Night Watch: A Novel of Discworld

"Night Watch turns out to be an unexpectedly moving novel about sacrifice and responsibility, its final scenes leaving one near tears. . . Terry Pratchett may still be pegged as a comic novelist, but . . . he’s a lot more.” — Washington Post Book WorldGetting knocked back in time thirty years, Sam Vines, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch experiences a day like no other in which past, present, and future collide with hilarious—and poignant—results in this rollicking Discworld adventure from Terry Pratchett.One moment Commander of the City Watch Sam Vimes is chasing a murderer across the rooftops of Ankh-Morpork. The next, he’s lying in the street below, naked—and back in his own tough past thanks to a lightning strike and a group of meddling, time-manipulating monks.It’s a dark Discworld that is all too familiar. Worse, the cop-killing psychopath he’d been pursuing has been transported back with him, and it’s the eve of a deadly street rebellion that took a few good (and not so good) lives. Vimes is determined to do his duty— track down the murderer and change the outcome of the rebellion. By changing history he might just save some worthwhile necks, and steer a novice watchman straight—an impressionable young copper named Sam Vimes.But if he succeeds, Sam knows it could cost him the future—including the job and the family he loves.The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Night Watch is the sixth book in the City Watch series. The series includes:Guards! Guards!Men at ArmsFeet of ClayJingoThe Fifth ElephantNight WatchThud!Snuff

From Publishers Weekly

British author Pratchett's storytelling, a clever blend of Monty Pythonesque humor and Big Questions about morality and the workings of the universe, is in top form in his 28th novel in the phenomenally bestselling Discworld series (The Last Hero, etc.). Pragmatic Sam Vimes, Commander of Ankh-Morpork's City Watch, can't complain. He has a title, his wife is due to give birth to their first child any moment and he hasn't had to pound a beat in ages but that doesn't stop him from missing certain bits of his old life. Thank goodness there's work to be done. Vimes manages to corner a murderer, Carcer, on the library dome at Unseen University during a tremendous storm, only to be zapped back in time 30 years, to an Ankh-Morpork where the Watch is a joke, the ruling Patrician mad and the city on the verge of rebellion. Three decades earlier, a man named John Keel took over the Night Watch and taught young Sam Vimes how to be a good cop before dying in that rebellion. Unfortunately, in this version of the past, Carcer has killed Keel. The only way Vimes can hope to return home and ensure he has a future to return home to is to take on Keel's role. The author lightens Vimes's decidedly dark situation with glimpses into the origins of several of the more unique denizens of Ankh-Morpork. One comes away, as always, with the feeling that if Ankh-Morpork isn't a real place, it bloody well ought to be.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A freak accident hurls Commander Sam Vines back into his own past, where he must assume a new identity and watch his younger self struggle to rise in the ranks of the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork while tracking down a dangerous criminal and finding a way to return to his own time. The 28th addition to Pratchett's "Discworld" series explores time travel and historical inevitability with cleverness and humor. The author's talent for comedy does not falter as he continues to set the standard for comic fantasy. A good choice, particularly where the series is popular. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Sam Vimes is living the good life. He's a duke, his lady wife is about to give birth to their first child, and he is no longer just a shoddy watch commander. Even so, he can't stop thinking about the good old days. He finds himself missing going on patrol, reading the streets, being part of the Watch rather than a nobleman who has to see the big picture. Suddenly, caught by a surge of occult energy, Vimes is back in the good old days. Somehow, they are less good than he remembered. And then he discovers he is responsible for the future: if he doesn't make history turn out the way he remembers it, he may never get home again. Quite aside from that predicament, a criminal mastermind, also whisked up by the occult energy, is making Vimes' future-building job significantly harder, and only Vimes knows what the fiend is capable of. On the positive side, Vimes does get to just be a copper again, which he rather enjoys. Discworld remains a place of punning, entertaining footnotes, and farce, in which Ankh-Morpork is still a great city. This time, though, the metropolis has a sense of its history and of the Right Thing to Do, which makes for something of a departure from the norm for many of the characters longtime Discworld readers know and love. Still, Pratchett has really developed the characters of the Watch, at least, since their early days in Guards! Guards! (1989), and it shows! Regina SchroederCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

New York Times Book Review

“Both comic and dark, blending high fantasy, twisted storytelling and all manner of wordplay...a fine place to start reading Pratchett.”

Washington Post Book World

“The book’s rapid cinematic pace - quick cutting, multiple plot lines converging - never flags . . . [Pratchett’s] using his wit and brilliant talent for characterization to attack every kind of intolerance . . . NIGHT WATCH turns out of be an unexpectedly moving novel about sacrifice and responsibility, its final scences leaving one near tears. . . Terry Pratchett may still be pegged as a comic novelist, but as NIGHT WATCH shows, he’s a lot more.”

Sunday Times (London)

“Compulsively readable. . . . Like Jonathan Swift, Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own, and like Swift he is a satirist of enormous talent. He shares with Aristophanes a sense of the comedian’s mission to teach, and with Sophocles a concern to examine the rule of law versus the rights of the individual.”

Publishers Weekly

“Pratchett’s storytelling, a clever blend of Monty Pythonesque humor and Big Questions about morality and the workings of the universe, is in top form.”

Locus

“Night Watch mingles the expected array of silly names, hilarious footnotes, wicked puns, etc. with elements of dirty politics, nascent revolution, time and memory, heroism and sacrifice, recalling the more serious side of Dickens. . . . Pratchett makes it clear he can hold his own with the masters.”

Library Journal

“Discworld” series explores time travel and historical inevitability with cleverness and humor. The author’s talent for comedy does not falter as he continues to set the standard for comic fantasy.”

Chicago Tribune

“Nothing short of magical.”

Fantasy & Science Fiction

“Masterful and brilliant.”

From the Back Cover

This morning, Commander Vimes of the City Watch had it all. He was a Duke. He was rich. He was respected. He had a silver cigar case. He was about to become a father.This morning he thought longingly about the good old days.Tonight, he's in them.Flung back in time by a mysterious accident, Sam Vimes has to start all over again. He must get a new name and a job, and there's only one job he's good at: cop in the Watch. He must track down a brutal murderer. He must find his younger self and teach him everything he knows. He must whip the cowardly, despised Night Watch into a crack fighting force -- fast. Because Sam Vimes knows what's going to happen. He remembers it. He was there. It's part of history. And you can't change history . . .But Sam is going to. He has no choice. Otherwise, a bloody revolution will start, and good men will die. Sam saw their names on old headstones just this morning -- but tonight they're young men who think they have a future. And rather than let them die, Sam will do anything -- turn traitor, burn buildings, take over a revolt, anything -- to snatch them from the jaws of history. He will do it even if victory will mean giving up the only future he knows. For if he succeeds, he's got no wife, no child, no riches, no fame -- all that will simply vanish. But if he doesn't try, he wouldn't be Sam Vimes.And so the battle is on. He knows how it's going to end; after all, he was there. His name is on one of those headstones. But that's just a minor detail . . .

About the Author

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) is the acclaimed creator of the globally revered Discworld series. In all, he authored more than fifty bestselling books, which have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.

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