Last Watch

Last Watch (2009) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield

At last I come to Last Watch. Theoretically, there is a fifth book, called New Watch available, but it’s listed as unavailable.

Boo.

Although Last Watch is broken into three parts, Common Cause, A Common Enemy, and A Common Destiny, they are–far more so than the first three books–simply parts of the same story. In the first three books, all three stories are related, but separate and complete story arcs. In Last Watch, it’s more like Part I, Part II, and Part III of the same story arc.

The first story, Common Cause, sees Anton sent to Edinburgh to look into the death of a young Russian who was killed by being drained of all blood.

Of course, we get to see how Svetlana and little Nadya are doing.

It has been a struggle to teach her not to mention … in a loud voice in the metro or on the bus. “Mommy, Daddy, look, that man there’s a vampire!” It wasn’t a big deal about the other passengers–they would just put it down to childish foolishness–but I felt awkward for the vampires somehow.

I want to note one particular passage:

The little balls came from nowhere and disappeared into nowhere. There were more and more of them all the time, as if (he) didn’t have enough time to take back out of the air everything he had thrown up. The colored parabola kept growing brighter and brighter, denser and denser, turning into a gleaming, glittering rope of color. It was dazzling.

There’s a children’s story called The Clown of God that is based upon a French Legend. I’m rather fond of that story, and have gotten the book for multiple small people in my life. I wonder if this bit was a reference to that story, or if he came up with it all on his own.

This was an interesting story, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. I’m not quite sure what it was about Scotland, but it just felt strange for Anton to be there. I realized that he had traveled to Prague in an earlier story, but for the most part, it felt strange for him to not be in Moscow, or at least Russia and it’s former Soviet satellites.

Of course, being in Scotland did let him pull out Merlin and Thomas the Rhymer. And maybe that’s what felt so off to me. I know about Thomas the Rhymer and Merlin, but get to read far less about people and creatures from Russian folklore.

Selfish of me, I suppose.

The second story, A Common Enemy, finds Anton back in Moscow, but only very briefly before he’s sent to Uzbekistan, in search of a powerful magician who was a contemporary of Gesar’s, before he withdrew from the world.

We also got an oh-so-brief visit with Las.

“Las,” Boris Ignatievich said in an icy voice. “I am constantly amazed at how you ever became a Light One.”

“I was in a good mood that day,” Las declared. “I dreamed I was still a little boy, riding a pony….”

“Las!” Boris Ignatievich repeated ominously.

Alas, not nearly long enough.

But Anton gets to meet some very interesting people in Uzbekistan, including his taxi driver.

“Are you free, Father?” I asked, rather formally, in deference to his age.

“A man’s free as long as he believes in his own freedom,” the taxi driver replied philosophically.

I almost wish Anton had gotten to spend more time with him.

And Anton also meets Afandi.

“Hello, respected guest. May your power increase like the fervor of a man undressing a woman! May it rise to the second level and even the first!”

“Afandi, our guest is a Higher Magician,” Valentina Ilinichna said. “Why do you wish him the second level?”

“Quiet, woman!” said Afandi, letting go of my hand and taking a seat at the table. “Do you not see how quickly my wish has come true and even been exceeded?”

But, it’s not all other people. Anton still continues to question everything, including the Watches.

Alisher wouldn’t understand me. He was a true watchman. A genuine Light One. But I tried to understand even the Dark Ones. Even vampires. To understand and forgive… or at least understand. Forgiving was the hardest thing. Sometimes forgiving was the hardest thing in the whole world.

The final story, A Common Destiny, finds Anton heading back to Scotland. He knows who one of the Last Watch is, but the other two are a problem. One is a Light Healer and the other is a Higher Vampire. The higher vampire who best fits the bill is dead, and one of the strongest Light Healers is Svetlana.

This isn’t my favorite book in the series, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. And we learn much more about the Twilight than we did in the previous books.

As I mentioned previously, one of the things I love most about this series is the look at Russian culture and, to some extent, folklore. Little things that are different from American/British books, that I find fascinating. And it’s unlike other fantasy books, which is both fascinating and enjoyable.

Published by Mirimax Books

Rating: 8/10

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