It Devours!

The review I wrote for my library's weekly Facebook book review.

You may or may not be familiar with the hit podcast “Welcome to Night Vale” (WTNV). You may or may not know who Cecil and Carlos are, and you may or may not understand the picture that accompanies this review. You may or may not have read the first WTNV novel, which is conveniently titled “Welcome to Night Vale.” But none of that matters. If you like the surreal and the bizarre, if you have a dark and wry sense of humor, if you don't mind being baffled just a little bit, and if (and this is the big one) if you care about the contentious issues of our day like the relationship (conflict?) between religion and science, then have I got a book for you!

When Nilanjana Sikdar is given an assignment by her boss, Night Vale's top scientist Carlos (the one with perfect hair), to find out what mysterious force is interfering with his attempts to discover what is going on with the house that doesn't exist, her investigation takes her to the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, where she meets Daryl. Sweet, weird, very religious Daryl. Nilanjana is not particularly sweet, not weird (except for being an outsider in Night Vale), and definitely not religious. As they learn to deal with each other as people, lovers, even friends, they are forced radically to alter their attitudes toward the other's world views. And they are forced to work together to save the world from being devoured.

Although authors Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink have not written the perfect exploration of the intersection of religion and science, they have made a good faith effort, and have produced an engrossing, entertaining, and thought-provoking book. Their main sympathies seem pretty obviously in the Science camp, but they look with clear eyes at the role each mode of thought plays in human life, considering the strength and weakness of each. But forget all that; really, this is just a fun, creepy, and exciting book that will make you think and just might make you glad you are alive.