Chapter 10: The Red City
Ooh, creepy-crawlies. The next few chapters started to seriously creep me out when I wrote them. Josh hasn’t made it past this part in the story yet because they freak him out so badly. I didn’t have a problem with centipedes before, but they sure do gross me out now. Especially after I took a day researching how they looked, moved, etc. “Too many legs” is right. yuck.
I’ve moved from Stephen King’s “On Writing” on to more exotic territory. I first heard about Sergei Lukyanenko’s “Night Watch” when I saw a preview for the first movie in the Russian trilogy being filmed overseas. The previews look RIGHTEOUS and so deliciously dark, it was love at first sight. So although I never got to see the first movie — sometimes it’s hard to round up people that don’t mind subtitles — I was thrilled to find a translated version at Powell’s Bookstore in Portland when I was visiting my folks.
English is my first, and really only, language. I took five years of french in high school, but nothing really stuck past some various verbs and phrases. However, one thing I do remember about the class was translating “Le Petit Prince”, or “The Little Prince”. I recall thinking it was really a very cute story, and that I enjoyed the different style of storytelling.
The same applies with “Night Watch”. I don’t know if it’s the translation or the actual core storytelling, but it’s… different. There’s a unique structure, a unique build and resolve.
With English stories, you get the notion when something’s important. I’m not an insanely avid reader, nor do I possess an incredible intellect — but when you mention the punkish man in the subway, I know he is probably going to talk to you, sell you something, or rob you. The mention of him alone insinuates his importance. In Lukyanenko’s “Night Watch”, that is not necessarily the case. And I like it.
The only two shows on television I watch are NBC’s Heroes and Fox’s 24. They both give you white rabbits to chase while you try and work out the plot, and make frequent gifts in the form of incomplete story arcs — and I love it. Give me something where the main characters aren’t safe, where good doesn’t always win, give me a twist I didn’t see coming.
“Night Watch” is dark and dangerous, with werewolves, vampires, Light and Dark Magicians, the general bending of reality… and a healthy dose of potential world doom hanging in the balance; but done in a way that is fresh when held against all the other fantasy I’ve read. It’s very much worth the read.