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Beneath and behind the everyday world of humankind another
world exists. It is the world of the Others, witches, warlocks,
werewolves and vampires and this world is at war with itself.
Following centuries of conflict between the forces of Light
and Dark an impasse has been reached, with the inevitable
destruction of both the Others and humans, both sides commit
to a treaty. To monitor the treaty two watches are created,
the day watch monitors the forces of good and the night watch
helps to keep the dark forces at bay. But things are never
as easy as they seem, as Anton a newly recruited field operative
soon discovers...
The
Night Watch is a newly published translation of Nochnoi
Dozor by Sergei Lukyanenko, a Russian psychiatrist and
prodigious writer of science and fantasy fiction. The books
translation obviously was prompted by the immense success
of the film Night
Watch.
The book itself is not a movie novelisation, rather it is
the original stories from which the film was derived.
I
say stories, as the book contains three Night Watch
tales; Destiny, Among His Own Kind and All
For My Own Kind. Destiny closely follows the story
of the film, where Anton, as an agent for the Night Watch,
is sent to track down some unlicensed vampires preying on
the innocent. Within the world of Night Watch vampires,
and their like, must apply for licences to hunt. It is not
the job of the Night Watch to kill or capture any of the forces
of the dark, but rather to make sure that the Dark keep within
the conditions of the treaty. Anton quickly discovers that
this is not always as easy as it sounds as a higher game is
being played by the leaders of both watches, each using their
operatives as pawns in an elaborate game, trying to gain some
measure of power each over the other. The story is more complex
and indeed more intriguing than that of the film. I'm not
saying that I didn't like the film, it did a great job at
translating this rich world into cinema, I'm just saying that
the book is better.
In all the stories Anton's allegiance to the Night Watch is,
at best, ambiguous as he wrestles with what is done in the
name of good and his own conscience. In this world not all
vampires or wizards are evil; when they first discover that
they are different they make a personal choice either to follow
the path of Light or Dark. What the film failed to portray
was that there was little difference between the methods used
by either side in the pursuit of their goals. This is something
which drives all three stories on and becomes an increasing
problem for Anton.
The
second story has Anton as the prime suspect in the unlawful
killing of Dark Others. In fact, the killer is a rogue light
wizard who is unaware of the watches existence. Anton has
only a few hours to discover the truth behind the event before
the Day Watch starts in the morning. The last story really
brings the previous two tales to their conclusion. All three
stories are interlinked, with much of what plays out in All
For My Own Kind having its roots in the very first paragraphs
of Destiny.
So,
was the book any good? Well it kept me up till four in the
morning for three nights running. I've been blest with a pretty
good run of books to review recently and this one is another
keeper, I'm only annoyed that I have to wait until 2007 to
read the other two in the trilogy. It is extremely well written
and here we have to give fair due to Andrew Bromfield who
has done a magnificent job with the translation.
In
fact it got me thinking about translated books and the role
of the translator. In the world of Night Watch all
the Others are able to sink to a lower dimension, where they
can see the human world without being seen. In the film translation
this is referred to as the Gloom, but in the book Bromfield
uses the more evocative Twilight. I always thought the film
reference to be a bit naff, but loved the translator's take
on it. So, how much of the success of this book is down to
Bromfield? I don't want to take away anything from the original
author, but it show just how important it is to have a bloody
good translator.
The
next film, Day Watch, should be out soon if it's not
already, so if I have to wait for another shot of great writing
I guess I'll have to catch up with the film.
Buy
it, love it and then go out and complain that more of his
stuff hasn't been translated.
 
Charles
Packer
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