The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

I would like to thank Jamie-Lee from Black Crow PR and Tor UK for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Tor

Published – Out Now

Price – £16.99 hardback £6.99 Kindle eBook

They're big, they're bad and they're about to become extinct . . .

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.

Every now and then there is a debate on which is better movies or books. It’s a strange question as ultimately the mediums work completely different but its well worth exploring how they can take the same theme and work with them. Initially I was dubious you really can do giant monsters in a book but the way John Scalzi deals with it in the entertaining The Kaiju Preservation Society does promise a geeky ride into unchartered territory where indeed there will be monsters.

Jamie Gray is having a terrible 2020 even before the Pandemic hits New York. Their CEO has just made them redundant from the middle management marketing job and instead they find themselves now working for the same company but as a food delivery team member. A chance encounter though with a mutual acquaintance from college leads to a friendship and the offer of a mysterious job. Jamie signs up noticing the high salary, need to remove all social media and a huge number of vaccinations which ultimately reveal that the mysterious KPS organisation is actually the Kaiju Preservation Society. Where human scientists have been for decades noting that huge creatures have occasionally crossed into our world and that they come from a parallel Earth. Jamie has to learn the ropes, understand Kaiju biology and their nuclear power plus they soon realise one of the VIPs they are asked to babysit is their old boss.

This is a very breezy SF adventure book working very hard to give us the same experience as a big summer tentpole movie. It zips along; we get to meet Jamie and learn they’re a smart SF fan with a fine line in humour. Kudos to Scalzi for skilfully creating a lead character who at no time in the book do you realise their gender so works very well for anyone reading the book as they’re basically doing the job of being us seeing this world with fresh eyes. The KPS is very much geeky scientists who all trade exposition with loveable snark. Its all delivered fast and never bogs down the story almost like a very witty tv drama and all helps propel the story. There are geeky refences; daft traditions involving tropical shorts and karaoke.

This approach works really well because the one thing the book can’t do is deliver the visual awe of seeing a huge monster on screen. Instead, what I really appreciated was how Scalzi actually avoids ever giving us a 100% description of any of the Kaiju. We get a few impressions and similes but its left for the reader to imagine what these beasties all look like. And so we can never get disappointed with eh reveal – our brains will do the heavy lifting. What instead is a story making exposition scenes a lot more interesting as we get much more information about how Kaiju and the parallel world they live on works. We get the idea that kaiju are organic nuclear reactors (who explode when they die); they have huge ecosystems of large and parasites and the idea of pheromones being essential to communication. Movies struggle with this as it wanes attention time but here the approach and delivery work to move the story alone into various set pieces but the key fact to remember is everything in this world is dangerous and will try to eat you if you’re not careful.

I think the plot is possibly the most traditional aspect of the story and very much aligns with the tentpole movies this is related to. You can very quickly guess who the villain will be but the actual idea they have is fresh and unusual. As with these movies the one issue I have is the characters all really sound the same – smart, kind, geeky and snarky. While we have a lovely bunch to cheer on you may struggle to tell anyone apart and even when tragedy strikes, we really don’t feel any real emotional impact as soon the characters tell jokes once again. Despite that anyone who knows this sub-genre may feel that is fine and to be expected – we are here for the monsters after all. We get a mix of spectacle and adventure that is a fun ride but its hard to say has this got potential for more intriguing adventures in the future.

The Kaiju Preservation Society delivers exactly what it initially promised a fun breezy entertaining ride filled with pop culture references and a love of science that gives it energy that many Hollywood movies tend to lack in their oh so serious blockbuster takes. The kind of fast entertaining read that is a lovely sunny afternoon in the garden demands and should bring a smile to your face. Well worth a look.