Book Review: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

 The Kaiju Preservation Society

by

John Scalzi

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

Imprint: Tor

Publication date: 29th March 2022

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 264

RRP: $32.99AUD Paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 My review of The Kaiju Preservation Society

I have to start this review with an admission. I had no idea what a Kaiju was!! It's clearly evident that I am not an avid science fiction fan. That being said, I really enjoyed this book; it was a lot of fun.

 

The story opens on the cusp of the COVID pandemic and after losing his job at a tech start-up company Jamie takes a job as a food delivery person. One of the customers offers Jamie a job at an animal rights organisation working in the field to protect and preserve large animals. What he doesn't tell Jamie is the animals the team care for are not here on Earth.

 

The story that follows is filled with humour as Jamie and the rest of the team, who mostly have PHD's in biology, geology or physics, go about studying the Kaiju. Jamie seems to be there as general dogsbody and comic relief. He is quick with the sarcasm and doesn't take himself too seriously. Jamie is a very likeable main character.

The parallel Earth was all well explained and very simplistic in it's execution. The Kaijus and their biological makeup, nuclear energy and whole ecosystem is pure escapism and I couldn't get enough of them.

I loved the banter between the team it was a lot of lighthearted fun with plenty of schoolyard humour. 

There was never any real sense of danger even though the characters did encounter potentially dangerous situations. This, combined with the level of humour, made me think the book was more for the young adult audience rather then the die-hard Sci/Fi fan.

 

recommended for 13 - 16 years (and those just wanting a bit of fun)

 

 

My rating  4 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

 

About the author

 

John Scalzi is one of the most popular and acclaimed SF authors to emerge in the last decade. His debut, Old Man’s War, won him science fiction’s John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, The End of All Things and Redshirts, which won 2013’s Hugo Award for Best Novel. Material from his widely read blog Whatever has also earned him two other Hugo Awards. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.