Rating: 10/10
Synopsis:
The Kaiju Preservation Society is John Scalzi’s first standalone adventure since the conclusion of his New York Times bestselling Interdependency trilogy.
When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls “an animal rights organization.” Tom’s team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on.
What Tom doesn’t tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They’re the universe’s largest and most dangerous panda and they’re in trouble.
It’s not just the Kaiju Preservation Society that’s found its way to the alternate world. Others have, too–and their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.
Review
Reading this book is like watching a Hollywood movie, well made, well crafted and well delivered. It felt like I was in this world, in this world of good vs evil, of black vs white, and yet, morally grey. It seems to show that humanity will corrupt everything it touches when it comes to climate change, the pandemic, or anything of that kind. The story is well written, and it reminded me so much of James Cameron’s Avatar.
This concept of new multi-dimension worlds with using monsters to exploit is a good idea. I think it could be even more expanded upon. Because if there are monsters in this new world or so to say, then there has to be some form of different humanity that could have survived. Neanderthals for one? There are many realms of possibilities here. If this was a Netflix series, well-adapted, this would be one worth watching. I love this kind of sci-fi alternate story.
Gray and the characters he meets definitely builds up an engaging story. I am glad the story does cover on aspects of society that show capitalism has become rotten to its core, and that while yes, we benefit from it, there are people that just don’t deserve to be in those places of power. I liked this type of storytelling because it feels what I’ve been feeling for these past two years. In the hope that humanity can have a new dawn and a new era. But as the state of the world always is, humanity will mess things up and this novel is a perfect illustration of it. I really liked this novel, and I would re-read this again as much as I can. Perfect thriller!
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