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billievee's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This was not for me. The style of humor here reminded me of the Big Bang Theory and the MCU movies: scientists making nonstop pop culture references and sarcastic, lampshade-y quips; I kept expecting someone to say "Um, so, THAT just happened!" The world building is cool, but that's basically most of the novel. The plot doesn't really take off until the third act, and even then it's pretty thin and goes in predictable directions.
Having said that, the author's note at the end did resonate with me. It sounds like this was the novel John Scalzi needed to write at the height of the pandemic, and that it was healing for him. I can relate to that, and I'm happy this worked for him. I guess it just wasn't the novel I needed to read right now.
Having said that, the author's note at the end did resonate with me. It sounds like this was the novel John Scalzi needed to write at the height of the pandemic, and that it was healing for him. I can relate to that, and I'm happy this worked for him. I guess it just wasn't the novel I needed to read right now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Torture
deedireads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
The Kaiju Preservation Society was a complete and utter delight. The perfect snack of a sci-fi novel, fun and funny and engaging.
For you if: You love a good sci-fi set-up beginning with a plotty ending.
FULL REVIEW:
I have never read John Scalzi before, but with this book nominated for the Hugo Award, it was finally time. What a fun party I’ve been missing out on!
I don’t think I could put it better than John himself did in his author’s note:
TL;DR REVIEW:
The Kaiju Preservation Society was a complete and utter delight. The perfect snack of a sci-fi novel, fun and funny and engaging.
For you if: You love a good sci-fi set-up beginning with a plotty ending.
FULL REVIEW:
I have never read John Scalzi before, but with this book nominated for the Hugo Award, it was finally time. What a fun party I’ve been missing out on!
I don’t think I could put it better than John himself did in his author’s note:
“[This book is not] a brooding symphony of a novel. It’s a pop song. It’s meant to be light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you’re done and you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face.”
And truly, that’s exactly what’s going on here. As the pandemic hits, a man named Jamie goes from employed at a start-up to delivering food to pay the bills, which lands him the gig of a lifetime: a job where he spends six months of the year as “off the grid” as you could LITERALLY get in a sci-fi novel, working for the Kaiju Preservation Soceity. (If you, like me, did not know what a Kaiju was, it’s essentially like a movie monster a la Godzilla or Jurrasic Park). And that’s all I’ll say, because the discovery is more than half the fun.
This is definitively sci-fi, with lots of sciency worldbuilding, but what a fun and engaging time of it. The banter between characters is full of levity and jokes. The tone of the prose is wink-winky. The plot is just enough until all of a sudden it takes over and you rush to a fast-paced ending. And throughout, there’s just enough heart here to squeeze ya.
If you’re looking for something quick and fun, this is ABSOLUTELY it. Now, on to Scalzi’s backlist!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Fun times! I don’t have many complaints about this book; it was less kaiju action than expected, but the fun setting made up for it. My one gripe was how much of a mary sue the main character was; one month in and he could just do anything. combat, detective work, follow scientific conversations, plan missions, blackmail ceos… it was a bit hand-wavy but ill allow it bc it made things fun.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
The topical real world pandemic/politics mentioned felt like a time capsule reminder of an era that was terrifying and sucked. In that regard, I felt it did a bit of disservice to the rest of the book because I genuinely loved the premise/worldbuilding of Kaiju Earth (I have a pet peeve of it being "kaiju" instead of the more proper kaijū).
The humor was full of nods to pop/nerd culture and some repetitive gags which was generally tied to the burgeoning found family vibes from the crew. I would say that some of the characters felt a little one dimensional, which can kind of be explained away with the job attracting a certain type of person, but it felt a little lazy. I did appreciate the non-binary rep for one character though.
The majority of the book had you learning everything via the protagonist trial-by-fire style which lent itself well to exploring a new world. If there was more expansion about the multiverse situation I would probably gobble it up, but I think I'm a little scarred about current(-ish) events/politics in books at the moment.
At the end of the day, it was a predictable story, but I'm pretty sure that was the point.
The humor was full of nods to pop/nerd culture and some repetitive gags which was generally tied to the burgeoning found family vibes from the crew. I would say that some of the characters felt a little one dimensional, which can kind of be explained away with the job attracting a certain type of person, but it felt a little lazy. I did appreciate the non-binary rep for one character though.
The majority of the book had you learning everything via the protagonist trial-by-fire style which lent itself well to exploring a new world. If there was more expansion about the multiverse situation I would probably gobble it up, but I think I'm a little scarred about current(-ish) events/politics in books at the moment.
At the end of the day, it was a predictable story, but I'm pretty sure that was the point.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
athryn's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This was great, I devoured it in one day, almost in one sitting! To be fair, I was camping, so there wasn't much to distract me, but this was a great light read.
Scalzi is definitely back to form after the somewhat disappointing Interdependency series. This had some great fantasy/wish fulfillment going on. I could kind of see this getting turned into a film or a TV series.
Scalzi is definitely back to form after the somewhat disappointing Interdependency series. This had some great fantasy/wish fulfillment going on. I could kind of see this getting turned into a film or a TV series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
ehmannky's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was such a fun and sweet little read. I think the first 2/3 are a bit slower paced for me, with it mostly just focused on this little group of nerds trying to study the big kaiju, and then the last 1/3 really kicks into gear with its Terrible Billionaire Plot (which I loved). It was a very kindhearted read, with a focus on love and friendship and giving a big fuck you to entitled billionaires. Very fun and I can see my friends who did field work really loving this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder
saltycoffee's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
miniingrid's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Me ha gustado mucho. Ha sido divertido y ligero como una canción pop (como bien dice Scalzi en los agradecimientos).
Una lectura sin más expectativas que pasar un buen rato y desconectar un poco.
Una lectura sin más expectativas que pasar un buen rato y desconectar un poco.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
singalana's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
My first thought after reading this book was that it was ok, but I expected more. It’s an adventurous sci-fi story about a man who gets fired from his job and ends up delivering takeout during the COVID-pandemic. Then he gets a job offer from a mysterious organization, and events unfold from there. The story is light both on science and in general. There’s a lot of banter, and the book leans more on dialogue than on description. The author explains in the Author’s note that basically he needed to write something light and fun.
And it is light and partly fun. But when I reached the middle of the book, I was wanting something MORE. Basically, three things bothered me in this book. Firstly, it was too light on description. Give me something to work with, man! I don’t need pages and pages of description, just a few lines will do just fine. Secondly (and this relates to the first point), the characters were really difficult to distinguish from one another. I just finished the books, and I don’t remember any of the names, let alone whether they were men, women or something else. And lastly (relating to the second point) the characters didn’t have different enough voices. Yes, they had signature phrases, but they all spoke in banter and witticisms. I find it hard to believe that every character in this book has a PhD in banter.
In conclusion: it’s not that deep, bro. It was fun, and it was light. In the author’s own words: It’s a pop song.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Excrement, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
decembermagpie's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Gun violence