The Harry Potter comparisons come from the fact that journalists (that quotation was from the Telegraph) have Small Reference Pools when it comes to genre fiction and probably haven't read any other Urban Fantasy, because the genre is about all that Harry Potter and Night Watch have in common. The series have radically different settings, premises and cosmologies, and Night Watch is a lot darker in tone and most assuredly not Young Adult. Still, for a fan of Urban Fantasy both series are excellent and worth reading on their own merits.
The Dresden Files might be a more accurate comparison. Both series have a host of various mythological entities running around a modern, urban setting, and both deal with moral ambiguities of what Good and Evil precisely are. Not to mention the lead characters are both jaded, wisecracking wizards.
- 1 for my predecessors. I never liked Harry Potter because it was too black-and-white-ish to me (to be fair, if you see Harry Potter as a modern fairy tale for children, it's even justified, as fairy tales usually are black-and-white-ish too), whereas Nightwatch and Dresden Files both blur the lines between Good and Evil...in spades, and thus are more to the heart of the (cynical) adult.
Leave a Comment:
Book 1
The first Night Watch book is very, very good.
The gritty backdrop of modern Moscow lends the book a refreshingly different feel to the predominantly British and American Urban Fantasy I've read previously. Lukyanenko does a masterful job of integrating his non-humans into the world, showing that they have their own hoped and dreams, and really considering how vampires, werewolves, and magicians would interact with mundanes.
Like many fantasy authors, he uses Our Vampires Are Different. However, while others are content to discard their traditional weaknesses, Lukyanenko goes a step further and actually gives them a couple of new and creative weaknesses. So, while they aren't affected by garlic, alcohol burns them. This all serves to show why they haven't simply risen up and enslaved humanity, avoiding a Plot Hole that modern vampire fiction tends to fall victim to.
He also comes up with very good reasons for the Masquerade and Balance Between Good And Evil which feels sensible and believable, and ends up driving a good chunk of the plot. This is all done masterfully and with aplomb.
The plot essentially concerns a junior magician trapped in a series of maneuvers between two chessmasters, one good, one evil. The author skilfully interweaves their plots, examining how they affect each other and how the pawns feel about matters. He also neatly avoids the schemes descending into Xanatos Roulette territory by showing on several occasions what can happen when a move goes wrong; in fact, the plot is kicked off by one such plan on behalf of the Dark ones growing out of control and threatening all of Moscow.
So, in closing: good characters, good action, good story. A recommended read.
If you like this, you might also like: