The Kaiju Preservation Society: 09/13/22

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (2022) is among my favorite reads so far for this year. If you like Godzilla films, this is the book for you. Set in the early months of the COVID lockdown, it follows a former start up worker who ends up being the guy who "lifts things" in a top secret location on an alternate Earth.

Jamie Gray goes into an a meeting as a marketing exec for Füdmüd and leaves with a demotion (if he choses to take it) as a food delivery guy. On a particular delivery he's offered a well paying job that's extremely off grid but would let him and his two ridiculous roommates keep their flat and weather the economic downturn brought on by COVID. He's told he'd "lift things" and be working for a "large animal preserve."

Work is done in such a remote location that it's on an alternate Earth. So take the Long Earth premise (Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, 2012) but apply the kaiju movie logic to the place instead. Giant animals, tropical setting (even in Newfoundland and Labrador), and nuclear powered lifeforms that are hosts to parasites that can and will eat you.

That's the set up. It's a ridiculous book in premise but is a fun page turner. It's got tons of geeky Easter eggs.

It also sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. Jamie Gray and his PhD colleagues are privileged travelers (00) (as are the VIPs who sometimes visit). Their destination is utopia (FF), in that it's a place that can only be gotten to under special circumstances. Their route there is an offroad one (a plane there, a portal, and helicopters on the alternate Earth) (66).

Five stars

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