This is the first Russian authored book I've read. Being that I am from America, it's really quite funny how Americans are portrayed the few times mentioned.

Overall I enjoyed reading it! I don't read a lot of books with witches and warlocks and magicians, and I typically find them cheesy (I am still not tempted to pick up Harry Potter), but I really enjoyed this story and characters. The ending was super cheese, and it was a bit of a cop out in my opinion. My friend who only reads books and watches movies that have happy endings would love this book. I didn't learn anything about myself reading this, nor did I really learn anything about the world (maybe perhaps a bit about Russian culture), but it was enjoyable enough; a nice break from the usual stuff that makes me question my existence. ( )

I only made it through the first short story.
It wasn't bad but the further I got the less I enjoyed it.
I usually enjoy a good somber and gloomy mood in a book but here the simplistic fatalism made it all feel so pointless. I just couldn't understand why anyone in this story had enough drive to even get out of the bed in the morning. It all felt to me like everyone should just keel over on the spot, roll into a ball and rock back and forth.
To be frank "why didn't you just kill yourself already" went through my mind repeatedly.
Instead of caring more I kept caring less and less because I had real trouble to connect to anyone in this depressing cast.
The book tries very hard to be wise but never really makes it past the obvious in the context of philosophy and its attempts at hiding that behind mystery shroud™ isn't able to disguise it.
A lot of the interesting parts of the world were pointlessly hidden behind this ominous mystery shroud™.
The first story ends with a blatant sledgehammer foreshadowing which completely killed any vestiges of interest to read on for me.
It could've been a play on the free will vs destiny thingy and not actual prophecy which was a carefully broached topic a few times but even if- that still was very crude either way.
So, all the gloom instead of being mysterious was just depressing and the philosophy instead of being intriguing it was just unrefined and shallow.
Despite all that, I think a good 3/5 star rating for the first story is fair.
This might be a case of its not you, it's me. If you hit me with philosophy I need the full packet. I have a bad time dealing with philosophy-light.

Just a quick reminder that my reviews always sound very negative. I usually only talk about the flaws and how I felt about them. Pay attention to the star rating for how I feel overall about a book. ( )

I loved this whole series, and what limited other works of the author are available in English (skip the trash movie adaptations). Given how prolific the author is, I really wish more of his work was available in English. Also, does anyone have any recommendations for other Russian scifi/fantasy/horror authors that might be worth my time? ( )

The Others walk the streets of Moscow, split into the Night Watch, those of the light who watch over the actions of the dark, and the Night Watch, who do the opposite, in the effort to maintain the balance between good and evil. This follows Anton, who stumbles across Svetlana and Egor, both unaligned humans who have become embroiled in events that threaten the whole city and the truce that exists between the light and the dark.

I ( )

Unknown to regular people, the world if filled with supernatural beings called others. Some of the others follow Light while others follow Dark. Both sides work to maintain a balance between Good and Evil in the world, and are bound by a treaty to do so. When a mid-level agent for the Night Watch (the Light others) discovers a unknown other with extraordinary potential for great power, he finds himself caught up in a power struggle between the forces of both Light and Dark. I really enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series. This book was originally published in Russia, and I can see how the philosophy of the book was influenced by the author's culture. There were times that I found myself struggling a little to understand the book's philosophy, but I enjoyed having my mind stretched. ( )

It's weird to say that I couldn’t engage with this book when I clearly did--I finished it, after all. I guess it would be better to say that I never really felt involved in it. It was a bit like going to a bad zoo: nothing really felt natural and it seemed like there hadn’t been much attempt to disguise the fact.

I think that’s due in part to the translation. I know translating is hard, but isn’t there an English-only copyeditor on the other end to go, “hey dude, this doesn’t really make much sense”? There were places where I got lost in the pronouns, but the weirdest thing was reading a scene or a conversation’s tone one way only to bump into an adjective that seems the polar opposite of the impression I was getting.

I didn’t like the main character, but it wasn’t in a fun way. I just was watching him move around—I never felt connected to him, or any of the characters. I think a big part of that was because this parallel world was so insular. The times I felt most connected were when humans had the narrative from their perspective for a bit: I feel like I learned more about those characters in a few pages than I did about Anton in the whole book. But for all the normal world was right next door to the Other world, there was almost no interaction…including with me as a reader.

While I do applaud the author for trying to muddy up good and evil a bit, I kind of feel like he went too far. None of the good people really seemed good. They talked about doing things for others, being selfless, but none of them actually were. Really, aside from the philosophizing, I feel like I could have been reading about the Day Watch.

And I felt like…well, what was the point? Where did we get to? Why did we need to get there? I get that a little bit of that was supposed to be in the book—it wasn’t exactly subtle—but I just didn’t feel any urgency.

It’s a cool world, to be sure, but it didn’t feel as rich as the author seemed to imply. People could live for hundreds of years, but where was their culture? There didn’t seem to be any difference between characters several hundred years old and with an average lifetime, but there wasn’t even a hint that this was deliberate.

I’m a bit disappointed—I had hoped this would be better, since I’ve wanted to read it since 2009—but honestly I just didn’t muster up enough interest in this book to care all that much. Not a waste of time, but this book will be going, with the sequel I picked up just in case, on the take shelf. Hopefully someone who appreciates it more will pick it up.

Quote Roundup

30 - "I've always believed that ill-considered but well-intentioned actions do more good than actions that are well-considered but cruel."
Duh. Oh, and irony overload.

61 - "It's discrimination..."
"You're not in the States," the boss said, and his voice turned dangerously polite. "Yes, it's discrimination. Making use of the most appropriate available member of staff without taking his personal inclinations into account."
This confused me...I was wondering if Ignat was gay, but he only seemed attracted to women afterwards. And he certainly had no trouble getting cozy with the person who merited this comment later.

131 - It's not so easy to use the familiar form of my name. From Anton to Antonshka is too big a step.
One thing I did enjoy about the book was that I got to indulge in my love of Russian names--though the -nyms weren't quite as good as in The Brothers Karamazov.

155 - In a war the most dangerous thing is to understand the enemy. To understand is to forgive. And we have no right to do that--we never have had, not since the creation of the world.
You know what, it's entirely possible that my discomfort from this book is due to my Christian upbringing. I was given a very rational approach: you try to understand those who hurt you, you try to see the bigger picture, you try to understand so that you can forgive, maybe even empathize. I'm not pitching atheism as an opposite here--more like I'm saying the refusal to think logically, to even try to understand, is what made it so hard for me to connect. I always want to understand, but no one in this book does, they just want to categorize their Good and Evil--even when everything is supposedly not so clean-cut.

179 - One of the quirks of people who've managed to find their place in life is that they believe that's the way things ought to be. Everything simply works out the way it ought to. And if someone feels shortchanged by life, then he has only himself to blame. He must be either lazy or stupid. or else he thought too much of himself and tried to "get above himself."
Privilege in a nutshell. There's so much of this in the USA.

229 - "Stay in that body! It suits you better; you're not a man, you're a spineless wimp!"
Ugh, sexism. If Sveta were a real person, I'd pity her internalized misogyny. Since she's written by a man, I pity her creator for the same reason. And I hope he quit practicing psychiatry.

228 - "We're not given the chance to choose absolute truth. Truth's always two-faced. The only thing we have is the right to reject the lie we find most repugnant."
Oversimplified thinking masquerading as profound insight. The book was stuffed with it. It vexed me.

283 - How I wished I had clean hands, a passionate heart, and a cool head. But somehow these three qualities don't seem to get along too well. The wolf, the goat, and the cabbage--what crazy ferryman would think of sticking them all in the same boat? And when he'd eaten the goat for starters, what wolf wouldn't like to try the ferryman?
I have no idea what this means. Who or what is the ferryman? The hands conquer the heart? It's implied but not stated that the heart might "eat" the head (of cabbage--I'm disappointed the translator resisted the pun). Is that supposed to mean something? Is this a Russian saying or story? Why is this so much more complicated than it has to be?!

362 - Gesar might act harshly, even cruelly. He might provoke the Dark Ones and leave the Light Ones to carry on alone. He might do anything at all. Except make a mistake.
Part of the reason I was so confused was that the characters were so inconsistent. This guy's infallible? How's that even possible? Don't we witness him failing, making mistakes? Why would Anton believe he can't make mistakes? Is he being sarcastic?

378 - You have to take responsibility for your actions. But sometimes you simply don't have enough strength for that.
Ugh, this character. You have to earn the right to say that kind of thing and have me believe you, and you definitely haven't done that, Anton. There are plenty of ways I might have sympathized with the difficulty of accepting responsibility. Instead I'm just annoyed.

397 - "The potential of Europe and North America has already been exhausted. Everything that was possible has already been tried there. There are a few things being developed right now. But all those countries are already half asleep. A healthy retiree in shorts with a digital camera--that's the prosperous countries of the West. We need to experiment with young ones. Russia, Asia, the Arab world--these are where the battles of the present day are fought."
Interesting and a bit prophetic--but I think Olga really sold places like Mexico and Greece short. ( )

Hmmm... a bit of a let-down, honestly. I really enjoyed the 2 movies made from this book, but there were so many times that I felt that perhaps the translation wasn't great. (References to "jokes" that must've been puns or other play on words in Russian, for instance). The world-building was great - I was very intrigued with the whole idea of this story, but the execution just fell a little flat for me. Found too often I was looking at the clock saying "C'mon, get somewhere exciting already!". So for me: it just didn't work. ( )

Most times if I see a movie and then read the book, I can pick out what I didn't like and what I would have loved to have seen added in. This would have been a perfect scenario, considering I've seen both Nightwatch and Daywatch, and they are both contained within this first book. Normally that would really annoy, but the movies and the book itself are so great I couldn't even be upset. I really enjoyed everything from the format (3 shorter chronological stories involving the same characters)to the language and the questions that the book raised.
The movies were more action packed and about the very basic fight between good and evil with a few intrigues thrown in, but the book was almost more about the similarities between good and evil, who is willing to do what to reach their own ends? ( )

Anton is one of the Others, an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers, serving either the Light or Dark Side who coexist in an uneasy peace by watching each other. He falls in love with 24-year-old Svetlana, when a black cyclone is placed over her by Dark Magician. While trying to save her, Anton finds Egor, a gifted boy unwilling to choose between his Light or Dark abilities. Anton struggles with his love for Svetlana and saving his precarious world of magicians, shape-shifters, witches and vampires. A bit slow at times. ( )

A really interesting look at the battle between good and evil--not at all a typical story of this type. Excellent translation from the Russian, as well. Not stilted or hard to read, as many translations seem to be. ( )

Vampires, shape-shifters, witches, magicians...nothing new there. Light, Dark, the Balance...nothing new there either. So why do I like this book so much? Well, in the imagination stakes, there is the Twilight, which does seem original to me, but really it is the character and setting that I like.

The protagonist, Anton, Light One, magician, agent for the Night Watch - the organisation that attempts to ensure that the Dark Ones uphold the truce between Light and Dark - is committed to his cause yet continually morally confused and questioning and usually trying to find the right action without full knowledge of what is at stake or even who the players are. I sympathise with and relate to him; I often find those with extreme moral certainty very frightening.

Anton lives and works in Moscow - it's a Moscow I've never come across before - post Cold War, pre Millenium and most of all, Russian. The author is Russian and it comes through - places I've never heard of are mentioned casually - neighbourhoods of Moscow, Metro stations, roads - with no concession to the idea that they might be unfamiliar. Historical and cultural allusions are made that are utterly meaningless to me - and I love all that. This sense of foreign-ness is as magical as anything that occurs in the Twilight and contributes to the mysterious atmosphere of the work as greatly as any other factor.

Three seperate but sequential stories make up the book. Each of them is long enough to have been considered a seperate work and received a seperate volume in the 1960s. They are all excellent, but similar technical tricks are pulled in each, allowing the third story to become somewhat predictable, which is my only criticism of this fine contribution to the fantasy genre.
( )

I think I'm a bit amazed.

There's an awful lot I love about this novel and I had to put aside a lot of my well-misinformed prejudices about what I think I like most about modern Urban Fantasy.

Let's be clear here... this novel came out before most of the modern batches. 1998.

When it comes to similar themes of dark magic vs. light and the exploration of an amazingly deep moral ambiguity between them, I actually prefer Benedict Jacka's UF novels when it comes to straight action, magic, and characters, but Night Watch takes things slightly farther with the honest questions.

In both, anyone can be good or evil despite the categories, and there's a LOT of ground covered in both series, but Night Watch actually comes close to laying down a foundation of philosophical thought. I can be summed up as balance if I wanted to be crude. Let's not be surprised this is a modern Russian novel writing about modern Russia as a full-out UF with vampires, magicians, alternate dimensional side-realms, and a fight between the light and dark. Add the police-like drama and ramp up the focus of a morality of action versus the singularity of truth and the ambiguity of all the details will bring a hoard of devils home to us.

Sometimes slow, very often broken up into what could be a series of novellas, this first book is nevertheless pretty brilliant.

Where do dark magicians get their power? Suffering. Where do light magicians get theirs? Joy. Both diminish the source. It's quite delightful.

But if I'm being very honest, this is more of a 4.5 than a full 5 stars, but that's only due to my sheer enjoyment (or lack) that pulled down this otherwise sprawling philosophical twist to a traditional gritty UF. Maybe my issue is in the translation. Maybe it's my greater enjoyment coming from similar series to have treated the topic. I do not know.

Even so, I did enjoy this very much. Especially the end. ( )

Prachtig boek - dat zich afspeelt in het hedendaagse Moskou - over de strijd tussen Goed en Kwaad dat na een wapenstilstand van duizend jaar verbroken dreigt te worden door de komst van een jongen.

Nachtwacht maakt deel uit van een trilogie dat een van de grootste Russische succesverhalen van de laatste decennia is. De verfilming van dit boek versloeg blockbusters als de Harry Potter films en de Lord of the Rings trilogie ruimschoots. ( )

Delusa, molto delusa.
Ho comprato il libro dopo aver visto il film. Meno male perché non avrei capito niente probabilmente.
Confusionario, troppe idee che vengono mal gestite.
Tre storie con un finale spesso troppo sospeso.
E poi lo stile di scrittura!!! Brutto brutto, troppo caotico, si perde spesso il filo dell'azione.
Non credo proprio che leggerò gli altri due.
( )

Night Watch is the first book in a six-book series. I would consider this to be urban fantasy. It’s set in Moscow and focuses on “Others”, people with special abilities who walk among non-humans unrecognized, usually picking a side between the Light and the Dark and working in organized groups toward the goals of their chosen side. Since both sides seem primarily concerned with maintaining a balance, the lines between them are a little blurry. Rules are in place to keep conflict between the two sides from escalating into a war. If somebody strikes a blow for the Light, then the other side has the right to strike an equal blow for the Dark.

The structure is a little different; it consists of three individual stories. Each one tells a complete story, but follows the same main character and builds on the previous stories. This book was originally published in Russia in the late 1990’s. I read an English translation, of course. The only way I could read a Russian book in its original language would be if it were transliterated into the English alphabet and if it consisted solely of the word “nyet”. I enjoyed getting some sense of Russian culture through the book, although it wasn’t a very strong sense because the story focused mostly on the fantasy elements and very little on the day-to-day lives of normal people.

I didn’t always feel like I understood the motivations of the characters. I always had some sort of a “wait, what?” type of reaction at some point during the climactic events of each story. It seemed like characters took the long way around to work toward their goals, and the main character was often ineffective. The main character’s actions made more sense than anybody else’s since we were in his head, but even his actions didn’t always make sense to me. He was a likeable character though, a bit bumbling and confused, but well-meaning.

I think my biggest complaint about the book would be the constant and repetitive musings on morality as it related to the actions of the Light versus the Dark. In the first story when I was still learning about the setting, it was interesting to learn about the choices that the sides had made, why they had made them, and consider whether their choices were ultimately more or less harmful than alternate choices. But then in the second story the characters continued to muse over more-or-less the same things, and it started to get tiresome. By the third story, of which at least half seemed to consist of more repetition of these same thoughts, I had reached the “please make it stop” point. I liked the way the story had this moral gray area, but I didn’t need its existence beaten into my head so much.

Aside from those complaints, it was a quick read that held my attention well. I enjoyed the concepts introduced and I liked the stories and the characters. I’m not sure if the setting can sustain my interest for a full six books, but I liked the first book well enough to try the second. I’m rating it at 3.5 stars and rounding up to 4 on Goodreads. ( )

Ночной дозор - современная история фэнтези, которая происходит в Москве. Мир делится на две основные силы - Свет и Тьму. Организации, которые называются Ночной и Дневной дозор должны поддерживать баланс между этими двумя. Это часть Великого договора между Светом и Тьмой.

Ночной и Дневной дозор состоят из магов, волшебниц и оборотней разных уровень и навык. Они называются Иными и живут несколько веков - они не совсем люди. Одним из них является наш герой истории Антон, работник Ночного дозора. Он был аналитиком и программистом Дозора на продолжении пяти лет, но в последнее время он стал оперативником. Его задания состоят из охоты на незарегистрированные вампиры, патрулирования города, предотвращения использования темной силы Темными магами и дозорными без разрешения, и тому подобные.

Однажды он в московском метро увидит девушку, над которой висит чёрный вихрь, виден только Иным. Ночной дозор должен установить, какой Темный маг вызвал это проклятые над девушку. Следует сложная игра между Светом и Тьмой и их Дозорами, что приводит к угрозе всего мира.

Несмотря на то, что мир делится на Свет и Тьму, есть много моральной двусмысленности в этом романе. Персонажи очень часто спрашивают себя, если они на правой стране и если у них есть права делать то, что от них требуется - никто более Антона. Он сначала уверен что Свет морально превосходит Тьму, но в продолжении он начинает сомневаться. Это мне очень понравилось, но Антон, пожалуй, оказался слишком склоним самоанализу, поэтому большая часть второй половины книги была посвящена его моральных дилеммам, и мне иногда хотелось чтобы что-то случилось и разбудило его от постоянной интроспекции.
Мне тоже понравились персонажи. Автор объединил множество интересных персонажей, начинавший с Антона, но только. Тут же шеф Ночного дозора Гесер, его “коллега” из Дневного дозора Завулон, молодой подмастерье Егор (хотя, я думаю, что писатель и не уделил достаточно времени развитию его персонажа), древняя ведьма Ольга, “дикар” Максим и, пожалуй, другие.

Язык этого романа фэнтези очень подходит для тех, кто изучает русский язык. Неосложненный, прямой, но нетривиальный. Я обязательно прочитаю следующую часть серии. ( )

I really liked the story, but the writing felt so awkward to me!! I kind of had to trudge through it, except for the points where the plot was progressing quickly. I'll probably read the second book, not for a bit. ( )

I think it must have lost something in translation. ( )

This book is actually three stories in chronological order with the same characters and world. There isn't an overall story arc really, so calling this a novel is a little off.

It's an enjoyable read, although not nearly as deep as the story likes to think of itself. Some aspects between the different stories are irritatingly repetitive, as similar themes and idea get rehashed the same way in each story, with similar conclusions.

That being said, I quite appreciated the wry Russian humor in some parts, and the world that's created is certainly interesting. It's not a must-read, but if the description seems of interest, you will be entertained. ( )

Good to know that Russian popular literature is not for me. Enjoyed the first part until the denouement - so dreary and depressing. The second part didn't have the verve of the first and I was bogged down in written sludge. More erudite readers will appreciate this book. I a off to appreciate books plotted with critical thinking skills and myriad journal article on the neuroscience of personality and thought. ( )

I saw this in movie-format one bright summer's day when I was at home with a miserable cold. So much did I like the movie that I went out and bought the book. The movie was good. The book is better. THe book makes a little more sense than the movie.

I'm gonna tell ya - this book has vampires in it. Happily they are Russian vampires and tend to the dark, gloomy and fatalistic. No one sparkles. There are no sappy teenagers in the story. (Don't misunderstand, a teenager or two does in fact make its way into the book. They're just not sappy.)

I quite liked it. ( )

Wow. This book SUCKED. Totally NOT AT ALL about vampires, which I thought it would be about. Also, after 450 pages of plot twists, what's-going-ons, and double- & triple-crosses we find out that the most powerful "Other" in all of Russia did everything because he loves some chick who is trapped in an owl's body. THIS ISN'T FUCKING TWILIGHT!

Sucked. Sucked. Sucked. ( )

To say that I was feeling adrift after Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy would be an understatement. I missed a good fantasy novel. I wanted fantasy, adventure, worlds in worlds, and above all a good narrative. I dug around online and in book stores trying to find the perfect fit. Nothing really was jumping out at me, and then I came across Sergei Lukyanenko’s book The Night Watch. The front of the book boasts that the novel is “J.K. Rowling, Russian style”. So I thought, why not. The book starts strong. There is intrigue, mysterious characters, and a classic battle between good and evil (not to mention the age old question: What is good and evil anyway?). I felt connected to the main character Anton and his story was very believable, albeit a little stereotypical. Anton is the basic idea of a character who is good, but feels torn about his own actions and feelings. What is right and wrong?

The hardest part about this book though, is that you feel like you’re reading it through Google translate. There are so many sentences, expressions, and sayings that sound clunky and not quite right. There are also some spelling mistakes in the book (mainly homo-phonic ones), but it made things feel a bit off.

The next frustrating aspect about the book is the plot line. The book is split into three stories. Everything is fine until you get to story two, where you realise that the plot line is completely different and big chunks of the plot from the first book are just forgotten. The book in a way, is almost like a series of novellas that are linked with the same character, but are essentially separate. The stories, as Lukyanenko calls them (at least in translation), end of cliff hangers… And then you’re just left hanging… and hanging… and hanging…

I really really wanted to like this book. I was, in fact, desperate to like this book, because I wanted another fiction series I could sink my teeth into. However, the book fell short. The series has expanded to five books now, and I’m not sure that I’ll be reading any others from the series. I have my sneaking suspicions that something might have gotten lost in translation from Russian to English and that the books are a lot better in their original language. Although, it’s a really hard call to make since my Russian consists of well known Vodka brands, and that’s about it.

Readers! If there is a fantasy book or series that has you hooked, please let me know! From one desperate fantasy reader to another… I must get my fill of fangs, adventure, and the quest for good and evil! ( )

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: Night Watch Series: Night Watch Author: Sergei Lukyanenko Rating: of 5 Battle Axes Genre: Urban Fantasy Pages: 498 Format: Kindle Synopsis: There is a War going on, between the Light and the Dark. Humans don't know about this war until they become "Others", people with extraordinary abilities who must then choose either the Light or the Dark. Anton is one such Other and we follow him through several stories as he learns and grows in the bleakest place of all, Russia. My Thoughts: I was all over the place with this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, hated it in places, was ready to call down the fires of heaven upon Lukyanenko several times and was completely and wonderfully morose through most of the book. I was expecting one story. What I got was 3 or 4 and it worked well. Each story started out from the viewpoint of someone other than Anton and then chapter One would begin from Anton's pov and it was 1st person. It was a jarring change but I found it to fit perfectly with the tone of the whole book. One of the things that made me want to put this down was the utter and complete Dualistic nature of the Light and the Dark. Neither were evil or good, but simply Were. And Light always came off as the weaker [which it usually does in Dualism, see Terry Brooks Word & the Void as another example] and in fact Anton pretty much says so in the first story. That leads into how the Other leaders of the Light and Dark play games with humans, the opposite Side and their own members. Anton encounters this several times and it almost breaks him. I know it would have broken me. Anton. What a fantastic character. Drinking vodka by the *whatever large units one drinks alcohol by*, falling in love, doing his best while not understanding half of what is going on and pondering. I love pondering even while sometimes hating it. Recently, during one of the Classic Club reads, I told someone that I felt like I had a Russian soul, ie, I wasn't happy unless I was miserable. That sums up Anton and in many ways I felt like if I had to be a character, I would have to choose Anton. This was a translated work so it was tough to tell if the rough edges were because of the author or the translator. This book was by no means a wonderful jewel of literature but it was an engrossing look into the Urban Fantasy landscape. And unlike a certain Wizard (filed under W in the telephone directory - That is Harry Dresden, future me, since you'll probably forget), Anton's complaining and misery didn't wear on me. It was him and it fit like a glove. " ( )

Book club pick and I really wanted to like it, but 100 pages in it is still very generic worldbuilding and rule setup. I should say Moscow vampire thriller just wouldn't call out to me in the best of plots, but not a single engaging character...couldn't finish. ( )