GoodRead - Welcome To Night Vale

If you know this blog for a while (or on Twitter), I am a huge fan of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale. So when it was announced last year that the creators of the podcast, Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, were going to write a novel set in this weird little town, I was really excited. But I was a little uncertain over if Night Vale would translate well into novel form...

Night Vale is a small town where every conspiracy is true, and people just have to live their lives. Pawnshop owner, Jackie, is nineteen and has been nineteen for a while. But one day, a Man in a Tan Jacket walks in and gives her a piece of paper. A piece of paper that she can't remove from her hand. The only clue she has to who or what this piece of paper is or who this Man in a Tan Jacket is what's written on the piece of paper - KING CITY.

Diana Clayton is worried about her teenage son, Josh. He's moody and distant. And a shapeshifter, but Diana's more worried about the distance between her son and her. And now, wherever she goes, she sees Josh's father. Looking the same as he did the day he left. And with Josh beginning to take an interest in who his father is, Diana can see disaster coming... and she can't stop it.

These two women's lives will intertwined and it looks like the answers both these women need might be at this mysterious KING CITY... if they can leave Night Vale, that is...

Now... this is a tough one. As a fan of the podcast, I feel that the story did work. Night Vale is just as well as it is on the show - maybe even more so. And, unlike the podcast, the book takes us away from the radio show and we go into town.

The story with Diana and her son, Josh, was something I enjoyed. The relationship between them and they trying to reconnect will strike chords with parents of teenagers everywhere.

However, I do have some issues with this. While it was Welcome to Night Vale, it wasn't at the same time. Some of the things that work on a 30 minute podcast didn't translate well in book form. It felt oddly flat at times.

Another problem that this book had was that, if you are not a fan of the podcast and you picked this up, you might find this book very surreal. If you are not aware of it, you might find this a bit too much.

Am very mixed on this. I think this is a nice add on to the world of Night Vale and fans will really enjoy it. However, I'm not entirely convinced that people who aren't aware of the podcast will find this book enjoyable.