It’s been an interesting experience re-reading Terry Pratchett’s lengthy ‘Discworld’ series, many of which I only read once before; in some cases nearly twenty years ago. That’s the case with ‘Night Watch’, 29th in the Discworld series, which I first read - aloud to my teenage sons - in 2003. I didn’t remember liking it particularly; I wasn’t much of a fan of the ‘Watch’ books, and almost missed it out this time.
However I’m glad I decided to read it for the sake of continuity, although it’s taken me over a week to complete. This book features Sam Vimes, both as Sir Samuel, Commander of the Watch (soon to be a father), and as the young recruit Lance Constable Sam Vimes, a couple of decades earlier.
At the start of the book there have been some nasty killings by a really unpleasant character called Carcer. Vimes is determined to catch him, and almost does so in the University library… except that it’s an area of high magic, where time and space don’t necessarily function in their normal way. And due to some complexities which only the history monks understand, both Vimes and Carcer find themselves in the past, a few days before a terrible scene of violence in the city which Vimes and some of his friends had been recalling, wearing lilac blooms in their helmets.
It’s a bit of a complex plot, one that doesn’t really follow other time-shift or time-travel books: in the Discworld understanding, there are millions of universes, where anything that might happen does happen in at least one of them. There’s no problem with Vimes meeting his younger self, although he calls himself John Keel; I didn’t quite get why he does this, but he remembers that John Keel taught him all he knew. And in this particular past, John Keel is dead, by the hand of Carcer.
So events have changed, and if young Sam is to turn into a man of integrity he needs a mentor… and the only person who can do that is the older Vimes, known as Keel.
One has to accept all kinds of unexpected, bizarre circumstances in the Discworld books, so time travel isn’t particularly difficult to take in. Sam Vimes, knowing what’s coming, and absolutely on the side of the rebels of Ankh Morpork, brings some of his natural tact and diplomacy to the fore, possibly changing what happened, but knowing that eventually he will be able to return.
I found it an engaging story. Sam Vimes, at both ages, is a likeable person; angry at times, potentially dangerous, but essentially honest, kind and fair. He does the job in front of him, finding some nostalgic pleasure in being a Sergeant again, treading the streets in boots lined only in cardboard. He meets some dubious characters, and befriends an excellent, if unconventional doctor.
There are some brief mentions of the history monks, who were introduced in the previous book ‘Thief of Time’, but it’s not necessary to have read it first. It would probably help to have read the earlier ‘Watch’ books, however:, in particular ‘Guards, Guards!’, ‘Men at Arms’, and ‘The Fifth Elephant’.
Well worth reading as part of the Discworld series, or just as part of the ‘Watch’ series.
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