The Night Watch

by Sean Stewart

Book Overview

In Sean Stewart's Resurrection Man (a New York Times notable book), magic began creeping back into the world shortly after World War II, although no one was quite sure why. In The Night Watch, it's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441005543
• ISBN13: 9780441005543
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 338 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Night Watch

A post-magical apocalypse political thriller and story about succession and inheritance in several senses. Stewart writes beautifully and creates original, well-detailed worlds. There were two aspects of this book that didn't work so well for me: first, the political thriller plot became incoherent, and second, the Chinatown culture seemed stereotypical (martial arts, empty cups of tea, whatever). On the other hand, I loved his evocation of the North Coast forest, and the way the elegance of his descriptions is grounded by down-to-earth characters and moments of humor. I'd recommend this, but not as strongly as GALVESTON or CLOUDS END.

Enchanting and intensely real

-One thing I've noticed is that Stewart's fiction tends to polarize readers. People either get annoyed with the story and walk away rolling their eyes, or they get very excited about what Stewart accomplishes with his prose, his characters, his distinctive humor, his understanding of life.I certainly fall into the latter category. Night Watch appealed to me immediately with its enchanting jumble of science fiction and fantasy, and quickly pulled me in deeper with its lyricism and the solid reality of its characters. To benefit most from The Night Watch, you must be attentive. And patient. If you mainly gravitate toward shoot-em-up action or heart-pounding romance, The Night Watch might not be for you. It has action, true, but actions always have consequences, and Stewart forces us to see that. It deals with romantic relationships, as well, but not the kind of formula romance that goes down like emotional cotton candy. Stewart deals with love: hard, real, something that is a choice, something that takes a lot of hard work to preserve. This is not a book that merely reflects the influence of other books. It's a book that reflects life.Who will like The Night Watch? I have no idea how to predict. It took me entirely by surprise to read some of the reviews on this page and see that the very things I loved about this novel were things that annoyed or bored other readers. Maybe the lyrical writing will seem dull to you; maybe the story's firm grounding in physical location will seem tiresome; maybe the characters' hard choices, their struggles to figure out life, won't be exciting enough.But if you want a book that looks hard at the real issues of life, unflinching and wryly humorous, The Night Watch could be just what you're looking for.

Another Strong Effort from Stewart

Set in the world of Resurrection Man, this novel continues to exhibit Stewart's powerful narrative and characterization gifts. I was riveted-- other reviewers below seem not to have been enchanted as I was, but I think they've cheated themselves of a deep and meaningful experience. Stewart, like Tim Powers, has a deft touch with fantasy, and creates a persuasive and comprehensible fantasy world that he peoples with "real" protagonists. I've loaned this book to others, and do not hesitate to recommend it to mature readers with a taste for subtle fantasy.

I fell in love with the terrible beauty of Stewart's magic.

Sean Steart's "Night Watch" is a wonderful blend of old world oriental mythology, new world scepticism, and cybertechnology struggling to gain a toehold in a world gone haywire. The characterization is the key in this book; no one is so good they're beyond belief, and no one is so bad that you can't feel for their plight. I wish for more from this enigmatic world of Mr. Stewart's.

An incredibly creative book filled with wit and insight!

I have read several of Stewart's book, but this is my favorite--so far. His imagination always amazes me; he animates and describes the world in a way that renders it both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. We know the world in which he is writing, but it is also made to feel foreign and new to the reader. An example is his description of a forest which controls its own pathways. The path itself he animates and has it galloping along in front of his characters. This book is filled with nuggets of insight, not only into the world around us but into people, their beliefs, and their desires. He takes time to show how his characters live, eat, sleep, etc. even while they are in the midst of a trying, wildly changing environment. It is this patience mixed with his well-developed fantastical/sci-fi world, along with his seamless writing, that make this novel exceptional. I would recommend it to people who are not used to reading science fiction or fantasy because it crosses all genre boundaries, mixing the two genres above along with realistic fiction issues and mythological ideas.