are no obvious 'McGuffins' introduced. Of course, there are bad guys, and you can tell there are bad guys because they don't treat others with respect, nor do they understand what it means to really make a Kaiju angry.
If you're looking for a fun (and funny) novel to pass the time, this one may be a nice choice.