Reviews with content warning for Violence - Night Watch

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

11 reviews

fishfish's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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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!

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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.

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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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crufts's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Man. How did Terry Pratchett do it? In short, another fantastic Discworld novel, this one continuing the Guards arc that started in Guards! Guards! (see my review of that here).
Although Night Watch is Book 29 of the Discworld series, you only need to have read Guards! Guards! (Book 8) to understand what's going on. Actually, you could probably even read Night Watch as a standalone.

Captain Samuel Vimes has long led the Night Watch of the city of Ankh-Morpork. He's seen a lot in his 48 or so years, including the day thirty years ago when a violent revolution ended in the removal of the city's ruler - and the deaths of many of young Sam's colleagues in the Watch. It was an experience that could have turned a good man bad. But fortunately, young Sam and the other watchmen had the guidance of the honest and incorruptible Sergeant John Keel, and so Sam Vimes grew up to be an honest policeman himself.

Thirty years later, the grown Captain Vimes is chasing down the unrepentant murderer Carcer when they're both thrown back in time by a magical anomaly. Carcer immediately murders the past version of Sergeant Keel, and plans to do the same to young Sam Vimes. The older Vimes realizes he only has one chance to save history: he must step into Keel's shoes and lead the Night Watch through the chaotic revolution that is inexorably bearing down on the city.

Since the story steps away from the present day so quickly, I thought I'd miss beloved characters from Guards! Guards! such as Lady Sybil Ramkin, or even the watchmen like Corporal Carrot or Sergeant Colon. What we actually get is a concentrated dose of Sam Vimes by himself, and that was so interesting to read that I'd soon completely forgotten about these other characters. We even get sneak peeks at younger versions of some of the present-day characters such as

Corporal Nobbs, Lord Vetinari, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, and even (briefly) Lady Ramkin

.

In contrast to previous Discworld books which are basically a barrel of laughs tied up with clever wordplay, Night Watch got shockingly dark and emotional at times, and I mean that as a huge compliment. I'm very glad Terry Pratchett dipped into a darker tone for this novel because it made for a terrific ending.

Excellent novel, would totally recommend if you're reading through the Guards arc of Discworld. You might also like the sequel, Feet of Clay.

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