Night Watch (Lukyanenko novel)

Did You Know?

• The novel is divided into three stories, each subdivided into a prologue followed by chapters (eight in the first story, seven in each of the following two).
• A witch is harmless if stripped naked and her body shaved, whereas an enchantress is rendered harmless by gagging her and tying her hands.

Summary

Anton Gorodetsky, a mage, is reassigned to field work with the Night Watch. He tracks vampires hunting humans without a licence. Following a boy named Egor, who has been magically lured by two vampires through the Metro, Anton notices a young woman, Svetlana, surrounded by a vortex of damnation. He uses an amulet meant for the vampires to reduce the curse on her. He finds the vampires and kills one; the other, a woman, escapes. At Night Watch headquarters, his boss Boris Ignatievich warns him that Zabulon, head of the Day Watch, may seek revenge, and gives him an owl named Olga—formerly a human sorceress—as a partner. Anton goes to Egor's apartment to protect him from the vampire. Egor slips into the Twilight by mistake and is revealed as a latent Other. Boris Ignatievich sends an incubus, Ignat, to Svetlana to help her, but to no avail. Anton is called away to assist with Svetlana, and the vampiress again calls to Egor, who joins her on the roof.

The Twilight (The Gloom)

The Twilight is a realm of existence beneath the human world. It is not sentient but indiscriminately absorbs energy from whoever enters it. An Other enters the Twilight by stepping into their own shadow; the Twilight then drains their strength, and the only way to survive is to slowly feed it energy. Formal training is required to stay or enter the Twilight for an extended period; those who lack skill risk being completely drained. The Twilight is composed of seven levels, each requiring geometrically more power to enter and remain. Most powerful Others cannot pass the third level; a higher magician can reach the fifth; a magician beyond classification such as Gesar or Zabulon can reach the sixth; only a zero point magician, appearing once every thousand years or so, can reach the seventh. Magicians have been lost to the Twilight by exhausting their energy in battle or by being careless; novices may be lost because they lack the skill to feed the Twilight. Some powerful Others choose to fade into the Twilight when tired of the world. Ordinary physical laws do not apply in the Twilight; unless enchanted, physical objects affect only the first level. A nuclear blast extends through every level, which is why the Watches prevent nuclear wars.

Characters

Anton Gorodetsky, a Light Mage, is the story’s central figure, and the narrative mostly unfolds through his first-person perspective. He starts out as a half-hearted member of the Night Watch, favoring desk work and technical tasks over active duty, but the plot pushes him into the role of a full operative, leaving him far more jaded about the Light Others’ mission. His hobby is listening to random custom mini-discs. Initially a fifth-level mage, he climbs to second level and eventually becomes a Grand Mage. He carries a silver-bullet pistol for dealing with vampires and werewolves. Boris Ignatievich, known as Gesar, is a Grand Light Mage of Tibetan origin who once taught many heroes and thinkers. He relocated to Europe in the early 1400s and, despite chances for higher posts, stayed on as Regional Director of the Moscow division, which effectively leads all former USSR branches. A tough strategist, he turns major losses into small wins and cares deeply for his team, though he will risk them for the greater good. His mage level is Beyond Classification. Svetlana, a Grand Light Sorceress, is a young doctor unaware of her powers at the start, targeted by Zabulon’s plot to kill her before she joins the Night Watch. Her abilities emerge when she accidentally curses herself, spawning a massive vortex that could unleash the Inferno and annihilate Moscow. She begins a relationship with Anton, which grows tense as her power skyrockets. Olga, a Grand Light Sorceress and old friend and occasional lover of Gesar, was turned into an owl for breaking Light obligations. During wartime, she could revert to human form for half an hour daily. By the novel’s end, Gesar’s schemes restore her human shape and powers.