Sunday, April 12, 2009

The 'cold war' between Light and Dark

Imagine a Moscow in thrall to a very different type of Cold War. A world where 'good' and 'evil' jealously guard their respective spheres of influence. A world where two rival agencies constantly vie to extend their power. A world where the conditions of a delicate Treaty is all that stand between an outright battle between 'good' and 'evil'. Welcome to the wainscot vision of Sergei Lukyanenko.

The novel, Day Watch, comprises of three more or less self-contained but interrelated novellas. The first story centres on Alisa Donnikova, witch and Dark Other, who was once a favorite of Zabulon, the head of the Day Watch. By the way, do not let the terminologies confuse you. The Day Watch is an organization made up of Dark Others, who monitor and oppose the Light Others. The Night Watch is its inversion. Alisa, drained and incapacitated in a battle with Light others is sent to a youth camp to restore her inner reserves. Here she meets and falls in love with Igor Teplov. Unable to use her magical abilities, she does not discover, until it is too late, that he is in fact her sworn enemy, one of the battle mages who contributed to her injuries in the first place.

In the second story, an enigma Vitaly Ragoza, is drawn to the scene of several killings in Moscow. He also appears involved in the search for a missing artefact Fafnir's Claw, stolen by an obscure sect who call themselves the Regin Brothers.

The third story links to both the second and the first. The Inquisition, a watchdog organization, sits to determine whether the all-important Treaty between the Day Watch and Night Watch, had been violated by the fatal duel between Alisa Donnikova and Igor Teplov and also which measures should be taken against the Regin Brothers for their recent activities.

Day Watch the novel, should not be confused with the very popular Day Watch the movie, which was produced more as a sequel to the Night Watch movie, and bears little resemblance to the plots of the book. Two novels follow Day Watch - Twilight Watch and Final Watch.

1 comment:

  1. spoiler alert! I'll try to humbly forget what I just began to read ;)

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