Reviews with content warning for Torture - Night Watch

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

14 reviews

bluejayreads's review against another edition

5.0

I am not generally into books about time travel shenanigans. Not because I have anything against time travel in particular, but it just seems to be rare to have it done well, or at least in a way that I find enjoyable to read about. But, as usual, Sir Terry pulled it off.

I think a lot of that has to do with the character of Commander Samuel Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. Due to some unfortunate wrong-place, wrong-time magical happenstance, Vimes ends up in his own past – the Ankh-Morpork of many decades ago, when he had just joined the Watch and things were, objectively, much worse than they are now. But one of the things that I appreciate most about Commander Vimes is that he is a relentlessly practical man. I recognize a kindred spirit in that, but it also means that the situation may be weird and fairly unpleasant, but he gets right on with dealing with it, with very little pining or philosophizing and absolutely no dithering or worrying about paradoxes.

That’s not to say that he’s emotionless, though. In fact, what makes Vimes so stellar as a character to me throughout this whole series is that he is competent, practical, and stays focused on the problem(s) in front of him instead of wasting time with excessive introspection or philosophizing, but he also has a strong set of personal values, cares deeply for the people around him, and feels his emotions intensely. He doesn’t do the introspection on the page because he doesn’t need to; he already knows himself thoroughly and is in control. To use the cliché, he is in touch with his feelings, but though they may tempt him to act against his values, they never control him. In so many ways, he is a paragon of positive masculinity – competent, principled, practical, honorable, caring, willing and able to experience great depth of feeling, never letting his feelings overrule him. He’s the rare character who is great to read about as a character, and also someone I think I would like, or at least respect, in real life.

Apparently this is the Sam Vimes Appreciation Review. That does make sense, because he really is the star of this book. Sure, there’s the whole time travel thing. There’s the murderer he’s tracking who also got zapped into the past and has the same future knowledge that Vimes does. There’s the fact that this point in the past is a particularly sticky one for Ankh-Morpork. There’s the sheer delight of a character being spectacularly good at what they do (some of it because Vimes has future knowledge, but much of it because he’s just a really, really good watchman). All of that is quite enjoyable to read. But this is a book that pushes Commander Vimes to his limits, and that means that he, as a character, is really what carries this story.

The Discworld series doesn’t generally shy away from getting dark in places. But this book is probably the darkest that I’ve read so far, and since the City Watch sub-series tends to be less funny in general, it’s not tempered with humor into something darkly funny. It’s just dark. Not at all in a bad way, to be sure. As I said, these events push Vimes to his limit, and it’s hard to do that without delving into some darkness. But even in terms of sheer numbers of deaths and injuries, this has got to be one of the more violent Discworld books. It’s not unnecessary violence when it comes to the plot, but it definitely goes (and takes Commander Vimes to) some very dark places.

I can’t necessarily say that Night Watch has replaced Interesting Times as my favorite Discworld book. The two are so different in mood, tone, theme, and content that it’s hard to do a direct comparison. But I can definitely say that Night Watch is among my favorite Discword books. If you like Commander Vimes as a character, love stories where protagonists are pushed to their limits, or just enjoy the very specific trope where a character is sent back in time and has to relive a difficult part of their life from a new perspective, I think you’ll agree.

Content Warnings

princessofharte's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the most dark, most tense Pratchett book I've ever read. It is full of anger, hopelessness, anxiety, and fear. And it is worth it.

When reading this, it's important to remember it was published in 2002. In less than 5 years, Terry Pratchett would be diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's.

His thought process on this can be seen with how Vimes interacts with Sam and with Tilden. Terry Pratchett is fighting how his memory is turning.

They did the job they didn't have to do!

Content Warnings

ernis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This has been my favorite Watch novel so far, although I found it much less funny than the others. I actually couldn't put it down, whereas some of his others i can easily start and stop. The focus is almost entirely on Sam Vimes, the other characters are more just in and out, but it was written so well that I didn't miss the others. Highly recommend for fans of Terry's other works!

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ampharos906's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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ramreadsagain's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

"Maybe the best way to build a brand new world is to peel some spuds in this one."

I was worried I wouldn't like this one but it's become one of my favourite Discworld books. Time travel is usually not a trope that I think is done well, but my god was it done well here! I absolutely loved this glance at Ankh-Morpork history as well as what felt like a deeper look at Sam Vimes himself, as unlike most Pratchett books which tend to switch character perspective a lot, this one focuses almost entirely on Vimes.

As always with Pratchett I love the balance of humour, social commentary, and pure love for these characters.

Content Warnings

ell_n's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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rainbowrachel's review against another edition

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adventurous funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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jessthanthree's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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alatarmaia's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

How do you even begin to rate a Discworld book, much less Night Watch? I reread this right after Guards Guards and it only made it hit all the harder.

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anidharker's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.5

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