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.