A stand-alone science fiction book.
Publication year: 2022
Page count: 264
Publisher: TOR
Format: print
Jamie Gray works for an online food delivery service. When they (I don’t think their gender is revealed in the book) are called in for a six-month review, they have all sorts of ideas on how to improve the service. Instead, they’re laid off their current job and given the “opportunity” to become a food deliverer (called a Deliverator). With COVID raging and jobs low on the ground, Jamie has no choice but to agree. However, Jamie soon meets an old acquaintance, Tom, who gives Jamie a chance at a new job in an animal rights organization, KPS.
The salary and benefits sound so good that Jamie signs up even though the job description is vague. A whole team of KPS employees are traveling to Greenland, Jamie among them. Once there, Jamie realizes why everything was so vague and secretive. The whole team is brought into an alternate Earth where live huge creatures that are similar to Japanese monster flick monsters. Humans have called them Kaiju and Jamie now works for the Kaiju Preservation Society.
This was a lot of fun! Most of the book is about very capable scientists doing what they do best and I enjoyed that a lot. Jamie, and the three other newbies, explore the alternate Earth and the creatures there. He and his friends have a quirky sense of humor and the book is full of snarky dialog.
I enjoyed the book a lot. It’s a fun ride and exactly what I needed.
Quotes:
“I tried being a vegan for a while, but I couldn’t live without cheese.”
“They have vegan cheese.”
“No, they don’t. They have shredded orange and white sadness that mocks cheese and everything it stands for.”
“No one anticipates surprises,” Kahurangi said. “That’s what makes them surprises.”
November 13, 2023 at 1:37 pm
Lol I love that cheese quote. This was a lot of fun, I can always count on Scalzi for plenty of snark😁
November 14, 2023 at 11:39 am
Yes, I throughly enjoyed the humor.
November 14, 2023 at 3:32 pm
Scalzi never disappoints, bless him and his wicked sense of humor! 😉
November 15, 2023 at 11:37 am
Yes, I agree
November 20, 2023 at 5:12 pm
I really enjoyed this book as well! Also, Scalzi confirmed that Jamie’s gender isn’t ever specified, and that he leaves it up to the reader to decide. (For myself, I listened to the audiobook read by Wil Wheaton, so I had assumed that Jamie was male. However, Scalzi said that was not necessarily true.)
November 28, 2023 at 3:51 pm
[…] Reviewed by: Mervi’s Book Reviews […]