Mostly Void, Partially Stars
(Welcome to Night Vale vol 1)
by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor
copyright 2012-13
read (a bit) in November 2016
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
That is not a definitive rating. I read just a few episodes. I may read more. If I do -- and if I change my opinion -- I will update this review. What I read was, okay. Entertaining. Quirkily humorous.
A bit like Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe. But with less plot. Or no plot at all. Or, perhaps, a plot which starts slowly ?
My first -- and, so far, only -- impression is that this is like the radio "serials" of twenty, thirty years ago. Like Chicken Man. And that space hero series. And the Guide... except that Guide did develop into a story.
Of the very few episodes that I have read, Night Vale appears to be a series of surreal comic sketches. Linked by common characters and common locations. With no sign of any developing -- continuous -- story.
I may be wrong! To find out, I may read more. Right now, I feel that I have read all that I want to read. And, after all, I read only for my own enjoyment.
I have enjoyed the episodes that I have read so far. They are funny, in a weird way. Funny because they are surreal. Funny because, for example, you do not expect the PTA to be interrupted by a ravaging dinosaur. Did you laugh out loud at the unexpectedness of that last sentence? Then read the book :-)
It's the sort of humour that works best in small doses. As an occasional podcast, for example... As a book to be read from cover to cover? No.
I'll dip in a bit further. If there is a developing story -- something that makes me want to read more -- then I will update this post. Otherwise, I'll just read a bit more. To pass the time. Harmlessly. And perhaps with an occasional chuckle.
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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Omne ignotum pro magnifico est" … Tacitus: Agricola
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