 The origins of the Night Watch
The great thing about Discworld is that time is of little consequence to Pratchett's universe and because of this fans are treated to a little history lesson in how the Night Watch became an important part of how Ankh-Morpork functions. Vimes in hot pursuit of maniacal killer is transported back to the watch of his youth and he in essence becomes his own mentor. A young Nobby Nobs, who becomes a much more sympathetic figure when Pratchett reveals his past, a rookie Sam Vimes, and a young assassin named Havelock all play a role in this adventure as Vimes desperately tries to keep time from fraying by playing the role of the hero of the events that are to come. This Ankh-Morpork is different than the one the readers are familiar with, it has a darkness that ways heavily on the novel. This ones for the real fans who want a glimpse of Ankh-Morpork's past and while a few loose ends are tied a bit too quickly NIGHT WATCH is another enjoyable addition to the series.
A Different Yet Successful Discworld Novel
Night Watch is part of the extremely successful Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. Though it is still satire and fantasy comedy, it has a noticeably different tone from any other novel of his. While the majority of the books are fairly light in tone, and sometimes quite fantastic in plot, this novel is very different. There is a darker shade to this story, and some more violence than is common in these novels. There are less full on laughs here, mainly serving as off-shoots from the generally serious plot.
This of course is a good thing to my mind. Discworld, and satire in general, can be serious while at the same time being good.
Most of all though, this is a story about Vimes. He's really the only main character here, and the fact that I like the character makes that a good thing.
On characters, the villain of the piece, Carcer, is a bit of a cardboard cutout. Unlike Vimes he has no real motive, personality or story, except to be the stock maniac. In an odd way this almost works, since it allows the reader to focus entirely on Vimes.
The portrayal of the city thirty years before is one of the best things about this story. The change between the two is highlighted, as is the subtle brilliance of Vetinari in both past and present.
Overall, I like this the most of any of the Discworld books for its story. It's not the funniest of them, but I think it's the one I've enjoyed the most.
Mixed
Certainly one of the stronger Discworld books, and plays with some more potent emotions than usual. As well, the whole device of using the city past as dystopia was interesting, quite different from the norm for genre writers showing an oppressive setting. There's a lot to like scene to scene, with atmosphere and direct moments. The book also benefits from one of Pratchett's epiphanies (Vimes's recognition of Ankh-Morpork as a process, and then later ensuring Carcer would get a fair trial in the same spirit) and, in Carcer himself, one of the series' more creepy and plausible villains.
One implicit strand on this novel is that while earlier versions of most of the usual Ankh-Morpork cast show up as younger versions--Vimges, Colon, Nobbs, Vetinari--Carrot is completely absent. This makes sense, after all he arrived at the city in Guards! Guards! and this work obviously needed to be set before that, but it also fits with the general atmosphere of the piece. This is an environment where naive optimism gets hammered out more than it changes the world, where political change derives from back stage political decisions that doesn't alter essentials.
Still, for the hype I've heard of this book I was left a bit disappointed, and it perhaps indicates some of the aesthetic limits of the Discworld, that for all of Pratchett's good comedy and neatly rendered ideas he's not on the level of writers like Mieville, Valente or Kiernan. It seems Pratchett holds back at crucial points, and will go for the bit of satire or historical parallel over full emotional commitment to his invented situation. Specific things that bugged in Night Watch:
-It seems Pratchett gave in too much to the temptation to make cute continuity references. Was it really necessary for Vimes to encounter younger versions of as many people as he did?
-Vimes himself has grown to be a bit tedious, post Men at Arms. Too self-assured and self-righteous for it to be great fun spending a few hundred pages in his head, and his struggle with his urge to rage is rendered over-simplistically ('the monster inside him stirred')
-Vetinari's presence was largely a wasted opportunity, making a lot of jokes on invisibility and rendering him as unexplainedly helpful rather than showing him developing towards the political thinker seen in other books. Given the most looming contrast between the Night Watch era and "modern" Ankh-Morpork is Vetinari's role as Patrician, that seems to leave a bit of a void at the heart of the politics in this work.
Still, overall quite enjoyable and interesting, and I found it far more satisfactory than Unseen Academicals.
Similar to and better than: Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time
Similar to and worse than: Yevgeny Zamyatin's We
Pratchett's Masterpiece
A Discworld novel that goes beyond mere comedy fantasy. This is Terry Pratchett at his literary best. When Pratchett is reassessed by critics and writers in the future, not just as a satirist or a fantasy writer but as a novelist, this will be regarded as his best achievement and the quintessence of his psychological story-telling style.
The best of Terry Pratchett
I am a fan of Discworld and I honestly believe this is the best of the Watch books and of all of Pratchett's work. Night Watch hits all the proper notes: it's funny as heck, has great character work (especially with Sam Vimes), and can get quite emotional.
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