TL;DR Everything Is In Cecil's Voice And It Is Great // holy aesthetic, Batman
(finished 11/12/15)
I first started listening to the Welcome to Night Vale podcasts when we went to Alaska. I haven't been very good with keeping current with them, mainly because my listening skills are terrible, but I was super excited when I learned that they were making a book. I can handle reading a lot better than I can listening.
(To try and avoid confusion, Welcome to Night Vale in italics refers to the books, and WTNV in normal text / as an acronym refers to the podcasts.)
I didn't pay too much attention to the blurb before the book came out, so I went into the book pretty blind. I thought it was pretty fun that way. I mean, I know a lot about Night Vale already, so I saw the book as kind of a text-podcast.
The book is going to make absolutely no sense if you haven't listened to any of the Night Vale podcasts. Even listening to just one gives you a one-up compared to going in completely unprepared. WTNV has a very Alice in Wonderland feel to it in terms of unreality, and that's definitely reflected in the book.
(That said, if unreality squicks you out, Welcome to Night Vale most likely isn't your thing. There's a lot of defying the laws of the universe / things making no sense. I can't think of any other CWs off the top of my head, but the podcasts do cover some dark things, so keep that in mind. Welcome to Night Vale is not a fluffy marshmallow-y book.)
I really enjoyed being able to learn about other characters in Night Vale. The podcasts are narrated by Cecil, so a lot of what's covered in those revolves around what he's experienced or what he's reporting on. I don't know if Jackie and Diane have been mentioned in the podcasts before, but it was really cool to see how they fit into what I already understood of their world. I enjoyed learning about them and seeing them grow.
The book also was able to expand on a lot that hasn't been covered up to the point I'm at in the podcasts. I don't know if the podcasts are going to treat the book as canon / a linear addition to the plot or not, though. I don't know how that would be tackled. I think it would maybe cause continuity problems for listeners who can't get their hands on the book. ┐(° ヘ° )┌
Anyway! The plot was compelling and took directions I wasn't expecting. (That's very normal of WTNV, tbh.) I was really happy to see Jackie and Diane's character developments, and how concepts from the podcasts like The Man in the Tan Jacket were included in.
The narration is perfect. Like I said in the top TL;DR, I heard everything in Cecil's voice. it was amazing to read such a perfectly captured spoken narrator. There were also sections where Cecil's radio broadcasts were included, and those made me incredibly happy. The narrator of Welcome to Night Vale isn't actually supposed to be Cecil -- it's third person omniscient -- so having something that was definitely his voice was (୨୧ ❛ᴗ❛)✧
I'm not sure what else I can talk about without giving too many spoilers for either medium or managing to sound completely crazy, so I think I'll leave my review at this. I'm going to come back to this review in a month or two and include my sticky notes, since there are some really good lines I want to share.
If you've never listened to the WTNV podcasts before, I definitely recommend them! It's definitely not for everyone, since it can come off as very unreal / kind of horror story-ish at times, but I've really enjoyed listening to them. Hopefully I can write a review of the podcasts themselves once I catch back up with them!
If you decide to read the book without listening to the podcast, I would recommend keeping the internet handy or be in the mindset to be completely "???" at times. There's a WTNV wikia page that looks like it would be handy, but I can't promise you that it'll be a good replacement to the podcasts. There are also fan-transcripts of the podcasts if you'd rather read those to catch up (though you're missing out on a lot of context / subtext without everyone's voices and the sounds that go along with the podcasts).
TL;DR Welcome to Night Vale is an awesome way to adapt WTNV into a text format and I'm really happy that it exists! The two mediums go hand-in-hand, so proceed with caution if you have no idea what the podcasts are like.
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