“Night Watch” is among the most serious Discworld novels, a story of revolution and barricades in which jokes give way to real tension. The time-travel plot is unusually tight, and Vimes, a policeman who must choose a side when the city rises, carries it. Readers who come mainly for the comedy may find less than usual, and as the twenty-ninth volume it means most to those who know the Watch.

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About the book

Night Watch is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 29th book in his Discworld series, and the sixth starring the City Watch, published in 2002. The protagonist of the novel is Sir Samuel Vimes, commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. A five-part radio adaptation of the novel was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Night Watch placed second in the annual Locus Poll for best fantasy novel. In late 2024 Penguin announced that Night Watch would be added to the Penguin Modern Classics range, with a new introduction by Pratchett's personal assistant and friend Rob Wilkins, and annotations by Prof David Lloyd and Dr Darryl Jones.

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The sources average 9.0 across 634 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 81% of the weight and the score stays at 8.8 — the Humour average of 7.8 barely moves it.