The Day watch is part of a four book series written by Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko. The first book in the series is called " The Night watch" but this novel isn't available to review on ciao so I will combine my review of that book with a review of the second book "The Day watch".

I stumbled upon the movies first during a browse around the sale section at HMV. For £8 I picked up a box set of both movies. After reading the cover I realised they were actually based upon books. I immediately remembered watching the first Harry Potter film many years ago. After watching I decided it would be best to always read a book before watching the movie version as they can be horrendous and spoil everything. Luckily enough WHSmiths is in close proximity to HMV so I scooted over there to pick upthe books. I think I got the first 3 books as part of a 3 4 2 deal, in total that was around £15. On the net they cost around £5 each so if there are no deals in the shops get yourself on Amazon! The movies do have a bit of a cult following so you may have seen them and not read the books. In this case try to be open minded as whilst the characters are familiar the two are quite different!

The Night watch - This book starts how you would expect. Were introduced to the main character Anton. We soon learn that he is an Other. These are humans that have had their true potentials unlocked. Once this happens they do not see themselves as human and refer to themselves as Others. Not everyone can become others, you are born with the otential to become one and those that are already others can see this and guide people accordingly. Others can travel into a demension called the Twilight. It isn't strictly a parrele universe but rather an extension of the one we live in. When in it time moves slower and the human world isnt as clear as it normally is. The twilight is where others get there power from. There are two types of other. A potential other must first enter the twilight before they can become an other. There state of mind when they first enter the twilight leads to them becoming either dark or light. The light ones are good and try to help and heal people, whereas the dark ones only care about bettering themselves or going about general evil deeds! Many years ago a treaty was made up to stop the two sides destroying each other. This led to the creation othe watches. The light ones have the night watch and the dark ones have the day watch. There are different watches all around the world but this story deals with the russian watches! They exist to keep tabs and keep control on the opposing side. The light ones are made up of Healers and different ranked magicians or enchantresses. The dark ones also have magicians etc but they are also vampires and werewolves.
Anton is a light one of the night watch. The ranking scale goes from 7 (the lowest) to 1 (the most powerful). Onthis scale Anton is between 3 and 4. Up until recently he dealt with office work but no must do some field work. The book is split into three stories which follows his adventures and introduces us to some quite cool characters.

Gesar - Anton boss and leader of the night watch. He's one powerful guy. He cannot even be ranked and is thort to be one of the most powerful in the world!

Edgar - A rank 2 magician who only appears in the second book.

The day watch - This book follows the perspective of a few people. There are three stories again. The first involves the dark one Allissa. She is drained of her powers and is sent on holday to recover them. Once there she falls fin love with someone. This is uncommon for a dark one, but she feels different having no power. It turns out the man she falls for is another other who has lost his powers. They therefore cannot recognise each other as magical beings. When it turns out a light one and dark one have fallen in love all hell breaks loose!