Scan barcode
callmekt's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
It's a Scalzi book so it's got its usual Scalzi components: competent people, assholes getting called out, an attempt at a narrator of indeterminate gender, funny bits, a lot of dialogue, and lots of exposition happening in the dialogue.
That said, it's a fun romp and adventure. Reads like it would make a killer screen adaptation. Hollywood, please produce this.
That said, it's a fun romp and adventure. Reads like it would make a killer screen adaptation. Hollywood, please produce this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Violence, Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing
Minor: Alcohol, Murder, Death, and Animal cruelty
devynreadsnovels's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Colonisation, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death
jhbandcats's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Another John Scalzi novel and I absolutely loved it. Both this and Starter Villain are just SO funny and refreshing and entertaining and charming. I can’t recommend these two books highly enough.
The lead was the only fully developed character but the plot was so compelling that that didn’t matter. We learned enough about the other people where the lack of character development didn’t detract from the story but allowed more development of the setting and the kaiju.
The encounters with the creatures are tense and often terrifying; even the smallest animals are potentially deadly. But those adventures are also wildly funny, especially the initial helicopter trip with the pheromones. The calmer periods in between the field work are full of laughter and jokes and camaraderie, and I would love to read more about these people. They were smart and fascinating and easygoing and fun.
I loved the revolting descriptions of the kaiju and their smells, their Rottweiler-sized parasites, and all the other fauna, plus all the scientific talk that supported the plot. It was just a delightful book.
The lead was the only fully developed character but the plot was so compelling that that didn’t matter. We learned enough about the other people where the lack of character development didn’t detract from the story but allowed more development of the setting and the kaiju.
The encounters with the creatures are tense and often terrifying; even the smallest animals are potentially deadly. But those adventures are also wildly funny, especially the initial helicopter trip with the pheromones. The calmer periods in between the field work are full of laughter and jokes and camaraderie, and I would love to read more about these people. They were smart and fascinating and easygoing and fun.
I loved the revolting descriptions of the kaiju and their smells, their Rottweiler-sized parasites, and all the other fauna, plus all the scientific talk that supported the plot. It was just a delightful book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
trips's review
adventurous
funny
tense
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
3.5
This book was fun, and like Scalzi says himself, like a pop song. Its not super deep, but it is fun and found myself nodding along with the plot.
It honestly reminded me of the summer action movie that gets pushed every year. Its not deep, things kind of happen for conveniences sake but it kept me entertained for a few hours and that's all I think Scalzi really wanted out of this too. A fun story for the sake of being entertaining.
The concepts were cool and the humor was great.
Anyone annoyed that the book is "too woke" is hilarious though, that also gave me a good laugh reading the comments.
It honestly reminded me of the summer action movie that gets pushed every year. Its not deep, things kind of happen for conveniences sake but it kept me entertained for a few hours and that's all I think Scalzi really wanted out of this too. A fun story for the sake of being entertaining.
The concepts were cool and the humor was great.
Anyone annoyed that the book is "too woke" is hilarious though, that also gave me a good laugh reading the comments.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Blood and Deadnaming
wickedgrumpy's review
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: Blood, Abandonment, Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Cannibalism, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Bullying, Confinement, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Classism, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
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: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Body horror, Cursing, and Violence
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: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, and Gun violence
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: Alcohol, Excrement, Animal death, Blood, Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
ladythana's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Gun violence
Minor: Murder, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Blood
mommarex1221's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
tense
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
4.0
Fun! Fit right into the current media genre mash up that I've been enjoying this month. It has likeable characters who end up heroes, a true, greed fueled villian, enough scientific explanation to make it believable, and obviously the main attraction, giant f*cking kaijus. I'm not sure what else you'd want! The Kaiju Preservation Society, sounds like a cool name for a band. 😉
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Death