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''Night Watch'' is a
fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. magic (paranormal), Magic, the supernatural and Legendary creature, magical creatures are common i ...
by British writer
Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...
, the 29th book in his ''
Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...
'' series, and the sixth starring the City Watch, published in 2002. The protagonist of the novel is Sir Samuel Vimes, commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. A five-part
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
adaptation of the novel was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
. ''Night Watch'' placed second in the annual Locus Poll for best fantasy novel. In late 2024 Penguin announced that ''Night Watch'' would be added to the Penguin Modern Classics range, with a new introduction by Pratchett's personal assistant and friend Rob Wilkins, and annotations by Prof David Lloyd and Dr Darryl Jones.


Plot summary

On the morning of the 30th anniversary of the Glorious Revolution of the Twenty-Fifth of May (and as such the anniversary of the death of John Keel, Vimes' hero and former mentor), Sam Vimes—whose wife is in labour with their first child—is caught in a lightning storm while pursuing Carcer, a notorious criminal who has murdered several watchmen, to the roof of the
Unseen University The Unseen University (UU) is a school of wizardry in Terry Pratchett's '' Discworld'' series of fantasy novels. Located in the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork, the UU is staffed by mostly indolent and inept old wizards. The university's name i ...
's Library. He awakens to find that he has somehow been sent back in time. Vimes's first idea is to ask the wizards at the
Unseen University The Unseen University (UU) is a school of wizardry in Terry Pratchett's '' Discworld'' series of fantasy novels. Located in the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork, the UU is staffed by mostly indolent and inept old wizards. The university's name i ...
to send him home, but before he can act on this, he is arrested for breaking curfew by a younger version of himself. Incarcerated in a cell next to his is Carcer, who after being released joins the Cable Street Particulars (otherwise known as the Unmentionables), the secret police carrying out the paranoid whims of the Patrician of the time, Homicidal Lord Winder. When he is taken to be interrogated by the captain, time is frozen by Lu-Tze, who tells Vimes what has happened and that he must assume the identity of
Sergeant-At-Arms A serjeant-at-arms or sergeant-at-arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin , which means "servant". Historically, serjeants-at-a ...
John Keel, who was to have arrived that day but was murdered by Carcer. It is stated that the event which caused Vimes and Carcer to be sent into the past was a major temporal shattering. Vimes then returns to the office, time restarts and he convinces the captain that he is Keel. Young Vimes believes Vimes to be Keel, allowing Vimes to teach Young Vimes the lessons for which Vimes idolized Keel. The novel climaxes in the Revolution. Vimes, taking command of the watchmen, successfully avoids the major bloodshed erupting all over the city and manages to keep his part of it relatively peaceful. After dealing with the Unmentionables' headquarters he has his haphazard forces barricade a few streets to keep people safe from the fighting between rebels and soldiers. However, the barricades are gradually pushed forward during the night (by Fred Colon and several other simple-minded watchmen) to encompass the surrounding streets until Vimes finds himself in control of a quarter of the city containing most of its food supplies, dubbed "The Glorious People's Republic of Treacle Mine Road", with a still alive Reg Shoe as one of the leading figures. The ruler, Lord Winder, is effectively assassinated by the young Assassin's Guild student
Havelock Vetinari Lord Havelock Vetinari (, ), Lord Patrician (Primus inter pares) of the city-state of Ankh-Morpork, is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series. Vetinari has written an unpublished manuscript known as ''The Servant'', ...
, and the new Patrician Lord Snapcase calls for a complete amnesty. However, he sees Keel as a threat and sends Carcer to lead a death squad of Unmentionables, watchmen and the palace guard to murder Keel. Several policemen (the ones who died when the barricade fell in the original timeline) are killed in the battle, as is Reg Shoe; Vimes manages to fight off the attack until he can grab Carcer, at which point they are returned to the future and Keel's body is placed in the timeline Vimes has just left, to tie things up, as in the "real" history, Keel died in that fight. Vimes' son is born, with the help of Doctor "Mossy" Lawn, whom Vimes met while in the past, and Vimes finally arrests Carcer, promising him a fair trial before he is hanged. A subsequent conversation with Lord Vetinari reveals that the Patrician alone knows Vimes took Keel's place, also that he fought alongside Keel's men against Carcer's death squad. He proposes that the old Watch House at Treacle Mine Road (where Keel was sergeant, and which was destroyed by the dragon in ''
Guards! Guards! ''Guards! Guards!'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the eighth in the ''Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, ...
'') be rebuilt, as Vimes outright refuses a monument commemorating the Twenty-Fifth of May.


Characters

*Carcer *Sergeant Fred Colon *Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler *Dr. Lawn *Lu-Tze (Sweeper) *Corporal Nobby Nobbs *Lady Sybil Ramkin *Reg Shoe *Mr Slant *Havelock Vetinari *Sir Samuel Vimes


Background and publication

''Night Watch'' is the twenty-ninth novel in the comic fantasy ''
Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...
'' series, written by
Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...
, and the sixth to focus on the character of Sam Vimes. Pratchett felt the book was closer to ''Discworld'' novels like '' The Fifth Elephant'' more so than the first book, ''
The Colour of Magic ''The Colour of Magic'' is a 1983 fantasy comedy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the ''Discworld'' series. The first printing of the British edition consisted of only 506 copies. Pratchett has described it as "an attempt to ...
'', believing the series had "evolved", attributing the series' success to its ability to change. Pratchett called the humour in the book "the humour that comes out of bad situations", comparing it to the humour of ''
M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richa ...
''. The contents of the book, such as the secret police and the torture chamber, meant that an abundance of gags would seem wrong. Pratchett commented: :"The point was, if I had filled the torture chamber with the comfy chair and soft cushions from
Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...
's Spanish Inquisition sketch for a laugh, that would have been an obscenity."
Paul Kidby Paul Kidby (born 1964) is an English artist, best known for his art based on Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series of fantasy novels. Kidby has created the sleeve covers since Pratchett's original illustrator, Josh Kirby, died in 2001.Alison Floo ...
illustrated the cover of British edition, with ''Night Watch'' being the first main-sequence ''Discworld'' novel not to have a cover by the recently deceased
Josh Kirby Ronald William "Josh" Kirby (27 November 1928 – 23 October 2001) was a British commercial artist. Over a career spanning 60 years, he was the artist for the covers of many science fiction books including Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' novel ...
. Kidby had previously worked on ''Discworld'' in '' The Last Hero'', '' The Pratchett Portfolio'' and ''
Nanny Ogg's Cookbook ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a f ...
'', establishing " isown 'look for the series. Kidby chose to parody
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
's painting '' Night Watch'', an idea he'd had since first reading ''
Guards! Guards! ''Guards! Guards!'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the eighth in the ''Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, ...
'', and talked with Pratchett about what characters to include. Kidby pays tribute to the late artist by placing him in the picture, in the position where Rembrandt is said to have painted himself. At the time, Kidby recalls being criticised for making the cover "too brown".


Reception

The book received critical acclaim. In the March/April 2003 issue of '' Bookmarks'', the book received a (4.5 out of 5) with the critical summary stating, "So Pratchett's a satirist and a deep thinker, but that's not all. He's also a skilled storyteller, creative in his range of characters, plots, and dialogue. Finally, there's his unpredictability: 'anyone expecting T. Pratchett to stick to formula doesn't know T. Pratchett' (Philadelphia Inquirer). If there's one complaint, it's the in-jokes—Night Watch assumes some previous Discoworld '' ic' knowledge." Robert Hanks of ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' drew attention to a "slight softening of the funny bone" and a "hardening of the issues" in the later ''Discworld'' books, commenting on a lesser amount of jokes per page in ''Night Watch''. He criticised the book's slow start, but called the book intriguing for its " Chestertonian common-sense morality" and drew comparison to the book's events to the Bloody Sunday. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''s Therese Littleton praised the book as "transcend ngstandard genre fare with its sheer schoolboy humour and characters who reject their own stereotypes". ''Night Watch'' won the 2003
Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the Best Novel category for the award in 1979; however, it was not award ...
, and came runner-up in the Locus Poll for best fantasy novel. On the suggestion of the book having "darker" themes, Pratchett responded:


Adaptation

A five-part
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
adaptation of the novel was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
from February 27, 2008 that featured Philip Jackson as Sam Vimes and
Carl Prekopp Carl James Prekopp (born 25 May 1979) is a British actor. He is acclaimed for his radio plays. He played Richard III at the Riverside Studios (2010) and originated the part of Lawrence in Tim Firth's stage adaptation of ''Calendar Girls''. Pr ...
as young Sam.


References


External links

*
Annotations for Night WatchNight Watch
at Worlds Without End {{Authority control 2002 British novels 2002 fantasy novels British fantasy novels Discworld books Doubleday (publisher) books Novels about time travel British comedy novels Speculative fiction novels about revolutions Speculative crime and thriller fiction