Sergei Lukyanenko

They are the "Others," an ancient race of supernatural beings—magicians, shape-shifters, vampires, and healers—who live among us. Human born, they must choose a side to swear allegiance to—the Dark or the Light—when they come of age. For a millennium, these opponents have coexisted in an uneasy peace, enforced by defenders like the Night Watch, forces of the Light who guard against the Dark. But prophecy decrees that one supreme "Other" will arise to spark a cataclysmic war. Anton Gorodetsky, an untested mid-level Light magician with the Night Watch, discovers a cursed young woman—an Other of tremendous potential unallied with either side—who can shift the balance of power. With the battle lines between Light and Dark drawn, the magician must move carefully, for one wrong step could mean the beginning of annihilation.

Book One

Night Watch

Twilight Watch

Vilandra

Awesome, couldn't put it down, just like the other books in the series.

Prashanth Srivatsa

It has vampires, magic and all the supernatural paraphernalia that typically accompanies urban fantasy. And yet it is distinct in its ability to bring together good and evil, light and dark, eschewing most possible tropes and keeping morality as a variable. A kind of Harry Potter meets Harry Dresden, the Night Watch deals with a pair of vampire factions in Moscow, who keep an eye on each other's activities, but ever strive to push their ambitions at the expense of the other. And it's got a pretty cool climax, too.

Walking the streets of Moscow, indistinguishable from the rest of its population, are the Others. Possessors of supernatural powers and capable of entering the Twilight, a shadowy parallel world existing in parallel to our own, each Other owes allegiance either to the Dark or the Light. The Night Watch, first book in the Night Watch series, follows Anton, a young Other owing allegiance to the Light. As a Night Watch agent he must patrol the streets and metro of the city, protecting ordinary people from the vampires and magicians of the Dark. When he comes across Svetlana, a young woman under a powerful curse, and saves an unfledged Other, Egor, from vampires, he becomes involved in events that threaten the uneasy truce, and the whole city...

The Night Watch

Kirsten Simkiss

This one, for me, deserved a solid 3 stars.

The book is told from the perspective of Anton, a Night Watch agent in charge of keeping humanity safe from the Dark. For an agent of light, he doesn't ever seem to have a single moment where he's truly happy. He claims to be in love with someone, but he doesn't ever seem to have any feelings that are mentioned to support the idea that he truly is in love. He has very few friends, and even those he seems to offend on a regular basis by going against his practically omnipotent boss and his owl-turned-sexy-agent partner. Honestly, I just wasn't a big fan of the main character. He's a bit boring and emotionless. 

Most of the other characters are left mostly undeveloped. I would very much have preferred reading the book from someone else's perspective. If I had to pick, I'd probably go with Tiger Cub, Semyon, or Olga - in that order of preference. Anton's just not really that interesting as a person.

The magic system takes some getting used to, but it isn't all that bad once you're exposed to it more. I'm still not completely clear on what each level of magic usage is, as only specific levels are mentioned as characters are hitting milestones, but each magic user has a limited potential. The world of the Twilight is very interesting, and apparent is the host of an otherwise unseen species of blue moss. Like I said, it takes a little getting used to. This book is more of a "show, don't tell" sort of book, so it's never explained in full.

My favorite part of the book is part two, where Anton is on the run for a crime he didn't commit. (view spoiler)[Having his sneak into the opposition's headquarters was an absolutely delightful twist. The suspense there was my favorite part of the book. (hide spoiler)] The second part is definitely the most interesting chapter, in my opinion. You learn a lot about the laws of the land and about how each side operates. 

This book is mostly talk and very little action. Mostly, it's a pissing contest between the two factions, Light and Dark. There are a few isolated clashes where actual encounters are more than just peeved words and situations that are resolved through talking.

This book was translated from Russian, so I'm not sure how much is lost in translation. As an American who has never been to Moscow, it was definitely a learning experience when it came to some of the aspects of the society. Nicknames, for instance, are very different here. It definitely took some getting used to when Anton referred to his boss by both names repeatedly. Still, it's nothing that threw me off too badly.

I enjoyed the book, but I probably would not reread it.

Emmett

The problem was primarily one of translation. The story was interesting, but the translation set a tone that I felt was at odds with everything else in the story, compounded by choice of narration. A first person narrator creates the expectation that the 'feel' of a tale would correspond exactly with their perspective, but the English translation did not conform to the expectations formed/set out by the characteristics of the narrator. More specifically, it felt too casual, too loose, for the point-of-view of an adult, even one still learning the ropes of his supernatural trade; you would expect an adult to have a far more advanced vocabulary and sentence construction. Instead, the language gave the impression of a young adult with all his naivete in an adult role, which was odd in scenes where the character had to give advice to real teenagers, and even stranger in general where the whole story was concerned. The whole book resembled a tale written by a person who was accomplished at world-building but had limited story-telling skills and thus did not know how to fully express the fantasy world that had been created. This was a shame as it was evident, even from the first few chapters, that the world of Night Watch had many dimensions and a developed magical system that made intriguing surroundings for fantasy. I have no way of knowing if the Russian original has the same tone, but given the rave reviews, I doubt it.

Sarah Escorsa

Okay, I’m still not sure what to think of this book, but let’s try and ruthlessly cut the crap for once, shall we?

👍 
  The Good


① The World is pretty cool and original and stuff.
The thing is, I’m not sure how much that has to do with the fact that the author is Russian and that the action takes place in Moscow. Because, when you think about it, this book is really just another case of yawn typical, average Goodly Good vs. Evilly Evil Urban Fantasy (GGvEEUF™). (Only that it’s, um, you know, set in Russia and stuff. Which is pretty refreshing and stuff.) 

Granted, Lukyanenko puts a nice twist to things by using the dualism of (choose all that apply) black/white, light/darkness, good/evil to create a Grey Area Type World (GATW™). His characters try and maintain the balance between Good and Evil, which inevitably leads them to do bad things for good reasons and, um, you know, good things for bad reasons. Which is all very nice and stuff, until Lukyanenko starts philosophizing about it at length *exoskeleton starts itching uncontrollably*. But more on that later.

② Cool stuff galore
The coolest among which is probably the MC’s Polar owl sidekick. (I want one for Christmas, just so you know.) There then is “remoralization” (want to know what this is? Read the book. You are quite welcome), magicians who are werewolves rather than werewolves who are magicians, global cataclysms (yay!), lots of interesting facts about Russian cognac, ordinary malevolence quotients (how disappointing indeed), esoteric suicide, cameo appearances by yummy demons (I want more), pretty fishing funny body swaps, psychopaths on the side of Good, a most serendipitous line about Monday Starts on Saturday, highly specialized combat magicians, alternative newspaper reading, analytical sorceresses, and computer programmers who would rather die rather than be separated from their beloved MiniDisc Walkman (I can so relate).



Sorry about that, talking about MiniDiscs makes me reminisce about the good ancient days of my youthful youth and stuff.

③ It’s all in the Matryoshka
Like them or not, there is always something a little different about Russian books. An indescribable mix of nostalgia, humor, drama and reflection I have never come across in any other type of literature (not even that of Papua New Guinea, as surprising as it may sound). It sets a very distinctive tone and is bloody shrimping refreshing, methinks. 

😕 
  The Meh


① Short story format
Now I don’t usually mind short stories and novellas (I used to but now I am old and ancient and no longer have the patience to read longer books have seen the light), but this felt a bit, I don’t know, odd and stuff. Maybe because I thought that this was going to be one novel, not three separate stories? Then again, the very same thing happened when I first met my ex-boyfriend Geralt, and I never had a problem with it. (Okay, so I might have been too busy planning Geralt’s kidnapping to overthink the short story thing back then.) Anyway, there’s a general arc for the book so the stories don’t feel Super Extra Disjointed (SED™) or anything, but it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m not a Super Huge Fan (SUF™) of this format for this particular book. And stuff.
 
② Slightly Pointless Boring Plot of Meh
Need I say more? Didn’t think so.

③ Vamps begone
Please someone, anyone, BAN THE BLOODY SHRIMPING BLOODSUCKERS from all of Fantasy already! I beg you! Yes, their “gastronomic attitude to human beings” is delightful indeed, but apart from that? They are boring and dull and lacklustre and uninteresting and insipid and unexciting, and MUCH better used as hole punchers, if you ask me *waves at Kate Daniels*.



See? My pal Nosfe himself finds this all so damn coma-inducing he has to resort to playing with the lights to stay awake. 

👎 
  The Bad


① Emotional Flatland, Inc.
My favorite herd of enthusiastic-as-bricks ironing boards is facing tough competition again. I don’t know whether this was intentional on the author’s part, but the MC comes across as so distant and aloof and detached and cold and stuff that I didn’t give two shrimps about what happened to him. I mean, if the character himself doesn’t give a shrimp, why the fish should I? And the same thing can be said about the whole cast. They could have all just dropped Very Deadly Dead (VDD™), for all I didn’t cared.

② Blah blah blah to deathly death
Yes, it is interesting to read the MC’s never-ending musings about Good and Evil and how to keep the balance between the two and woe-is-me-should-I-do-good-for-nefarious-reasons-oh-my-what-to-do-help-me-vodka-woe-is-me-again. Once. Not twice. Nor thrice. Or throughout the bloody shrimping book. You get to the last story and just feel like shaking the guy to oblivion, and telling him to either DO SOMETHING or DROP DEAD ALREADY. 

③ Horrendous Translations R US
Okay. I have now read four books translated from Russian to English by The Person Who Translated This Book. (Said Person seems to translate 99% of all contemporary Russian books out there, for some reason.) And even though this one is not the worst (by far), it is still Clunky as Fish (CaF™). Everything feels off all the time. Everything feels, I don’t know, not right (yes, that is a technical term). Is it because Russian is a difficult language to translate? I think not, because I’ve read several Russian books in French in the past, and never felt this way. Is it because Russian is a difficult language to translate to English in particular? I think not, because both Antonina W. Bouis and Olena Bormashenko do a pretty convincing job of it. Get it? Good.

➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): this book could have been Slightly Very Good (SVG™). Only that it wasn’t. A most disappointed crustacean is me.



Pretty cute for someone as nefarious as me, huh?

 

[Pre-review nonsense] 

Actual rating: 3.321548 stars? 3.1245688 stars? 3.457952 stars? 3.2456689 stars?

What to think of this book, I know not. Summon the members of my back-up think tank and have them viciously brainstorm over this I must. 



Pretty wondrous bunch of vicious substitute grey cells, is it not?

Return I shall when come to a most perceptively acute conclusion they have.

➽ Full review to magically appear post haste and stuff.

P.S. Yet another Super Extra Clunky Russian to English Translation (SECRtET™) courtesy of the Person Who Shall Not Be Named this is. A slightly little bit (if bloody shrimping) annoyed by this I might possibly be. Maybe. Perhaps.

Sergeĭ Lukʹi︠a︡nenko

The "Others," a mysterious ancient race of humans possessing supernatural powers, who swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light, have long lived together in an uneasy truce, until the emergence of a young boy with extraordinary powers fulfills an ancient prophecy and threatens to plunge Earth into a catastrophic war between Dark and Light forces. Original. 40,000 first printing.

Pam Sartain

This is the first of the Watch books, and all of them come in 3 parts, which feel like separate short stories, until you read the last story that ties it all in.

This was a very good beginning - and my first time reading Russian stories - in English, it's ok, that aren't classics. It was interesting the things that haven't changed - the use of full names for the most part - first name, and surname - for most people - only those that you are close to, do you have a pet name.

Andre is a bit of a tortured soul, and you aren't sure what is going on, but a very good introduction to the series, and to the idea of Watches that guard people through their everyday lives - and how many of the things that people describe as being nature can be ascribed to them!

Ira Cummings

Not what I was expecting, which is kind of good. Weird stuff about a male writer writing from a female perspective, which wasn't great. Ending had some heavy nihilist vibes, so kind of puts me in the middle.

The fourth novel in the blockbuster series from one of Russia's most popular authors, Last Watch returns us to the hyperimaginative world of Sergei Lukyanenko, where the endless battle between good and evil is about to reach its climax. Anton Gorodetsky is just getting a feel for his new powers, when his boss, Gesar, sends him to assist the Scottish Night Watch in Edinburgh in a murder investigation. A young Russian man has been murdered--apparently by a vampire. But the mystery is more than it seems and soon Anton is himself in danger. The murderer appears to be someone with intimate knowledge of the Night Watch. Before long, Anton realizes that a plot is being hatched by the forces of both darkness and light that--unless he can intervene--may mean nothing less than Armageddon.

Last Watch

Zach Spencer

Definitely the best one yet. Kept me guessing a fair amount!

A frightening new danger arises to threaten the Twilight. . . . For a millennium, the Others have maintained an uneasy peace that has protected them and the Twilight, a shadowy parallel world beneath our own. But the battle for supremacy between the forces of the Light and the Darkness is far from over. . . . Now older and more powerful, Light magician Anton Gorodetsky has risen to the top levels of the Night Watch. He is also father to a ten-year-old girl who is destined to become a magician of unprecedented power. When he hears a young boy at the airport screaming that a plane will crash, Anton suspects the child is a prophet—a rare type of Other who portends catastrophe. If Anton is right, then the boy has awakened a terrifying danger—a rare, multifaced beast that exists to stop the prophecy from coming true. With their lives in mortal peril and time running out, Anton must find a way to keep his gifted young daughter safe . . . and save the Twilight itself.

Book Five

New Watch

Overall this was kind of a drag for me. I did enjoy the continuation of the series and was almost willing to give this 4 stars, with a comment about 3.5 stars.. but I'd just give this 3. Too much fluff and explanations instead of action for my taste.

Sandrin

Martin Heuer

The third book in Sergei Lukyanenko's dark and thrilling Night Watch series—a visionary blend of urban fantasY and riveting thriller, set in contemporary Moscow Night Watch and Day Watch revealed the "Others," an ancient race of supernatural beings—magicians, shape-shifters, vampires, and healers—who live among us and swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. For a millennium, these opponents have coexisted in an uneasy truce, guarding each other and tottering on the brink of war. In Twilight Watch, the Others face their greatest threat yet. An ancient book of spells with the power to turn ordinary humans into Others has fallen into the wrong hands, threatening to destroy the precarious balance between the forces of Darkness and Light. Now the Night Watch and the Day Watch must cooperate to stop the culprit. Anton, the hero from Night Watch, is back, but when the renegade Other turns out to be closer to home than he expected, the race to prevent global war becomes more urgent than ever. And as Anton gets closer to discovering the true nature of the Others, he begins to question how much of a difference there truly is between the Dark and the Light.

Book Three

Kate Lillie

"While on holiday in Scotland, visiting a macabre tourist attraction, The Dungeons of Edinburgh', a young Russian tourist is murdered. As the police grapples with the fact that the cause of the young man's death was a massive loss of blood, the Watches are immediately aware that there is a renegade vampire on the loose. Anton the hero of The Night Watch and The Day Watch - is detailed to this seemingly mundane investigation, but on arriving in Scotland begins to realise that there is much more to the story than a wildcat vampire and a single murder. Aided by Thomas, the head of Edinburgh's Night Watch, Anton investigates and ruminates, and becomes aware that a team of unlicensed Others are hunting for a fabled magical treasure, hidden in the sixth level of the Twilight by Merlin himself "

Night Watch Book One

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