I took my time with this one.
Well, listen, Welcome to Night Vale is a podcast. Its main intent is not to be read, but listened to. It was expected that its transcript would be kind of slow and somewhat tiring. Do not expect to read Mostly Void, Partially Stars all at once, short as it may be.

Having said that, it's delightful. I love Night Vale. Loved the novel, love the podcast—granted, I don't have a healthy relationship with podcasts in general, but we're getting there. If you know and love WTNV already, this is the book for you: it's full of nostalgia, plus extra comments by the show's creators. If you don't—hey! this is your chance! I promise you won't regret it. It is a friendly desert community, after all, where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep.

I found this podcast years ago, when it exploded in popularity and was suddenly all over the internet.
And I fell in love instantly.
I was in the beginnings of discovering my passion for writing, and hearing the masterful combination of poetic, bizarre, and quotable in Cecil’s soothing voice made me realize that I lived for beautiful prose and stories. And finally getting this book of scripts allowed me to return to half a decade ago and relive the giddiness over particularly moving or peculiar lines. The snippets from the writers and performers before each episode provided both an insight of this weird and magical experience and my new favorite quote, written by Joseph Fink:
“I completely failed...but look: I dunno, art or something.”

Good if you like Night Vale, and want a cross-reference or check some facts. I think it's a very different (and probably weaker) experience without Cecil's voice.

It's been a few years since I've revisited Night Vale, and I am absolutely ready to go back. This book brought back a lot of nostalgic memories for me, I will be listening again from the start very soon!

Remember: If you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget.

To those unfamiliar, Welcome to Night Vale is a fictional podcast created by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, narrated by the soothing voice of Cecil Baldwin and an evergrowing array of reappearing cast members. It follows radio show host Cecil, a proud member of the Night Vale community, in which every conspiracy theory finds its nook or cranny. I listened to roughly the first 60-ish episodes when they came out way back and am currently on a very slow-paced re-listen/catch up.
Just to be clear, I did not read this book in it's entirety. Rather, I read the short prologue-esque commentary put before each episode by one of the creators that provides small insights and anectodes relating to the episode itself. Aside from the cooky illustrations (roughly one or two per episode) that was the only original content provided in the book. Now, I knew what I was paying for beforehand, so I cannot complain about that. Night Vale also holds a dear place in my heart so I was willing to pay for what is basically a printed collection of episode transcripts. However, I can understand when some fans had hoped for something more, particularly because the commentary could have appeared more often, sort of as a run-along to the transcript.
I might rate the next 'books' when I read them but they would probably end up the same. If you're a completionist, long for physical proof of Night Vale's existance or want to highlight the absurd beauty of Cecil's ramblings, get yourself a copy. And for now, good night, Night Vale. Good night.

A lot of reviewers are rating this one highly and I think that’s because they were already hardcore Night Vale fans when they read this.
I listened to one episode years ago and it freaked me out so I stopped. A determined friend got me this compilation so it would be easier for me to get into and it was! I definitely got through it a lot more easily because I think reading it is less scary. I would probably give it a 2.5 stars overall.
I really appreciate that random humour has taken over a lot of popular culture (Night Vale, Adventure Time, Marvel etc) and there were parts that made me laugh. “If you say guns kill people one more time I will shoot you with a gun and you will, coincidentally, die,” was one that stood out, and there was one about going deep into the metaphor of time and toast. I liked the town setting and that this was told from the perspective of the community broadcaster. Community radio! I liked the eclectic characters and ship Cecil and Carlos.
My problems with it were down to personal taste. The horror/spooky aspect made it a great Halloween read but all of the spider-eerie figures-creepy bodily horror-always being watched aspects were a bit much for me. Oooh and the episode that took place in second person messed with me

The series does a great job of creating a town with a "the weird is normal, and normal can be terrifying" kind of atmosphere. And these episodes are fairly consistent in that regard. The issue for me is once you get over the creativity of the setting of the series, there wasn't enough going on with characters and actual story to hold my interest.