Book Review: It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Should you ever get lost in Night Vale, then you better believe in all the conspiracy theories to survive. Not that there needs to be a lot of believing happening because everyone knows the government is spying on you, and Pamela is making catastrophes just to be able to hold a press conference. But this time, it is not the government, or okay, they might be involved, with all the trembling and accidents happening in the town. Nilanjana takes it as her mission to find out what’s happening. She’s a scientist and an outsider to Night Vale, meaning that not many trust her or like her for the matter. She finds herself heading straight into a Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God’s church to find the truth: wordsmith. But can any religion tell the truth, especially one with the practice of smiling all the time? There’s no trusting someone who has been taught to smile at everything, especially when you need to be paranoid to stay alive. So here you go. Now you can take a dive into the land where the eldritch horrors roam, the government is made of lizard people, and the TV is watching you.

I like the whole Night Vale concept. It’s just bonkers with all the weirdness of X-files, bigfoot, conspiracy theories, and Lovecraftian horrors mashed together. Also, I enjoyed the religion vs. science theme of the book. The characters were just perfect despite being a bit thin, but that’s fine. They are written in the pulp way and fit what the book and podcast are trying to do. But the thing is that this is a podcast (Welcome to Night Vale) composed into a book, and it was jarring to read. The plot was prolonged, and it was all over the place. Again, that is fine as it fits the whole theme of the setting: conspiracy theories in the bizarre. But I just wanted the book to end or, more so, to get to the point, ruining the reading experience. So not nice at all. But I get why these episodes were made into a book. It’s easier to get into the series with a book than with tons of podcasts to go through.

I think I keep with this series. I like the setting too much to get hung up with all the minor details. Sometimes, I wonder if I would love to live in a universe where all the weirdness was true? I wouldn’t want to get murdered by the colors from outer space, but then again, I don’t want to live in a world where money, clauses, and marching to nine-to-five-beat is glorious.

Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day ❤