On the HahaFiction shelf
The Kaiju Preservation Society
Audiobook available · 8 hr 2 min
Jamie Gray needs a job during the Covid lockdown. An acquaintance offers fieldwork with an animal-rights organization, which sounds promising until the animals turn out to be enormous kaiju living on a parallel Earth. Keeping them safe also means protecting our world from people who see a business opportunity.
From the publisher’s blurb
“They're the universe's largest and most dangerous panda and they're in trouble.”Read the full description at Tor Books, publisher description
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What makes it funny?
Jamie’s old boss insists on calling delivery work “deliverationing” and presents a firing as a fresh opportunity. Jamie keeps sinking into a beanbag while trying to argue back. The new job changes the scale of the problem: there are still heavy things to lift and conference snacks to serve, but now the animals have nuclear reactors inside them.
The comedy at work
Scalzi makes monster conservation feel like a workplace, with sarcastic exchanges between people who have actual jobs to do. The satire keeps returning to powerful men who expect other people to absorb the costs of their ambitions.
Try this if…
Readers in book groups describe this as comforting, funny reading, and listening readers praise Wil Wheaton’s delivery. Some prefer it to Redshirts or recommend it alongside Starter Villain. It offers an accessible monster adventure if you enjoy coworker banter and jokes at a billionaire’s expense.
Good to know
This is a standalone adventure. The Covid pandemic, precarious employment and profanity remain part of the story, and the political jokes include pointed criticism of the Trump administration.
A few distinguishing details
- Conservation work for giant monsters on another Earth
- Ordinary workplace duties around nuclear-powered wildlife
More funny adventure
Sources & further reading
- The Kaiju Preservation Society — Pan Macmillan
Publisher
- The Kaiju Preservation Society (Unabridged) — Apple Books
Book information
- First two chapters
Reading sample
- Publisher description via NetGalley
Publisher
- Trade review
Review
- Reader discussion
Reader discussion
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