Hardcover, 272 pages
Published March 8, 2022 by Tor Books.
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 and 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 that's found its way to the alternate world. Others have, too--and their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.
This is 100% pop fiction, but enjoyed every moment of it. Reminded me of how much I enjoyed Redshirts. Well written and fantastically fun.
This was somewhat fun, but somewhat tedious. After reading the afterword, I got the impression that the idea for the book came to the author and he jumped on it, but maybe the idea didn't include an intricate plot because this book meanders. Not only does the author spend a lot of time setting up the premise/locale, but the characters repeat themselves to the point of distraction. It also took until 70% for the main action to happen and then of course it was resolved pretty quickly. Which is not to say I didn't like this, I did, and would be interested in more books set in the same world, even with less focus on the kaiju.
Fun and entertaining, as I would expect from Scalzi, but it doesn’t really do anything much we haven’t seen before. I appreciated the sciency and unique take on Kaiju biology. I also very much enjoyed the easy rapport of the friendships developed in the story. Still, the lack of development of the genre leaves me disappointed. I was hoping for more. At least it was amusing.
This was light and fun. The only quibble I had was the explanation for why there are only two earths we’ve visited… if there are infinite earths, it seems likely that many of the others would have humans, and at least some of those would have had nuclear bombs.
If snarky, self-aware dialog and giant alien monsters in alternate dimensions are your thing, this is your book. It's got humor (of course), adventure, and bad guys you really want to punch in the face.
It's nice to have some moral clarity in a story, and also giant monsters who breath nuclear fire.
Great, enjoyable relaxing sci Fi. Most excellent book to ease back into a reading habit I lost during the pandemic
A fun, funny and thrilling adventure centered on three sentiments:
Oh, Fuck! Fuck, Yah! and Fuck! You.
And designed to give you a Nerdgasm.
I love Scalzi novels and this is no exception, fun, funny, unexpected, I couldn't put this down and I knew it would all pay off in the end.
Scalzi described this book as a pop song rather than a symphony, and that's an apt description. It's a catchy, fun pop song that is stuck in my head and I find myself wanting to revisit. I haven't had this much fun since Agent to the Stars!
This was just hilarious escapism and just what the doctor ordered tbh.
