Review of Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Title: Night Watch

Author: Terry Pratchett

Rating: 6/5 ^_^

I think … I think Sam Vimes just knocked Death off the top of my most beloved Discworld characters list with this story.

This is one of the best stories I’ve read from Pratchett. A little amusing in spots, but in a darker fashion to most. Which stands to reason, given the storyline and MC.

It starts off quite normally, for a Discworld book anyhow. Samuel Vimes of the Watch is generally annoyed with how he never gets a chance to be the old copper he’s been in the past. Then he’s in a chase with the particularly nasty fellow by the name of Carcer and BAM! BOOM! Sam’s gone back to the time he first joined the Night Watch, only there’s two of them: the original San and his older self, who looks a fair bit like his old Sergeant.

But this is the time where Ankh-Morpork is on the brink of revolution, which means good people are going to die. And there’s his young self to watch out for while all this happens. Because if young Sam dies, it’s pretty much over. But if old Sam makes the wrong choice, like not letting history take place, his other life is pretty much over. Oh, and Carcer’s at large in the past too, if he stays behind, it’s really over.

Is it any wonder that I read the first 200 pages in one sitting? The ending … it just blew me away and when he does come back – despite not reading the end, I was expecting it from the moment Sam was thrown back in time – things are still quite tense until the last few pages. And Vetinari! I thought he was cunning now, he’s a darn genius back then too!

4 thoughts on “Review of Night Watch by Terry Pratchett”

I can't wait to read it. Reading I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett partially inspired the way I wrote my WIP, so he of course holds a fond place in my heart.

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I'm pretty sure Pratchett's inspired some of the way I write, along with David Eddings, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton and Robert Jordan. I'd be surprised if they hadn't. ^_^

I've yet to read I Shall Wear Midnight. I'm reading The Wee Free Men at the moment and going through in publishing order, so it's about eight books away.

Of course, that's providing I can get my hands on a paperback of Unseen Academicals that doesn't cost me nearly $30 … Book Depository's looking more and more likely there.

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