The works of Pratchett are always difficult to describe especially when talking of his Discworld novels.
The world is divided into people who think he is a literary genius and those who just don't get it. He seems to be an author you either love or hate. Fortunately, I fall into the former category.

For those who don't know the Discworld is a flat world carried on the back of four elephants, which in turn are carried on the back of Great A'Tuin the sky turtle which swims through space (still with me). Only in this strange land could wizards, dwarves and trolls live in a sprawling metropolis known as Ankh Morpork.

Night Watch is the 27th Discworld novel and reflects Pratchett's evolution into a darker, more serious writer with a political edge. The Night Watch (Watchman= bent copper) have a long and largely undistinguished history originating as a rag tag bunch of thieves and layabouts who found the Night Watch to be the only place they fitted in. The arrival of a reformed alcoholic by the name of Samuel Vimes who believes the Watch should actually be involved in catching criminals changed all this leading to the formation of the much feared, but seldom envied City Watch of today.
To get an idea of how Commander Vimes mind works perhaps this quote sums his character up best

"It wasn't that Vimes liked being shot at by hooded figures in the temporary employ of his many and varied enemies, but he'd always looked at it as some kind of vote of confidence. It showed that he was annoying the rich and arrogant people who ought to be annoyed."
However, all is not well in Ankh Morpork, there is a killer on the loose and this killer kills coppers.
Vimes tracks him down into Unseen University and follows him into the Library were a lesson in history begins. Sounds serious does it not? Well for Pratchett it is, this book covers a lot of ground from police brutality, classism to revolution and the Monarchy and even racism

("Ankh Morporkians have no time to be prejudiced due to skin colour as there are so many other things to be prejudiced about!).

This is not to say this book isn't bloody funny because it is, interspersed with the more serious side are some cracking one liners and genuine situation comedy. My personal favourites are Vimes reciting the watchmen's oath including punctuation, "I comma square bracket recruit's name square bracket comma do solemnly swear square bracket..." and Detritus the troll teaching the watchmen to march:

"Now we sing dis stupid song!
Sing it as we run along!
Why we sing it we don't know!
We can't make the words rhyme properly!"

For those new to Pratchett this is not perhaps the best starting novel as the bulk of the novel involves explaining the history of long established characters such as Nobby Nobbs and Reginald Shoe.
However, it is good to see the continued development of relatively new to Discworld characters such as The Sweeper ( "You know", he said, "It is very hard to talk quantum in a language originally designed to tell other monkeys where the ripe fruit is.")

This is great for us die hard fans who have been dying to know a bit of background about the watch characters we have come to love so dearly but perhaps not so great and even somewhat confusing for a Discworld virgin.

I like this novel as it shows progression for Pratchett from a largely humorous writer, to a writer with, a darker more serious edge. Those who have read earlier Pratchett and have found it to be childish at times may well enjoy this fresh approach.

At a mere 364 pages this novel flies by and fits so much into it you can't help but feel that there could have been more but that is a small criticism of a fantastic novel.

For those interested in Lean-N-Mean III infor can be found at http://www.epinions.com/content_4149256324

Recommended: Yes