Rating: 
Summary: The Best Pratchett book yet........
Review: Night Watch gives a view of Sam Vimes and the events in his early life which molded him. I found this book funny, thought provoking (ALL revolutions end up with some of the participants against the wall with the machine guns) and a really enjoyable read. I have enjoyed all of Terry Pratchett's books, this is his best yet.
Rating: 
Summary: Quite different from the other books in this series
Review: First, if you haven't read the other books in this series, then don't start with this one. You don't need to read the other books first to understand what's going on, but nonetheless this one is a backstory for several of the series characters and you'd enjoy the story more if you learn about the character's present before you learn about their past. Second, if you're already a fan of the series, you'll either like it a lot more (which I did) or a lot less, because it's different from the other books in the series. Depending upon how you look at it, the book is either the most serious or the least funny of the series. There's still humor throughout the book, but in a setting where the dramatic edge of death is usually upstaged by the appearance of Death greeting the recently departed, this story has real tension. In a nifty time travel story, Sam Vimes is transported back to the past, where he must deal with the difficult issue of preserving the future at the cost of lives in the past. At the stage of a series where most authors would be rehashing the same old formula, Pratchett has shown that he still has new ways to tell a story. In summary, my rating for this book is an average; three stars if you're new to the series and five stars if you're not.
Rating:
Summary: Worth staying up all night to read
Review: Pratchett's latest Discworld installment neatly ties in the time monks from the previous novel and with his overtly satirical mind he proceeds to delve into quantum physics with a sense of irony that is as subtle as it is brilliant. This time Sam Vimes is our protagonist, the brassed and reluctantly polished watch Commander sidetracked during a routine meeting with Lord Vetinari into a copper-roots level chase across the Unseen University rooftops after a murderer by the name of Carcer. During the storm-tossed chase he falls with Carcer into a rift in the time continuum and finds himself back in time with the villain in Ankh-Morpork just as hise younger self was making his first forays into the Watch. All of which gives Pratchett the perfect excuse to dredge up a whole lot of new characters and still remain in his glorious Discworld capital.
Once Lse-Tsu, the Sweeper, has explained the science behind the events Vimes (now known as John Keel) finds he has four days in which to educate his younger self and locate and take Carcer back with him, all before the revolution. However, he has the major advantage of a)being intelligent, b)knowing all about what should happen. So he inveigles his way into becoming a Nightwatch sergeant-at-arms, promptly shakes up the accepted corruption within its ranks and then sets off on his mission. Fairly quickly he manages to upset the course of history by ensuring the Morphic Street Conspiracy didn't end in a massacre before realising that Captain Swing of the Unmentionables has now recruited Carcer as a sergeant.
We plung headfirst into his efforts to ensure that the Treacle Mine Watch House doesn't get burned in the general looting and his struggle to create a sphere of normality in the revolution to prevent the amount of historical deaths his future self knows happened. He manages to gain revenge on the Unmentionables down in Cable Street, all the whilst keeping his younger self by his side gaining valuable experience. Eventually it all resolves itself in a manner that is truly remarkable and we see a side of an older and more anarchic Ankh-Morpork in the process.
We get to see glorious cameos from younger selves throughout. The ones that stick in the memory are: Vetinari's unfazable younger self as an assassin in training, the street urchin, Nobby Nobbs, Fred Colon and a superb pre-'Cut-Me-Own'Throat' Dibbler. All of which lends itself to a Discworld novel back to its very best. The previous offering tended to flounder a little in the sheer volume of irony and satire at Pratchett's potential disposal and ended up being a trifle blunt, but this volume returns our author to the safe Night Watch which have such brilliant characters. Given the next two also focus on them, it means the latest installments are a must read.
Rating:
Summary: This would be the book I get 5 copies of...
Review: This is, so far, my favorite book by Terry Pratchett (and i've read all of his Discworld books plus a couple more) It's funny, has awesome characters (Vimes! The History Monks!), a great plot, isn't increadably cliche, and actually stands ok on it's own. IT would help if you have read at least one other book with the night watch in it, so that you can fully appreciate the characters, but I think that you'd be OK if you hadn't.
I totally recomend this book, it's well worth buying!
Rating:
Summary: One of Pratchett's best
Review: I admit to being a little disappointed that this story didn't turn out to be a look at the original Stone Face Grimes -- given the hints given out in the city watch stories, another time travel story may be in Grimes' future -- but that disappointment was quickly blown away by one of Terry Pratchett's best novels to date.While recent city watch novels have strayed ever further afield -- "Carpe Jugulum" doesn't even take place in Ankh-Morpork, for instance -- "Night Watch" returns to the group's roots with a vengeance, showing us an even harder-off Night Watch than we saw in the first watch novel, "Guards, Guards." Life is brutish and short in the watch, and morale and corruption are even lower than we've ever seen them before. In many ways, Grimes is more at home in this environment than he is in the modern day. We see him dealing with truly bad figures -- with and without badges -- as a future massacre and coup rush towards him at a headlong pace. (Fans of "Thief of Time" will be glad to see the time-twisting Monks of History have a supporting role in this magical tale of time travel, but readers by no means need to have that read novel to enjoy the Sweeper in this book.) The cameos (younger versions of established characters) in the book are natural and work well in the story, and fans of Nobby and Venitari should especially be pleased. The new characters, including Lord Winder's secret police, the Unmentionables, are all vividly drawn and feel like they've always been a part of Discworld. While the novel has its share of laughs -- many of which spring from seeing the origins of established characters, and Vimes' perhaps unwitting nudging them towards their destinies -- it's also one of Pratchett's more serious works, with meditations on gun control, community policing and, as always, the role of the law and police officers in society. "Night Watch" is best enjoyed by readers familiar with the other Ankh-Morpork stories, but is strongly recommended to any Discworld readers looking for a return to what is becoming fantasy's best-drawn cities. An unqualified success.
Rating:
Summary: Reading this book will give you great hair.
Review: This is one of the best Pratchett books I've ever read. I don't need to go into details, they're already mentioned, suffice to say that I read it in one sitting, lent it to one friend and got it back from another. One thing annoyed me though, anorak that I am; at the beginning of the book Keel is buried under a 'simple wooden cross' but at the end Vimes finds himself pinned up against Keel's 'headstone'. Aaargh! Where have all the copy-editors gone? 'Nuff said. Read, enjoy and become enthralled by the Discworld.
Rating:
Summary: Vimes is Back - In More ways Than One !
Review: Terry Pratchet's twenty-seventh Discworld novel returns again to the world of Ankh-Morpork's City Guard. As usual, in the City Guard books, the central character is His Grace the Duke of Ankh, Commander of the City Watch, Sir Samuel Vimes. Except...well...in this book he isn't quite Sam Vimes... The book is set in late May, with Sam is about to become a father for the first time. The lilac is in bloom and some of the city's most notable - including Sam, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, Nobby, and Vetinari - are wearing it in memory of a John Keel. Keel, as it turns out, was something of a mentor to Sam at the beginning of his career. Nobby had never forgotten how Keel had given him his first spoon. Dibbler seemed positively touched that Keel had once eaten one of his pies - without spitting any of it out whatsoever. There are some in the city who don't even know who Keel was, never mind caring about him. The book kicks off with the City Guard hunting a homicidal maniac called Carcer. In the course of chasing him across the roof of the University's library, a huge magical storm strikes and sends both Vimes and Carcer into the past. That's when things start getting awkward. Suspicious that no-one recognises him - he is an important public figure, after all - Sam gives assumes the name 'John Keel'. It's only later that he discovers when he is and that Carcer has killed the real one. So, to ensure his life develops the way it should, he now has to catch Carcer, teach his younger self to be a good copper, survive a revolution and, somehow, eat one of Dibbler's pies. And if everything happens the way he remembers it happening, surely that means he'll have end up in John Keel's grave. Doesn't it ? Just like everything else I've read by Pratchett, this is a great book. Like all of those others, it's easily read, funny, with likeable characters and, at times, a little sad. It's also interesting to meet the 'younger' versions of some of the characters who have appeared in earlier books of the Discworld series. For this reason, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book as a starting point for someone who hasn't read any Pratchett before. It's not that the book wouldn't be enjoyable - just that the better you know the characters, the more it'll make you smile ! I always feel a bit sorry when I finish a Discworld novel, knowing that I'll have to wait so long for the next one to come out. This one is no different - but just like all the others I know I'll still enjoy it hugely when I re-read it.
Rating:
Summary: The Discworld's own "Back to the Future".
Review: This is the 27th Discworld novel (well, that is, if you don't count The Last Hero and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents). It is springtime in Ankh-Morpork, the lilac is in bloom. As his wife Sybil is about to give birth to their first child, Commander Samuel Vimes of the City Watch heads to the cemetary of Small Gods, to commemorate the day Sergeant John Keel, his mentor, and six other coppers died some thirty yeas ago. Later, arriving at the Patrician's Palace, he hears that Carcer, a serial killer who's been wreaking havoc around town lately, has just been cornered. This might be his only chance to arrest the murderer. Outside, there's a storm brewing. After a chase in the streets of the city, Vimes and Carcer end up in the tower of the wizards' University, a highly magical place. And as the Commander is about to catch his prey, lighting strikes, and both are transported back in time, some thirty years earlier... Soon Carcer commits another crime and kills John Keel. Night Watch has a strong "Back to the Future" theme, where changing events in the past... well, the now, of course affects those in the now... well, the future. Many things have changed in thirty years, and Vimes struggles to put his own past back on the track. It won't be long until he encounters his younger self. Passing himself off as Sergeant John Keel, not only will he have to teach young Sam to be a good copper, but he must also survive the oncoming Revolution. True to form, Terry Pratchett gives us yet another witty, intelligent, hilarious Discworld novel of the City Watch, with its traditional footnotes and tongue-in-cheek humour, and some cameo appearances of Death... what more could we possibly ask for?
Rating:
Summary: Vimes is Back (and Back in Time)
Review: Vimes is back and having a bad day. His wife will be in labor any moment and there is a vicious killer loose in the city. It is also the anniversary of a pivotal point in his career and the city. Vimes corners the killer on the roof of the library of unseen university and a lightning bolt sends both of them back 30 years (monks do not do this like stated on the back of the book). Moments after their arrival in the past, history has been changed. Carcer (the killer) has killed a man that helped Vimes learn how to be a copper. But the Monks of Time, at least a certain monk with a broom from THE THIEF OF TIME, wants to set things right in an unusual way. Pratchett is in top form as he pokes fun at just about everything while keeping the dark things dark (after all, there is nothing really funny about a serial killer). All of this is done in a Les Miserables setting of impending revolution. I do not know how Pratchett feels about Vimes. He has said that Granny Weatherwax was his favorite character but it is obvious that he really cares a lot about Vimes. If you are new to the series, you should read the other night watch books first in order to get a firm understanding of the watch and the city.
Rating:
Summary: The best one yet.
Review: I've read every single one of Pratchett's Discworld books, most of them more than 2 or 3 times, and I say without a doubt that this is the finest one yet. It seems to me that Pratchett has invested more in Vimes and in Vetinari than in any of his other characters, and it shows. This glimpse into Captain -- sorry, Duke -- Samuel Vimes's past, present, future, and soul simply astounded me. Simply put, I hope to see more Discworld books like this.
|
