It's the 30th anniversary of the death of John Keel - a former mentor of Vimes and a founder of the Watch. An annual pilgrimage to Keel's graveside is underway by Watch men when Vimes, chasing a hardened criminal, is transported magically back in time along with Carcer, the chap he's pursuing.

Arrested by his younger self, for fighting with Carcer, Vimes is put in a cell alongside the man who killed John Keel. Upon his release he heads to the Unseen University to ask to be transported back when he is accosted by time controlling monks who explain he must assume the identity of John Keel who has been murdered.

While Pratchett plays with time travel in ways so many authors have, he stays true to the Discworld and the style of writing we all love. I often find I criticize time travel in plots while reading but Pratchett manages to use it in a way where I don't feel such a need.

Excellently plotted and excellently executed this story explains much of the origin of Vimes who is, to many, the best character in the entire series.

While this book has won awards (as so many Pratchett books have) it has also been serialised for Radio 4. A truly magnificent creation that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend and the sixth book with Sam Vimes in.

Never forget the Glorious 25th. I think of this as one of the more 'high concept' Discworld novels. It's also one of the ones that you could probably read without any knowledge of its predecessors. While I have a place in my hear for just about every single Discworld book, I have a sneaky suspicion that this one may be Pratchett's finest work in terms of plot, prose and general emotion. While chasing a particularly nasty suspect, Sam Vimes has travelled back in time to his own boyhood. This is unfortunate because his wife is currently in labour back in his present. But if he doesn't stop Carcer ('a stone cold killer. With brains'), the consequences will be diabolical. As it is, Vimes' own mentor from his earliest days on the Watch, John Keel, has now been murdered. With a revolution brewing, Vimes must take on Keel's identity and play his part over the days ahead and try to keep history on track.

While the characters around are recognisable (Nobby Nobbs is a street urchin, Vetinari is a student at the Assassins' Guild), Vimes is very much on his own here. This is quite a welcome return to basics given how he has risen through the ranks since the start of the series. And that is kind of the point. Vimes has travelled a long way from his origins. He is a Duke. He is married to the richest woman in Ankh-Morpork. He has visited foreign lands and faced down evil-doers to get the job done. How does he reconcile all of this with his personal image of himself as 'man of the people'? Is he still just a copper? Without all those resources to call on, can he really get the job done? And can he teach his younger self all the things that he will need to know in order to survive. As a character study, Night Watch represents Pratchett at his peak.

Night Watch is also a return to a higher stakes story. We have seen the Disc become gradually safer over the series. Technology has advanced, despots have been removed, better systems have been put in place and inequalities corrected. In this novel, Pratchett is not only sending up the revolution seen in Les Miserables but also Peterloo, May 68 and a host of other periods of social unrest. There is a weariness in how he underlines that despite all these high ideals, little will be achieve, '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.' Night Watch is very funny but it is also one of the least laugh-out-loud books in the series and is far more bittersweet in its tone. I have a feeling that what we have here is Pratchett's own personal belief - society rarely truly improves but we still have to try our darnedest to make it better.

Despite it being obvious that Pratchett is an icon of fantasy writing, his Discworld work is too removed from real world for me and I found this frankly harder than Shakespeare to read, like the other books I idiotically requested in a spree after they came highly recommended by someone who knows my taste (not as fantasy as this), and whom I highly trusted. These were a real miss for me and has totally put me off reading any other Pratchett. I will recommend them to anyone who really loves high fantasy and just hope that these are their cup of tea instead.

The 29th book in the discworld series and part of the ‘city watch’ series is yet another outstanding book by the master of fantasy. Still full of humour, although slightly softer than some other the other books, this one looks to take on some heavier concepts and links to reality with this book. You can’t go wrong with this series.

Probably one of the best Discworld novels, with a starring role for one of Pratchett's best-loved characters, Sam Vimes. We get to explore what made Sam the man he is today, as he finds himself confronting his younger self in order to protect everything he holds dear. The villain is a particularly nasty piece of work and the relationships between the Watch officers are touchingly depicted.

Night Watch By Terry Pratchett is the twenty-ninth book of his famous discworld series and all of these books I have read have been WoW amazing. I have just adored all of these books and collected this from an early age and still a great fan at 52 years old! (Blimey I am old) But his books never age.........Terry's mind was just amazing and his books are loved by so many.

"For a policeman, there can be few things worse than a serial killer at loose in your city. Except, perhaps, a serial killer who targets coppers, and a city on the brink of bloody revolution. The people have found their voice at last, the flags and barricades are rising...And the question for a policeman, an officer of the law, a defender of the peace, is:

Are you with them, or are you against them?"

I highly recommend all of Sir Terry's book's. They are a must read.

Big Thank you to Netgalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Corgi for a copy of this wonderful book to read again.

This is one of my all time favourites from the dis World Series and it’s holds up no less after many years since I first read it. I’ll always mourn the loss of such a great author, but at least we are left with his classic works

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I wanted to review this story on 25th May (The Glorious Revolution of the Twenty-Fifth of May) but today it's Terry Pratchett's birthday and I thought it would be a good day.
I think this is the best of all Discworld, a mix of past and present, a bitter-sweet story that moved me and made me laugh.
There's some less jokes but the plot always keeps me turning pages as fast as I can.
Terry Pratchett is a master storyteller and he excels in this story.
I think this a book you must read as it's Discworld at its best.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

If you love the Discworld series then you will love this book - although it has a more serious bent than normal

Sam Vines in on the heels of a serial killer - one who targets policemen , when during a lightening storm he finds both he and the killer have been sent back in time . A time where he finds himself mentoring his naive younger self .
Can he expose the killer , will he be trapped in the past ?
All the while a rebellion builds !

Whilst not as hilarious as other books in this world hints appear at times . There is heartbreak and tragedy in this book with pointed references to social and political events in the world
Another brilliantly written book by this talented Author in this fabulous world

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

A bit more serious in tone than other Discworld books but I can see why people say this is one of the best of the series. It has time travel, a hunt for a killer and revolution, all with hints of the wit I have come to love and expect from Terry Pratchett.
Sam Vimes orders you to #pickupapratchett. Do it! You won't regret your trip to Discworld.

As always, a great Pratchett book. Cannot fault any of his work really, it fills me with great joy reading anything he writes really.

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. Great entertaining read!

Night Watch is an emotional gut punch of a book - you're expecting a comedic fantasy with jokes and japes, and suddenly get smacked in the face with one of the most poignant examinations of social justice ever put to paper. With jokes in. That might later also make you cry.

You don't need to know anything about the Discworld to read this but it certainly helps to truly understand the level of development and backstory for some of this universe's most beloved characters. I adore this book and wish everyone, especially in this messed up world we live in now, could read it. Please do yourself a favour and pick up this incredible installment of the wonderful Discworld series.

~How do they rise up?~ We miss you Pterry, so much.

"Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come round again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes."

Terry Pratchett's stories are timeless and I find myself reach for them for comfort. Even when reflecting whats happening in a world he didn't live to see, his observations on human nature makes his work always relevent and emotionally impactful.

Within his own universe ie Discworld – Pratchett tends to write in whatever genre he fancies. Which is how we have a time-travel slip stream novel like Night Watch. Before BBC’s Life on Mars or Ashes to Ashes, featuring a modern copper booted back in time to the ‘old days’ of being a copper, Vimes had already taken that trip into the darker past of the City Watch. Hilarity ensues. This is a great addition to Vimes’ arc and despite the other Guards we know not being with him, it’s a very enjoyable read.

Time travel and Pratchett! Two wonderful things.

Night Watch is one of Pratchett's best works (I swear, I know it is said about nearly each of his books...but it's true!). Book six of the City Watch sub-series and featuring fan favourite character, Sam Vimes, who gets to meet his younger rookie self.

This one is serious more than comedic, but definitely has Pratchett's charm you are used to.
Highly recommend!

I had forgotten what incredible range Terry Pratchett has as a writer, this addition to the City Watch series set in the Discworld, Night Watch is one of his absolute best, featuring one of my favourite characters, Sam Vimes, who amazingly gets to meet his younger rookie self. As he is chasing a serial killer in the present, only to be facing numerous pitfalls and challenges from the past, after a magical incident that occurs has him travelling back in time with the killer. There is heartbreak, philosophy and tragedy in this brilliant novel laden with humanity and an astute social and political commentary on the world that we live in, and which has Sam providing a mentoring role to his younger self. This is the last of the books in the series that I have reread, offered to readers by the publisher Random House Transworld, and I really cannot thank them enough for the opportunity to once again immerse myself in this superb fantasy series, which if you have never read, you are really missing out on.

This is one of the books in the City Watch sub-series of Discworld. The first book in this sub-series is "Guards! Guards!"

Time travel on Discworld! Captain Sam Vimes has to go back in time to teach his greener self.

Another great novel featuring the typical Pratchett writing style with its thought provoking humour.


If you are new to the Discworld: What are you waiting for? There is no better time than now to read this and then read the other novels in the Discworld series.

If you are a seasoned "Discworldian" - How about a re-read? How about gifting this book to all your friends who haven't read it yet?

This is my favourite Discworld book ever. As a writer I appreciate that it's a consummate lesson in how to do dramatic tension properly. Vimes, commander of the City Watch, is chasing a villain through the streets of Ankh Morpork and they venture too close to the Unseen University. Magic flings both of them back in time to when Vimes was a young and impressionable copper, just stepping out into the shady world of law-enforcement and just as likely to learn from bent coppers as straight ones. Luckily he had a role model who put him on the right track, never dreaming that his role model was actually his older self. Complicated? Yes. That wibbly wobbly timey wimey thing is at work here, and it's brilliantly done. Pratchett has killed off beloved characters before (and since) so you're never sure whether Vimes will survive this. There are riots, and, of course, the original villain is still out there and getting more and more dangerous with each passing page. If you only ever read one Discworld book, this is the one.

Everyone has their favourite Discworld series-within-a-series, and for me it's the City Watch books. There is something so earnest about Sam Vimes, right from the beginning, and he never loses that, no matter how elevated his position gets.

Night Watch is one of the later books in the series, with Pratchett giving his characters more politics to deal with, great personal stakes, and moral conundrums out the wazoo. In this particular case, Vimes is pursuing a criminal through the city while his wife is in labour with their first child. It's the anniversary of his hero John Keel's death and a major rebellion in Ankh Morpork. As things would have it, while chasing his criminal, Vimes gets caught up in magic and sent back in time 30 years, to a few days before that infamous rebellion.

What's more, John Keel has already been killed ahead of his time, and the only thing stopping a young Sam Vimes going down a dark path of corruption is future-Vimes stepping in to mentor his younger self. But Vimes has to contend with whether he'll ever get home, a hotbed of revolutionary politics and conspiracy in the city and, worst of all, a young Nobby Nobbs.

While the stakes are high, politically, personally, and temporally, Pratchett still infuses the whole book with pathos, warmth and humour, hiding his lessons and insights about human nature within laugh-out-loud scenes. I recommend this book, and the series, wholeheartedly.