Title: The Kaiju Preservation Society
Available on BARD
Commercial production
Author: John Scalzi
Narration: Will Wheaton
Duration: about 10 hourS
Genre: Fantasy and Science Fiction
Kaijus are monsters from Japanese pop culture. Godzilla is the most famous of them, but Americans already knows other famous Kaiju maybe without realizing it. Pacific Rim movies and Cloverfield introduce these monster in our side of the planet. They are staple of Japanese nerd culture and it comes as no surprise that the book itself is filled with nerd references that will please the inner-nerd of the reader, a little bit what Ready Player One has done in the past. Nuclear explosions reveal a passage-way to an alternate Earth populated by Kaiju. The Preservation Society helps prevent these monster from crossing over to our Earth.
The book is relatively short with some decent character building but is missing detailed descriptions of an alternate Earth and more importantly, Kaiju descriptions. It isn’t really an issue for those who know a bit about these kind of monster but for newcomers, it could be a bit opaque. Action wise, the book is moving fast, you won’t get bored even at the beginning when the whole concept takes a little while to be introduced. The climax of the book, which represents the last quarter of the material, is unfortunately predicable.
The audiobook would be the perfect pop culture infused book to go through if the narration wasn’t so cringy to listen to. Will Wheaton is overly enthusiastic while reading and over the top overall; I found myself cringing and hating his performance more than a few times. I moved on because the story was my cup of tea but Wheaton’s work almost made me give it up. A better narrator, like Porter, would have worked better.
All in all with the exception of the narration, the book is an enjoyable light sci-fi read that does a good job entertaining while also using the Kaiju lore. Godzilla relationship to nuclear science is well integrated and explained and obscures plots from other Kaiju movies. For example the Cloverfield monster, the little companions wreaking havoc throughout New York, is actually well explained in the audiobook.
There is violence, of course but relatively mild compared to what you could expect from this kind of book. No sex whatsoever which makes the book adapted for a young audience.
You can count on chapters duration going from 10 to 15 minutes, short enough for a quick read before going to bed or during a quick trip on public transit.
There has been talk of a movie adaptation of the book and it is not really a surprise considering the book’s linearity and straightforward-storyline. I will expect some amazing visuals if the project goes through.
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