Reviews with content warning for Racism - Welcome to Night Vale

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink

7 reviews

rknitss's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a hard one to rate. I used to be a massive fan of the podcast but fell behind a few years ago in a "I'll start listening again any day now" sort of way. So while I had heard up to and slightly past the release of this book, my Night Vale lore is 1) out dated and 2) not exactly fresh in my mind.

I can imagine that the audiobook is phenomenal but I read the massive paperback. I enjoyed it a lot. As per Night Vale usual, I found a number of gut punching quotes. Now for the story:

This is a story about Diane Crayton, Jackie Fierro and a paper that says KING CITY. It's about parenthood, childhood, growing up and fear. It's about taking responsibility and about the danger of librarians.

I was surprised at how heavy the subject matters could get. For a non-specific, random example, we get a long interlude about racism and prejudice that felt like a slap to the face. There are many interludes.

All of that and I couldn't quite give it all 5 stars. This is a long (for me) book. It felt like the story goes on just a little too long and the early days of Diane and Jackie's interactions were teeth grating at best. It was definitely written that way on purpose, but it sucked some of the enjoyment out of it for me. I was also expecting it to be spookier, with more horror elements (be warned that this is NOT a horror-free book - there is Night Vale typical description of gore and monstrous beings, just less than I hoped for).

I would absolutely recommend this book to fans of the podcast and to people who like weird fiction in general who also don't mind not being in on every joke.

Content Warnings

sierra5304's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

The narration/voice acting for the audiobook was great. I liked the structure of third person PoV traditional chapters mixed with The Voice of Night Vale radio. I like the language. The protagonists started off alright but then the story pacing and ending was very unsatisfying.

Content Warnings

exhumedprince's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

Content Warnings

kyliereads341's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

graceanna's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Content Warnings

obviousthings's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

thevampiremars's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

More...