Cover image of "The Kaiju Preservation Society," s novel based on the concept that Godzilla was real

You can always depend on one thing from John Scalzi. No matter how serious the situation or how great a threat to their lives, his characters will exchange wisecracks. Sometimes it’s unclear whether he’s acting out a compulsion to become a standup comic. You simply can’t take the man’s writing at face value, because he doesn’t seem to take himself or his work at all seriously. But in his latest venture into the endless possibilities of science fiction, The Kaiju Preservation Society, Scalzi takes readers all the way into La-La Land with a story based on an utterly preposterous idea.

Godzilla was real

Don’t believe me? Try this out for size. The 1954 Japanese film, Godzilla, and its many sequels and imitators were based on real monsters hundreds of feet tall who broke through into our reality when humanity began experimenting with nuclear weapons. These kaiju populate a parallel Earth that can reach into ours only when a nuclear explosion weakens the “wall” separating our Earth from theirs. So, yes, Godzilla was real. Preposterous enough for you?

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (2022) 201 pages ★★★☆☆

Image of Godzilla from film, similar to the monsters in this novel based on the idea that Godzilla was real
Image of Godzilla from the forthcoming film series, Godzilla and the Titans. Image: Everett Collection – Warner Brothers

A 60-year-long international conspiracy

Well, it gets even sillier. Since the days when kaiju first surfaced on (our) Earth, the leading nations of the world have secretly bonded together to establish a network of scientific research stations on Kaiju Earth. Somehow, they have managed to keep it all a secret for more than half a century. And hapless young Jamie Gray becomes a party to the secret when he is fired from his job as an executive at a GrubHub knockoff. A chance encounter with a staff member of one of those research stations leads to an invitation for him to join the Kaiju Preservation Society. And, yes, after rigorous training, Jamie soon finds himself on Kaiju Earth.

A novel populated by science fiction fans

Still with me? Okay, Jamie is now charged with “picking up things” at Tanaka Station deep into the jungle of what corresponds to Labrador. He is, in effect, the gopher for a bunch of scientists with PhDs in biology, physics, geology, and other fields. Jamie himself had been a doctoral candidate in English, writing a dissertation on . . . get this: dystopian fiction. It turns out that he, and pretty much everyone else at Tanaka Station, is a science fiction fan. And, of course, Scalzi peppers his tale with allusions to science fiction films, television shows, and novels.

Now, if you think Scalzi has exhausted the limits of your credulity, forget it. You’ll also discover that the executive who fired Jamie from his job will turn out to be the villain of the piece, and an utterly nasty one at that. And, oh, those 500-foot-tall kaiju? They’re powered by internal nuclear reactors which they grow organically. But didn’t I say this was all preposterous?

About the author

Photo of John Scalzi, an author who suggests that Godzilla was real
John Scalzi. Image: Tony Cenicola – The New York Times

John Scalzi (1969-) has written nearly two dozen science fiction novels since 2005. He is best known for the Old Man’s War series, which I did not enjoy (perhaps because I’m an old man myself). Scalzi was president for three terms (2010-13) of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Although born in California, he was living in Ohio when I heard him speak at the Bay Area Book Festival a few years ago.

For more reading

Previously I’ve reviewed several other novels by the author. I loved the first of them listed here but found most of the rest disappointing.

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