The Sixth Watch (Volume Six of The Night Watch Series) by Sergei Lukyanenko (book review)
Higher Light Magician Anton is on the case again. He is under attack from an unknown enemy and, after six books of this, he’s probably had enough. As a higher magician, Anton is sworn to protect humans. He represents the ‘good’ Others, the Night Watch who police the Dark Others who form the Day Watch. They are all able to enter the twilight which exists as several layers like a magical multiverse, where powers can be obtained but also lost. In our world, Dark Others such as vampires and shape-shifters are licensed and magic is controlled. All Others must choose a side. It is all to help us hapless humans who have struggled to survive through the ages as the opposing forces balance each other out.
Starting with an almost incidental incident of a vampire and a young girl who think tonight is the night to lose her virginity, the plot leads on to a complex series of events that show that Anton and the whole world is under threat. An old enemy who is supposedly vanquished appears to be an ally. Another must be secured if the threat to the world is to be neutralised. There is a problem deep at the heart of the Twilight and not just because it has its own sentient being known as the Tiger. The Sixth Watch has to save the world but has long been disbanded and nobody knows what it was or what it did. All in a day’s work then.
Anton must seek the help not only of his timeless boss Gesar but also the Dark side and the slightly mischievous Zabulon. Meanwhile, his domestic life must be protected at all costs as his wife and daughter are pretty powerful and, quite frankly, they are in charge of him. Anton gets it from all sides really and all he’s trying to do is save the world, daily…sometimes.
‘The Sixth Watch’ is the final book in ‘The Night Watch’ sequence about the twilight and it’s ending is very significant. The whole series has used both action and morality as a guideline and having Anton Gorodetsky, modern day hero at the centre of a loving family rather than an outsider, puts a completely different slant on these novels. The interactions he enjoys with his wife and daughter lift the story and offer some light relief, as does the dialogue he frequently enjoys with his boss, Gesar, and the occasional human.
As the series concludes It’s probably a good time to read the whole series again or. if you haven’t read them yet. it’s a good time to immerse yourself in the gloom of the twilight.
Sue Davies
December 2016
(pub: William Heinemann/Penguin. 391 page hardback. Price: £16.99 (UK), $35.99 (CAN). ISBN: 978-1-78-51530-2)
check out website: www.penguin.co.uk