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The Night Watch (Дозоры #1)

by Sergei Lukyanenko, Andrew Bromfield (Translator)

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 · rating details · 14,728 ratings · 1,060 reviews

Walking the streets of Moscow, indistinguishable from the rest of its population, are the Others. Possessors of supernatural powers and capable of entering the Twilight, a shadowy parallel world existing in parallel to our own, each Other owes allegiance either to the Dark or the Light. The "Night Watch," first book in the "Night Watch" trilogy, follows Anton, a young Othe...more

Paperback, 489 pages

Published 2007 by Arrow (first published 1998)

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Jul 28, 2012 Nataliya rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: soviet-and-modern-russian, 2012-reads, first-in-a-series

"We don't even know how to wish evil on anyone. Except that our Good is not any different from Evil."

How do you write the *real* Russian urban fantasy? Spice up your standard recipe with extreme moral ambiguity, questioning of morals and purpose, blend the distinctions between the forces of dark and light creating moral greyness, add questionable authority figures, question the benefit of one versus the benefit of the society, and you got the right mix!¹

¹ Other optional ingredients include: a to...more "We don't even know how to wish evil on anyone. Except that our Good is not any different from Evil."

How do you write the *real* Russian urban fantasy? Spice up your standard recipe with extreme moral ambiguity, questioning of morals and purpose, blend the distinctions between the forces of dark and light creating moral greyness, add questionable authority figures, question the benefit of one versus the benefit of the society, and you got the right mix!¹

¹ Other optional ingredients include: a touch of prejudice, some misogyny, a bit of latent homophobia. (Very unfortunately. But Russian society is, frankly, not known for being very accepting). And, of course, vodka.

"The Dark freedom is, first of all, the freedom from yourself, your consciousness and soul. When you feel no more pain in your chest - it's time to scream for help. Except for then it's too late."

Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch has all of the above. It starts as your typical urban fantasy featuring a magical cop who is one of the 'good guys' in the city filled with wizards and vampires and other outwordly stuff (Harry Dresden and Peter Grant immediately come to mind). But very quickly it takes a turn from magical adventures to moral dilemmas, questioning of Good and Evil, and blurring the distinctions between the Light and the Dark. What does it mean to be good or evil? Can the Light side cause as much harm or even more harm than the Dark side? (view spoiler) What is more important - individuals or society?

"It would have been so good had everything remained just as simple and clear as it was when you were twelve or twenty. If the world had only two colors: black and white. But even the most honest and simple cop, brought up on the stars-and-stripes ideals, will understand sooner or later that the streets have more than just Light and Dark. There are also agreements, contracts, concessions. Informants, traps, provocations. Sooner or later you'll have to sacrifice your own, plant packets of heroin into others' pockets, hit them in the kidneys - carefully, so no traces are left.

And all of this for the sake of the simplest rules.

To preserve the law. Persecute Evil. Protect the innocent.

I had to learn to understand that, too."

From very early on, you realize that the Light and the Dark are not fighting each other in Lukyanenko's Moscow. The goal instead is learning to coexist, to maintain the precarious balance, to uphold the laws, to live at a standstill, so to say. The balance that often requires sacrifices and questionable deeds - for example, the vampires who hunt people without permission are punished, yes, but what about the people who by the tacit agreement are meant to become nothing but food for the law-abiding predators?

This is the tenuous peace where distinctions are arbitrary and bureaucracy rules. This is the kind of peace that cannot sit well with anyone who is at all idealistic - but what is the alternative? The benefit of one versus that of many? That's enough to drive anyone crazy. And that is among the things that Anton Gorodetsky, an ordinary Moscow 'Other', a member of the Night Watch (the police force of the Light side) has to deal with. And it bothers him - and yet he knows why it is necessary. And I loved the moral dilemmas and ambiguity that come from that.

"The scariest thing in the war is to understand the enemy. To understand means to forgive. And we don't have the right to do that..."

Now, if you love your straightforward Good versus Evil and 'good guys always win' approaches, then this book will be frustrating as hell to you. If you prefer action over long ruminations about the nature of good and evil, you will be bored and annoyed. But if you love some philosophizing and a bit of moral ambiguity and Dostoyevsky-style moral dilemmas - well, my friend, you will probably have a great time reading this book.

'So why don't I understand where the boundary is, what is the difference between me and some witch that goes to black mass? Why am I asking these questions?'

'You will always ask them. At first, out loud. Then silently. This will never pass, ever. If you wanted to be rid of painful questions, you have chosen the wrong side.'

'I've chosen what I wanted.'

'I know. And therefore you will suffer.'

'My whole life?'

'Yes. Your life will be long, but you'll never get used to that. You'll never be able to stop questioning how right is every step of your way.'

I found it very interesting to have a fantastical story set in Russia (and by a Russian author!) and not in the familiar Western surroundings. I loved the distinct post-Soviet feel of the story, the language and the references that easily pinpoint the time period of this book. The events take place in the late nineties, when the allure of capitalism and the sad realities of it were colliding in Russian society, when idealism and enthusiasm of early nineties were hit by the harsh reality and had to meet cynicism and disappointment. It created a very specific vibe in the society, the vibe that resonates throughout this book. And this vibe made the endings of each of the three stories that comprise this book feel not as much underwhelming (as some thought) but inevitable and unavoidable. Because life does not have to be fair, let's face it. Because nobody owes you anything. Because quite often life, honestly, sucks, and you can't have it all, and you can't be whatever you want to be regardless of what people tell you.

"We want so badly to have clean hands, warm heart and cool head. But somehow these three things cannot coexist. Ever. A wolf, a goat, and a cabbage - where is the insane ferryman who could stick them into the same boat?"

"The common benefit and the individual benefit rarely go together".
Yes, I understand. This is the truth.
But perhaps there are some truths that are worse than lies.'

Overall, I liked this book. Yes, it is nowhere near perfect. Yes, there are bits of intolerance that spoil the overall picture and yet do not surprise me, a child of a post-Soviet country. But it was fun, and sad, and had just enough moral rumination to appear to my inner Russianism, and for all that I recommend it and give it 4 stars.
(view spoiler)
----------------

By the way, my review of the sequel, The Day Watch, is here - for your reading pleasure.(less)

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Mar 04, 2010 Logan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: russia, scifi-fantasy, i_am_in_love

For the past month or so I have been regrettably absent from the nets that I like to call my digital home. Real life demands have left me with precious little time to call my own and, more frightening still, the books that have found their way into my hands have not been inspiring me to take to the webs and shout my opinions into the ether with my usual gusto. Yes, I was in the grip of a mid-winter malaise second to none where everything I read, saw, or listened to just seemed either like it was...more For the past month or so I have been regrettably absent from the nets that I like to call my digital home. Real life demands have left me with precious little time to call my own and, more frightening still, the books that have found their way into my hands have not been inspiring me to take to the webs and shout my opinions into the ether with my usual gusto. Yes, I was in the grip of a mid-winter malaise second to none where everything I read, saw, or listened to just seemed either like it was trying too hard to be something that it wasn’t or was emotionally empty pap that entertained but left little behind in its passing. This was true until I finally cracked the spine on Sergei Lukyanenko’s fantastic Night Watch. Finally, a book that was everything I wanted to read at that moment: entertaining but thought-provoking, engaging while still making me pause to appreciate a particularly good passage. I knew I had been saving this series for a rainy day for a reason.

On face this is a standard tale of good vs. evil as performed by a motley collection of magicians, shape-shifters, vampires and werewolves trying to preserve an ancient truce between the forces of Light and Darkness. The keepers of this truce are the titular Night Watch, agents of the Light who watch over the night to make sure that the balance of power is maintained, and the Day Watch, agents of the Dark who oversee the sunlit hours. Anton Gorodetsky is a mid-grade Light Magician working as an analyst with the Night Watch, new to field work, who quickly becomes an important pawn in the latest scheme by the Day Watch to tilt the balance of power in their favor.

A familiar scenario but for the uniquely Russian ability to interject large amounts of ethical ambiguity and age old moral dilemmas (see: Kant- Utilitarianism) into a novel without it seeming heavy-handed or needlessly digressive. As Anton is drawn deeper into the secrets of the Watch, he is forced again and again to make extremely difficult decisions and manipulate events in ways that go against the core values of the Light but, as Gesar, the ancient magician who heads the Moscow offices of the Night Watch, likes to remind Anton- it’s all about the net effect. As long as the amount of good created by an action outweighs the possible harm, the Night Watch is able to act with a free hand. With as vague a definition as this, it is no wonder that the Light has been inadvertently responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the 20th Century and Anton comes to realize that the Day Watch does just as much to hold back the ambitions of the Light as his cadre stops the Dark. Realizing that he is a bit player in a far larger show than he first thought, Anton tries as best he can to break out of the predictable paths that his superiors are relying on him to follow, which leads to a fair amount of madness in the streets of post-Soviet Moscow.

In Night Watch, Lukyanenko has crafted that rarest of gems- a story that manages to both thrill and excite with non-stop action and grand descriptions of magical powers while also forcing the reader to wonder what they would do in that situation. If one had the ability to become an Other, would you return from the Twilight as an agent of the Light or an agent of the Dark? Could you license vampires to feed upon the innocent even if it helps preserve a precarious peace? Could you take it upon yourself to rewrite a person’s destiny to push them closer toward the Light, or does that smack too much of compelling goodness (a contradiction in terms if there ever was one)? These are the thoughts that the book left me with upon finishing and I could not help but turn immediately to the sequel for another serving of some of the best story-telling I’ve read all year.

(less)

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Oct 01, 2010 Kat Kennedy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: leaves-awesomeness-behind, kat-s-book-reviews, favorites

You know, I've read this entire book and met quite a few Russians and I still don't understand them though I think, as a nation and hodge-podge of ethnicities, they're one of my favourites. Apart from the Irish, but who can't love those crazy, drunk, lucky bastards? (Okay, for legal purposes I am forced to clarify that they are not always crazy, drunk, lucky, illegitimate or a combination of one or more of those characteristics. This is an unfortunate stereotype propagated against the great peop...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Kristalia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, adult, series-which-i-abbandoned

Final rating: ★★★/★★★★★

“Why was is that the Light acted through lies, and the Darkness acted though the truth? Why was is that our truth proved powerless, but lies were effective? And why was the Darkness able to manage perfectly well with truth in order to do Evil?”

I have no idea what to say about this. I liked it and disliked it. Both, equally. I loved it because the idea is unique and there is a lot of thinking about consequences, life in general and lot more. But i felt that the story was...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Carly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: detective-noir, fantasy, world-within-world, real-world-with-magic, urban-fantasy

"You find life such a problem because you think there are good people and bad people. You're wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides." --Terry Pratchett

Summon up your own shadow and let it pull you into the Twilight, the liminal land of heartless greys and mysterious shadows, where truths cannot be hidden and where magic is real. But the Twilight's gift is two-edged. While it will grant you powers, it will also leech away your humanity,...more

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Dec 16, 2007 Josh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I read Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch after having already seen the films based on it. The movie Night Watch is more or less a faithful adaptation of the first section of the book with a few embellishments. The movie Day Watch is a much looser adaptation of the second and third sections.

On the first page of the book, there are two messages: One from the Night Watch that reads: "This text had been approved for distribution as conducive to the cause of Light." The message from the Day Watch is id...more I read Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch after having already seen the films based on it. The movie Night Watch is more or less a faithful adaptation of the first section of the book with a few embellishments. The movie Day Watch is a much looser adaptation of the second and third sections.

On the first page of the book, there are two messages: One from the Night Watch that reads: "This text had been approved for distribution as conducive to the cause of Light." The message from the Day Watch is identical except that it states that the text is "conducive to the side of Darkness." These two statements sum up the novel very well. Lukyanenko imagines an all too familiar war between Light and Darkness and then turns it on its head. The war is fought by "Others" who are different from humans in that they have magical powers. But the war is long over in the present day Moscow in which the novel is set. There is a treaty between Light and Darkness that both sides need to adhere to and it allows very little direct intervention from either side. The most that either side can do is police the other side to make sure they do not break the treaty. And so we have the Night Watch, Light others who police the night, and the Day Watch, Dark others who police the day.

The story is told from the perspective of Anton, a computer programmer for the Night Watch who is getting his first taste of field work. Anton makes an interesting narrator. He's in a middle management sort of position in the Night Watch and you get the impression that he's an underachiever. He's reluctant to go into field work and, through the course of the novel, we begin to see why. Anton is a deeply introspective person who questions everything and, while he is fully on the side of Light, he has his questions about the Night Watch. His desk job allows him to avoid these questions but, in the field, he needs to face them. There is a family of Vampires, Dark others, in Anton's apartment complex that he is friendly with. They are Dark, but they don't feed on humans and Anton likes them. When Vampires do feed on humans, they get a license from the Night Watch. Does this make the Light others responsible for the vampire's victim? These are the questions that Anton asks himself and it makes the stark contrast between Light and Dark seem very gray.

Each section of the novel follows a similar structure. It begins with a threat to the balance between Light and Darkness. Anton finds himself intimately involved and struggles to find the right way forward. There is a moment at the end when an apocalypse seems imminent, but ultimately it is avoided. The true, complex machinations of both Light and Darkness are revealed at the end, such that neither side comes off very well, and the stalemate continues. Readers of traditional fantasy may find this frustrating, as the final showdown between Light and Darkness never materializes, but others will probably find Lukyanenko's work more true to life.

Anton's desire to do what is right never comes into question. However, we experience his difficulty in determining the right thing to do. The Night Watch always means well, but some of their schemes go horribly wrong. Communism, we are told, was a plan of the Light others gone wrong. And, in a remarkably even handed and subtle moment, we are told that the Nazis were the result of a Light other plan gone awry. We are left to question, not our values, but how we can do anything in our lives without making concessions to the Darkness within us.

If there is a problem with this book, it is that it becomes a little one-note after a while. A great deal of this book consists of conversations on morals and ethics between to characters or Anton's own internal musings. Still, the novel transcends all of this at the end, and we are left to believe that the love between two individuals might be more important than the battle between good and evil.(less)

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Nov 04, 2007 R3grant rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fantasy fans, vampire nuts.

For those that found the interest to see the movie some 2 years ago when it made it's North American release, Night Watch seemed a bit too confusing. Whether it was just another victim of the movie made from a book or that Russian is a difficult language to translate to English, Night Watch and it's sequel Day Watch, lacked a lot of background story and character development that the books provide.

The Night Watch books are perfectly translated and give explanation of even the simple plot points...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Julie Davis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This has now been recommended by both daughters and Jeff Miller. Plus I liked the movie, though I realize the book is different in many ways. And now I can say I'm reading Russian novels. No need to say which Russian novels since people assume the big classics ... right? :-)

The book is three stories, linked by their setting and the fact that each is told by Anton, a light other who has is now getting field experience after having been a file clerk for several years. As he gets more experience, t...more

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Jul 26, 2010 Jackie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jackie by: A.C.

Shelves: fantasy, supernatural, urban-fantasy

A different take on the usual magic story. In the first two sections, I figured out the end early on. Predictable but enjoyable anyway. I thought I had the last section figured out but was pleasantly surprised.
I especially enjoyed reading a novel by a Russian author and seeing his worldview seep through into the story. Very interesting.

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Feb 24, 2010 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is made up of three stories. All involve the main character, Anton. I really enjoyed these. It was very original and interesting. I loved all the rules and the complications that came along with them. There was more to it than just magic and vampires and shape shifters. Looking forward to reading Day Watch.

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Jun 11, 2007 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: booksiveread-fiction

This was another novel that I liked recently. I read it because I'd seen the movie and then someone on livejournal mentioned the book. The movie was a neat idea, slick, and totally incomprehensible. The movie was also a lot harsher and less intelligent.

The book surprised me with its ethical quandries and interesting observations about people. The main idea is that there are supernatural creatures around us, they all draw their power from the same sort of source but they can turn into different...more

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May 08, 2012 Tfitoby rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Tfitoby by: Daniel Juckes

Shelves: fantastical, black-as-night, translation

I was really enjoying this book until about the midway point and then instead of Lukyanenko pushing the story on to a fantastic ending which would have had me drooling for the following instalments he simply repeated the same trick from the first part of the book twice more and helped me to lose interest entirely.

At the heart of the book is a fantastic premise; police departments set up by Light Magicians and Dark Magicians to monitor the behaviour of Good and Evil (his pronouns not mine), fight...more I was really enjoying this book until about the midway point and then instead of Lukyanenko pushing the story on to a fantastic ending which would have had me drooling for the following instalments he simply repeated the same trick from the first part of the book twice more and helped me to lose interest entirely.

At the heart of the book is a fantastic premise; police departments set up by Light Magicians and Dark Magicians to monitor the behaviour of Good and Evil (his pronouns not mine), fighting a war that's destined to continue forever in stalemate. This idea is suited perfectly to that hard-bitten detective style narration which I love so much and so the sections which are narrated in first person stand out as much better than the odd paragraph/chapter that deals with other characters in the third person. The quote on the front of this version of the book refers to it as "J.K. Rowling Russian style" and I actually came to see the similarities between Harry and Anton, both are pawns of superior magicians and both are at the centre of a war between light and dark but I think that is where these comparisons should end. Unless of course I find that by the end of the trilogy Anton is killing the dark lord, at which point I might just exhale deeply and roll my eyes before feeling like I've wasted 1500 pages of my life.

This book is comprised of three seperate stories of Anton and The Night Watch and neither of the three are particularly spectacular, I kept thinking back to the Ed McBain 87th Precinct police procedural novels which started so well with Cop Hater and became formulaic very quickly. The relative brevity of each instalment was also matched by Lukyanenko here. That ended up as the only saving grace, allowing me to forge on to the end.

Looking beyond the fantasy elements of this story, it was Post-Soviet Russian literature aspect to the storytelling that was most interesting for me. Discussing it briefly with Daniel after he recently read A Matter of Death and Life it occurred to me that the authors who grew up under Communism and faced with a rich literary history, that includes people like Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Anton Chekhov (referenced by Lukyanenko in the third story,) have a quite unique approach to contemporary world fiction. This is no different for Lukyanenko's Night Watch, the same themes and outlook on the world are all there, if you look at even just the premise of Homo Zapiens you begin to understand just how greatly the world view of these authors differs to that of you or I and why countries (again, as referenced by Lukyanenko in the third story) from the Former Soviet states, Asia and the Middle East will be the future of the world economy (and interesting literature.)

Aside from the less than exciting end to each of the three linked episodes in this book the major reason why I won't be moving on to the Day Watch is the constant moralising and discussion of what it takes to be a good person that is apparently a recurring theme in the authors work. I don't want to be so overtly preached to in my fiction, I prefer it a little more subtle if it has to be there at all. At least it was miles better than Finch.(less)

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Dec 02, 2008 Antof9 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008-read

ok, so the BBC read this right at the end of the year/beginning of 2008. And now it's almost the end of March, so I can hardly be expected to remember much of what I wanted to say. However, here's the link to all the blog entries on this book from the club, to start.

Second, I never in a million years would have thought I'd like a Russian vampire book, but I did. I really liked it, and read it very quickly.

Third, don't ever -- and I mean EVER -- watch the movie. It's horrible. Our book club usual...more ok, so the BBC read this right at the end of the year/beginning of 2008. And now it's almost the end of March, so I can hardly be expected to remember much of what I wanted to say. However, here's the link to all the blog entries on this book from the club, to start.

Second, I never in a million years would have thought I'd like a Russian vampire book, but I did. I really liked it, and read it very quickly.

Third, don't ever -- and I mean EVER -- watch the movie. It's horrible. Our book club usually has a movie night after each book, where we watch a movie made from the book, inspired by the book, or something that we somehow try to loosely connect to the book (or sometimes just one we've been wanting to see). This one was awful. Really and truly awful, and we found out later is sort of a combination of this book and the second one in the series, Day Watch.

Anyway, just a couple other comments on this. I didn't mark much in the book, but one of my markers reminded me to comment on the translation. We (all of book club) were really impressed at the translation. Not that any of us speaks Russian, but we all thought it was written by someone who really knows English -- understands its colloquialisms, and was able to translate it into something that sounded to us like it was originally written in our language. One funny thing about that, though -- every once in a while, the translator slipped up. In talking about vodka, he confused the expression "rotgut" and said, "It's not great vodka. Not gut-rot, of course, it's Dorokhov, but you know ..." That made me chuckle :)

Anyway, I liked Anton's internal struggles -- it made him so very human, and the idea that there's a good side and a bad side .... it was definitely appealing.

The only thing I could have done without is all the lyrics of Russian songs I don't know. Someone took the time to translate them into English, but they were basically meaningless to me. Probably would be enjoyed by someone who actually knew them.(less)

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Oct 19, 2011 Kana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy, vampires, audiobook, kickass-heroines, my-all-time-favorites, mystery, russian-protagonists, witch-or-wizard

I'm one of those people who sadly watched the movies before the books. But I went into both, knowing that the movie was 'loosely' based on the books.
As much as I love the movie, I do prefer the slower and less 'mystical' pace of the book. Even when I first saw the movie, I thought that they were rushing and packing as much detail into each scene as they could, and that I was missing out on alot even with that effort. And I was right. The book has it's characters running at a much slower and rel...more I'm one of those people who sadly watched the movies before the books. But I went into both, knowing that the movie was 'loosely' based on the books.
As much as I love the movie, I do prefer the slower and less 'mystical' pace of the book. Even when I first saw the movie, I thought that they were rushing and packing as much detail into each scene as they could, and that I was missing out on alot even with that effort. And I was right. The book has it's characters running at a much slower and relaxed pace. It explains the world they live in, and it's much more like ours than the movie showed. I don't mean that the world in the movie was completely separate from the normal human world, but rather the movie's characters were in the world of the Others and dealing with the problems of their society in that particular story.
The book gives you a better idea of the setting, the history, the rules. And I liked it. I appreciate the overall story and universe that both the books and movies are set in. And I enjoyed it overall much more readily.
So what I'm trying to say is, read the books first, appreciate the universe they live in, and then watch the movies and you will understand just how much detail the movie packed in. And I think you will appreciate the movies, and the books much more thoroughly.
*****SPOILER*******
Okay my one issue with the book is Part 3. Svetlana. She sleeps with Ignat, with Anton right in the next room. She says she was first making out with Ignat in hopes that Anton would walk in and get jealous, but when he never did walk in and instead stayed in the other room and got drunk, she just didn't stop. I found that view on morality a bit upsetting. And even more upsetting was Anton's reaction. Or rather lack of reaction. I know that Anton and Svetlana weren't technically together yet, but they openly admitted they loved each other and only had an extremely innocent argument prior to her sleeping with Ignat, one in which they both apologized to each other. Her actions felt.... out of place. The author vaguely implies that she was seduced into it, in an attempt to separate her from Anton in the big picture. Which okay, makes sense. But it felt weak. And it cheapened my opinion of her. And made it feel less...believable. I dunno. I didn't care for it, and it's only briefly touched on. They move past it quickly and I was grateful for that. But I still didn't like it being included at all. even if Anton felt she did it out of a spell, and not her own choice, he still wouldn't react like that. He walked in on them asleep, he couldn't see that and not react, if he truly loved her the way the book implies. (That's why it felt unbelievable.) There, Rant over.(less)

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Feb 06, 2011 Kat Hooper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

The forces of Light and Dark have sworn a treaty, so they live at peace. Anton is a member of the Night Watch, the group of Others who’ve joined the Light’s side and patrol the streets of Moscow at night to make sure that the Dark magicians are keeping their side of the bargain. During the daytime, the Day Watch does the same task for the Dark side. Meddling with the affairs of humans, for either good or ill, allows the other side to even the score so that...more ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

The forces of Light and Dark have sworn a treaty, so they live at peace. Anton is a member of the Night Watch, the group of Others who’ve joined the Light’s side and patrol the streets of Moscow at night to make sure that the Dark magicians are keeping their side of the bargain. During the daytime, the Day Watch does the same task for the Dark side. Meddling with the affairs of humans, for either good or ill, allows the other side to even the score so that Dark and Light are always kept in balance.

On one of his first street assignments, Anton tries to release a beautiful young woman named Svetlana from a dark curse hanging over her head. Later, he finds a couple of vampires who are trying to poach a young boy named Egor. Egor appears to have undiscovered powers of his own — he must be an unknown Other who still has to make a decision about whether to follow the Light or the Dark. The fates of both Svetlana and Egor seem important to the Day Watch. As Anton and the Night Watch try to protect them from the Dark, Anton worries about their destinies, and his own.

The translation of The Night Watch from Russian is incredibly smooth, resulting in a pleasant reading experience. Modern Moscow makes a terrific setting for an urban fantasy novel and Anton is a likable hero. I read Audible Frontiers’ version narrated by Paul Michael, who is perfect for the role of a tough but sensitive Muscovite (and who is now my second favorite audiobook reader).

While the writing, the setting, the characters, and most of the plot are quite enjoyable, there are a couple of related problems that kept The Night Watch from being the completely engrossing story that it had the potential to be. We get much of the story in first-person from Anton’s point of view and, while this made me really understand and like his character, it also means that we spend a huge amount of time listening to Anton trying to figure out what’s going on. He’ll brood for a while, then have an epiphany and give us an explanation (not always logical or believable) that he’s sure is right, but then suddenly he’ll be wrong and some other strange (and just as illogical or unbelievable) explanation will be given, which may or may not be correct. I chuckled toward the end of the book when Anton says this to himself:

"I didn’t know. As always, I didn’t have enough information for analysis. I could have come up with thirty-three different explanations, all contradicting each other."

And I think he does come up with thirty-three different explanations, all contradicting each other. It gets really confusing and it interrupts the action but, worse, when we find out what’s really going on, it’s not nearly as exciting as it could have been. Most of the plot climaxes just fizzle when we find out the truth.

Related to this is the fact that I never quite believed in Sergei Lukyanenko’s world. The whole idea of a truce between Light and Dark and all the strange rules and ramifications that result seem extremely unlikely. In his interior monologues, Anton goes on at length about light and dark, destiny and fate — I’m not sure that it all made sense. I also didn’t understand some of the choices Anton made, especially at the end. Perhaps this will be cleared up in the sequels, but it’s annoying to not get the pay-off in this book.

But still, I enjoyed spending time in Moscow with Anton and his friends and enemies, even if I was confused about the plot. I just may pick up the next book, Day Watch. I mean, I’ll download it from Audible. I am certain that Mr. Michael’s narration made me enjoy The Night Watch more than I would have if I had read it in print. (less)

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Jun 26, 2010 Rafaela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-during-2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Book 15/2010

Oh man! I wanted to like this SO MUCH it's not even funny. People had said I'd love it, it was right up my alley, everything I've always wanted to read and more. Huh. Ok then.

When it comes to characters, they're easily the book's biggest success. Anton is... normal, I guess. Svetlana is A GODDAMNED MARY-SUE, yup, from damsel in distress to great sorceress in more or less 400 pages, Egor is AWESOME, Ilya is LOVE, Semyon is HILARIOUS, and I'll just quit the caps. I loved most people is...more

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Feb 28, 2009 Libby rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone with an interest in something beyond the ordinary

Shelves: current-recommendations, fantasy-contemporary-urban

The Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko is quite fascinating. It’s thought provoking, original material with a story line that keeps you turning the pages. The concept is that there are certain people, or Others, who exist beyond the realm of normality. They are human beings involved in an eternal war between the cosmic balance of Light and Dark.

The “Watches” are formal organizations in charge of maintaining the necessary balance between Light and Dark. The Day Watch is comprised of Dark Oth

...more

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Dec 03, 2008 Shawne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fantasy fans

Shelves: fiction

I confess that I first came to Lukyanenko's Night Watch trilogy through the two movies based on this first book - and I'm glad I decided to pick up the literary source material as well. Lukyanenko has created a fascinating universe, a magical realm characterised by Light and Darkness grafted into the human world we recognise: a dazzlingly imaginative fantasy rooted in the almost painfully mundane. It is staggering - and ridiculously fun - to plunge into the vodka-laced pages making up Lukyanenko...more

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Sep 02, 2008 Norma rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I only recently found out about The Night Watch, the first of Lukyanenko's tetralogy of Otherwordly doings, from a recent collection of European science fiction writing in translation: The SFWA European Hall of Fame: Sixteen Contemporary Masterpieces of Science Fiction from the Continent, edited by James Morrow and Kathryn Morrow (2007). This latter collection is highly recommended to readers like myself who consider tales like Kafka's The Metamorphosis as the essence of fantasy, speculative fic...more I only recently found out about The Night Watch, the first of Lukyanenko's tetralogy of Otherwordly doings, from a recent collection of European science fiction writing in translation: The SFWA European Hall of Fame: Sixteen Contemporary Masterpieces of Science Fiction from the Continent, edited by James Morrow and Kathryn Morrow (2007). This latter collection is highly recommended to readers like myself who consider tales like Kafka's The Metamorphosis as the essence of fantasy, speculative fiction, or science fiction, whatever the fabulous genre gets dubbed by so-called "mainstream" fiction potentates, i.e. Hemingway it ain't. Lukyanenko's The Night Watch is a brilliant exemplar of the genre for its creation of a complex and vivid "other" world paralleling and interacting with the human one, characters that are engaging, and moral considerations about "good and evil" intrinsic to the doings of us modern humans. His writing has been compared in that sense to Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials. All told (so to speak) we are pulled back (no pun intended) to Paradise Lost. Here I would refer to, and also highly recommend, Michael Chabon's first collection of non-fiction, Maps and Legends, (published 2008 by MacSweeney's Books). Chabon's novels, two of which I have read and will exclaim about in another entry, are nothing short of "terrific" (if that word is still sound enough bibliolaudatory terminology)and his essays on genre literature in the MacSweeney collection are highly recommended.

Anent Pullman, Lukyanenko, and their tribe, the folloiwng bit from Chabon's essay "On Daemons & Dust" in the Maps and Legends collection is relevant:
"Like a house on the borderlands, epic fantasy is haunted: by a sense of lost purity and grandeur, deep wisdom that has been forgotten, Arcadia spoilt, the debased or diminished stature of modern human kind; by a sense that the world, to borrow a term from John Clute, the Canadian-born British critic of fantasy and science fiction, has 'thinned.'This sense of thinning . . . has haunted the telling of stories from the beginning. The words "once upon a time" are in part a kind of magic formula for invoking the ached of this primordial nostalgia."(less)

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Mar 30, 2008 Cherie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Cherie by: woosang

Living in modern day Moscow, the "Others" are an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers. Each Other pledges allegiance to either the Light or the Dark, and each side has a Watch—Night Watch for the Light and Day Watch for the Dark—whose responsibility it is to maintain the balance between the Light and the Dark, Good and Evil, verifying neither side has an unfair advantage.

An uneasy truce has existed between the two groups for several thousand years, but all that could soon change due...more Living in modern day Moscow, the "Others" are an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers. Each Other pledges allegiance to either the Light or the Dark, and each side has a Watch—Night Watch for the Light and Day Watch for the Dark—whose responsibility it is to maintain the balance between the Light and the Dark, Good and Evil, verifying neither side has an unfair advantage.

An uneasy truce has existed between the two groups for several thousand years, but all that could soon change due to an ancient prophecy predicting that one particularly strong Other will rise up and tip the balance, resulting in a catastrophic war between the Light and the Dark, one that could bring about the end of the word as we know it!

I had a bit of a difficult time with this book because the language didn't flow quite as smoothly as if it were written by a native English speaker. The version I read is an English translation from the original Russian, so at times the paragraphs would just go on and on and make little to no sense, or else not fit in with what was going on in the story, and I'd find myself thinking, "Just what the heck is he talking about??" In similar fashion, I'd find he sometimes went off into these way too philosophical discussions in his head for far too long—sometimes for up to two pages or more!—which was enough to put me right to sleep.

Despite the problems I had with the writing, or the translation, or whatever... underneath it all, the story itself was good, and the whole concept of the Others living among us to maintain the balance between Good and Evil, was enough to keep me reading.

I don't have the 2nd book in this series, Day Watch, but I do have the third, Twilight Watch, which I picked up for a couple bucks at Half Price Books while I was in Columbus. So I'll probably try to get my hands on the second one in the hopes that some of the translation issues have been resolved and I can enjoy it a little bit more without the language and style detracting from it.(less)

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Jan 20, 2008 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: vampires-werewolves-and-witches-o, horror-fantasty

In a world where vampires, werewolves, witches and other other-worldly beings walk alongside humans, there must be rules. In Night Watch the rules are upheld begrudgingly by the Day Watch and the Night Watch--councils of these otherworldlies who each in their own way, try to keep chaos from erupting at any given time.

Their truce is one that sits on a shaky foundation and rogue members/non-members of both councils are wreaking havoc by trying to bring about the end of society's status quo in an e...more

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Feb 01, 2008 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2008

Published: 2006 (English translation)

How I discovered: Jamie discovered the movie about two years ago, and had always wanted to read the books. I got him this and the sequel for Xmas. He liked it and suggested I read it, too.

What I liked: These days (well, the past year or two) I've been quite interested in books with elements of the supernatural, and this one delivers with vampires, mages, and shapeshifters. The gritty realism of present-day Moscow is a nice change from what you typically get...more

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Jul 03, 2007 Amanda Gomes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am almost sad I let this book go from my library. I found it on the "recommended" shelf at my local bookstore. I devoured it at record speed. While I know very little Russian, I do know a thing or two about translation. I can't comment on how closely it follows the original but I can say that translators have done a wonderful job. The story has great pace and the language is clean and simple.

Night Watch is part of a fantasy trilogy that both makes and breaks molds. The books have a dynamic cas...more

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Aug 22, 2007 Jesse rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of the movie and modern fantasy

Shelves: modern-fantasy

I really enjoyed this book. It was one of the few translated books I've ever read, and I thought the translation was done well. The language was not nearly as "clunky" feeling as another translated book I've read.

I thought the character of Anton held up well through most of the book. He grew, he changed. He was the humanity that most other members of his group had lost much of already. The idea of his humanity making him flawed in a way that always seems to work to further the plans of the "ligh...more

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Nov 29, 2007 Pioden rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-i-p, fiction-i-p, fiction-paranormal, fiction-speculative-alternative, horror-a-l

Very intense, excellent book. Set in modern Moscow, it gives those of us from the West a glimpse into another way of life. And then, you get the fantastic element - the magic, vampires, shapeshifters, alternate phase of being (Twilight, gloom, dusk, what's in a word?). And the battle between Good and Evil that has been put into an uneasy truce that all do not agree with. Nightwatch are those that watch the night, the dark, the evil. Their counterparts are the Daywatch, and that is the next book,...more

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Jun 11, 2007 k.wing rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: not sure. but very few people.

Let's just get the hard stuff out of the way first:
a. the translation is pretty bad.
b. it's a horror/thriller novel. I found it in the sci-fi/fantasy section.

There. I put out all the dirty laundry. Now, on to why it's a 5 star book.
The 'lessons' in this book are very hard to swallow. There is truth in this book that you will not find in very many other places. If you jump on the train that thinks nothing in this world is 100% evil, and on the other side of the coin, nothing is 100% good, then yo...more

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Jul 11, 2007 Steven rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: philosophical science fiction lovers

Shelves: sciencefiction

Try it! You'll like it!

What is it?
* A Russian book
* A Sci-Fi book
* A book of Philosophy
Wait, wait! It's all of the above.

This sounds like it should be just plain boring. But it was a page turner... Yes, I'll turn off the light and go to sleep in just a minute, Dear. Surprised and pleased! I've always loved philosophy, but rarely find it in SF, my vice fiction. But this kept me up late at night. And it is the beginning of a trilogy (don't watch the movie until you have read at least the first t...more

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Aug 22, 2007 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-fantasy

Most times if I see a movie and then read the book, I can pick out what I didn't like and what I would have loved to have seen added in. This would have been a perfect scenario, considering I've seen both Nightwatch and Daywatch, and they are both contained within this first book. Normally that would really annoy, but the movies and the book itself are so great I couldn't even be upset. I really enjoyed everything from the format (3 shorter chronological stories involving the same characters)to...more

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Oct 02, 2007 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans

Shelves: fantasy, vampires

What an interesting novel from Russia. It was really refreshing to read something from another country (although it was translated). I really like the whole light vs. dark scenario going on. It almost makes the light (or good) side seem like the real bad guys. I also like how each person actually chooses if they are light or dark and if one is dark, it doesn't make them evil. I almost have to wonder if Lukyanenko ever read Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising. After reading Rising, I found some sim...more

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Mar 27, 2007 Vivienne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Completely different from the movie. I mean totally totally different. It is a very philosophical book and through the thoughts and voice of the protagonist, Anton, the author deliberates about good/evil and right/wrong and The Others' responsibility to society. It also speaks to human nature and the way the world runs. The slightly rough translation annoyed me as well as the references to Russian history, culture, and modern car models. This irritated me because I felt like I was missing out, b...more

3 likes · like · see review

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About Sergei Lukyanenko

Сергей Лукьяненко
Sergej Lukianenko
Szergej Lukjanyenko
Sergey Lukyanenko
Sergej Lukjanenko
Siergiej Łukanienko
Sergei Lukjanenko

Sergei Lukyanenko (as his name appears on books and films in U.S. markets) is a science-fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian, and is arguably the most popular contemporary Russian sci-fi writer. His works often feature intense action-packed plots, interwoven with t...more

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“Love is happiness, but only when you believe it will last forever. Even though every time it turns out to be a lie, it’s only faith that gives love its strength and its joy.” — 149 people liked it

“The common good and the individual good rarely coincide.” — 37 people liked it

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