Review: Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

Title: Welcome to Night Vale
Series: Welcome to Night Vale #1
Author: Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor 
Source/Format: borrowed from the library; Hardcover
More Details: Fantasy 
Publisher/Publication Date: Harper Perennial, October 20, 2015

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

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.

After reading It Devours!, I decided to go back to the first book in the series, Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel. I was immediately intrigue by the synopsis, and I was ready to be back in Night Vale from the perspective of a different character. This time, the story is told from the perspective of Jackie Fierro (the local pawnshop owner), and Diane Crayton, Josh’s mother. Both of them are reoccurring characters in the series, and it was great to have a story from their perspective. And what a story it was!

The mystery of the book revolved around something as seemingly innocuous as simple slips of paper. However, considering that this was Night Vale, it was quickly apparent that simple and innocuous weren’t the right words to use about the situation. The papers were being delivered to people by a “man in a tan jacket holding a deerskin suitcase,” and they only said one thing: King City. I liked the overall story. The mystery was interesting and there were enough twists to keep me turning the pages.

The novel also showed the characters in their daily lives, including at their jobs. In Diane’s case, it also highlighted her personal life: she was a single mother who worked hard to raise her son, Josh. While Josh spent a lot of time wanting to know who his father was, which caused some friction between the two. Even so, I liked the bond between Diane and Josh. Individually, they were great characters, but I enjoyed reading the scenes when they were together. Jackie and her routines were also interesting. I enjoyed reading about how she ran the pawnshop (plus the rules for pawning an item), as well as how being nineteen for seemingly forever/decades/however long began to weigh on her as the story progressed.

At its heart, Welcome to Night Vale is a story about mothers and their children. It was also about Night Vale's ways and the odd way time flows—or doesn’t flow—and how it affects the relationships between others. Night Vale is a strange place: it’s a town fraught with danger where even going to the library is a perilous adventure in and of itself. And it was interesting to see the town from the perspective of parents who’ve raised their children there.

Overall, I enjoyed Welcome to Night Vale. It was a great story. Now more than ever, I’m excited for the third book in the series.

The Friday 56 (158) & Book Beginnings: Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

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.

Beginning: "Pawnshops in Night Vale work like this. First you need an item to pawn."

56: "He stared at her with what was probably a normal amount of eyes." 

Comments: I enjoyed Welcome to Night Vale, and I'm excited more than ever for the third book in the series. What are you reading this week?

Review: It Devours! by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

Title: It Devours 
Series: Welcome to Night Vale #2
Author: Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
Source/Format: Borrowed from the library; Hardback
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Harper Collins; October 17, 2017

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

From the authors of the New York Times bestselling novel Welcome to Night Vale and the creators of the #1 international podcast of the same name, comes a mystery exploring the intersections of faith and science, the growing relationship between two young people who want desperately to trust each other, and the terrifying, toothy power of the Smiling God. 

Nilanjana Sikdar is an outsider to the town of Night Vale. Working for Carlos, the town’s top scientist, she relies on fact and logic as her guiding principles. But all of that is put into question when Carlos gives her a special assignment investigating a mysterious rumbling in the desert wasteland outside of town. This investigation leads her to the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, and to Darryl, one of its most committed members. Caught between her beliefs in the ultimate power of science and her growing attraction to Darryl, she begins to suspect the Congregation is planning a ritual that could threaten the lives of everyone in town. Nilanjana and Darryl must search for common ground between their very different world views as they are faced with the Congregation’s darkest and most terrible secret

“Not everyone believes in mountains, yet there they are, in plain sight.”

I’ve listened to the Welcome to Night Vale podcast on and off over the years, and I don’t know why I put off reading the novels for so long. I enjoyed It Devours!. It’s just like an episode of the podcast. There were a number of familiar faces—like Cecil Palmer, Carlos, and others. And while It Devours! is a book (with some illustrations, but it isn’t mixed-media; no interviews or transcripts, etc.), it’s told in a similar tone as the podcast that makes the weirder aspects of the town seem like normal, everyday occurrences—which for Night Vale it is. However, that’s part of Welcome to Night Vale’s charm, and I’m glad It Devours! captured some of that.

This book was something else. From the very first page, it starts out by saying not everyone believes in mountains, which is a pretty accurate example of the kind of logic that exists in Night Vale. Time behaved oddly. There were helicopters that didn’t run on fuel. And there’s even a house that’s there, but everyone says it doesn’t exist anyway. What’s causing the massive holes that are steadily devouring Night Vale? Who is Darryl? What is the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God? Those are just some of the questions that needed to be answered, and how they were eventually explained was what I liked most about the book. As such, the mystery was great. I was drawn into the story from the very first chapter, and the villains were sufficiently creepy—yet unassuming at times—with the means and motivation to do what they did.

The majority of the story is told from the perspective of Nilanjana Sikdar. She has a job at Carlos’s lab, and most of her acquaintances are from said establishment. She’s competent in situations when she needs to be, and despite all that happens, she returns to habits from her daily life whenever she needs to solve something. Nilanjana pretty much embodied the feeling of moving to a new place, feeling like you don’t belong, and trying to find out where you fit anyway. I liked the moments when she began to accept Night Vale for the way it was, as well as how she navigated the situation with the mysterious holes.

I truly enjoyed It Devours!. I don’t think the series has to be read in order, especially if you’ve already listened to the podcast. That being said, I’m definitely going to read the first book in the series, Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel.

Music Monday (87): Silversun Pickups

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Today, I wanted to talk about a band I started listening to over the weekend: Silversun Pickups. I’d never heard of them before I came across their song, It Doesn’t Matter Why, while listening to a random alternative music playlist. I loved it right away. Since then, I’ve been listening to more of their music.

What are you listening to this week?

The Perks Of Watching The Movie And Reading The Book + Some Thoughts About Howl's Moving Castle...

The other day, I was rereading one of my favorite novels (Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones) in an attempt to get out of a reading slump. I still love the story, and while I was reading it, it got me thinking about the perks of watching the movie or tv show and reading the book. All versions have something to offer, because it could mean seeing the story from slightly or drastically different ways (and I admit that it’s always nice to see a group of favorite characters come to life). It’s the differences that make the effort of finding all the adaptations worth it.

We used to occasionally do something like that as a feature on the blog called Movie-Book-Or-Both; although, the focus was on whether or not we liked the book as much as the movie or vice-versa, and less to do with the details that got lost in the adaptation process. In April of 2015, I first talked about Howl’s Moving Castle for that feature. And upon my reread of the book 4 years later, I found that I appreciated the story a whole lot more than I originally did.

I don’t need to explain Ghibli films. They’re well-known for their storytelling, gorgeous animation (in particular the scenery, character design, and the food). The films are memorable, and the characters are endearing. Howl’s Moving Castle is one of the first Ghibli films I ever watched as a kid (the very first was Spirited Away), and the adaptation captures the feel of the story as well as much of the plot. But, there are some differences. For instance, in the movie version of Howl’s Moving Castle, some characters underwent changes. Such as Michael Fisher, Howl’s 15 year old apprentice in the book, being a child named Markl in the movie instead. Then there’s Sophie’s other younger sister, Martha, who wasn’t included at all. The sisters' story  is one of my favorite aspects of the book, and if I hadn’t gone beyond the movie, I would have never known I was missing anything to begin with. The changes aren’t bad, because they worked for the movie.

Another instance I can think of, just off the top of my head, is Ready Player One. I enjoyed the book, but the changes made to the narrative made for a great movie. I talked about this when I reviewed the movie HERE. Some of the things I said on that post can also be applied to my thoughts about Howl’s Moving Castle. Actually, it could likely be applied to most instances concerning this subject. However, I also have to look at the other side of this too, because I do acknowledge that some adaptations just aren’t as good as they could have been. In those cases, the changes—if there were any—and other factors, unfortunately worked against the story in whatever way.

Of course, what makes a good adaptation and a bad one is all subjective. What I like, someone else might absolutely hate. And you know what? That’s perfectly fine.

So, I haven’t always been good about reading the book to go along with those adaptations. However, the ones I have gotten around to have mostly turned out to be great reads. Have you read Howl’s Moving Castle or seen the movie? If so, what did you like about it?