NIght Watch

Rating:
Summary: I highly recommend this book!
Review: This is the twenty-ninth (if I counted correctly!) book in Terry Pratchett's series on the Discworld - a flat world, supported on the backs of four massive elephants riding on the back of a planet-sized turtle. Anything hilarious can happen here, and eventually does.

In this book, Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the Watch pursues a homicidal cop-killer, only to find the both of them thrown back in time to just before a revolution in Ankh-Morpork. Finding himself playing the role of a sergeant who taught him everything that he knows, Sam must train a young lance-constable Sam Vimes, steer the Night Watch correctly through a time of great danger, and (not least) keep himself alive, all while not changing history...at least much.

This is another great Discworld book, one of my favorites. As with many of the later Terry Pratchett books, this one is not laugh-out-loud funny like the early ones were. I mean, it is quite funny, but even more so, this is a suspenseful book that is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. The characters are fascinating, and the plot is great! Plus, I must say that I liked seeing so many Discworld characters as younger versions of themselves - including Fred Colon, Nobby Nobbes, a still-living Reg Shoe, and even Havelock Vetinari, a rising star in the Assassins Guild.

So, if you like the Discworld books in general, then be assured that this is one of the greats. I highly recommend this book!


Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book!
Review: This was the 2nd of Pratchett's books that I have read, and I liked it even better than Monstrous Regiment. Commander Vimes is thrown 30 years back in time, and is now the mentor of his young self, though he takes the name of another copper. He and his cast of watchmen, or coppers, manage a rebellion similar to the French Revolution, though just in the city of Ankh-Morpork. His type of management skills are sorely needed by the inept, bumbling powers that be. Pratchett's spoofs are wonderfully done! A must read for Pratchett fans.

Rating:
Summary: The Zen of Time Travel and Revolutionary Parody...
Review: While Terry Pratchett is always funny - and one of the wittiest writers in fantasy (if not all of publishing) - many of his last ten books seem a little short of the sparkle that his earlier work had. This is certainly not a problem for "Night Watch", though. In fact, it's his very return to many of his old formulas that, surprisingly, makes it such a success.

As with all the Discworld books, "Night Watch" takes three or four popular themes in literature - or fiction or science fiction or whatever - and plays with them and their conventions. For this book, he's taken the idea of everybody's reminiscences of the 'good old days', time travel stories (especially those like "Back to the Future") and revolutions (specifically the French Revolution and at least a couple of Roman revolutions I can think of). All of this is, of course, woven into the story of Sam Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, being thrown back in time thirty years to a pivotal revolution in the city when he was just starting as a recruit.

All the stereotypes are there: from the dingy, cowardly watchmen that he must whip into shape to the know-it-all monitoring wise people (monks, in this case) and the young versions of many of the other Ankh-Morpork denizens we've met in the past five Watch books. What really makes this great, though, is that he has fun with all of these stereotypes and still manages to tell a story that's both engaging and like going back to visit old friends (albeit cowardly, somewhat-corrupt ones).

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to the Terry Pratchett fan as well as to the fantasy fan or even just the humor fan. While going back to "Guards! Guards!" (the first Discworld book about the Watch) may be helpful for those of you that aren't familiar with the series, it's still strong enough that it can hold it's own. If "Night Watch" is your first Terry Pratchett book, you may miss a lot of the references, but you'll still be in for an excellent read.