The Kaiju Preservation Society
by John Scalzi
audiobook published by Audible (8 hours, 2 minutes) and narrated by Will Wheaton (!)
2022
John Scalzi had fun writing this book (you can tell), and Will Wheaton may have had EVEN MORE FUN performing it!
Jamie is desperate as the COVID-19 pandemic strikes, after having been laid off by his annoying dude-bro boss at a food delivery startup. As he scrapes by delivering food with yet another corporate restructuring hanging over his head, an acquaintance offers him a lifeline: a job at an “animal rights organization.”
A job that pays very well.
That will take him off into “the field” for long periods of time.
One that will wire money back to his roommates. One that requires shots for conditions that might not even be real. Wait, what?
Jamie is reluctant to believe that “the field” is located on an alternate version of earth, in a universe where earth developed differently, and came to be dominated by highly radioactive kaiju. Who can come over to OUR earth when certain nuclear events occur, which led to real events that inspired our Godzilla films. And where Jamie can support an international team of scientists while they try not to be killed by the local flora and fauna.
Radiation! Kaiju battles! Airships! Kaiju babies! Communication outages! Monster-filled GOO!
I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t specify the arc of Jamie’s adventures, but it is a good time. There is something deeply satisfying about hearing Will Wheaton shout sarcastic dialog and joyous profanity. Scalzi includes many old geek references in this book, so many that I worried that I should stop saying that certain phrases would make good band names. (Editor’s note: The younger people I work with are unaware of this geek tradition, so I’ll keep doing it until they groan.)
This book is fun. Lighthearted, profanity-punctuated fun. I recommend it highly.