If you’ve been reading my reviews here for any amount of time, you probably know that I am a fan of John Scalzi. I like his writing, his snarkiness, and pretty much his whole attitude about just about everything. I have met him, and he is a delight in person. (He even added a birthday greeting to his signature the time I met him on my actual birthday. Which he remembered from a then-Twitter post I made early that day.) So, I pretty much will read anything he publishes. Here, I’m going to talk about the latest two I have read by him.
The Kaiju Preservation Society: Jamie is caught in the COVID pandemic’s economic backlash. With no other source of income available, Jamie is stuck as a food delivery driver, a job with little to recommend it and definitely no future. One day, Jamie delivers food to an old friend, Tom, who mentions that he works for an “animal rights organization” that is looking for help. Jamie jumps at the chance to do something, anything else, and signs on. What he doesn’t realize is that this organization Tom talks about isn’t on Earth- or at least Earth as we know it. In an alternate dimension, monstrous kaiju are living in a world with no humans and little interference. The Kaiju Preservation Society is there to protect both the huge beasts and our world. But others who don’t have quite the same ends in mind also know about the kaiju world, and are determined to exploit it. And that could have disastrous consequences for both worlds.
It was an interesting book. It brings the Japanese anime concept of big, scary monsters into a more everyday world view. It advocates for animal rights, even if those animals would be just as happy to have you for lunch as have you keep them safe from those who would exploit their strangeness. There is, as in most of Scalzi’s work, some social commentary but it’s not blaring or overdone. The main plot holds up for this sort of story. I liked most of the characters, and the kaiju were an interesting lot, given that anime is not something I am very familiar with and my knowledge of kaiju are the obvious ones almost everyone has at least heard of. There are multiple types of kaiju, each with its own biology and habitat. Is it the best book I have ever read? Probably not, but it held my attention, wasn’t a doorstop book like so many these days, and didn’t need a deep understanding of the bones behind the story to enjoy it. A good 4 of 5 stars.
Starter Villain: Charlie is a divorced substitute teacher living in his parents’ house that his siblings want to sell. His only friend at the moment is his cat. Then, his uncle Jake dies and leaves his business to Charlie. Which confuses Charlie because although he knew his uncle, they were not particularly close. Charlie looks into his inheritance and finds out that the uncle he thought was some sort of businessman was really a supervillain and had entrusted his whole villainous empire, complete with an island volcano lair, to Charlie to keep running. Oh, and that cat of Charlie’s? Actually a genetically modified feline in his uncle’s employ who has been keeping an eye on Charlie all along. And who can communicate via a specially built, feline-friendly keyboard. There are humans on staff. And the dolphins, who are threatening to go on strike. It’s all a little much for Charlie to take in, but he doesn’t have a lot of time to get up to speed because his uncle’s supervillain competitors (did you know there are many supervillains out there and it’s big business? Charlie surely didn’t) are out to take advantage of the new kid.
This was absolutely in the class of Scalzi’s more fun novels. But that doesn’t mean it’s not well done. The genetic modifications of the cats and dolphins are easily believable with all the research and advancements in those fields we already have. And why wouldn’t supervillainy be a major business? There’s money to be made in evil plots and plans, and that sort of thing attracts not only the business savvy, but venture capitalists with money to provide (and gain back). There’s plenty of action both in Charlie’s sleepy hometown, on the island, and other exotic, luxury locations. The cats are, at times, smarter than the people around them, but isn’t that already the case? The dolphins are delightfully cranky, but have some good points to make in their workplace negotiations. There are plots and subplots, friends who turn out to be enemies and enemies who may not be exactly friends but are at least willing to help as long as they benefit, and going along with Charlie’s learning curve with all this makes for a good time. On the surface, yes, it sounds silly and cheesy, and at times it is, but there’s a lot of good stuff in here wrapped in a pretty decent story. Another solid 4 of 5 stars.
So, that’s those two. There’s another Sclazi on the list, but it’s more in the lines of his true sci-fi, so that one will get talked about another day.
Drink your water. Eat a vegetable. Get outside and get some air. Be nice to one another.
My latest book is a collection of very short stories, half science fiction and half fantasy, called “Crossed Wires and Other Very Short Stories”. I have also written a few other short pieces, another collection, two novels, and an urban fantasy series. You can find most of them at Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and wherever e-books are sold. A few are also available from Amazon in paperback. My novel, “Circle Unbroken” is also on Kindle Unlimited, if that’s your reading preference. You can find out about all of them here.
There are also some stories you can read here on my site, mostly the yearly Halloween short I write, but there are a few others. You can read them from here
And So On... 