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, 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 who have found their way to the alternate world. Others have, too. And their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.
Review
“For you Americans, that’s about one thousand six hundred fifty miles, and also, this is the last time you will hear imperial measures used because like the rest of the civilized universe, Kaiju Earth uses measurements that make logical sense.”
Scalzi is just too much fun. I’ve read three books from him so far and each one has been 6 out of 5 stars. The man can’t stop writing banger after banger.And this one ranks supreme for me over Starter Villain and When the moon hits your eye. I mean it has Godzillas, as in plural. Every time a book with a Godzilla goes up against a book without a Godzilla for me, the book with the Godzilla wins.
It grabbed me from the first page and I finished it in 2 days. It only took 2 days because I was disturbed by having to sleep, and work. It was written during the pandemic and the timeline in the story is around then as well. It is a portal sci-fi where a character who is delivering food in NYC gets the chance to travel to a different Earth that is also present within our Earth but this one has Kaiju. It doesn’t have a deep meaning but it is very enjoyable and is filled with pop culture references. As with Starter Villain, this is a comedic sci-fi thriller at heart but there’s also carefully constructed satire against society. It is all integrated so organically and executed extremely well.
“I did a background check on you. No arrests, no FBI or CIA or Interpol flags, no problematic social media posts. Even your credit score is good. Well, as good as it can be for anyone who has student loans.”
“Thanks. I love forever paying off a master’s I will never, ever use.”
The biggest highlights for me are the dialogue and the characters. It has banter for days and the flavor of humor is absolutely up my alley. And I love all the characters in the book. There is not a single one I wouldn’t not want a whole book of. The main character is extremely easy to like and I loved following him throughout the story. Another highlight is the ingenuity on display every time I pick up a Scalzi book, I would have never predicted the MC having to take a helicopter up to a nuclear dinosaur to spray pheromones to get it in the mood to mate with another nuclear dinosaur and it being such a central event in the story. I don’t know how it works but it just does. I’m in awe really.
“I tried being a vegan for a while, but I couldn’t live without cheese.”
“They have vegan cheese.”
“No, they don’t. They have shredded orange and white sadness that mocks cheese and everything it stands for.”
In conclusion, this was a 10/10 book for me and I’m very excited to pick up another Scalzi book soon. If I have to complain, my complaint is that the book is too small and they have not announced a sequel for it yet. If the bookish gods appear before me and grant me a boon, I know which book I will want a sequel done soon and it won’t be the kingkiller chronicles or a song of ice and fire. It will be The Kaiju Preservation Society 2. This is the easiest recommendation for anyone wanting fun. You might observe different things than I have from this book in terms of plot, dialogue, characters, world, etc. – but you will not be able to say you didn’t have fun. This I guarantee.
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