Sixth book of the original and best CITY WATCH series, now reinterpreted in BBC's The Watch
'The best Discworld book in the whole world ever. Until next time.' SFX
The Discworld is very much like our own - if our own were to consist of a flat planet balanced on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle, that is . . .
'Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come round again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes.'
For a policeman, there can be few things worse than a serial killer loose in your city. Except, perhaps, a serial killer who targets coppers, and a city on the brink of bloody revolution.
For Commander Sam Vimes, it all feels horribly familiar. Caught on the roof of a very magical building during a storm, he's found himself back in his own rough, tough past without even the clothes he was standing up in when the lightning struck. Living in the past is hard, especially when your time travel companion is a serial killer who knows where you live. But he must survive, because he has a job to do: track down the murderer and change the outcome of the rebellion.
The problem is: if he wins, he's got no wife, no child, no future...
'The best Discworld book in the whole world ever. Until next time.' SFX
The Discworld is very much like our own - if our own were to consist of a flat planet balanced on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle, that is . . .
'Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come round again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes.'
For a policeman, there can be few things worse than a serial killer loose in your city. Except, perhaps, a serial killer who targets coppers, and a city on the brink of bloody revolution.
For Commander Sam Vimes, it all feels horribly familiar. Caught on the roof of a very magical building during a storm, he's found himself back in his own rough, tough past without even the clothes he was standing up in when the lightning struck. Living in the past is hard, especially when your time travel companion is a serial killer who knows where you live. But he must survive, because he has a job to do: track down the murderer and change the outcome of the rebellion.
The problem is: if he wins, he's got no wife, no child, no future...
Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he was the author of over fifty bestselling books which have sold over 100 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 for services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any. www.terrypratchettbooks.com
© Christian Thiel
'The best Discworld book in the whole world ever. Until next time' Jonathan Wright SFX
"Both comic and dark, blending high fantasy, twisted storytelling and all manner of wordplay...a fine place to start reading Pratchett." - New York Times Book Review
"The book's rapid cinematic pace - quick cutting, multiple plot lines converging - never flags . . . [Pratchett's] using his wit and brilliant talent for characterization to attack every kind of intolerance . . . NIGHT WATCH turns out of be an unexpectedly moving novel about sacrifice and responsibility, its final scences leaving one near tears. . . Terry Pratchett may still be pegged as a comic novelist, but as NIGHT WATCH shows, he's a lot more." - Washington Post Book World
"Compulsively readable. . . . Like Jonathan Swift, Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own, and like Swift he is a satirist of enormous talent. He shares with Aristophanes a sense of the comedian's mission to teach, and with Sophocles a concern to examine the rule of law versus the rights of the individual." - Sunday Times (London)
"Pratchett's storytelling, a clever blend of Monty Pythonesque humor and Big Questions about morality and the workings of the universe, is in top form." - Publishers Weekly
"Night Watch mingles the expected array of silly names, hilarious footnotes, wicked puns, etc. with elements of dirty politics, nascent revolution, time and memory, heroism and sacrifice, recalling the more serious side of Dickens. . . . Pratchett makes it clear he can hold his own with the masters." - Locus
"The 28th addition to Pratchett's "Discworld" series explores time travel and historical inevitability with cleverness and humor. The author's talent for comedy does not falter as he continues to set the standard for comic fantasy." - Library Journal
"Nothing short of magical." - Chicago Tribune
"Masterful and brilliant." - Fantasy & Science Fiction
"The book's rapid cinematic pace - quick cutting, multiple plot lines converging - never flags . . . [Pratchett's] using his wit and brilliant talent for characterization to attack every kind of intolerance . . . NIGHT WATCH turns out of be an unexpectedly moving novel about sacrifice and responsibility, its final scences leaving one near tears. . . Terry Pratchett may still be pegged as a comic novelist, but as NIGHT WATCH shows, he's a lot more." - Washington Post Book World
"Compulsively readable. . . . Like Jonathan Swift, Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own, and like Swift he is a satirist of enormous talent. He shares with Aristophanes a sense of the comedian's mission to teach, and with Sophocles a concern to examine the rule of law versus the rights of the individual." - Sunday Times (London)
"Pratchett's storytelling, a clever blend of Monty Pythonesque humor and Big Questions about morality and the workings of the universe, is in top form." - Publishers Weekly
"Night Watch mingles the expected array of silly names, hilarious footnotes, wicked puns, etc. with elements of dirty politics, nascent revolution, time and memory, heroism and sacrifice, recalling the more serious side of Dickens. . . . Pratchett makes it clear he can hold his own with the masters." - Locus
"The 28th addition to Pratchett's "Discworld" series explores time travel and historical inevitability with cleverness and humor. The author's talent for comedy does not falter as he continues to set the standard for comic fantasy." - Library Journal
"Nothing short of magical." - Chicago Tribune
"Masterful and brilliant." - Fantasy & Science Fiction