Radio Silence (Alice Oseman)

For those of you who don't know, I am a huge fan of the podcast Welcome To Night Vale (It's also a novel, one of the first I reviewed on this blog, check it out!) So the storyline of this book massively appealed to me.

It is narrated by a British teenager named Frances, who maintains a school persona as a bland, boring academic, but has a secret passion for an obscure YouTube podcast called Universe City (which shares many aspects of Welcome To Night Vale). Frances soon discovers that the creator of Universe City, a previously anonymous voice called "Radio Silence" is a boy called Aled Last, who lives across the street from Frances, and who's twin sister shares in Frances' unusual story.

This is genuinely one of the most readable books I've ever read, it was captivating. It contains a lot of references to the internet and especially to fandoms, so if that's what you're into I would highly recommend this book. Even if that isn't your interest, it is, in a way, an absolutely fascinating analysis of fan culture and personal identity in the internet age, along with a brilliant and compulsive story.