Review of Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Go on, I dare you to google “top 10 Terry Pratchett books”. While there are a few titles that appear with semi-regularity in such lists, it's only semi-. Otherwise, the fans of the author's works are as diverse as their beliefs what constitutes 'the best'. Reading Rob Wilkin's biography of Pratchett, he made the statement to the effect Night Watch (2002) is likely his best, and that something resembling agreement, somewhere maybe in the ballpark of consensus, was had on this idea. Wilkins as close to the inner sanctum of Pratchett as a person could be without being Pratchett himself, why not see what the fuss is about?

Night Watch is a City Watch novel. More specifically, however, it is a Sam Vines novel. In the opening scenes he joins the chase of a murderer through Ankh-Morpork, a chase that leads to the roof of the Unseen University library. In the standoff that follows, Vimes takes a blow to the head and wakes up in what at first appears to be an alternate reality. People don't recognize him, the Watch's offices don't exist, and people think he is a criminal. But it's returning to his home to discover that his wife is still a child makes Vimes understand the situation: he's in the past. Some arcane magic happened at the University. With the help of the monks of time, Vimes intends to get back to the present. But that likewise means getting through the past, again, this time as a member of the Night's Watch.

Many Discworld novels feature braided plotting. The relationship between the differing strands not always clear at the outset, Pratchett slowly winds them together into a tight plot. At least usually. Night Watch is quite linear, however (which may help explain the relative popularity). The story stays over the shoulder of Vimes at almost every step, slowly and steadily escalating into a city-wide event that is meaningful to Vimes' past, present, and future.

But perhaps most importantly, Night Watch displaces Vimes from his comfort zone. Readers associate Vimes as living in relative luxury, married to a rich noble. Night Watch takes Vimes back to a time when this life is entirely non-existent. The Ankh-Morpork government is corrupt. The City Watch are more thuggish than the people themselves. And unrest is brewing on the city streets. The stable state of Vimes' present-day Ankh-Mopork doesn't exist. This switch, from a law enforcement group that can be trusted to one that cannot, is something entirely new to Vimes. Questions that don't normally cross his mind now do at a mile a minute, forcing him to come up with hard answers to hard questions. Which is a good time to jump to theme.

Night Watch looks at the civil responsibilities of the police. Should they obey all orders from above? What does “keeping the peace” mean exactly? How to uphold the law without letting a misguided sense of power take over? Meaty stuff. There is a scene in Night Watch in which Vimes faces a mob with pitchforks (natch) on one hand and a wing of the police obeying the patrician's questionable commands on the other. It forces Vimes to pause and come to terms with what the real purpose of his role is, and whether there are any objective, impregnable principles he can stick to through thick and thin. I won't spoil the answer, but I can say Pratchett, in Pratchett fashion, is both honest and practical in the response. It's what gives the final-final climax, the showdown, real salience.

So, is Night Watch the best Discworld novel? If it's not, then it's up there with a few others fighting for the top. I cannot say definitively. The plot is dynamic yet cohesive. All of the humor a person could want is splashed across the pages. Readers get a special, rare peek into Discworld history. Vimes, with his younger and older self present, shines as a character. But it's likely the theme of law and order (with a bit of revenge) that makes such a lasting impression. With Ankh-Morpork in a state of civil unrest, being on the side of the police doesn't always mean you're fighting for good—at least practically speaking. I daresay it's the discussion on the topic of 'might makes right', 'do the right thing', and the like which let the story stick to the ribs—longer than any other Discworld novel if Wilkins and many others are right.