This novel will remind you of old Japanese sci fi movies from the sixties, like the original Godzilla movies. I don’t watch the newer CGI versions, since I don’t want to spoil those happy childhood memories of watching the cheezy versions, with obviously rubber-suited creatures destroying everything in their path. Scalzi does a nice job of describing aspects of these creatures, allowing the reader to mentally complete the picture. But, I get ahead of myself.

Jamie Gray is laid off just as the pandemic gets started in 2020. While delivering meals for a company similar to Uber Eats, he meets an old acquaintance who offers him an interesting job opportunity. Jaime is eager to get out of his dead-end job, and jumps at this somewhat vague offer— to work for the Kaiju Preservation Society, doing grunt work for an outfit trying to preserve some large species or other, somewhere remote. His friend is short on the details, but needs him immediately.

Meeting three other new hires as they fly to Greenland (?!), we learn that the relief crew is going to a different dimension, a different Earth in the multiverse, one where Greenland is in fact tropical, and Kaiju, just like Godzilla, are the apex species. All other somewhat familiar species are oversized and uniformly lethal. What ensues is indoctrination in survival skills needed to make it through a normal day in Kaiju Earth, which will be put to the test. Jaime is destined to meet his former employer, Rob Sanders, who is an even bigger jerk than he imagined, thwart his terrible plans and settle some scores.

This novel is a wonderful sci-fi, adventure mash-up, with plenty of both to keep sci-fi and adventure folks happy, and humorous repartee between Jaime and his nerdy science friends, as they try to stay alive, preserve Kaiju, and defeat Sanders. A quick, very fun read.