Review by andya (2009-05-27)
I like Pratchett's writing, but I'm not the kind of fan who pre-orders and heads off down to the bookshop first thing on publication day. I get periods when I'll read two or three all at once, then not read or buy anything for a couple of years, so I'd missed this one until a friend in my local pub gave me a copy he'd found in a charity shop. I'm sad that I didn't read it when it first came out, but the pleasure of reading it now has made up for that.

It's a little difficult to review it without plot-spoilers, but I'll confine myself to the publisher's blurb. Sam Vines, our hero, is transported back in time to the start of a rebellion and encounters his younger self. He can affect the outcome of the rebellion if he can teach himself to be the kind of copper that he is.

With me so far? Pratchett explains it much better, but then he has about the first hundred pages to do so, and a rather neat plot device that runs right through the whole book to help him do it. Sam has some tough decisions to make, but Pratchett conveys very well the sense that, like most of us, he can ultimately only be himself.

Sam's progress (together with that of Sam) is set against the background of a rebellion against a regime with a brutal face, and it's here that Pratchett's moral viewpoint emerges.

The detail is well drawn and includes enough humour to really drive the points home, in much the same way as contemporary descriptions of life in the First and Second World Wars do. There are a number of the set-piece vignettes that Pratchett does so well, and a few of these will probably appeal to fans of the old Ealing Comedies.

Of the Discworld books that I've read, I consider this one to be of the very best; if you like this one and want more of the same, try "Monstrous Regiment" and perhaps the non-Discworld young adult "Johnny and the Dead".

Review by mwisse (2003-03-10)
I had some difficulties in procuring this book. As you may or may not be aware of, sunday last week saw the worst storm the Netherlands had had in ten years, with windbursts just this side of hurricanes and lots and lots of rain. Though it had been raining steadily during the day we innocently thought it would be alright to just nip down to the Waterstones in the centre of Amsterdam to buy our copies of Night Watch which a kindly person had sms-ed us about. Unfortunately, we were wrong... Having to walk three kilometres through the driving rain and wind is not my idea of fun, though it was exhilarating.

So, was it worth it? Yep.

Night Watch is a vast improvement on its immediate predecessor Thief of Time which was okay but ultimately disappointing. I would go as far as to say it's the best regular series Discworld novel since Hogfather. When you look at the series as a whole, you find that you can divided it into two categories. There are the Serious books with a Message (Small Gods and Jingo frex) and there are the Romps (most Rincewind adventures). Night Watch manages to be both.

As you may know if you've followed the Discworld series, at heart Pratchett is somewhat of a moralist and not afraid to let this show in his books, not always succesfully (Jingo). His is a humanistic philosophy, a deep mistrust of authority and the will of the people both, coupled with a belief in the fundamental decentness of individual people. Sometimes this leads him to preach, but here he manages to let his philosophy come across withou doing so, helped by the considerable humour in this novel.

The plot revolves around Sam Vimes, sent back in time accidently to a time when his younger self was just starting out in the night watch and now he has to train himself. This at a time when revolution is threatening. He knows what is going to happen and now he has the chance to change things for the better, but what will this do to his present^wfuture life?

Pratchett's view of revolution feels incredibly real and realistic to me, just as his earlier view of "industrial revolution" Ankh-Morpork in The Truth did. In general, the whole Discworld has long since evolved from fantasyland to something as real in its own way as France, but here it is particularly noticable. Possibly this is because he gives Ankh-Morpork a past here, fleshing it out and showing that the city wasn't always the relatively nice place it is today.

In all, the best Discworld book in years. On a sadder note, this is the first main series Discworld novel without a Josh Kirby cover, who sadly passed away some time ago...

(Taken from my booklog at http://www.cloggie.org/books/)

Martin Wisse