The Kaiju Preservation Society - A Review

 

John Scalzi has done it again.

In keeping with his general theme of writing novels which are pure, unbridled fun, he's come up with The Kaiju Preservation Society, which has exactly as much zaniness as the title suggests.

The main character is Jamie Grey, a person who came up with a brilliant idea for a company and, as a result, got fired. The company went on to make boatloads of dollars off the idea, while Jamie got stuck driving deliveries for Füdmüd - a food delivery company that should remind you of another gig-economy-style service. To add insult to injury, it's a subsidiary of the same company Jamie just got fired from.

On a delivery run, Jamie runs into an old friend, and they get to talking. The friend decides to refer Jamie to an opening at the company he works for. What sort of work is it?

"You'd be working with very large animals," is all the friend says.

After that, Jamie goes through a series of hiring protocols and meets a procession of bureaucrats, each one more coy than the next, before going through a hidden portal somewhere in Greenland, and discovering a strange, tropical world populated with monstrous insects, glowing fauna, and, of course, mountain-sized kaiju! Welcome to the Kaiju Preservation Society - also known as KPS.

Why have a Kaiju Preservation Society? Well, for starters, they're endangered. The kaiju exist in a parallel universe to that of the Earth we know. Evolution took a different path, allowing animals to incorporate radiation into their biochemistry. Kaiju are not only gigantic beasts, they are entire ecosystems with a biological nuclear reactor for a heart. The technological potential involved with understanding them is immense. Also, whole troves of symbiotic species depend on kaiju for survival. If the kaiju die out, the loss to both our Earth and theirs would be incalculable.

One key problem: When a kaiju dies, its nuclear furnace becomes unstable. Result? KA-BOOM! And if enough such nuclear explosions take place near each other, it can tear a hole into OUR universe. This happened once before, long ago, and the devastation the kaiju wreaked was heinous - and subsequently kept a closely guarded state secret. And so, KPS has taken on the role of caring for, and shepherding, these gigantic beasts, not only for their technological potential in our universe, but to keep them from blowing a gaping hole into our own world.

But caring for Kaiju isn't easy. It's nearly impossible to predict them. It's even more difficult to herd them. And if you thought getting pandas to mate was difficult, try getting two Kaiju to get it on! One of the most exciting and funny scenes takes place when our protagonist and his friends attempt exactly that, with two Kaiju named (and I'm not making this up) Edward and Bella. (Yeah, I know.)

The parallel universe in which Kaiju live is a little reminiscent of Harry Harrison's "Deathworld," in which anything and everything can and probably will kill a human. The insects are ginormous and other animals, such as "tree crabs" are nearly as fearsome as the kaiju. The only reason humans are able to survive is the presence of a fortified bunker, along with judicial use of pheromones which control various aspects of the creatures' behavior.

One interesting story twist: we never learn the gender identity of "Jamie." Throughout the entire novel, their sex remains ambiguous. That makes the story just a little more unique. And although we come to suspect that Jamie is male thanks to a running gag (Jamie often says their job description is, "I lift things,") we never really find out for sure. This interesting nod towards current trends within sci fi adds a little extra flavor.

Of course, no interactions between humans and gigantic beasts would be complete without some corporate dipshit coming along and making things go haywire a la Jurassic Park. But to find out how that all happens, you'll just have to read the book.

Do so! It's time well spent.

Eric

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