The Kaiju Preservation Society

For me, this is a classic Scalzi oneshot book. Fun premise, snappy dialogue, snarky characters. There's a good quote in the Author's Note at the end about the process of writing this book, that I think describes the book really well:

As a writer I feel grateful to this novel, because writing it was restorative. KPS is not, and I say this with absolutely no slight intended, a brooding symphony of a novel. It’s a pop song. It’s meant to be light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you’re done and you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face.

I think that's both its strength and its weaknesses. It's not mind-blowing or overly complex--it's a nice snack of a book that doesn't overstay its welcome. I'm not sure it's what I'd consider a "Hugo best novel" and I also wish it had about 300% more characterization by volume, but it was still a fun ride.

2020 was a rough year. This book takes place in 2020 but in a 2020 that’s just different enough from our own. In that there’s a secret organization that studies kaiju on a parallel earth. Most of the other problems of 2020 still exist (pandemic and political) but if you realms this book you’ll get to experience a more interesting version, one spent trying to (among other things) get two gigantic impossible monsters to mate. Scalzi is often good for a pleasant romp, and this is surely no exception. I laughed, I felt tense at all the right moments, and I even had to question if hanging a lampshade on the trope of hanging a lampshade was going too far. Something I kept being reminded of when reading this book was a variant of the MST3k mantra: “it’s just a book, I should really just relax.” And relax I did. Disclosure: I was provided a digital copy of this book in exchange for a fair review. This is that review.