In memory of John Keel, a man who in a few short days changed the lives of many and, perhaps, saved some sanity in a mad world.
Book 29 in the Discworld series, Book 6 in the City Watch subseries.
Sam Vimes has never had more to lose. He is Commander of the Watch, an organisation that has become so successful under his leadership that cops from Ankh-Morkpork are known as Sammies far and wide. He is the Duke of Ankh, and married to Lady Sybil, one of the wealthiest and most formidable women in Ankh-Morkpork, who is about to give birth to their first child. He is the leader of a crew of watchmen who admire him and trust him with their lives, and he is known by everyone in Ankh-Morkpork, and by quite a few people outside of it. And he is about to lose it all in the pursuit of justice.
This is a book for all the Sam Vimes fans out there. Vimes is a main character in all the City Watch books, but he is THE main character in this one. It is, in fact, an origin story of sorts, though it’s probably not the kind of origin story you’re used to. In Night Watch, we go back in time, to a past that may or may not have happened, and Vimes is dumped right in the middle of it, tasked with sorting out his own past to give himself a chance to continue to have a future.
Night Watch is darker, more serious and more heartfelt than the previous City Watch books. Vimes isn’t a knight in shining armour who rides in and makes everything right, he is a desperate man who is both literally and figuratively stripped of everything he has earned, fighting for a sliver of justice in a cruel and unfair world where many things can’t be changed, no matter how many good people believe in it.
And still he keeps on fighting. If Vetinary is the mind of Ankh-Morpork, Vimes is its heart. Beaten, broken, curmudgeonly, cynical and sarcastic, but at his very core, a good person. He does the job that is in front of him, not because he wants to, but because he can’t bear the thought of what would happen to his city and the people in it, if he doesn’t.
Fantasy – Humour – Satire
Leave a comment