{"id":9033,"date":"2017-04-15T12:41:44","date_gmt":"2017-04-15T16:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=9033"},"modified":"2023-05-16T16:51:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T20:51:01","slug":"new-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9033","title":{"rendered":"New Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Watch<\/a><\/em> (2012\/2013) Sergei Lukyanenko<\/a> translated by Andrew Bromfield<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The fifth book of the Night Watch series! I finally got around to reading it!<\/p>\n

This is a dubious text for the cause of Light.
\n\u2014THE NIGHT WATCH <\/p>\n

This is a dubious text for the cause of Darkness.
\n\u2014THE DAY WATCH<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As with the rest of the series, the book is divided into three parts: Dubious Intenet, Dubious Times, Dubious Doings.<\/p>\n

First things first, Anton’s daughter Nadia–the zero point Light Enchantress–is ten and going to school at the Night Watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaddy, do you really think I don\u2019t know anything about sex life?\u201d asked Nadya. <\/p>\n

I looked at her. \u201cNadya, you\u2019re ten years old. Yes, I think you don\u2019t know anything about it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nadya blushed slightly and murmured: \u201cBut I watch television. I know that grown-ups like to kiss and hug . . .\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cStop!\u201d I exclaimed in panic. \u201cStop. Let\u2019s agree that you\u2019ll talk about this with Mummy, okay?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Dubious Intenet” is the first story, and opens with Anton sitting at a bar at the airport, after having just dropped off a visitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cPardon me, Boris Ignatievich,\u201d I said, \u201cbut Mr. Warnes drinks like a fish. And he prefers decent single malts, not White Horse. My bar\u2019s completely empty. Tomorrow some other guest will arrive and you\u2019ll assign me to look after him. But I can\u2019t buy alcohol in the fancy \u2018A-Z of Taste\u2019 supermarkets on my salary.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cGo on,\u201d Gesar said in an icy voice. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that I sat down in the bar to drink a mug of beer.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHow long have you been drinking beer in the mornings, Gorodetsky?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cFour days now. Since Warnes arrived.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anton witnesses a young boy–the same age as Nadia–throwing a fit as he insists that the plane his mother wants them to board is going to crash, and sees that the boy is a Clairvoyant, so he interferes to keep the boy from boarding the plane and so the boy can become a Light Other.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it turns out that the boy is also a Prophet, and the Twilight is coming to kill him.<\/p>\n

One of the things I particularly liked about this story is that the policeman Anton influenced in the very first story comes back into the picture. He’s now a policeman at the airport, and his brief interaction with Anton changed his life in many ways, including the ability to recognize others.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, this language changes a bit in this book, not through translation, but in that this is the first time I remember “fuck” appearing. It doesn’t appear a lot, and for emphasis, in which case it worked particularly well.<\/p>\n

In a moment of genuine terror only the Russian language could convey the true depths of his feelings. It made me feel proud of our great Russian culture!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is an interesting twist in this book–Las (who is far more chaotic good than any other Other) starts searching for God and faith.<\/p>\n

Las gestured dismissively. \u201cA slight intoxication helps a man to cast off the chains of convention and frees his mind.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s no condition of divine revelation, far from it,\u201d Semyon chuckled. \u201cI like going into churches, it\u2019s calm, the smell\u2019s good and the aura\u2019s benign. But I don\u2019t sense God.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYour moment will come too!\u201d Las declared solemnly. \u201cYou\u2019ll sense God within you. You\u2019re a good man, after all.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an Other,\u201d Semyon replied. \u201cA good one, I hope. But an Other. And for us, I\u2019m afraid, there is no God . . .\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Dubious Times” is the second story, and finds Anton traveling to try and find Erasmus Darwin. <\/p>\n

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY WAS NOT AN AGE WELL EQUIPPED to ensure a happy childhood. But then, it wasn\u2019t all that great for an active prime of life and a peaceful old age either. It was easy to die; in fact it was very easy. Life was merely the prelude to death and the life after death\u2014 the existence of which only very few doubted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I quite liked seeing Erasmus Darwin and the glimpses into the past. And also how Erasmus dealt both with living centuries longer than he was supposed to and being a Dark Other. (In previous books I loved that Joan of Ark was a weak Dark Other, but that Gilles de Montmorency-Laval was a Light Other.<\/p>\n

This is far more a continuation of the first story than a second story, like the previous books. That’s neither good nor bad, but it was different.<\/p>\n

The funny thing was that the spell which made it possible to pack a whole heap of junk into a small volume had only appeared fairly recently. It had simply never occurred to a single Other that it could be done\u2014 until people started describing magical bags and suitcases in books of fantasy and fairy tales.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I do love how popular culture filters into these stories–not just Russian SFF, but Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings.<\/p>\n

In this story, we also get the return of Ariana, who is possibly one of the most complicated characters in the series. The starts as a dark witch, then changes to a Higher Light other, and throughout her actions and justifications are never quite clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m simply choosing the lesser evil,\u201d I added. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven when choosing the lesser evil, never forget that you\u2019re still choosing evil,\u201d Arina said seriously. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut in choosing nothing, we choose both the greater and the lesser evil at once,\u201d I replied. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen we understand each other,\u201d she said, nodding.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Dubious Doings”, the third story, is also an immediate continuation of the previous stories. Anton returns to Russia and tries to decide whether he wants to hear the Prophecies or not, and whether Nadia must fight the Tiger (the expression of the Twilight in a human form).<\/p>\n

There are still the pop culture references that amuse me.<\/p>\n

\u201cShow me your invitation, citizen,\u201d said a rosy-cheeked young man in uniform, blocking my way. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not concerned about my invitation,\u201d I said morosely, waving my hand in the style of the Jedi knights. <\/p>\n

The vampire behind me giggled audibly. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not concerned about your invitation,\u201d the policeman agreed, stepping back. His comrade, who had also been affected by the mild spell, backed away to allow me through.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I feel like I need to go back and re-read the story again, to pick up on things I missed the first time, to see passages in a different light. But first I need to read the final book.<\/p>\n

Published by Harper Paperbacks<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Watch (2012\/2013) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield The fifth book of the Night Watch series! I finally got around to reading it! This is a dubious text for the cause of Light. \u2014THE NIGHT WATCH This is a dubious text for the cause of Darkness. \u2014THE DAY WATCH As with the rest of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,2,16,38,34],"tags":[67,66,47,65,313,217],"class_list":["post-9033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-fantasy","category-supernatural","category-translated","category-urban-fantasy","tag-andrew-bromfield","tag-night-watch","tag-russian","tag-sergei-lukyanenko","tag-vampires","tag-witches"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2lH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10065,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10065","url_meta":{"origin":9033,"position":0},"title":"Sixth Watch","author":"Michelle","date":"March 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Sixth Watch (2015\/2016) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield This text is mandatory reading for the forces of Light. \u2014THE NIGHT WATCH This text is mandatory reading for the forces of Darkness. \u2014THE DAY WATCH This is the final book of the Night Watch series. Definitely and irrevocably the final\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/The-Sixth-Watch.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10021,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10021","url_meta":{"origin":9033,"position":1},"title":"Twilight Watch, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"March 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Twilight Watch, Audible Version (2006\/2007\/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield narrated by Paul Michael This might well be my favorite book of the series, partially because Anton and Svetka are happily married and that relationship is a strength, and partially because the events are so unexpected. Plus, of course,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Twilightwatch-e1511017334793.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2581,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2581","url_meta":{"origin":9033,"position":2},"title":"Day Watch","author":"Michelle","date":"October 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Day Watch (2000\/2006) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield Second book in the Night Watch series as I continued my reread. I love his world building. Published by Miramax","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Daywatch.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2585,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2585","url_meta":{"origin":9033,"position":3},"title":"Last Watch","author":"Michelle","date":"October 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Watch (2009) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield Fourth (and last?) book of the Night Watch series. I'd actually forgotten a good deal of this, probably because I'd only read it once. Published by Mirimax Books","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Lastwatch.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1177,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1177","url_meta":{"origin":9033,"position":4},"title":"Twilight Watch","author":"Michelle","date":"June 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Twilight Watch (2003\/2007) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield Just finished re-reading Twilight Watch, the third book in the Night Watch series. Now I can start the new book in the series, and find out what Anton's been up to. 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