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Sep 24, 2007

Speedtribes rated it:

While Terry Pratchett is known for the humor in his Discworld series, I enjoy them primarily because-- while on the surface, his books do indeed classify as humor, he also writes these almost painful realities, very human thoughts and incredibly immersive emotions in situations that you generally don't find in most humorous fantasy/sci-fi which tends more towards parody and caricatures. Though, I wouldn’t exactly say that the Discworld series isn't a parody-- because his books are parodies, or s More...

3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jan 18, 2012

Merand rated it:

I may have said this when I finished the last Discworld book but this was by far the best Discworld book yet. Perhaps the best Pratchett book I've read. I loved it. It was not laugh out loud funny the way many of Pratchett's books are but it was so good. It was darker, delving into the history of Ankh-Morpork (Discworld's largest city) and allowing us glimpses into the past of several repeat characters, primarily Sam Vimes, Commander of the Night Watch, but also Lord Vetinari, Patrician of A More...

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Jul 29, 2008

Leah rated it:

My favourite Pratchett novel, but I'm not really sure why.

I think that Sam Vimes' being in it definitely helps: I think my favourite "series" in the Discworld novels are the City Watch series (along with the witches of Lancre and Death). His character arc really comes to a head in this one, even though he still has another level to go to in Thud!

I also think that time travel being in it also definitely helps. Though not the quantum, metaphysical, zany fun of Th More...

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Mar 08, 2008

Roger rated it:

Pratchet is brilliant. The story is part of the 'Guards' sequence in the Disc World series. For non-Disc Worlders you have to understand that prolific Pratchet created a comic fantasy world called the Disc World and then proceeded to write stories set in different parts of it, with different characters etc that sometimes meet each other.

The Guards sequence centres on Sam Vimes who is a cop in the city of Ank-Morepork. It is kind of medieval, kind of modern. In this story Sam has rise More...

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Apr 17, 2008

Kari rated it:

I admit, I like Terry Pratchett a lot anyway, but "Night Watch" is hands down my favorite Discworld novels (Jingo comes in a distant second). One of the darkest and most complex of the City Watch stories, while pursuing a truly depraved criminal named Carcer, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes is thrown back through time on the eve of the birth of his son to help... well, himself. Ankh-Morpork is on the brink of revolution, and somebody's got to make sure young Sammy doesn't die before his tim More...

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Dec 17, 2009

Sarah rated it:

Night Watch is the last of a bunch of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels that my husband bought for me two years ago. As the title implies, it follows the Watch again with Vimes as the protagonist. This time, though, Vimes is doing double duty, having found himself back in time thirty years to train himself as a young recruit.

Ankh-Morpork was a much rougher city back then and it's on the brink of revolution. Vimes remembers this time and how his commanding officer, John Keel, kept hi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 20, 2007

Beboots rated it:

This book is a part of the massive Discworld series, and one of Mr.Pratchett's best works, in my opinion (aside from Good Omens, but that was a collaberation). It's something like the fifth or sixth book in the series of books invovling Ankh-Morpork's Night Watch, but I read "Thud!", the one right after it, first of all before I realized there were more "before" it, and it's realatively easy to follow. None of the jokes really need to be explained, so it could exist as a stan More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

kareem rated it:

While halfway through this book, I wondered why it took me a year to start it (having bought it on impulse at Logan Airport on my way to Denmark last year). It's classic Terry Pratchett satire, and is a hilarious and insightful send-up of leadership and politics. While thoroughly enjoying this book, it made me realize that I need to read more fiction. Non-fiction business books comprise the bulk of my reading list, but there's no better way to learn to tell a story than by reading fiction by a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 13, 2008

Nathan rated it:

The Ankh-Morpork City Watch series is easily my favorite of the Discworld novels, because of my particular interest in Public Administration. The AMCW series asks all the right questions about law, jurisdiction, enforcement, and vox populi, without resorting to cheap preachy answers.

But this book stands out as the best of the series so far, taking all those questions and mixing them in with the science fiction device of time travel, and delving into not just Public Administration More...

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Dec 03, 2011

Isabel rated it:

'But we took the oath, sarge, and now we're disobeying orders and helping rebels. Doesn't seem right sarge,' said Wiglet, wretchedly.[return]'You took an oath to uphold the law and defend the citizens without fear or favour,' said Vimes. 'And to protect the innocent. That's all they put in. Maybe they thought those were the important things. Nothing in there about orders, even from me. You're an officer of the law, not a soldier of the government.'[return][return]When lightning strikes just as C More...

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Feb 17, 2009

Morganlise rated it:

If I could give this book ten stars, I would. In fact, it makes me rethink all of the other books that I've given five stars, perhaps they don't deserve it...

Here's the problem: This book isn't going to have the right impact unless you've read, at the very least, three of the previous Ankh-Morpork Night Watch books. Please, if you have heard about Pratchett and are looking for some place to start, go with "Guards Guards!" or "Mort", and read a few more before you More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2009

Laura rated it:

Just when I thought Pratchett had about used up his Watch characters, he throws this one at us. I loved Sam Vimes and the Watch in their early appearances but felt that they were settling into caricatures of themselves in later books. I get the sense that this was the author's answer to that - on the one hand we get a look at the early days of the Watch, so the characters haven't yet grown into the ones we know. On the other hand, watching the whole story from the head of the older Sam Vimes More...

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Dec 28, 2008

Lightreads rated it:

Another Watch novel, in which Sam Vimes Is accidentally transported decades into the past in pursuit of a murderous psychopath, whereupon he must play the part of the old Sergeant who first taught young Lance Corporal Sam Vimes what it means to be a copper. Meanwhile, political unrest spreads across the city, the old Patrician is on his way out, and the barricades are going up. Vimes knows what’s going to happen – he was there after all – and he’s visited the graves every year since. And now he’ More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Chloe rated it:

Out of all the Discworld books I have read, this book is by far my favourite so far.
The transition from modern Ankh-Morpork from old Ankh-Morpork is very well done, you can actually tell it was actually worse back then, haha. Once again Terry Pratchett amazes me with his numerous and distinct set of colourful characters including the ever-surly Samuel Vimes and the ironically named psychopath Carcer Dun who travel back in time and become opposing figures in a brutal revolution of the times More...

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Jan 30, 2012

La Reyne rated it:

I had a quick scan of other people's reviews before adding my own. I've read a lot of the Discworld books over the years, but this one stays longer in the mind than the rest. Where many of the others are purely knockabout humour and darkness of a Dickensian-parodic variety, this one gets SERIOUS. There is a darkness here that stops the laughter. There are still many laughs, but this one mines a deeper vein of intensity than any other Discworld novel I've read.

Having perhaps become More...

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Jan 25, 2012

Tyler rated it:

I am a Terry Pratchett-phile, through and through, so my reviews of his short novels are always delivered through rose-tinted glasses. But if I were to recommend a seminal jumping-off point for readers who weren't familiar with his work, Night Watch would be my pick.

Pratchett's Discworld series is a (largely) chronological series exploring and satirizing philosophical and societal themes through the prism of a fantasy realm. It's difficult to explain Pratchett's tone through his nove More...

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Oct 02, 2011

Maja rated it:

True fact - it is very hard for me to review anything written by Pratchett without sounding like a ten year old on a sugar rush (and it's going to show in the next few lines), so I am just going to control myself and say that I am extremely blown away by everything I have read so far by this amazing man.
Night Watch has everything one can expect from a Discworld novel - Pratchett's witty comments and intelligent humor are what immerse one into an "discworldy" hard-to-describe feel More...

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Sep 20, 2011

Sarai rated it:

I have not read any of these in order and they don't necessarily need to be but I think I would have had more fun with them if I had read them in order, just to get wrapped up in the characters and what they're doing and become obsessed with reading the next book in line.

This book has the same humor and cleverness of Thud and Going Postal. Fun books!

Product Description

One moment, Sir Sam Vimes is in his old patrolman form, chasing a sweet-talking psychopath ac More...

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Aug 03, 2011

Ben rated it:

Terry Pratchett has always been quite a good storyteller, but the difference beween his more recent Discworld Novels, like this one, and the earlier ones, is how much he has improved as a writer. The Watch story-strand in his Discworld series have been the ones in which he has progressed the most from fantasy stories with clever jokes in them to something more. (The next strand being the Witches) He wraps so many layers into the story and in his usual way makes countless nods to other classic wo More...

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Jul 30, 2011

Amanda rated it:

I'm impressed, tbh. It seems like a bit of a gamble; it's dark and Serious and more driven by a linear plot as opposed to crime/mystery, for one. Not to mention that the Watch novels work by splitting the narrative into different point-of-views as the Watch pair off to do their respective jobs - this one is almost entirely told in Vimes's POV, since the Watch as we know it hasn't been established at this point. A great part of the Watch arc's charm rests on the Watch members, their quirks, all t More...

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Jul 03, 2011

Matti rated it:

Terry Pratchettin tuotanto on vuosien varrella osoittautunut tasoltaan hyvin vaihtelevaksi, ja jossakin välissä lakkasin tyystin lukemasta miehen kirjoja - mutta koska työ velvoittaa ja kirjastovirkailijan on tehtävä mitä kirjastovirkailijan on tehtävä, niin tartuin joululomalla "Yövartiostoon" (Karisto, 2010)

Vartiostossa vuosikymmenet palvellut ja herttuaksi kohonnut Sam Vimes tempaistaan ajassa 30 vuotta taaksepäin, synkeisiin päiviin jolloin vainoharhainen patriisi hallits More...

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May 08, 2011

James rated it:

'Night Watch' is undoubtedly my favourite book by Terry Pratchett, and maybe favourite read for pleasure. I noticed through the "Guards! Guards!" series that the atmospheric tone gradually became darker and more pensive as the evolution of Ankh-Morpork progressed closer to the modern day. Pratchett entices the reader with a plot which can stand-alone (searching for a homicidal murderer and trying to prevent a bloody revolution in a past no longer his), but also builds upon the previous More...

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Mar 11, 2011

Val rated it:

Since I reviewed Nightwatch...

Night Watch is Terry Pratchett's non-parody of Les Miserables, and one of my favorite books ever. Where Les Miserables covers decades, at epic length, Pratchett leans on his long series of novels to provide enough backstory for this novel. The main character, Sam Vimes, started out as a Chandler-esque (read: alcoholic) antihero in "Guards! Guards!", which is a masterpiece of comic fantasy that you should go read immediately.

...And no More...

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Sep 03, 2010

Danielle rated it:

Did anyone else cry/gasp/chew-their-nails on this book?
No?Just me?
Probably my favorite Discworld book,period.Vimes is a character that is scrappy,grubby,wiley,and always seems to come out on top by turning everything else upside down.Putting him into the kind of dark and sarcastic book like he deserves warms my heart.
Vimes really manages to shine in Ankh-Morpork of the past;A lawless town where Vetinari is a student in the Assassins Academy;The Patrician is insane and paranoid; More...

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Jul 28, 2010

mina rated it:

Tips: Baca dulu minimal 2 buku Discworld dari subserial City Watch (lebih baik lagi kalau sudah pernah membaca subserial lainnya).

Buku ini adalah salah satu dari subserial City Watch dalam dunia Discworld, dengan the usual lovable characters: Vimes (or should we say John Keel?), Colon, Nobby, Reg, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, Vetinari, the "seamstresses" (and the real seamstress). Oh, dan ada Archchancellor Ridcully dari Unseen University (melayang bersama bak mandinya) dan s More...

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Mar 14, 2010

Kurtbg rated it:

The author never seems to miss a chance using Sam Vines and probably thought of it while writing the "Thief of Time."
On the eve of his child's birth, the Ankh-Morpork, citywatch commander and Duke, Sam Vimes, is hit by a lightning bolt outside the unseen university while chasing a 'watch' killer. He gets transported back in time to a key event in the city's history. The time monk known as the "Sweeper" makes a a guest experience to explain to Sam there's a problem with More...

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Jan 09, 2010

Donna rated it:

While it had its moments, I have to say I struggled to get through this one. I just didn’t find it all that interesting. I did, however, pull some excellent lines from the text–

“Old Tom, the University’s venerable clock, tolled not sounds but silences. Not simple ordinary silences, but intervals of noise-absorbing nonsound, which filled the world with loud soundlessness.”–Footnote

“The Watchmen turned and stared. A large blob of foam, which up until that point had More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 19, 2009

Mel rated it:

Commander Samuel Vimes of the capitol city's City Watch, is in hot pursuit of an arch criminal threatening Vimes' home and wife, who is in labor with his first-born child. As they grapple for control of a deadly crossbow in a thunderstorm on the roof of the Unseen University, home of Discworld's Wizards and source of poorly controlled magic at times, a lightning bolt catapults them 30 years back in time. There, Sam finds himself in the body of a legendary hero, Sergeant at Arms of the Night Wa More...

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Jul 22, 2009

Zak rated it:

READ THIS IF...: You like Terry Pratchett & similar authors, irony, humor

DON'T READ THIS IF...: You have not read at least a few other Terry Pratchett books, one or two of which are Sam Vimes books, cannot handle time travel or reasonably complex plots

This book is not only hilarious, but it is much deeper than just a parody. We join Commander Vimes just before the birth of his first child, chasing a murderer across the rooftops. After some quirky magical event (involving thos More...

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Apr 24, 2009

Yael rated it:

Night Watch brings out the dark, more somber side of Terry Pratchett's writing.
It describes a world that is almost too close to our own, and too close for comfort; where corruption, greed and basic stupidity cause inhuman pain and threaten to destroy human life as we know it. Or rather, as it is known to the inhabitants of Discworld.

If this kind of material scares you or puts you off - hold on. It's not that kind of a book!

Night Watch is wry, funny, emotive, touchi More...

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