John Scalzi tackles a big subject: rampaging kaiju

Above : Kaiju (like Godzilla above) are the subject of John Scalzi’s new novel “The Kaiju Preservation Society.” (Photo/Warner Bros.)

Audiobook review : “The Kaiju Preservation Society,” written by John Scalzi, narrated by Will Wheaton.

John Scalzi has a way with words. Indeed, that talent is such that, at times, it makes him more of a standup comedian than a novelist.

But, of course, he is a novelist. I first learned of him when I picked up his clever 2005 novel “Old Man’s War,” which tells the tale of elderly humans signing up with something called the Colonial Defense Forces, given genetically engineered new bodies and sent off to fight aliens.

That book was followed by a number of sequels, each being less interesting than the one before. But I read them all – though I have trouble remembering anything about them beyond the basic overall plotline.

I then picked up his 2012 novel “Redshirts,” which again offered a clever concept: Crew members on a starship discover that their fates are tied to a television show from the past. Time travel unlocks the mystery.

“Redshirts” won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Scalzi has written a number of other books, several in series form (example: the three “Interdependency” novels, “The Collapsing Empire,” “The Consuming Fire,” “The Last Emperox”).

Most recently, we have “The Kaiju Preservation Society,” the audiobook version of which I just finished. Narrated by Will Wheaton (who also narrated “Redshirts”), the novel is again … well, clever. It involves a secret NGO that, operating on an alternative Earth, is charge with protecting (or preserving) the kaiju of that world.

And kaiju , as fans of Japanese cinema know, are giant monsters such as Godzilla (the term also refers to the films that feature such monsters, from “Godzilla” to “Rodan” to “Mothra” … and so on).

The novel follows the exploits of Jamie Gray, a guy who gets fired from his junior executive position by an unscrupulous CEO and ends up going to work for the KPS of the book’s title. Gray, whose main job is described as mostly “lifting things,” is joined by a few other characters – all actual scientists – and they team up when one of the kaiju (named Bella, after – yes – Kristen Stewart’s “Twilight” character) becomes endangered.

Like much of Scalzi’s fiction that I’ve read, the interplay between the characters sounds more like a round-table discussion between comedians than the plot to an actual novel. That said it is just the kind of book that appeals to my inner adolescent.

Which makes Wheaton the perfect narrator. No, he’s not particularly good at distinguishing one character from the next. Neither is he good at different accents (one of the book’s secondary characters is supposed to be a Canadian Army officer, yet the accent Wheaton affects sometimes makes him sound like Jack Black in the Mexican wrestling parody “Nacho Libre” ).

But Wheaton does well is capture the teenage fervor of Scalzi’s dialogue, which fuels the narrative through its slow first half (all exposition and character development) all the way to its abbreviated, action-laced ending.

So if you have an Audible.com account, and are willing to spend $25.99, you might enjoy the eight-hour-and-two-minute adventure.

That’d get you almost all the way to Seattle and back.