Book Review: “The Kaiju Preservation Society” by John Scalzi

Apr 22

Håfa adai! Welcome to my review of The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi.

This book review consists of two parts: a spoiler-free plot summary and my thoughts on the story. In the second part, I give my personal rating and break down the setting and worldbuilding, storytelling, cast of characters, and themes. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and maybe encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.

Click on the tags at the bottom of this post to see all reviews with the same tags in the Science Fiction bookshelf.

Spoiler-Free Plot Summary

Jamie Gray took a leap of faith by leaving a PhD program for a job in marketing with Füdmüd, an up-and-coming food delivery company in New York City. During what was supposed to be a six-month performance evaluation, Füdmüd’s CEO attempts to offer Jamie an exciting new business opportunity: being transferred from the position of assistant director of marketing to a food “deliverator.” In other words, the CEO fired Jamie and offered a job as a food delivery driver. Jamie is rightfully offended, but beggars can’t be choosers, especially now that a global pandemic is hitting the New York City job market. After “deliverating” food orders for over six months, Jamie runs into Tom, an acquaintance from his time in graduate school. Although their interactions in the past were brief, it was through a simple book recommendation that Jamie made to Tom years ago that forever changed the trajectory of Tom’s life. And seeing Jamie working as a “deliverator” spurs Tom to pay the favor back by handing Jamie a business card and a truly unique opportunity to work for the Kaiju Preservation Society.

A Brief History of Kaijū

The Japanese word kaijū translates to “strange beast” and refers to monsters from ancient Japanese legend. The earliest known mentions of kaijū appear in the Chinese classic text Shanhai jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) dating as far back as 2,400 years ago. Although there were illustrations of fantastical megafauna like dragons, kaijū were not depicted within traditional Japanese folkloric illustrations of yōkai (supernatural entities). The word kaijū became more widely used in Japan by the mid-1800s—after the end of Sakoku (1603-1868 isolationist policy against foreign trade during the Tokugawa shogunate)—to describe a range of creatures from real-life dinosaurs to mythological beasts from around the world.

Today, kaijū is most almost entirely associated with Japanese film and other media centering the existence of (and destruction caused by) massive terrifying monsters. The 1954 film Gojira (or Godzilla) is considered the first of the kaijū film genre. Ishirō Honda (Gojira film director and co-writer) and Eiji Tsuburaya’s (Gojira special effects director) drew inspiration from the 1933 American film King Kong to convey a story speaking to the fear many Japanese citizens had surrounding a possible nuclear holocaust in post-WWII Japan, after the detonation of atomic bombs in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Honda and Tsuburaya’s work in Gojira would speak to the fears and anxieties held by viewers around the world, would bring monster films from "“B movies” to blockbusters, and would cement them as the founders of the kaijū film genre. Since its release, there have been a total of 33 Japanese-produced Gojira movies and 5 American-produced Godzilla movies. A small (and incomplete) list of other Japanese-produced kaijū film creatures includes Rodan, Mothra, Anguirus, and Gamera, and more, many of whom appear in a number of the same films, including the Gojira franchise. Other examples of American-produced kaijū films include the six Jurassic Park movies and two Pacific Rim movies.

My Thoughts on The Kaiju Preservation Society: 4.75 stars

The Kaiju Preservation Society took me by surprise! When I first saw the book cover over a year ago, I assumed it would be a sci-fi monster horror type story. But the description and tags for the audiobook describe it as being witty and funny. I have had it “short-listed” in my backlog of books to be read, and I am so glad I was finally able to experience it!

The Kaiju Preservation Society is told through the first-person perspective of Jamie Gray, a former PhD student/former assistant marketing director for the food delivery start-up company Füdmüd/former delivery driver for Füdmüd. Jamie is a relatable and understandably frustrated nerd of sci-fi/fantasy (also known as SFF) literature and movies. The story is peppered with many fun references to popular sci-fi, kaijū, and other similar books and films and does not shy away from displaying how many of us science and sci-fi nerds would react if we were in the shoes of the characters. Although the overall tone of Jamie’s narration is light-hearted, witty, and humorous, the story itself touches on or displays a number of important themes, including the 2020-eternity pandemic, how the ultra-wealthy perceive the people and world around them, the relationship between human beings and other animals, and the fluidity of identity in its many forms.

The story kicks off in early 2020, on the day of Jamie Gray’s unceremonious firing packaged as a unique opportunity and the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although John Scalzi does not outright name the virus behind the pandemic or the contentious United States presidential election that occurred in 2020, the timeline of the story (and its effects on the American characters) is heavily alluded to through the subtext of the narration.

Throughout the events of the story, both on our Earth and on kaijū earth, is how the ultra-wealthy perceive their entire environment. On the day of Jamie’s firing, the Füdmüd CEO attempts to gaslight Jamie into believing that Jamie is not about to lose a job, health insurance, retirement, and other benefits, but is instead being gifted something new. How gross! This CEO genuinely believes that Jamie is simply not intelligent enough to question this blatant gaslighting. Later, a billionaire attempts to bribe one of Jamie’s colleagues at the Kaiju Preservation Society on kaijū Earth and is swiftly (and satisfyingly) humbled in more ways than one.

Amidst the eye-rolling cringe-inducing behavior of the ultra-wealthy is the question of who is more the monster: human beings or the kaijū. This is a trope that is prevalent among all monster-themed literature and movies. But it remains relevant because—every time the actions and intentions of “monsters” are compared to human beings—it is always (and without failure) that human beings end up being objectively far worse than any animal, plant, or ecosystem. Through the narration, Jamie identifies this as a trope as old as time, yet John Scalzi manages to remind the reader that this trope still manages to ring true, no matter how much time has passed and technology has progressed.

I truly appreciate the way John Scalzi normalizes gender fluidity in his writing. Through Jamie’s narration, the reader learns that a character’s preferred gender pronouns are they/them while this character’s biological sex is never explicitly stated. There is also another character who is a trans man and that his parents keep grossly refusing to stop deadnaming him. For those who may be unfamiliar with “deadnaming,” this word refers to the act of calling a trans person by the name they no longer identify as. For example, if Jennifer is born biologically female (using she/her pronouns) and later transitions to living as a man, begins using he/him pronouns, and changes his name to Jason, then it is disrespectful and transphobic to intentionally address Jason as Jennifer or refer to Jason with she/her pronouns. Jason is just someone I made up for the sake of explaining deadnaming, but the way John Scalzi frames deadnaming as a bad thing is something that stood out to me as considerate.

Additionally, something I did not pick up on until the very end of the story is that Jamie’s biological sex, gender identity, race, and appearance are never actually described throughout the story. It is unclear (at least from how I interpreted the story) how Jamie identifies. This ambiguity is further enforced by the fact that “Jamie” is widely considered to be a unisex name, meaning that any baby can be given that name regardless of their biological sex. On top of that, Jamie’s last name (Gray) also seems to mean that Jamie’s identity is in a gray area: it is not defined! This could possibly mean that Jamie’s sex, gender, race, and appearance were not meant to be the notable or defining aspects of Jamie’s character. It could also possibly mean that John Scalzi wanted as many of his readers as possible to identify with Jamie. It could possibly mean many other things too.

Given that this story is not meant to carry a serious or heavy tone, my only critique of The Kaiju Preservation Society at this point is the detail John Scalzi gives in describing the individual kaijū. I love fiction featuring monsters, cryptids, or any other kind of imaged creature! I was expecting and hoping for highly detailed descriptions of the kaijū shapes and colors. Instead, their descriptions are quite vague. Sure, the kaijū are described as “dinosaur like” and “dragon like,” but there are around 700 known species of dinosaur today and many cultures around the world have different stylizations of dragons. The reader is given an estimate of their size, weight, and a few appendages or other features here and there, but their overall appearance is left up for the reader’s own imagination or interpretation. I understand that this is more along the lines of nit picking than an actual critique, but I felt myself physically frowning while going through the scenes with kaijū, hoping to hear an in-depth description of what they look like, and then not getting one.

My overall rating for John Scalzi’s The Kaiju Preservation Society is 4.75 out of 5 stars. I truly enjoyed this story! The audiobook is just over 8 hours long, so I listened to it during an 8+ hour drive. I usually feel fidgety during such long drives, but The Kaiju Preservation Society was so well-written, interesting, and engaging that my body did not even notice how long it had been sitting in the car! There is only one thing I wish was done differently but, other than that one (admittedly) nit-picky thing, it was a fun and intriguing experience to go through this story. Although John Scalzi himself acknowledges after the story that this is not meant to be a dark or brooding book, it still touches on many relevant and meaningful themes. I highly recommend The Kaiju Preservation Society to

Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi.

Rating Cheat Sheet

4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.

Post Date: 21 July 2025