March to Other Worlds Day 23 The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
March to Other Worlds Day 23 The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
On Day 2 of the March this year, we took a look at Godzilla vs. Kong—the two classic large scale monsters who practically invented the concept of the kaiju. Today we’re going to look at a truly wonderful novel by John Scalzi that plays around with the kaiju idea. I think I should start by stating that while I really liked this book, I almost didn’t get past the first chapter. It just rubbed me wrong. If I had gotten the book out of the library, I probably would have stopped right there, but as I had put out good money on an author that I like a lot, I decided to persevere. By the end of the second chapter, things were getting better. By the end of the third, I was hooked and looking for every spare moment to finish the book.
The plot essentially runs like this. In the heart of the COVID pandemic with the unemployment rate sky high, Jamie gets recruited to work in a super-secret project despite not appearing to have any real qualifications or knowing what the job entails. He is then taken to an alternate earth where kaiju dominate the food chain. And he ultimately saves the day when lots of things go wrong.
Scalzi spends quite a bit of time on the sort of pseudo-science that only a lover of Godzilla movies could come up with. It’s technically “world building” but let’s face it, only someone who really cares about how a kaiju lives, mates, evolves, etc. is going to read this novel anyway, so all the geeky stuff is just wonderful. And it’s brought forth pretty seamlessly through Scalzi’s storytelling.
The plot was fun, but I think it is really experiencing the kaiju that makes this book work—and watching a bunch of geeky scientists study them like they were any other form of exotic wildlife. If I had one complaint, it’s that I never could get an image in my head about what the main kaiju of the story look like. I’m also not certain if there are tons of different kinds (Mothra, Rodan, etc.) in Scalzi’s world. I’m guessing there are, because that means there is a lot of room for a sequel.
https://www.amazon.com/Kaiju-Preserva...
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