Night Watch
by Terry Pratchett
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Book Summary Information
Author: Terry PratchettEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-09-30
ISBN: 0060013125
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: HarperTorch
Book Reviews of Night Watch
Book Review: A Light Novel Sprinkled with Deep Messages
Summary: 4 Stars
Night Watch is a funny novel filled with serious messages. The book is reminiscent of Joseph Heller's Catch 22 and Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales in that it is trying to convey the author's opinion on things that happen in their respective worlds. However, all three of these books mask their opinion (frequently criticism) with an amusing plot.
The beginning of Night Watch introduces us to the character of Sam Vimes. It is the eve of the thirtieth anniversary of a small but memorable revolution. Sam Vimes is the Commander of Ankh-Morpork's City Watch. Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city in Pratchett's fantasy world, Discworld. Vimes is a practical "copper" (policeman). He bends the rules when he needs to, and heeds them when he doesn't need to bend them. For instance, he isn't afraid to fight dirty, with brass knuckles and such. The criminals he's fighting do it, so "fight fire with fire". He's not afraid of taking risks, especially when those risks can further a good cause. In fact, he showed annoyance at being taken off the Assassins Guild's register, "it [being on the register] showed that he was annoying the rich and arrogant people who ought to be annoyed." Vimes also won't hesitate to chase after a murderous criminal himself, even if he is the Commander of the City Watch. Vimes is obviously one of those characters that feel he has ascended too far, and he yearns to go back to the time when he was doing the dirty work on the streets; not sitting at his desk pushing papers. Ironically, his wish is granted. On his ill-fated chase after the homicidal criminal, Carcer, on the eve of the revolution, Vimes is transported back in time thirty years, along with Carcer. Vimes is also aware of the events that will occur in the near future. Many unnecessary deaths occurred as a result of the revolution. And so he is faced with a hard choice. Does he allow things to occur the same way they did the first time around, which will allow him to come back to the future he once knew? Or does he change things, and prevent the needless deaths of some of his compatriots? Does he even have a choice? Or has the path of fate already been laid out?
Terry Pratchett is no stranger to fantasy books. Night Watch is one of Pratchett's thirty Discworld novels, which are all fantasy books set in the same world with the same characters. All of his books have a purpose, and using Discworld, Pratchett has said many things about the state of our world. In Night Watch, this is most certainly the case. Pratchett tells us his thoughts on revolutions and social unrest. The book is written in the third-person, but it is focused on one central character...Sam Vimes. Pratchett uses Vimes and the plot around him to portray his own personal beliefs. For example, on page 249 he writes, "...Some had been idiots as mad as Swing, with a view of the world just as rigid and unreal, who were on the side of what they called `The People.' Vimes had spent his life on the streets and had met decent men, and fools, and people who'd steal a penny from a blind beggar... but he'd never met The People. People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case...And so, the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people." This is one of the few occasions in which Pratchett actually spells out his beliefs for the reader. Most of the time, you are meant to discern it from the actions and words of the fictional characters in the fictional plot.
Because of this, Night Watch is a versatile book in terms of reading level. It is a light and amusing read if you want it to be, and this is perfectly all right. However, if you aspire to, you can choose to truly think about what's happening in the book, and try to connect the events occurring in this fictional world to events that occur in our world. Much of the material in the book can be related to revolutions like the French Revolution of the late 18th century and the Russian Revolution of the 20th century.
Night Watch is a thoroughly enjoyable book with a fabulous balance of laughter and serious contemplation. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading in general and feels the need for a split side combined with a splitting headache!
Summary of Night Watch
One moment, Sir Sam Vimes is in his old patrolman form, chasing a sweet-talking psychopath across the rooftops of Ankh-Morpork. The next, he's lying naked in the street, having been sent back thirty years courtesy of a group of time-manipulating monks who won't leave well enough alone. This Discworld is a darker place that Vimes remembers too well, three decades before his title, fortune, beloved wife, and impending first child. Worse still, the murderer he's pursuing has been transported back also. Worst of all, it's the eve of a fabled street rebellion that needlessly destroyed more than a few good (and not so good) men. Sam Vimes knows his duty, and by changing history he might just save some worthwhile necks?though it could cost him his own personal future. Plus there's a chance to steer a novice watchman straight and teach him a valuable thing or three about policing, an impressionable young copper named Sam Vimes.
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