REVIEW: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Publisher: Tor Books

Published Date: March 15, 2022

Genre: Sci-Fi

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Awards/Nominations: 

 - Goodreads Choice Award Nominee - Science Fiction (2022)

REVIEW

This book was already on my TBR list prior to it being nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award last year. I did read and enjoy quite a few books on that list, and John Scalzi had previously won the Hugo Award for his novel Redshirts. Having never read anything by him, and wanting to read more choice award nominees, this was what looked like would be a short, fun read. It has very high ratings and, according to the ones I've seen/watched, it should have been. 

SYNOPSIS

"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."

MY THOUGHTS

I am going to start off by saying that almost every book I've read that mentions COVID-19 I have not enjoyed very well. It's probably because I read for escapism and when books mention too many references to present day it brings me out of the story. And this book had so many references to pop culture. From the pandemic to Godzilla (understandably) to Twilight (strangely) it seemed like the author was trying so hard to make the book relatable to every age group that may pick it up. 

Another thing that got on my nerves was the humor. I like a bit of comedic relief in my books, but I tend not to like forced comedy or jokes that seem to be on every page. No character had a distinctive voice. They all had that snarky asshole character feel that felt far too heavy handed to be enjoyable. Since they didn't feel unique, I would expect them to at least have interesting backstories or arcs but no one, even the main character, was explored particularly in depth. Even the world felt more like I was reading a Wikipedia page than it actually being a fully built and lived-in thing. What was there was interesting, and the creatures biology was one of the more attention grabbing aspects of the book. 

It almost seemed like Scalzi was trying to make some grand social commentary but he didn't fully want to commit. I've heard it be described as campy, and I fully get that. It was what you could way was fun in a B-movie type of way. However, if this was a movie, I have a feeling I'd enjoy it exactly the same amount. I'm not quite sure if I will read anything else buy him, because as far as I can tell, he doesn't seem to do much better character work in anything else.