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    Night Watch: A Discworld Novel
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    Night Watch: A Discworld Novel
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    Night Watch: A Discworld Novel
    Ebook451 pages7 hours

    Night Watch: A Discworld Novel

    By Terry Pratchett

    4.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    "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 World

    Getting 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 6th book in the City Watch collection and the 29th Discworld book.

    The City Watch series in order:

    • Guards! Guards!
    • Men at Arms
    • Feet of Clay
    • Jingo
    • The Fifth Elephant
    • Night Watch
    • Thud!
    • Snuff
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061807848
    Unavailable
    Night Watch: A Discworld Novel
    Author

    Terry Pratchett

    Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) was 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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    Reviews for Night Watch

    4.5/5

    127 ratings48 reviews

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    • 5/5
      One of the best Sam Vimes books (along with "Jingo"), and one of best Discworld novels. I read all 40 or so in order, and now am re-reading my favorites since they're on Scribd. Sir Terry Pratchett alone is worth the monthly fee!
    • 5/5
      Sam Vimes' life has changed a lot since he was a plain old copper in the Night Watch. Now he's a duke, his wife is about to have their first child, and he misses the "bad old days." When a freak thunderstorm brings him and a murderous criminal back in time, he gets a chance to relive those days--but everything he does is changing history, and he might not ever get back...to the future. (Sorry. Okay, not sorry.)This book is simultaneously a complex story of time-travel, a portrait of a man quite literally looking back on his youth, and a slyly self-aware fantasy adventure. It may not be the best introduction to Pratchett's excellent Discworld (start with Mort, Equal Rites, The Color of Magic, or Guards Guards!), but it's one of the best he's written. You'll never look at a lilac (or a bottle of ginger ale) the same way again...Recommended for teens, adults, humor fans, and fantasy fans. Also fans of the recent Les Miserables movie will find things to enjoy here, as there's a lot of barricade-building and revolution going on.
    • 5/5
       There's a murderer on the loose, and he's killing watch men. this doesn't go down too well with Sam Vimes, as you can imagine. He is attempting to accost the villian when there's a massive thunderstorm and history rips under the pressure. Sam is catapaulted back into his own past. In order to make sure that the exixts in the present, he has to deal with the events of the past, making sure that they happen and he doesn't accidentally get himself killed.



      It makes for a very interesting backstory for some of the characters that have featured in the books. It is also one of the most moving, Vimes is torn between knowing what happens next and wanting to change the present but being aware that by doing so, he may change the future...
    • 5/5
      Somehow I managed to miss this in my collection - it's not new, but I had not yet read it. It's pretty fantastic.

      I really like Sam Vimes as a character, and this is all about him - not just his adventures, but his internal life. He struggles with his own violence and wrestles with his often-rigid conception of his duty as he relives - literally - one of the formative periods of his life. It's also a formative moment in the history of Ankh-Mopork, and the glimpses of young Vetinari are fantastic. This actually gives Snuff a lot more background - they are very similar books. (And I adored Snuff.)

      Glad I found it!
    • 5/5
      Reviewing a second edition to ensure this re-read is included on my 2013 reading challenge list. This is still one of my all-time favourites of the Discworld series. And this is the edition I actually own :)

      Read (7th, 8th time?) - 04/01/2013

    • 2/5
      Pratchett is trying so hard to be clever that he trips over his own prose into pages of muddy descriptions, making it hard to follow what anyone is doing or to get a good grasp on who any of the characters are. Whole pages go by where there are clearly things happening, but it's as though there are too many words trying to skate around what's actually being said to actually communicate much.
    • 4/5
      This book tells the story of the birth of Commander Vimes' little boy Sam, and the pursuit of the most dangerous criminal he has ever faced. Things are not quite helped by the fact that by a freak thunderstorm accident, they are both transported 20 years to the past
    • 5/5
      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!
    • 3/5
      An interesting Discoworld book dealing with the implications of time travel for Vimes - nice to see characters like Nobby Nobbs when he was younger. It flags a little in the middle as Pratchett gets bogged down with the inner turmoil of Vimes but picks up nicely towards the end. A decent Watch novel.
    • 4/5
      Despite not being in total accord with the social and political implications of this book and even if it is a not-so-subtle parody of Les Miserables, it is a damn great read. And young Vetinari is a bloody genius.
    • 5/5
      Utterly unputdownable Pratchett. Vimes' resolve to do the right thing even if it means losing all he loves is spot on.
    • 5/5
      Commander Samuel Vimes of the capitol city's City Watch, is in hot pursuit of an arch criminal threatening Vimes' home and wife, who is in labor with his first-born child. As they grapple for control of a deadly crossbow in a thunderstorm on the roof of the Unseen University, home of Discworld's Wizards and source of poorly controlled magic at times, a lightning bolt catapults them 30 years back in time. There, Sam finds himself in the body of a legendary hero, Sergeant At Arms of the Night Watch John Keel. An alarming discovery, for Vimes knows full well that Sergeant Keel lies in a hero's grave, the result of brave action in the bloody 25th of May Rebellion. The date is the dawn of that fateful day and Sam realizes, once he assesses his situation, that he has not only unwillingly become a part of his own history but, when he looks around the watch room, he sees Young Lance Corporal Sam Vimes, a raw recruit of a few weeks. He will have the opportunity to mentor him and what a disappointing prospect Young Sam seems to be. Night Watch delves deeper into the philosophy of war and leadership than most of the Discworld books. It also offers more action than any others in the collection. For the initiated, you will discover how Reg Shoe becomes a zombie, you will meet Lord Vetinari as a young and promising student of the Assassin's Guild and discover how Knobby Knobs becomes a faithful follower of Commander Vimes in later years.
    • 4/5
      Book 18 of the year was Terry Pratchett's Night Watch which is the twenty-ninth Discworld book in my collection. This one was a reread; when I discovered the Watch series of books, I actively sought them out so I had come across Night Watch before. That's one of the great things about the Discworld books. You don't have to read them all in order (as I am doing right now), there's series within the main series; you can go for the Witches books (the first ones which I really got into, and thought there were only two of them until I read Lords and Ladies and discovered there were more of them!), you can read the Rincewind books, you can go for the Watch books. L-Space produced a wonderful little diagram which shows how they all link together and the order to read them in if you're just wanting to tackle one mini-series.This one features Sam Vimes and a slight hiccough in time which results in his travelling back in time and assuming the identity of his own mentor. Oh, and there's a murderer who's gone back with him. It's a bit of a timey-wimey twisty plot.This time around it made a bit more sense for me as previously I hadn't read Thief of Time (which introduces the History Monks who play an important part in smoothing out the time problems affecting Vimes). Of course, you don't have to have read Thief of Time to get what's going on here, it's all made perfectly clear, but Sweeper and Qu crop up again and it certainly helps knowing exactly what they're there to do.I think that the time travel thing was a really good way to go back and explore an earlier period of Discworld's history. I'm not really a fan of authors going back and revisiting earlier periods of their works which results in books being published out of sequence (I'm looking at you, Bernard Cornwell). I'm one of those anal people who likes to read books in sequence, where possible, and there's nothing worse that starting a series, getting about five books into it and then discovering that there's a new book been released which slots nicely in between books two and three. Then you come up against a dilemma; do you go back and read book 2a? carry on with the series and then go back when you've finished and read it at the end? not bother reading it until your next read-through of the series and then read it where it belongs?Obviously, not all series allow the writer to go back in time. But Discworld is one of those lucky ones where it's a perfectly acceptable option and it works really well. Terry Pratchett could probably have started the book with a two sentence prologue explaining that Vimes went to Unseen University and got transported back in time and I would have happily accepted that (it wouldn't be anywhere as eloquent or as engaging as what he really wrote though so I'm glad he did it the way he did).And it was really good to look at the characters before we got to know them; CMOT-Dibbler, Mrs. Palm, Vetinari. And I liked the way that John Keel/Vimes influenced them. It was all very clever and there were little nods to other books (and who the characters would go on to become). The only downside is that now that it's been done, it can't really be done again unless it was with a different character and in a different way, which is a shame because I'd like to know more about the young Ventinari, the young CMOT-Dibbler and the young Sam Vimes.As I said, I love the Watch books. I especially like the later Watch books, like this one, as they were the ones I became familiar with first. This one wasn't really like the other Watch books, because it featured the Watch before they became The Watch. But there are often moments in the other Watch books when Vimes thinks back about the way that things used to be done, it's good to actually see that up close.The one thing that I sometimes find with the Discworld books is that I occasionally get confused with the action. It's almost always around the same point in every book; about three-quarters of the way through when the various plot strands have come together and the action is starting to come to some sort of resolution. I think this is partly my own fault, mainly because I either end up reading when I should be sleeping and so struggle to follow things because I'm trying to keep my eyes open; or because I'm desperately trying to read in between other things (working, housework, catching up online, whatever) and so I have to keep stopping and starting.Terry Pratchett has this way of not quite explaining everything until it's absolutely necessary to bring the whole story together (I'm not sure that's the best way of phrasing things). There's always a little bit that's withheld until it all comes together at the very end. And I guess sometimes I get a bit confused before it's all revealled at the end. But it never spoils the story in any way and I think most of the time it's definitely me, rather than any fault in the story.One thing that does make me very sad, is that I'm slowly getting nearer the end of the Discworld series. I've only got two more left to actually buy now (the two most recent ones) and about nine more still to read (is it nine? It might be eight now, I've lost count). At least when I get to the end of those, I'll still have some non-Discworld books to read. I just wish there were more hours in the day to get through all of my reading material!Oh yeah, and quotes! I've managed to narrow it down to just two favourite ones (funnily enough, neither of them actually feature Sam Vimes, all of my favourite quotes for Vimes would've required me to copy out at least half a page of the book and my book journal just wouldn't have enough room for that). Both of these ones feature a character called Mr. Swing and (slight spoiler if you haven't read the book) DEATH.
    • 4/5
      When I said to the husbeast that I was looking for something light-hearted but with some substance, he handed me Pratchett's Night Watch. And that would be a pretty good description of this Disc World entry. Middle-aged Sam Vimes finds himself thrust back in time to a significant point in his own personal history as well as in the history of Ankh-Morpork. The resulting adventure is by turns a comedic, satiric, and grimly realistic look at policing, mobs, and the ethics of killing and peace-keeping. Pratchett's humor sometimes passes me by (though that is as like as not because I am not paying enough attention), but when I get it, it's often laugh-out-loud funny. Night Watch is probably most enjoyable for people who have read about Sam Vimes before, but I was certainly able to follow the story and get something out of it despite being only slightly acquainted with Vimes before beginning the book. Generally makes me more inclined to read more Pratchett than I was before I picked it up.
    • 5/5
      Well, I devoured this in the space of a day, and I think this might rank as one of the best Discworld novels I've come across so far. It manages to be both a (fascinating) look into the recent history of the city of Ankh-Morpork and a very personal story about Sam Vimes himself - his world-weariness, his compassion, his dry humour, his sheer bloody-mindedness and his fundamental decency. (And it also offers us a quick look at a much younger Lord Vetinari, which I found particularly interesting.) It was perfectly paced and very gripping and, as always, Pratchett has wise and witty things to say about everything under the sun, while at the same time gleefully skewering all the cliches surrounding social movements, political revolutions and time travel. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Re-read last week. I would give this book 6 stars if I could. One of the high points of TP's discworld books as far as I'm concerned. It's myffic, hilarious, tragic and purely spine-tingling-ly (yes, I know that is not a word) amazing. Stop reading reviews and go read it. And if you've read it already, go read it again. :)
    • 5/5
      This book is the best one I've read in the Discworld Series so far. It is a story of unimmaginable bravery. It was witty and very exciting to read. One of the better battle scenes ever described in a book. I sped through it, because there simply was no other way to read this book.
    • 5/5
      My favorite Discworld book to date, and that's saying a lot!
    • 4/5
      This is my favorite of the Discworld series that I have read so far. I prefer Pratchett books that have Sam Vimes as the main character. In this installment, Vimes gets transported back in time (along with the deviant criminal he is chasing at the time) and relives a moment in his past from a different angle. He joins the Night Watch and prepares himself for the chance to remake a dark point in the history of Ankh-Morpok
    • 5/5
      'But we took the oath, sarge, and now we're disobeying orders and helping rebels. Doesn't seem right sarge,' said Wiglet, wretchedly.'You took an oath to uphold the law and defend the citizens without fear or favour,' said Vimes. 'And to protect the innocent. That's all they put in. Maybe they thought those were the important things. Nothing in there about orders, even from me. You're an officer of the law, not a soldier of the government.'When lightning strikes just as Commander Vimes is trying to arrest a criminal on the roof of the magic-filled university library, he finds himself in Ankh-Morpork over 20 years before. Until he can find a way back to the present day, he is stuck with trying to reform the Night Watch, teach the newly recruited Sam Vimes how to be a good policeman, and ensure that he doesn't change history too much.I especially enjoyed reading about the young Lord Vetinari at the assassins school, as he's always been my favourite Discworld character.
    • 5/5
      Sam VImes, now reluctantly a Sir, is expecting an imminent blessed event with the stoicism many an expectant father could imitate - at least any expectant fathers who track down psychopaths for a living. But when his chase drops into a magical time warp, he's suddenly reliving his own past. And if he doesn't get it right (or wrong), there may not be a future to go back to.The wearing of the lilac, revolutionaries and monks. One of my favorites.
    • 2/5
      This is my hushand's all time favourite Discworld novel, but I didn't think it was very good. Usually the books about the Watch are the best, and there were some good moments, but the plot seemed to get hopelessly bogged down in the street violence, and the time travelling bit had me completely lost. Given the massive popularity of this book I'd be happy to concede that it's my fault not the book's.
    • 5/5
      This is number 29 in the Discworld novels and one of my favourites. In fact, I have just noticed that on the Terry Pratchett website, this is voted the number one book!In this instalment we follow Sam Vimes as he travels back in time to help his younger self in the great battle. I loved this. I really enjoyed both Sam’s. The younger is naive and sweet, always thinking about what his Mum would say; and the older is much more cynical but we see a wonderful caring side as he looks out for his younger self.I thought this was a great novel. It was full of excitement and action. And of course, all of Pratchett’s humour. I could only laugh at the way the old force thought. The picket line was a great example of how Pratchett’s mind works – pure genius. There is fighting and death and some great villains – and a young Fred Colon and Nobby Nobs. I laughed most of the way through this and was gripped. This is definitely one of the best in the series. Top notch!
    • 5/5
      Pratchett at his absolute best. Not a good book to start with if you've never read Discworld before, but for fans, a fantastic story featuring one of Pratchett's best characters. Also, time travel!
    • 2/5

      7/10.

      Good as far as Discworld goes. The watch commander gets sent back in time and has to tutor himself through his early years.

    • 5/5
      Night Watch is one of my all-time favorite Discworld books. It's just utterly brilliant, and it gives a lot of back story to the characters we're already familiar with, like Vimes and Nobby and Vetinari. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't read a Discworld novel before, but if you're at least a little familiar with the City Guards arc, you'll love it.
    • 5/5
      When I was playing around with LibraryThing's Unsuggester the other week, I was amazed how many times books by Terry Pratchett showed up in response to the titles I was trying out. I hadn't heard much about Mr. Pratchett, save that his work was quite funny. Anyway, a bit later I was browsing in the English library on campus and--Behold!--there was a Terry Pratchett book on the shelf! Since I'm between school years at the moment, I borrowed the book to have a read. Night Watch is about Samuel Vimes, the commander of the police force of the city of Ankh-Morpork. He's chasing down a murderer when a magical storm sends both of them back into the past. It's a time when the city was awash in corruption, ruled by an incompetent despot who is bleeding the people dry. It's also a time when young Sam Vimes is starting out on the city watch. The elder Vimes ends up trying to find a place for himself in the past, find the escaped murderer and find a way back to his proper time, all while trying to steer his younger self down the (mostly) straight and narrow. It's a good time travel tale, even without the added pleasure of Mr. Pratchett's wit. I'm strongly tempted to put it on my shelf. It might even be the first step in changing the Unsuggester results.--J.
    • 5/5
      Commander Samuel Vimes of the capitol city's City Watch, is in hot pursuit of an arch criminal threatening Vimes' home and wife, who is in labor with his first-born child. As they grapple for control of a deadly crossbow in a thunderstorm on the roof of the Unseen University, home of Discworld's Wizards and source of poorly controlled magic at times, a lightning bolt catapults them 30 years back in time. There, Sam finds himself in the body of a legendary hero, Sergeant at Arms of the Night Watch, John Keel. An alarming discovery, for Vimes knows full well that Sergeant Keel lies in a hero's grave, the result of brave action in the bloody 25th of May Rebellion. The date is the dawn of that fateful day and Sam realizes, once he assesses his situation, that he has not only unwillingly become a part of his own history but, when he looks around the watch room, he sees Young Lance Corporal Sam Vimes, a raw recruit of a few weeks. He will have the opportunity to mentor him and what a disappointing prospect Young Sam seems to be. Night Watch delves deeper into the philosophy of war and leadership than most of the Discworld books. It also offers more action than any others in the collection. For the initiated, you will discover how Reg Shoe becomes a zombie, you will meet Lord Vetinari as a young and promising student of the Assassin's Guild and discover how Knobby Knobs becomes a faithful follower of Commander Vimes in later years.
    • 5/5
      Just when I thought Pratchett had about used up his Watch characters, he throws this one at us. I loved Sam Vimes and the Watch in their early appearances but felt that they were settling into caricatures of themselves in later books. I get the sense that this was the author's answer to that - on the one hand we get a look at the early days of the Watch, so the characters haven't yet grown into the ones we know. On the other hand, watching the whole story from the head of the older Sam Vimes (accidentally thrown backward in Time) made me appreciate how the important stuff can stay the same even though the characters change. I'm a sucker for good time travel stories, especially ones that have fun playing with and/or explaining the various paradoxes that sort of thing can cause. I really enjoyed what Pratchett did with this idea - he sort of follows the rules when it suits him and thumbs his nose at the rest, which isn't a spoiler because it's how Pratchett tends to treat all rules in the Discworld, including things like gravity.I am very curious to see whether this one will stand up to rereading. If it does, I might knock it up to 5 stars.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed reading this book. It was evenly-paced and highly amusing, even hilarious, at times. I could name several favorite paragraphs. (Like those about How To Tame a Heron, and Ridcully’s Appearance at Unseen University.)The book was fun, even while the plot was more complex than I would have expected. (That's a good thing!) This is the first time I read a novel by Terry Pratchett. (I do have Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook, though.) I’ll be looking for other books from the Discworld Series.