If I seemed a bit too full of joy as I discussed that future comet attack, it’s because I knew this review was coming. Today, I get to bring you a fun romp through parallel universes from author John Scalzi. Written during the pandemic, this story acknowledges are current reality full of masks, DoorDash, and theaters that continue to struggle to keep their doors open in the face of COVID. These realities are acknowledged and then brushed aside as we follow our lead character, Jamie, through a thin point in reality and jump into another parallel reality.

There are two different kinds of multiverse. There is the standard idea that our universe is just one of many that emerged from come “quantum foam”. Each universe likely has its own starting values, like the seed on a Minecraft server, and from these starting values radically different universes – most of which will self-destruct rather quickly – can spring into reality.

I firmly believe we exist in this kind of a multiverse, but this kind of a multiverse isn’t all that interesting to sci-fi writers because it isn’t a great plot point to go through to another universe and instantly die.

This is where the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics and all its branching universes became super interesting to writers. In this interpretation, every choice that is made splits reality into two or more versions where each possible outcome is able to happen somewhere. In this theory, there are universes somewhere out there in which that dino-killing asteroid never hit the Earth; realities where everything could evolve in radically different ways. And it is in one of these alternate realities where evolution looked radically different that our hero finds themselves working one unexpected day.

Working like so many nature conservationists to try and help giant, occasionally very deadly critters figure out how to breed and keep their populations going.

Hijinks of course ensue, and all the standard characters are on hand to do all the expected things. There is the rich jerk bent on doing evil to get richer. There are the scientists who just want to study things and don’t always have the best social skills. There are adventure scenes that involve trying to save the Earth from this alternative Earth’s dangers, and there are military groups that have to be defeated by spunky scientists. This book is comfort food. Comfort food with kaiju.

And right now, this is the book we need, even if it is a better book than we deserve.

Just to be clear, this is not a book that is going to win literary awards or change how you see our society; it is just a fun romp into a reality so unlike our own that it offers a lovely – and occasionally gruesome with Kaiju bits – reality.

The audio version of this book is narrated by Wil Wheaton, who brings just the right Gen-X tone of sarcasm and “oh what now” to the characters. His lack of gravitas is perfect for this very serious reality with humans who use humor as a strategy to keep going in a reality that will try to eat them.

If you listen to this story, however, you will miss one of Scalzi’s interesting writing habits. Told from the first-person point of view with minimal descriptive language, this story never lets you know your narrator’s pronouns. You, no matter how you define yourself, can find yourself in this story.

So, if you want to go deal with deadly giant animals instead of the evolving pandemics sweeping our planet, go read Scalzi’s Kaiju Preservation Society and see yourself having an adventure.