A new page-turning mystery about science, faith, love and belonging, set in a friendly desert community where ghosts, angels, aliens, and government conspiracies are commonplace parts of everyday life. Welcome to Night Vale… Times Bestselling Author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
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.
more
It Devours! is, much like the cover and title, a fun and bizarre entry into the Night Vale universe. I liked it much better than the previous novel installment, Welcome to Night Vale, mostly because it seemed to have its own storyline and characters, less of a tribute to the podcast and more of a story that could stand on its own. But it still has that Night Vale charm to it, and expands on podcast-favorite characters and relationships in ways that work better in a novel format. It seems like Fink & Cranor have a much better grip this time around on what should stay in the podcast and what works better in a novel, as well as keeping the written series its own thing not so reliant on the podcast’s mythology.
It Devours! has dual protagonists, like the last book, focusing this time on Nilanjana Sikdar, a scientist that came to study Night Vale’s unique brand of mystery and found herself living there, working under podcast regular Carlos. Carlos asks for her help regarding one of his experiments: trying to discover why sinkholes are swallowing up members of the Night Vale community, and why the unimaginable being that is the City Council is covering it up. Her efforts lead her to Darryl, who worships the Smiling God, a religion imported from Night Vale’s failed neighboring town, Desert Bluffs. Night Vale familiars will recognize the Smiling God from earlier episodes and the looming dread behind it, but Nilanjana does not.
This novel focuses a lot on religion: what it means to believe in a god that, in Night Vale, very well may be real and show up on your doorstep, why people don’t believe and why they do, and why often religion, in the wrong hands, can turn easily turn into a cult that hurts its own members. There’s real-life psychology applied, odd among the oddities of Night Vale but important. Whether you believe in anything or not, religion is a huge part of day-to-day life for a lot of people and holds a lot of power over not just individuals but countries and their politics, so already this novel felt more grounded in the real world. I don’t know what Fink & Cranor’s personal beliefs are, but its obvious that they put a lot of thought into Darryl’s character and his relationship to the church, one that was realistic but also compassionate, showing both the good and the bad.
But the crux of the novel is the relationship between Nilanjana and Darryl, a romance that blooms even as Nilanjana’s investigation into the church continues, as the two of them are never quite sure where their loyalties lie, to each other, or to the institutions of religion and science they’ve pledged themselves to. Nilanjana is devoted entirely to saving Night Vale from these tremors and sinkholes, even though the townspeople are less than welcoming of a scientist in their midst, while Darryl has been raised by the church and considers an attack on them an attack on their family. The two of them do work together and make a great team, but the tension between them is constantly simmering, a great character dynamic that always feels like the heart of the story.
Overall, this story is much more contained within the novel than Welcome to Night Vale (the book, not the podcast), more of character development done in the scope of the novel rather than relying on the podcast to do the work. Nilanjana is mentioned in the podcast, but very briefly, so all of her character work is done in the novel and she’s given a serious and neurotic personality, directly averse to the chronic weirdness of her new town. Darryl is entirely new and a very fun personality type to play with in the Night Vale universe; how does religion work in Night Vale, when cosmic terrors beyond all scope of the imagination every Tuesday? Angels are real in Night Vale, can we then assume all Abrahamic religions are real in-universe as well? The novel does a lot of world-building, fleshing out more of the mundanities of Night Vale life, more about religion, more about the scientists’ day to day workload, and the novel is the better for it. It doesn’t assume readers have listened to the podcast or even read the previous installment, so the story stands strong on its own.
Not to say that it won’t add anything for Night Vale listeners. Carlos is actually a character in this novel, one that plays a crucial part to the plot and serves as a friend and confidant for Nilanjana. Last book, he just showed up briefly in what felt like a grab for the reader’s attention. But this time, his character is fleshed out in a way that actually works better in a novel than it would in a podcast; we get more information about his relationship with Cecil, our beloved Welcome to Night Vale narrator, more about his relationships with his coworkers, and more about him and the way he deals, psychologically, with all the bizarre Night Vale happenings.
Where the novel faltered for me was the ending. We have a fast-paced start, a good mystery to sink our teeth into, and actually a pretty great conclusion, expected but no less satisfying for it. Really, the novel failed in its final chapter. It’s an unconventional end to the romance between Darryl and Nilanjana that’s been brewing the entire novel, and while I’m usually a proponent of more originality than the normal happy ending, this one didn’t quite hit the mark. It seemed to almost suck the life out of the previous emotional beats; not a downer ending, but one that didn’t keep up with the tone of the rest of the novel, not weird enough by Night Vale standards. I was surprised; the ending of the previous novel stuck much better than the rest of the book, while this one was the reverse.
It Devours! is immense fun all the way through. It has that flavor of Night Vale weirdness without becoming too kooky, and with both a startling original plot and two great protagonists, it’s an easy read too. I’m still planning on continuing the series, so maybe I’ll get a great story paired with a great ending in the third.
review blog
Fans of the pod cast will love this book. It delves into new characters, while giving us just enough of our regulars to feel connected. The ending was a surprise to me, and I loved it. The novel writing of this duo has gotten stronger and I’m looking forward to the next one.
Quirky and fun, a story about science and religion set in a world where neither conforms to your expectations.
Really great read! Funny, and with realistic relationships- I LOVE Night Vale, and as a book, this charmingly strange desert community is still just as good! 10/10 would read again!
Stupid crazy. I didn’t care for it and didn’t finish it
It was fast paced and witty but very confusing. I gave it 50 pages but just couldn’t get into the plot which was bizarre to say the least. It was definitely original and the writing was good but the plot was just too far-fetched for me. If you like science fiction you would probably like it.