#dana knows everything I went through this novel lmao

[always-anxious-skychild]

Royal?

Day 1 of Theme Ask: Royal

[The constellation Demon King of Salvation is looking at you.]

Me: Wow, he kinda looks generic-

Also me: Girl, that's the point of his character. He is described as a generic looking ass-

Anyways, I've been reading Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (manhwa then jumping to the novel) for the last few days and I have reached to the point of "For the love of everything that is shiny, lock him up before he sacrifices himself again-"

Extra Pics:

[cecilbaldwin-fan]

OK, I finally finished “It Devours!” It took me a while, because I’ve been very busy with work and I wanted to really focus on it, instead of listening to it for 5 minutes here and there. I still only have the audiobook, because I’m broke, but I will have the book in a couple of weeks and I can do more detailed commentary with quotes then. 

Overall, I feel very satisfied and content, the way you feel when you finish reading a really good story. I love Nilanjana and Darryl, and I think the science/religion juxtapositions were done well. The Desert Otherworld is (and remains to be) mysterious and fascinating. We got some glimpses into how the first book characers were doing. There’s a really cool scene with Josh, and another scene with Janice being a hero. For the first time, we see Carlos through the eyes of someone other than Cecil. 

My main complaint is that I could have used a little more Cecil. I liked the “Voice of Night Vale” bits in the first novel. But we always have the podcast for that, of course. It just felt a bit strange that he had such a small role.

Even if you have a physical copy, I strongly recommend the audio book. A religious tract read in Cecil’s best gleefully sinister voice is to die for. 

Some spoilery thoughts under the cut. 

I was going to write notes on each chapter, and I might still do that, but it seems I never finished those posts. When I’m swamped at work, I have less energy for writing. Oh well.

-I liked that they went with a real scientific mindset (hypotheses and proof) rather than “lol everything is science”, which can be funny in small doses, but would have been grating for a whole novel. 

-Darryl being socially awkward and using the wrong tone was so good. Autistic stuff is always cool. See also: Carlos not wanting to be touched, and that it varies for time to time. Very good depiction. 

-Janice is such a good leader. I’m proud of her. She could have run off and left her team to die. But was Tamika even mentioned in this novel? I can’t recall any mention of her. That would be weird. Maybe I missed something while listening. 

-The Joyous Congregation actually just wanted to summon and be devoured by a literal giant centipede. LOL! One of my favorite twists in the book. I also enjoyed Cecil’s gleefully sinister reading of the hymns and booklet. 

-Speaking of Cecil’s performance, I love the cable TV hosts Tim and Trin, especially his Tim voice that is SO sinister and funny.

-Jackie is dating Sheriff Sam!!! I hope to hear more about this on the podcast.

-Liked the bits about Josh and Diane. Very cool about Josh saving Maureen. Would have liked to hear more about Diane outside of her role as a mother. That’s one thing I always disliked about Diane: she’s almost entirely defined by being Josh’s Mom. 

-Josh calling Jackie her sister. !!!! 

-No mention of Todd but who the hell needs him? Not complaining. 

-So glad Larry Leroy and the others came back to Night Vale. And Larry’s talent for dioramas was finally acknowledged! But whatever happened to Larry’s catchphrase “Don’t bog me down, son”? Was it only in that one episode? It would have been funny.

-Slightly confused about the cause of the sinkholes. There was a real centipede who actually devoured houses and people, but then it was suddenly about Carlos’ experiments. Maybe it was all things together? 

-Why didn’t Kevin come back to Night Vale? Or did he end up back in the original Desert Bluffs? Is he still in the desert? I get that time is weird Night Vale, and even more so in the Desert Otherworld. Maybe he grew old and died. Can you die in the DO? 

-If Carlos hated the Desert Otherworld so much, why did he suggest that Cecil move there with him? It seemed from the episodes like he wanted to stay there. I’d be willing to accept that the place somehow changes you and that you’re different there than in Night Vale, but it would have been nice if that was explained a bit. 

-Nilanjana being promoted to assistant was a bit odd. Can’t she be an equal research partner? I got the impression that she was equal before, but I guess she was on a lower-level. A woman only being a man’s partner doesn’t bode that well, but I know Finknor through their Twitters and interviews, and I’m pretty sure they would have written a male character in the same way. This is one of those things about writing a different gender, like the weight thing I posted about before. Carlos is a main character and being his assistant is the highest honor, I guess. 

-I liked the deconstruction of happily ever after in the last chapter. Nilanjana and Darryl were a cool couple, although I was oddly disappointed that they hooked up. It’s because I’m so used to non-straight pairings on WTNV, I guess I’m spoiled. This was the first real talk about sex (albeit quite vanilla) and it would have been cool if that were with a gay pairing, but oh well. 

-Luisa and her potatoes. It was mentioned a lot, but I found it hilariously random every time. Especially in the end. “She was genuinely only interested in potatoes.” LMAO. 

-I loved the bit in the hall of records. Super creepy. SImilar to the library bit in the first novel. Bit disappointed the library wasn’t revisited in more detail, but I guess they wanted to not do the same exact thing again. 

-All the Pamela bits. Gotta love her. Was Dana mentioned at all though? 

-I felt like there were too many characters at times. Mark and Jamila didn’t have that much of a personality. It would have been enough with Stephanie (with Jamila’s power drill) and Luisa. 

-I thought it was cool when they continued the church despite the centipede eating their leaders. Religion isn’t about proof. I found the general tone of the book to be respectful of religion, and there was some exploration of how science and religion are similar.