KAIJUARY: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

 GREETINGS STACK WORMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I'll be reviewing The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, which took me a while to read. Not because it's long, but because I got a lot of ebooks from NetGalley to review before release. Don't worry I'll finish Kaijuary. I only have two books left on the agenda and one is a manga. Trust me, I'll get it done...after I read another ebook. lol 

KPS came out a year ago and there wasn't a time that this book wasn't hyped. At least not from what I remember. It seemed that everyone was swept up in the kaiju fandom and salivated at getting their hands on this book. As much as a fan of Godzilla, kaiju, and tokusatsu I was unsure about reading it. I had never read John Scalzi before but now that I have I'm going to be checking out more of his books. 

Let's get started...SPOILERS!!! DUH...

TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Rich assholes being Rich assholes 

- Goo 

- Gore

- Death 

- Profanity 

- Capitalism 

- Animal/Kaiju Death

- Sassy Characters

- Bad Science 

- Kaiju Mating 

- Drinking 

- Karaoke 

The book starts off with our titular character Jamie Gray being fired. Not a good start for our main guy huh? Don't worry an old schoolmate has his back and offered him a job with his preservation society. Jamie, however, doesn't know what they'll be preserving, not until he's taken to Kaiju Earth and sees a mountain move. That's my girl, Betsy (I preordered the book and with a special promo adopted one of the kaiju from the book and I got Betsy). Yes, the kaiju in the book are named pretty normally. There's Edward, Bella, Kevin, and Betsy. 

Jamie meets Aparna, Kahurangi, and Niamh (they're my favorite. we both have anger issues). Quickly, forging a bond through banter, references, and science. Well, mostly, Jamie lifts things. That is until he's called upon by Martin to get Edward and Bella to mate. Up in a helicopter, Jamie has to spray a pheromone trail to get the two together. 

After accomplishing this the Tanaka Base is abuzz with Bella's pregnancy. But before Jamie and Martin can fly home they find another kaiju going nuclear that they have to outrun. This creates a thinning between Earth and Kaiju Earth and also leaves behind radiation which Bella decides will be the best place to nest so that she and her babies have an abundance of food. 

The trouble starts when Jamie's old boss, Rob Sanders (a millionaire and a benefactor to KPS) visits Tanaka base. He's wanting to get samples from the prenatal jelly from the eggs but is shot down right quick. However, he comes back to kidnap Bella and her eggs. So Jamie, Niamh, Aparna, and Kahurangi go to save their big girl thus proving they are indeed the Kaiju Preservation Society. 

Rob is eaten by Bella's parasites. Jamie and Martin are able to get Bella back to Kaiju Earth only to be left behind on normal Earth. The group finishes out their tour with Jamie anticipating going back. 

LIKES:

-Kaiju duh

-References to Godzilla 

-Snarkiness 

-Action 

-Niamh is my favorite character though all the characters are fun 

-The worldbuilding is as interesting and entertaining as the rest of the book 

-Jamie shoots a parasite in the mouth with a canaster by accident 

-Rob gets eaten as all rich people should be

-The chapters were relatively short so that made reading faster (I love short chapters) 

DISLIKES:

-How the kaiju are described kind of blandly (light complaint) 

-There's only one book!!! I'M NOT OKAY WITH THIS SCALZI!!

-And while I love the references and snarkiness, sometimes it was just a little too much. 

All in all, I can't complain about a book giving me what it promised. The Kaiju Preservation Society was a blast to read! I don't think I've laughed out loud at a book as much as I did this one. I'm ecstatic that I have two copies of it lol. 

If you read this book I'm sure that you'll be entertained even if you don't understand all the references. 😉

Call me lazy or predictable but my song for this blog is: 

I feel like Scalzi wouldn't mind. Currently, I'm reading Dragonfall (which doesn't need to be finish until March so I've got plenty of time on that) and my next read is an ebook I received from Hellbound Books. Hellbound Books' Anthology of Science fiction. After I finish that review I finish up Kaijuary. 

That's it for now luvs. 

Toodles! 

-Bug