I was really feeling this book for like the first half or so, and then my interest starting waning and it just.. wasn't really the same after but I had enjoyed the first part so much I kept at it. It wasn't hugely disappointing, just that I felt the last third or so felt a bit forced in order to tie it into the whole Nightvale mythos that has already been established about this character and the world she inhabits.

I was really expecting a bit more fantasy and a lot more spooky since I'm familiar with the world of Nightvale and this book was barely Nightvale at all!! If you're not familiar with the world then yeah, you'll probably enjoy it more than I did. But as someone else in a GR review pointed out, there are SO many books out there that are similar in plot to this, and as a Nightvale book it just didn't shine as much as it could have.

I love the insights into lesser known characters that the Nightvale novels provide. This one in particular, recounting the long and storied history of The Faceless Old Women Who Secretly Lives in Your Home. A character who was previously just comic/slightly creepy relief grew into one I was truly fascinated by.

trigger warning
<spoiler> grief, trauma, mutilation, mention of suidice, mention of slavery, mention of genocide, mention of antisemitism </spoiler>

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home: You don't know her. But she knows you. From the insides of your mouth to the contents of your dresser, from your favourite dish to music you hate. This is her story.

Though I am glad I now know her story, this is probably not a novel I am going to re-read. Every single bit of it feels necessary, but the reading, in some places, was more work than fun and quite repetitive.

This is how she became who she is now, and how she happened upon this strange city in the middle of a desert, where mysterious lights hover in the sky at night and hooded figures walk the pavements. Which means that the main chunk of this book is not set in Night Vale, which, in turn, means that it's not as weird as I expected.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

I liked this Nightvale prequel story. The faceless old woman was always a fascinating character and this story does her justice as she plus her friends are well written and interesting in their own right. The writing was great and i enjoyed the world building that this had.

I love Night Vale and it’s creepy weird vibe, I started on the podcast and am slowly working my way through the scripts and the other podcasts they’ve released such as Alice Isn’t Dead, they never fail to entertain and also frequently make me exclaim “what just happened?”.

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home or for my fingers sake, The Faceless Old Woman tells the story of one of Night Vale’s creepiest inhabitants. She seems to live in everyone’s homes, she steals, noses and creeps about. I picture her as a spider with a blank female face.

I was expecting this book to be about her creeping about, messing with peoples lives for the worse and generally being a nuisance. It wasn’t. Our faceless protagonist has a back story, one that is very different to what I expected. Her life started in Europe of the 1800’s, we meet her as a young girl just before her life falls apart. She becomes involved in piracy and the art of revenge. Her life is dedicated to making sure those that came for family pay, even if that takes years.

We follow her across the seas from port to city, acquiring friends and seeking closure on the horror from her childhood. She is not a delicate flower, she grows up strong, feisty and intelligent, a leader of all. Can she carry out her self imposed journey without losing anyone else close to her?

This part of the story was fantastic, I really wasn’t sure if I’d like this but it flowed so well and I needed to know how it ended and of course we also find out how she ended up in her current state.

As well as her past we journey through her present and it focuses on one man who she watches and how he chooses to live his life along with how she changes it with some subtle and not so subtle hints and nudges.

I really enjoyed this, it was totally quirky and the historical part was a winning partner to the present. For fans of Night Vale, you should enjoy this. If you are not familiar, I hope it would still be enjoyable!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

The gist: You may or may not have heard of Welcome to Night Vale, a spooky, quirky podcast (now with books!). Here, Fink and Cranor let us hang out some more with the Faceless Old Woman—a character you’ll know if you’ve tuned into the podcast before. You know the one. The one who moves your glasses around when you’re not watching. Who the cats are always staring at just over your shoulder. Who adds beef dripping to your orange juice and puts gravel in your cornflakes. You know, right?
The book starts in Night Vale, but flashes back to The Faceless Old Woman’s history on the high seas – piracy, swashbuckling, adventure, revenge. It’s a brilliant (although, as is the way with Night Vale, unpredictable) adventure into her past. And as much as it is full of the weird, the creepy, the adventure, there’s a lot of heart in there too. Sometimes that heart might be getting caught on the wrong end of a sword, admittedly, but sometimes it’s just right there beating out some love and sorrow.
And even though it might not be set in Night Vale for the majority of the book, it hasn’t lost the trademark weirdness you’d expect from the Night Vale crew.
It won’t matter if you’ve not listened to the podcast, although I highly recommend that too. Take a trip into the weird back story of the Faceless Old Woman—not just because it’s a most enjoyable way of spending some time, but also because I’m pretty sure she’s standing behind me right now and she ain’t the sort you want to be pissing off any time soon.
Favourite line: “I don’t need protecting,” I said with the absolute certainty of someone who probably does.
Read if: You want an adventure across the high seas, getting to know a little more about the lady without a face standing right behind you.
Read with: -out thinking about the whispers you can hear from under the stairs
Review will be published at www.thedustlounge.com within two weeks of publication date

Oh wow this book was the exact opposite of what I expected. Not just overall but at every big moment of the story.
I love the podcast and loved Welcome to Nightvale novel, and expected similar from this. But it was so much more.
Honestly this is so brilliant, a dark tale of revenge, love, loss and friendship, as well as a historical fiction story of piracy and espionage. But of course, all with that Night Vale oddness. Who knew the Faceless Old Woman had such a story.