Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Welcome to Night Vale

I really enjoyed this book. It was a little slow until towards the middle but I found it worth it once everything started to connect together and kind of make sense (in the way Nightvale can "make sense") and then I couldn't put it down. If you know nothing about the podcast it might be a little challenging to read, not due to plot and characters, but just getting used to the weirdness and how it is treated as normal leads to some confusing sentences that I had to reread a couple times to wrap my head around. Definitely worth the read.

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kyliereads341's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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entityj's review

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adventurous challenging funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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jarnbooks's review

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It was interesting. It starts out really fast getting right into the main plot then slows down as the characters try to solve the mystery. Which isn’t solved until the last 5 chapters.

The characters are fun but there’s no growth until the last chapter. But the relationships are fun to read. Which brings me to one of my favorite bits: no shoved in romantic subplot.

The story is very simple overall and took some crazy turns (which makes sense in Night Vale). But the main thing that I didn’t like was the writing style. Running gags are set up very early in the book and as it goes, they get tiring. One of the things I got tired of was “Character goes here. They know it was here because the sign said “here”.” Lots of pointing out the obvious. On the other hand, the metaphors used are never explained leaving it up to reader what is meant, which is very fun in most cases.

As an avid listener of the podcast, you don’t need any previous info to read this but there are a lot of fun non-relevant Easter eggs and references that were a joy to see.

The main gripe I have with this book is that it could’ve been a lot shorter. Maybe a hundred pages or so.

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obviousthings's review

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funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I think the Night Vale style works better in audio form, and I'm not sure if I'd recommend this to someone not familiar with the podcast. The book gets a bit slow in the middle, but I really liked the ending, and I'm glad I finished it.

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jenn_reads's review

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challenging funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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brnineworms's review

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emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I was a big fan of WTNV as a teen, and though I no longer keep up-to-date with new episodes I do remember it fondly and it has a special place in my heart as the first podcast I ever listened to. I think this put me in a pretty good position as I read the novel – familiar with the world of Night Vale, but not so invested that my expectations would be unrealistically high.

I’ve seen people interpret WTNV as a satire of modern neoliberal society. While that interpretation is valid, I think a simpler (and perhaps more applicable) way of looking at things is this: Night Vale makes feelings fact.

I’ll use time as an example. “Time doesn’t work in Night Vale” is a notion that comes up frequently in the book. The thing is, time works however it intuitively makes sense for it to work. Feels like ages ago? Feels like only yesterday? Voilà.

Jackie, one of the main characters in the novel, is literally and figuratively stuck at age nineteen. She laments and slightly resents her high school friends who have moved on with their lives while she’s unable to “grow up” and do all the things adults are expected to do. She has worked the same dead-end job for decades, possibly centuries. She’s going through the motions, literalised as actual rituals performed with each transaction. Again there’s this lack of distinction between the literal and the figurative.

Characterisation is where the novel truly excels. It just feels so honest in its portrayal of the characters’ emotional states and rationales. It feels so human, even with the paranormal elements. If I had to choose one word to sum up the feel of Welcome to Night Vale, it would be “weird.” But if I had to choose another word, it would be “candid.”

The story does progress quite slowly in the first half. I think the switching back and forth between Jackie and Diane is what kept it from feeling like it dragged. But I don’t think the pacing is poor – it works well. My only complaint is that the ending felt a little insubstantial in comparison to the build up.

I know there are some WTNV fans disappointed that there wasn’t more Cecil and Carlos content, but this story isn’t about them. In fact, I think we see too much of them. Their inclusion felt a bit shoehorned at times. And, more generally, I think there were a few too many references and in-jokes. That said, I can forgive the book for that because they needed to tie it in to the podcast somehow. A little fanservice is harmless, really.

I prefer the book over the podcast, which is not something I’d expected going in. I feel like the podcast has excellently strange vibes but the novel takes that material and uses it to actually tell a story and explore a handful of characters in depth.

Welcome to Night Vale is beautifully odd and oddly beautiful, and I’m glad I finally read it.

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