Night Watch
by Terry Pratchett
★ Top 25 book of 2002 · #13 on Best Books of 2002
Commander Sam Vimes is flung thirty years into the past of Ankh-Morpork by meddling monks, landing on the eve of a street rebellion. With his old enemy the murderer also sent back, he must decide whether altering history is worth risking his own future.
Best for: Discworld fans who like time travel mixed with police adventure
Night Watch is #13 on BookWard's Best Books of 2002, out of 32 2002 books that cleared our data bar.
What Night Watch is about
Samuel Vimes, commander of Ankh-Morpork's City Watch, is chasing the murderer Carcer when a lightning storm throws him back in time. It happens on the very morning his wife goes into labour with their first child. Carcer is flung into the past too, and the pair land in a younger, rougher city under the secret police of Lord Winder. Lu-Tze appears with a stark instruction: Vimes must take the place of the murdered Sergeant-at-Arms John Keel.
So Vimes finds himself teaching his own younger self the lessons he once admired in Keel, while Fred Colon and other watchmen help push a barricade revolt through the streets. Terry Pratchett's 2002 Discworld novel, the sixth to centre on the Watch, mixes wit and a sardonic edge with real feeling for duty, justice, and the poor. It placed second in the Locus Poll for best fantasy novel.
Night Watch on the Best Books of 2002
Night Watch came out in 2002. Of the 32 books first published in 2002 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #13 on our Best Books of 2002 list.
Why it made the list: 204 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.5 out of 5 (59 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
It earns Reader favorite.
Nearby on the 2002 list
- Dragon Ball Z; Thank You 鳥山 明 [Akira Toriyama], #11
- Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides, #12
- Understanding Power Noam Chomsky, #14
- Without Fail Lee Child, #15
See all Best Books of 2002 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2001 Best Books of 2003.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 114 want to read it, 1 are reading it now and 89 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.5 out of 5 from 59 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 44 | 55% |
| Reader love | 100 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 6 | 20% |
Questions about Night Watch
When was Night Watch published?
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett was first published in 2002.
Was Night Watch one of the best books of 2002?
Night Watch is #13 on BookWard's Best Books of 2002, out of 32 2002 books that cleared our data bar. 204 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.5 out of 5 (59 ratings).
Why is Night Watch on the Best Books of 2002 list?
204 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.5 out of 5 (59 ratings).
More of the best books of 2002
- Romancing Mister Bridgerton Julia Quinn, #1
- Coraline Neil Gaiman, #2
- Room on the Broom Julia Donaldson, #3
- Why Does He Do That? Lundy Bancroft, #4
- Everything's Eventual. 14 Dark Tales Stephen King, #5
- Stories of Your Life and Others Ted Chiang, #6
See the full Best Books of 2002, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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