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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
I love listening to Welcome to Night Vale. LOVE it. And I can't seem to find anyone else who is a fan to geek out about it with, so having a book come out felt like a way to fully indulge my fandom even if it was all on my own.
Unfortunately, at least for me, it turns out that the weirdness of Welcome to Night Vale is best served in the 30 minute chunks the podcast provides.
The book reuses a lot of scenarios from the podcast, so while it's fun to wink and nod as an insider, it also loses the opportunity to feel fresh and new. And as much as I love this unusual city and it's even more unusual inhabitants, it was just really hard to buy into a story that is trying to fit as much quirkiness in as possible.
I hate that I didn't love this book, but I had to eventually put it down. Yup, it was unfinishable for me. I feel like a traitor, but I'm going to stick with getting my Night Vale updates directly from Cecil.
Unfortunately, at least for me, it turns out that the weirdness of Welcome to Night Vale is best served in the 30 minute chunks the podcast provides.
The book reuses a lot of scenarios from the podcast, so while it's fun to wink and nod as an insider, it also loses the opportunity to feel fresh and new. And as much as I love this unusual city and it's even more unusual inhabitants, it was just really hard to buy into a story that is trying to fit as much quirkiness in as possible.
I hate that I didn't love this book, but I had to eventually put it down. Yup, it was unfinishable for me. I feel like a traitor, but I'm going to stick with getting my Night Vale updates directly from Cecil.
obviously i knew this would be weird going in, so im not saying thats bad. just not for me. i didn’t care enough to keep up with the weirdness
Let's face it, I can't give you anything close to an objective review on this one. I've been foaming at the mouth waiting for the Welcome to Night Vale novel to come out since it was announced, so bare with me here as I try to give some opinions that encompass a bit more than my "SQUEE."
I think Cranor and Fink did an exceptionally brave thing to break further away from the podcast and live show format by focusing on different characters within the world of Night Vale, and the risk pays off. It makes the setting both realer, darker, but also gives it the warmth of familial love, as imperfect as it sometimes is. There are certainly sections that I can picture *exactly* how the actors for the shows would say things, but you don't have to know that to enjoy the novel. I think this will bring new fans to the ... franchise? (I don't know what to call the collection of stories surrounding Night Vale now.) Sure, there is a lot of weird that isn't explained, but that's no different than the show, and I think most fans of the show will agree that the first 3 episodes are spent going "what ... how.. what's going on?!" and then you just find your rhythm and roll with it like the people who live there.
Jackie and Dianne make for complex, flawed, but good characters that you root for. The glimpses into how their families work and communicate reflect the real world amazingly well despite all the unusual shape shifting and non-aging.
All in all, if you're at all interested in this, I vote give it a go.
I think Cranor and Fink did an exceptionally brave thing to break further away from the podcast and live show format by focusing on different characters within the world of Night Vale, and the risk pays off. It makes the setting both realer, darker, but also gives it the warmth of familial love, as imperfect as it sometimes is. There are certainly sections that I can picture *exactly* how the actors for the shows would say things, but you don't have to know that to enjoy the novel. I think this will bring new fans to the ... franchise? (I don't know what to call the collection of stories surrounding Night Vale now.) Sure, there is a lot of weird that isn't explained, but that's no different than the show, and I think most fans of the show will agree that the first 3 episodes are spent going "what ... how.. what's going on?!" and then you just find your rhythm and roll with it like the people who live there.
Jackie and Dianne make for complex, flawed, but good characters that you root for. The glimpses into how their families work and communicate reflect the real world amazingly well despite all the unusual shape shifting and non-aging.
All in all, if you're at all interested in this, I vote give it a go.
Delightful! Loved getting the very very weird slice of life night vale background, but also very glad I listed to the audiobook (and if you know me, you know I h8 audiobooks) because I almost felt like I was listening to the podcast itself 👁💜
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
REVIEW COMING FROM SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE PODCAST:
In the world filled with chaos and unimaginable wonders, who knew the best part would be a teenager who feels caught in the monotony of life, and a single mother trying to raise a son who struggles with his identity.
Novel does a good job describing all weird happenings that's going on, making it easy to follow along and imagine, even to newcomers who has no prior context. Though it is definitely hard to tell how to feel for most scenes. Since the town and the people are completely abnormal, I can't tell if I'm supposed to feel sad if a character forgets their childhood home or if it's a normal Tuesday occurrence. So, most of the book is just going along with what's being described and feeling nothing much but "okay we're doing this now"(Beside the stressful and horror scenes. Those were the best parts, even though I already felt anxious 80% of time reading this book).
In the world filled with chaos and unimaginable wonders, who knew the best part would be a teenager who feels caught in the monotony of life, and a single mother trying to raise a son who struggles with his identity.
Novel does a good job describing all weird happenings that's going on, making it easy to follow along and imagine, even to newcomers who has no prior context. Though it is definitely hard to tell how to feel for most scenes. Since the town and the people are completely abnormal, I can't tell if I'm supposed to feel sad if a character forgets their childhood home or if it's a normal Tuesday occurrence. So, most of the book is just going along with what's being described and feeling nothing much but "okay we're doing this now"(Beside the stressful and horror scenes. Those were the best parts, even though I already felt anxious 80% of time reading this book).
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There is something deeply sad about this book that I can’t put my finger on.
Maybe it’s the fragility of memory
Maybe it’s my father being everything to everyone, but being my father
Maybe it’s the fact that I take different forms and no one understands me either
Maybe it’s about feeling alien in an alien world
I don’t know, regardless, it was beautiful
Maybe it’s the fragility of memory
Maybe it’s my father being everything to everyone, but being my father
Maybe it’s the fact that I take different forms and no one understands me either
Maybe it’s about feeling alien in an alien world
I don’t know, regardless, it was beautiful
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood
Moderate: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders
General unreality
First up: get the audiobook. I ordered the hardback, but if I hadn't also bought the audiobook I would have gotten sick of the 'weird' prose a lot faster.
As for the actual review... man, I'm conflicted. I *love* Night Vale, but in a full novel the usual weirdness of the show gets quite grating. Too much of the narrative feels quirky, trying too hard -- I got so tired of weirdness for the sake of weirdness, adding nothing to the world. The houses having pointless thoughts. The tarantula. Even the Faceless Old Women felt out of place here. So much of it felt like it was only there to liven up another dull scene, to add colour to otherwise dull conversations and transition scenes. If it had all been building up to something, that would have worked fantastically, but since none of the weirdness *went* anywhere it felt like a let down.
Another big issue is how damn *dull* the main characters are. Jackie is a 19-year-old who says "dude" and "man" a lot. Diane is a mother who loves her son. These two don't really develop or change in any meaningful way... I think they tried to have them change by the end of the story, but it felt forced -- they did something brave and have therefore 'changed' even though their personalities remained exactly the same.
Also, in a Night Vale-y fashion, very few of the actions taken by the characters have consequences. Bad things happen, but it's all very apathetically handled, and had no real lasting effect on anyone.
I dunno, man. It's a debut novel so the team can definitely move onwards and upwards from this, but it didn't sit right with me.
As for the actual review... man, I'm conflicted. I *love* Night Vale, but in a full novel the usual weirdness of the show gets quite grating. Too much of the narrative feels quirky, trying too hard -- I got so tired of weirdness for the sake of weirdness, adding nothing to the world. The houses having pointless thoughts. The tarantula. Even the Faceless Old Women felt out of place here. So much of it felt like it was only there to liven up another dull scene, to add colour to otherwise dull conversations and transition scenes. If it had all been building up to something, that would have worked fantastically, but since none of the weirdness *went* anywhere it felt like a let down.
Another big issue is how damn *dull* the main characters are. Jackie is a 19-year-old who says "dude" and "man" a lot. Diane is a mother who loves her son. These two don't really develop or change in any meaningful way... I think they tried to have them change by the end of the story, but it felt forced -- they did something brave and have therefore 'changed' even though their personalities remained exactly the same.
Also, in a Night Vale-y fashion, very few of the actions taken by the characters have consequences. Bad things happen, but it's all very apathetically handled, and had no real lasting effect on anyone.
I dunno, man. It's a debut novel so the team can definitely move onwards and upwards from this, but it didn't sit right with me.
I LOVE the podcast this book sprouted from but had a hard time drinking into the pacing on the book, i tried listening to the book instead and had the same trouble.
If you picked this up and couldn't get into it I would totally recommend trying the first episode of the podcast instead.
If you picked this up and couldn't get into it I would totally recommend trying the first episode of the podcast instead.
Writing was good but it was a little too weird for my tastes.
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved getting to know more characters and see how they grew. The odd metaphors and existentialism are weird to read at first but they grew on me.