Night Watch
by Terry Pratchett · first published 2002
79% recommend21% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A Discworld novel in which Sam Vimes travels into the past. The story is moving and exciting, with strong moral weight that stands on its own even outside the series.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
One moment, Sir Sam Vimes is in his old patrolman form, chasing a sweet-talking psychopath across the rooftops of Ankh-Morpork. The next, he's lying naked in the street, having been sent back thirty years courtesy of a group of time-manipulating monks who won't leave well enough alone. This Discworld is a darker place that Vimes remembers too well, three decades before his title, fortune, beloved wife, and impending first child. Worse still, the murderer he's pursuing has been transported back also. Worst of all, it's the eve of a fabled street rebellion that needlessly destroyed more than a f
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Night Watch was amazing. Moral, moving, exciting. It could stand on it's own as literature without any of the other books.
on “Sir Terry Pratchett has died” ↗Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, particularly: "Mort" and "Reaper Man"; "Guards! Guards!", "Men at Arms", and "The Night Watch"; "Wyrd Sisters", "Witches Abroad" and "Lords and Ladies"; and "Small Gods" and "Pyramids". The first two are about Death, the second three about Samuel Vimes, the third group about Granny Weatherwax,…
on “What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?” ↗…are some narrative books that I loved and got lost in 1) The tiger's wife - To me it has a brilliant full universe. Its comprised of a overarching narrative broken up with lots of short stories. 2) night watch/ making money / going postal - terry pratchett Fun stories with full characters. 3) THe pigeon tunnels - john le carre, Again composed of short stories, not overly spy-y just fascinating character studies,…
on “Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?” ↗Another sort of weird one is Small Gods which is intensely good and definitely very message driven. Small Gods, Pyramids, Soul Music and Night Watch are probably peak pratchett when it comes to actually being fantastical - a lot of his writing is very grounded but in those books he really leaves the beaten path to explore something very... odd.
on “Discworld on Page and Screen, Part 1: Serious Comedy” ↗Just finished with Terry Pratchett's Night Watch. So good.
on “Ask HN: What are some good books you have read lately?” ↗Night Watch is amazing and moving. Other Discworld stories that surprised me include Lords and Ladies and Thud!, in which Pratchett manages to write genuine horror stories.
on “Sir Terry Pratchett has died” ↗The Night Watch by Sir Terry Pratchett. I have always liked his Discworld series, though two books had a bigger place in my heart : The Small Gods and The Night Watch. The first book was given to me as a young teenager,…
on “Ask HN: What's your favorite novel? Why?” ↗…most welcome gifts I've ever bought. One friend told me he had rediscovered the pleasure of reading; another read the full Masters of Rome series shortly after. Really good feedback. Terry Pratchett's Night Watch is also one of my favorites to give. Although when asked if it is the first of a series people tend to be somewhat surprised by the answer: I send them a graph spanning all the Discworld books[1]. Night…
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗Legitimately, one of the best quotes about this is from Terry Pratchett' Night Watch book: >Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions.” Commander Sam Vimes
on “Review of Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future” ↗Read books. East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, for example. Or collections of Sherlock Holmes stories. Or Asimov's Foundation series (skip the last couple of books!). Or Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. Or Parliament of Whores by P.J. O'Rourke. Or go through lists of famous opening lines of novels and maybe pick up a novel that you really like the beginning of ("It is a truth universally…
on “I start taking English classes at the age of 46” ↗I’m not sure when it started but I seem to read Pratchett’s Night Watch at least once a year on average for the last decade. Don’t think i’ll stop anytime soon. :)
on “Rereading books” ↗…oppressors. This quote sums it up quite nicely. “But here's some advice, boy. Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions.” ― Terry Pratchett, Night Watch
on “Cheran: A town that threw out police, politicians and gangsters” ↗…miss a chance to trot out this quote: "Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes." - Terry Pratchett, Night Watch
on “Abolish Billionaires” ↗…that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people. As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn't measure up. - Terry Pratchett, Night Watch
on “I’m the Wife of a Former N.F.L. Player. Football Destroyed His Mind” ↗…cleverness. > And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people. -- Night Watch (2002) by Terry Pratchett
on “A Spark Extinguished” ↗