Hey, guys! I am an avid listener to the podcast
Welcome to Night Vale, and a few months back, they wrote a book based on the same universe. While I recommend the podcast, you don't need to have listened to it for this book to make sense.
I listened to the audiobook version of this, which is narrated by the same people who voice the podcast.
The Cover:
The Cover:
It shows the town of Night Vale with the mountains (whether or not they exist is questionable) in the background. It is a fine cover and fairly simple. I like it, but it isn't too exciting. Solid B cover.
Official Description:
From the creators of the wildly popular Welcome to Night Vale podcast comes an imaginative mystery of appearances and disappearances that is also a poignant look at the ways in which we all struggle to find ourselves...no matter where we live.
Located in a nameless desert somewhere in the great American Southwest, Night Vale is a small town where ghosts, angels, aliens, and government conspiracies are all commonplace parts of everyday life. It is here that the lives of two women, with two mysteries, will converge.
Nineteen-year-old Night Vale pawn shop owner Jackie Fierro is given a paper marked "King City" by a mysterious man in a tan jacket holding a deer skin suitcase. Everything about him and his paper unsettles her, especially the fact that she can't seem to get the paper to leave her hand, and that no one who meets this man can remember anything about him. Jackie is determined to uncover the mystery of King City and the man in the tan jacket before she herself unravels.
Night Vale PTA treasurer Diane Crayton's son, Josh, is moody and also a shape shifter. And lately Diane's started to see her son's father everywhere she goes, looking the same as the day he left years earlier, when they were both teenagers. Josh, looking different every time Diane sees him, shows a stronger and stronger interest in his estranged father, leading to a disaster Diane can see coming, even as she is helpless to prevent it.
Diane's search to reconnect with her son and Jackie's search for her former routine life collide as they find themselves coming back to two words: "King City". It is King City that holds the key to both of their mysteries, and their futures...if they can ever find it.
(Note: This description makes it sound very suspenseful and not at all silly, which I disagree with.)
My Review:
I enjoyed listening to this book. It was surreal and quirky as well as had an interesting plot. As a fan of the podcast, I was a little disappointed by the amount of overlap between those characters and the book's (the world was the same but the characters different). It was still entertaining though!
The characters were interesting and complex. They had their own personalities and motivations. I will admit though that at certain points in the book, when both Jackie and Diana were doing the same basic thing, I would get them confused. They had very similar actions if for drastically different motivations. It wasn't a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it.
The plot was interesting. Bizarre and random but that was the point, so I didn't mind. I was entertained, and the storyline was easy to follow.
I would definitely recommend reading Welcome to Night Vale if you enjoy a strange book or if you're looking for a light read. You don't need to have listened to the podcast, but it might make you more excited during the few cameos. I would recommend it!
Audiobook:
If was very well read. Lots of emotion was brought across without being overwhelming. Cecil Baldwin read it (the same man who narrates the podcast) and his voice is very relaxing. I would recommend the audiobook version if you have a way to listen.
Phrase:
Josh's coat of many colors
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Happy Reading!
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