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O. U.'s Reviews > The Kaiju Preservation Society
The Kaiju Preservation Society
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I was originally going to give this book a 2/5 (I came back after a few months to change it from a 3/5 to a 2/5, why? Because Fuck You, that's why) star rating and complain about lack of character voice, pacing issues (especially in the beginning), emotional dissonance in the text, predictable twists, etc.
Then I looked at the other reviews and saw everyone throwing the word "fun" around, talking about how they had a good time reading it, how it would make for a great flight/beach read and stuff. When the fuck did I become such a curmudgeon? Maybe it's the cynical attitude, or the depression, or both, but at no point did I think about relaxing and having fun.
I had some fun reading this book, but I think it could've stood to be more fun. I think it should've taken more of focus on the characters and given each of them a distinct voice, because they all read similarly on the page. They're all snarky "likable" assholes to varying degrees. That doesn't work, it's like if every character in The Office was Stanley or Dwight. No "likable" asshole is as likeable as you think they are, doubly so if they're surrounded by more likeable assholes.
Second, this book has a B-Movie action plot attached to it, along with some melodrama and deaths that were pushed to the side with "Everyone was suuuper sad about it for a week :(((". I don't think it was appropriate for this book. If fun was what we were gunning for, I would've liked seeing this as more of a Parks and Rec kind of thing.
Lastly, the humor felt kind of lazy to me. It was either "Haha that's so random" humor or humor through repetition of a phrase, i.e. "I lift things". Also every character always had something snarky to say/reply with about everything, even in the more dramatic scenes.
I think this book is an easy read, I had fun at some point, and I'll probably read more Scalzi in the future, especially his serious stuff.
2/5. I can't believe I fucking wrote over 300 words to convey how/why I could've had more fun reading this book. I literally could've just wrote "Ehhh, it's okay!" and been done with it.
Then I looked at the other reviews and saw everyone throwing the word "fun" around, talking about how they had a good time reading it, how it would make for a great flight/beach read and stuff. When the fuck did I become such a curmudgeon? Maybe it's the cynical attitude, or the depression, or both, but at no point did I think about relaxing and having fun.
I had some fun reading this book, but I think it could've stood to be more fun. I think it should've taken more of focus on the characters and given each of them a distinct voice, because they all read similarly on the page. They're all snarky "likable" assholes to varying degrees. That doesn't work, it's like if every character in The Office was Stanley or Dwight. No "likable" asshole is as likeable as you think they are, doubly so if they're surrounded by more likeable assholes.
Second, this book has a B-Movie action plot attached to it, along with some melodrama and deaths that were pushed to the side with "Everyone was suuuper sad about it for a week :(((". I don't think it was appropriate for this book. If fun was what we were gunning for, I would've liked seeing this as more of a Parks and Rec kind of thing.
Lastly, the humor felt kind of lazy to me. It was either "Haha that's so random" humor or humor through repetition of a phrase, i.e. "I lift things". Also every character always had something snarky to say/reply with about everything, even in the more dramatic scenes.
I think this book is an easy read, I had fun at some point, and I'll probably read more Scalzi in the future, especially his serious stuff.
2/5. I can't believe I fucking wrote over 300 words to convey how/why I could've had more fun reading this book. I literally could've just wrote "Ehhh, it's okay!" and been done with it.
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Same as every Scalzi book ever then. He is an ok popcorn writer, but massively overhyped.
this is exactly how I felt about the book too! I completely lost interest after they got to the Tanaka base and didn't care what happened after that. Even the transfer from one earth to the next was depressingly boring. I was waiting for some feelings or exciting that never came. I think it was probably a big mistake coming to this book after Neal Stephenson and being underwhelmed by Scalzi's sotto voce writing!
Mike wrote: "The one-voice-all-the-time thing is a well-known Scalzi flaw. I honestly don't know why he's so highly rated; most of his stuff takes extremely well-worn premises and does a superficial job with th..."Maybe we should start a "Curmudgeon Club"? Get together and frown at things more lol.
S wrote: "Same as every Scalzi book ever then. He is an ok popcorn writer, but massively overhyped."Popcorn writer? Yeesh, I got the impression from the brief descriptions of his books that they were more serious. I thought this one was the outlier lol.
Simalova wrote: "this is exactly how I felt about the book too! I completely lost interest after they got to the Tanaka base and didn't care what happened after that. Even the transfer from one earth to the next wa..."Yea, this book has this weird blasé energy about its' own world I've noticed, where it keeps pushing all the stuff that could be really interesting to the side, i.e. the MC visiting the jungle floor where everything is dangerous, and instead focused on putting as many lame jokes as it can think of in every page. Glad someone out there was yawning in solidarity with me hahaha.
O. wrote: Yeesh, I got the impression from the brief descriptions of his books that they were more serious."You'd think so. But I set myself up for disappointment that way when reading "Old Man's War" and "The Collapsing Empire". I just expected too much from all the glowing praise. If I went in expecting a lighthearted adventure instead I probably would have enjoyed them more. As they aren't bad from that POV.
O. wrote: "Simalova wrote: "this is exactly how I felt about the book too! I completely lost interest after they got to the Tanaka base and didn't care what happened after that. Even the transfer from one ear..."Alright, cool, I'll keep that in mind if I ever get around to reading those books!
Absolutely agree. How come authors like him are so well known and hyped. This book was terrible. I picked another one, out of interest, and exactly same kind of romp style.
Slawek wrote: "Absolutely agree. How come authors like him are so well known and hyped. This book was terrible. I picked another one, out of interest, and exactly same kind of romp style."I think it's in that "easy to read and enjoy" category and therefore more marketable. There isn't much depth and so people looking for something deeper are going to be left disappointed.
Not entirely sure to be honest. I like 'easy to read and enjoy' and have read plenty of those kind of books. It is more about the style of narration. It reminded me of mine and my friends' attempts of writing stories - really terrible. And this book is exactly like that, reads as if written by a teenager who plays RPG (as we did) and thought why not write a story about someone having a lot of things happening to them. Had we known this kind of writing could be popular, I am sure a few of us would have tried to continue.
Pretty much agree completely. Interesting book, but I didn't have much "fun" reading it. Seemed like wasted potential.
""Everyone was suuuper sad about it for a week"That part bugged the hell out of me.
I 100% agree, I feel it's only rated so high because of fans. I love his other books but this one was stupid and very predictable. I like how no matter what dangers the characters faced they always was ready to crack bad jokes
I’m only half way through and have stopped because.. WHERE IS THE PLOT?! O’s review sums it up perfect so far. I’ll still finish it, yet I’m not in any big rush. Which is a bummer since I was excited to read Scalzi and also because this book has so much potential to be amazing.
There's no plot, just jokes and excessive descriptions of kaiju.
I'm 8 chapters in and wondering when I'm going to stop having things EXPLAINED to me. I scrolled thru some reviews here to see if anyone's thoughts might help, and yours certainly has. It's a cool premise, but mostly lazy delivery. "I lift things" is killing me.
Scalzi's writing has a serious case of all-the-characters-sound-alike because they're all clones of him and his views. Also, the almost complete lack of descriptions doesn't help. But he's "cool" and "hip" and whatever other words others of his sociopolitical ilk use whenever they praise someone just like them.
Leaving this comment because the review now has 69 likes. Hell yea. ¯\_(�)_/¯
Oh thank god, I'm not alone! Looking at all the reviews I was worried that it was just me because the "fun" in the book is more like cringe in the audiobook...
Yooo this review passed 100 likes! Wild. Thanks y'all for validating my opinion. 😘
Thank you for voicing your thoughts. This is my first Scalzi, and yeah, not a great impression. It felt like my time and intelligence wasn't being respected. I'll give him another go with Old Man's War, I think.
Tim wrote: "Thank you for voicing your thoughts. This is my first Scalzi, and yeah, not a great impression. It felt like my time and intelligence wasn't being respected. I'll give him another go with Old Man's..."Yea, I'm definitely planning on reading Old Man's war at some point in the next year but it's not a top priority. I have no doubt I'll find some enjoyment in it though, at least the premise itself is interesting.
I am on page 5 and trying to grit my teeth through the cringe writing and inner thoughts of the MC. I love kaiju and have watched my fair share of silly Godzilla films and loved them to pieces. I can be carefree and enjoy media without deep plot, but poor writing is hard to get over. Is the entire book this pretentious? How is this guy so popular?!
I’ve never read a book where I’ve hated every single character more
Having read everything Scalzi, I was expecting more.
I wish I read your review before writing mine. I could have just written a direction to check out yours.
I’m willing to wager that highly successful published author John Scalzi might be using the pronouns correctly and that you are a being a big whiny baby
I laughed more at this review then I came close to even cracking a smile in the 22 chapters I pushed thru reading
I'm still halfway through and glad I'm not the only one who felt all the characters had that same snarky "I am very smart" Reddit humour. Am I meant to like Jamie because the whole book his through his eyes? Some of the shit he says is just cringe and followed by stuff like "everyone laughed" which is more unbelievable than any of the Kaiju sci fi stuff.
This book also has me feeling like an old curmudgeon. And I have really enjoyed some of his other books: The God Engines, The Dispatcher, Starter Villian. Really inventive, fun. But ugh the writing in this! The dialogue, the wise cracks and the way the audiobook is being narrated really leans into what I don't like about it. I can't tell the characters apart and they are all so juvenile! But I will finish the book (I think) and I am not going to stop here with John Scalzi, not every offering is always going to hit the mark. Especially if you are a self-confessed curmudgeon.
Am I the only person that thinks the whole book was just stupid? I mean come on an animal that grows a nuclear reactor inside its body? How stupid is that?
Yeah, I'm a curmudgeon too.