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Every time I read a Pratchett novel, I am just awestruck, dumbfounded by the way he could write so eloquently and with such warmth and humor about some of the nastiest parts of the human condition. Night Watch, originally published in 2002, really hit me hard because it is just so weirdly timely. I read and reviewed Guards! Guards! (the first of the Watch novels) last year, and I know that there are several other books in the Watch series before Night Watch. I don’t feel that having not read them prevented me from enjoying this book, but I would like I to go back and read them. Sam Vimes is a great character, and his struggle in this novel, set during a time of political upheaval, injustice and rebellion, felt like a reflection of our current times. Then again, Pratchett is a master at writing about topics that are universal. I appreciate that he offers a glimmer of hope in the worst of times.
Night Watch is set in the bustling, gritty and dangerous city known as Ankh-Morpork. It is run by a dictator known as The Patrician, who generally gets the job after his predecessor has been murdered, usually because he has overstepped the bounds. That’s really something in a city where assassins and thieves are recognized as legitimate occupations and have their own guilds. The Night Watch is the police, and it had mostly been an ineffective joke until Sergeant Sam Vimes started caring about his work. See Guards! Guards! In Night Watch, a number of years have passed, Vimes is married and expecting his first child, and he has been promoted to a very respectable rank. But when the story begins, Vimes is dealing with two matters that are weighing him down. First it’s the anniversary of the deaths of several Watch members who had died decades ago when Vimes was a new recruit to the force. Second, a murderous, ruthless criminal named Carcer is on the loose and has cut down another watchman. Vimes is determined to catch Carcer, who seems to know all of Vimes’ weaknesses: where he lives, his impending fatherhood, his concern for his own men, and his predilection for policing in an honorable fashion. Carcer is the epitome of dishonor. While Vimes is in pursuit of Carcer, they end up on the roof of the university library, a place full of weird and wild magic, during a storm. In a flash of lightning, a portal opens and throws both men into a time loop, dropping them in Ankh-Morpork decades ago, just before the deaths of Vimes’ old comrades.
Initially, Vimes’ main concern is getting back to his future, to his wife and baby, but in the meantime, he has to deal with some monks, who seem to hold the key to getting him there. He also has to figure out how to fit in in this older Ankh-Morpork, which is run by a nasty despot named Winder. The regime uses torture and secret police (the Unmentionables) to round up enemies and keep order. The Watch is complicit in this, rounding up folks promptly at curfew and dropping them off at the Unmentionables’ compound, no questions asked. Vimes, however, is a stranger here. No one knows who he is or where he came from, and so he takes on the identity of Sergeant John Keel, the officer whose death Vimes had been acknowledging before slipping back in time. Vimes ends up in the Night Watch along with … himself. The new young recruit Sam Vimes is on the force, and Vimes/Keel will have to make sure that his younger self 1) doesn’t get killed, 2) learns to be a better officer and person, and 3) doesn’t figure out that Keel is himself from the future.
The parts of this story that really got to me had to do with the political situation in Ankh-Morpork. A small group of wealthy elites are preparing to get rid of Patrician Winder and replace him with someone they think will be more amenable to their demands. The Unmentionables under Capt Swing are committing atrocities against innocent people. Carcer has found a way to align himself with these forces and is working to create chaos and ultimately death for Vimes, while Vimes, who remembers his history, is trying to figure out if he should go with the flow of history as he knew it or fight for what is right and just. I really love the passages where Vimes interacts with the members of the Watch, who become awestruck by his intelligence and savage fighting ability. Vimes/Keel shows his men how to be better officers, to be more honorable and not give into the “Beast,” that is, the blinding rage that, if given full reign, looks as bad as anything the Unmentionables do behind closed doors. There’s also a great section of the novel where barricades go up, and the people of the city — including members of the military — have to decide what side they are on, if they can work together, and if they are willing to fight authority.
The end of the story, especially the part where Vimes and Carcer have their final showdown, was very interesting to me because Vimes’ real (and justified) fury toward Carcer is addressed. Pratchett gives the reader something to think about here — would you be able to control your anger? Would you be justified/forgiven if you gave in to the Beast? The story is also a reminder that throughout history there have been countless unsung heroes who have given all in the service of the greater good, and whose erasure from history was intentional. Night Watch ends on a sober note, but it’s completely appropriate for a story about tyranny and injustice that haven’t been fully acknowledged.