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A review by aj96
Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
2.0
I was interested in this book and really wanted to read it, but I started it with a resistant attitude towards it. Maybe because of the popularity of vampires and the ensuing vampire fatigue, although having finished the book vampires are only a minor part of the story.
The book is divided into three stories which was fine but unnecessary since all three have the same protagonist and are continuous although with different subplots. There were problems that lasted throughout the entire book. One was the excessive use of exclamation points. I don't know if this was the fault of the author or the translator, but there were way too many. I get it, the book is exciting! Another problem I had with the book was the insertion of song lyrics into the plot. Again, possibly a problem of translation but these lyrics were basically nonsense to me, yet are presented as so meaningful.
I liked the first story in the book. I thought there were some interesting and creative ideas, such as vortexes appearing over people's heads when they are cursed by others (not Others). I thought the concept of the two watches and their interactions and balance was interesting as well. However, I wanted more back story on how these watches came to be and how the treaty was put in place. That would have been a more interesting story than this one.
With stories two and three, I found the premise to be getting old. There was too much of Anton thinking about the difference between Light and Dark, and Good and Evil. And yeah the lines are blurred. It just rambled on too much. And SPOILER:
I had to force myself to finish the book, but it ended with a twist that makes me want to read the sequel(s) just to follow up with it. But from reading the description of the next book in the series, I don't know if it picks up where this story leaves off.
The book is divided into three stories which was fine but unnecessary since all three have the same protagonist and are continuous although with different subplots. There were problems that lasted throughout the entire book. One was the excessive use of exclamation points. I don't know if this was the fault of the author or the translator, but there were way too many. I get it, the book is exciting! Another problem I had with the book was the insertion of song lyrics into the plot. Again, possibly a problem of translation but these lyrics were basically nonsense to me, yet are presented as so meaningful.
I liked the first story in the book. I thought there were some interesting and creative ideas, such as vortexes appearing over people's heads when they are cursed by others (not Others). I thought the concept of the two watches and their interactions and balance was interesting as well. However, I wanted more back story on how these watches came to be and how the treaty was put in place. That would have been a more interesting story than this one.
With stories two and three, I found the premise to be getting old. There was too much of Anton thinking about the difference between Light and Dark, and Good and Evil. And yeah the lines are blurred. It just rambled on too much. And SPOILER:
Spoiler
it turns out that the plot of all three stories were setups by the Night Watch to test or trick Anton. But it's stated multiple times that he's just a middle-grade magician so why waste the watch's time and resources to create these elaborate plots for him?I had to force myself to finish the book, but it ended with a twist that makes me want to read the sequel(s) just to follow up with it. But from reading the description of the next book in the series, I don't know if it picks up where this story leaves off.