The “World of Watches” series is something that quite a few people don’t know about. It’s surprising because of the fact that it, as a whole, is a great story that will catch your attention and grip your imagination until it decides to let go.
The background of the series is quite simple, though it is a bit complex in its own right. The Others are your standard fantasy and horror beings. They are shapeshifters, magicians, witches, vampires, ghouls, etc. They have the ability to use magic on different levels, as well as walk on various planes of existence. This doesn’t mean that they are able to move through alternate universes. They are confined to this universe, so they are just moving around in alternate levels of this universe. The other levels are aptly called Twilight and Gloom since one of the easiest ways to enter them is through shadows.
After a destructive war that almost ends the existence of Others, a truce is struck between the forces of light and dark. To make sure that Light and Dark are following the truce three organizations were started up: The Night Watch (Light Others making sure Dark Others are following the truce), The Day Watch (Dark Others making sure Light Others are following the truce) and the Inquisition (the impartial group made up of Light and Dark Others to make sure the Watches are doing their job).
The series starts off with “Night Watch,” which had been adapted into a movie and game. Technically, the “Night Watch” book is a trilogy in itself, being split into three distinct stories. The series follows Anton Gordetsky, a low-level magician who works for the Night Watch. The entire book follows Gordetsky as he rises through the ranks of the Night Watch while helping find a powerful magical artifact, The Chalk of Destiny. The artifact has the power to rewrite someone’s destiny. There are three different stories, but then again that’s the overarching story.
“Day Watch” focuses a little more on the other side of the spectrum, but it also has a story that is deeply engrained in finding something powerful. The balance of power has fallen out of balance in Moscow. A mirror, an unknown Other of unknown ability, is created. The basic idea of a mirror is a magical berserker that exists only as long as it needs to for the sake of restoring balance. You either kill it in the first blow in battle, or you will die horribly. Did I mention that it’s impossible to kill a mirror in one blow unless something that would have the effect of a nuclear weapon hits it?
“Twilight Watch” has the overarching story of a search for a magical tome that would allow many largely forgotten secrets to be relearned. I say largely forgotten because age-old mages like the heads of the Moscow Watches, Gesar (Light) and Zabulon (Dark), might still know these secrets, but have them locked away in their stores of knowledge because of how destructive that knowledge might be. The tome is known as the Fuaran. It even contains the secret on how to make non-Others into Others, so you can see why that has to be found and resealed away, or destroyed, since it would completely destroy balance in the world.
“Last Watch” covers the search for artifacts of Arthurian lore, all attributed to Merlin. The chief target artifact is the Crown of All Things. The power of the artifact is almost completely unknown because when Merlin disappeared from the earth he took the Crown with him into the Twilight and hid it in his own special hiding place.
Throughout the general story, Gordetsky is trying to come to terms with the power he is gaining. He is also dealing with the fact that his romantic interest, Svetlana, is also a power Other, who is able to advance further and much more quickly than he is able to. Even with this clash to his ego, he’s also trying to deal with the fact that he loves.
There’s just so much going on in this series that it can be hard to follow. It’s recklessly ambitious and epic. It can also be a pain because the translating work is really stiff and awkward. Still, if you love detective stories, horror and dark fantasy this series is perfect for you.