Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
The Night Watch series has caused a sensation never before seen in Russia -- its popularity is frenzied and unprecedented, and driven by a truly great, epic story. In 2005 Fox Searchlight announced it had acquired the Russian film adaptation for an American release. Interest in the books here is now set to reach a fever pitch.

Set in modern day Moscow, Night Watch is a world as elaborate and imaginative as Tolkien or the best Asimov. Living among us are the "Others," an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers who swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. A thousand-year treaty has maintained the balance of power, and the two sides coexist in an uneasy truce. But an ancient prophecy decrees that one supreme "Other" will rise up and tip the balance, plunging the world into a catastrophic war between the Dark and the Light. When a young boy with extraordinary powers emerges, fulfilling the first half of the prophecy, will the forces of the Light be able to keep the Dark from corrupting the boy and destroying the world?

An extraordinary translation from the Russian by noted translator Andrew Bromfield, this first English language edition of Night Watch is a chilling, engrossing read certain to reward those waiting in anticipation of its arrival.

Rating : - Fantastically Russian
Night Watch is a good read, at a good pace, with a really excellent lead character. I read the book after seeing the movie, but before learning that the American version of the movie was heavily butchered due to movies execs worrying about how the movie would translate. After reading this novel, I'm anxious to find the "real" version of the movie and watch it properly, and I've got the next two books at the top of my reading stack.

The biggest part of the novel for me wasn't the action or the plot specifics or even the secondary characters, but Russia itself and the classic Russian lead of Anton. Other reviewers say the book is a bit plodding- I felt this was an excellent portrayal of the general malaise of a post- Cold War Russia. Some say that Anton is a weak hero- He drinks himself nearly to oblivion and rants about the terrible misfortune of his life, what could be more Russian? I wound up wanting to share some vodka with the guy because I could picture myself in the same shoes, under this bizarre set of circumstances.

It's that sense of mood, and of Russia as a wonderful backdrop, that this story becomes possible. The book is actually divided into 3 novellas, each comprising a separate story rather like a set of serials. Even then, this book as a whole leaves most questions unanswered, and this is a good thing. You only ever get to know just as much as Anton knows, and throughout the book you're only experiencing things from his perspective. The book is in three novellas because that's how Anton lives his life- one story after another, and he tries his best to wash his hands of the last event before he winds up in another one. You join almost in medias res because Anton rarely bothers explaining or planning, he just tries to make do with the situation he's handed.

All in all, I can't recommend this book enough. Sure, I've barely mentioned the fireballs and the werewolves and the amulets and the computer databases. Everything combines to make a wonderfully now, fantastically Russian, yet somehow completely mystic setting where there's this whole world we can't see right in the middle of our own, and in some ways it's not much different from our own. But all of that is really secondary to the setting, and the wonderful ride as we follow Anton around in his work.

Definitely pick this one up. Just understand that you're getting less of an epic adventure (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings), and more of a socio-political drama (War and Peace comes to mind for some reason). The book still has a lot of interesting combat and magic and suspense, but it doesn't meet the usual definition of a page-turner because of Anton's more melancholy take on things.