The author intended this as a fun romp, and like everyone else I agree that it is. For several days straight I have had something to read that I actually looked forward to. I have now picked up Cory Doctorow's Little Brother and am back to being depressed.
The best part about the book for me is the world building. Scalzi does a pretty good job of creating a plausible world where nuclear-powered Japanese monster movie horrors are viable. How kaiju get to be kaiju is interesting stuff, and I'd read more about it.The characters are meant to be central to the plot, but there's just not enough distinction between them to make them individualized and likeable. The protagonist (Jamie Gray, ex startup exec/food deliverator) and main support character Tom Stevens (recruits Jamie to the title society, and is assistant to the director) possibly excepted. But the dialog is a lot of Aaron Sorkin back-and-forth that consistently goes two or three exchanges too long.
The sheer entrancing ridiculousness of the world saves all. Kaiju, and the people trying to preserve them, are just too much fun. They even overcome the downer of the villainous plot. I picked this one up kind of randomly from a list of "best of 2022" items and am quite glad I did.
There's room for a sequel here, but if Scalzi goes for that he will have to work harder. All signs point toward it going pretty dark.
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