A review by ianbanks
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

5.0

This is where Vimes goes back in time and demonstrates the Bootstrap Paradox. It's a clever idea, even if it does buy into the idea of Vimes as a superhero that I think - going by some clues dropped in earlier books and interviews with Sir Terry - is an concept that we move away from around about now because of the number of books that feature other POV characters.

I'm troubled by this one because Vimes does some serious soul-searching and admits, though not in quite so many words, that he is a bit of a fascist, and that he's glad that it's him in charge of things because other people would mess it up. Part of me - the part that admires confidence and competency in characters - has no problem with this at all, but there's another part - the part that has actually dealt with people who genuinely believe this about themselves - that just gets frustrated by how annoying this is. Fortunately, Vimes only straddles the line slightly: he keeps reminding himself that he is only human and that he needs to be constantly on guard against pride and arrogance. And he does so by reminding himself that it is only his behaviour that makes him different from the criminals he chases.

The best part is that the story surrounding Vimes and his struggle is so good: it avoids a lot of the fanwankery that you get in a time travel story set 29 books into a series by introducing a lot of new characters and situations and it deals with many established characters sensibly, by only hinting at what they will become in the future.

It also riffs on Les Miserables quite a bit, which makes it even more hilarious, because it takes the series back to its roots in some ways, as a collection of parodies, with a vague plotline holding it together. Thankfully, we also have an author with 20 years more experience as a writer to hold it together as well so it is tighter and more astute as a story and commentary on story.