“Twilight Watch” by Sergei Lukyanenko

I thought this was the last book in the series, so I was a bit upset going in.

Turns out there are three more. Hehe. Crisis averted.

I liked this one. The best part for me was getting more mysteries around the Twilight itself. The first books already had a very fun magic system, but here the world opens up more: deeper layers, stranger powers, more rules hiding behind the rules we already knew. That part worked really well for me.

The detective side was also good. I like when these books turn into magical investigations: someone is lying, someone is playing a long game, someone powerful knows more than they are saying, and Anton has to run around putting pieces together while everyone else acts annoyingly cryptic.

The last chase especially was fun. The book moves well when it remembers that it is also a thriller.

The main protagonist’s story is a little weird, though. I can see what Lukyanenko was building toward, and maybe it makes sense in the bigger structure of the series. But it felt rushed and somewhat unearned to me.

Maybe this is just because the books keep repeating that “one can’t jump above one’s head,” and then the character keeps doing exactly that. Over and over. At some point I’m like, okay, so can people jump above their heads or not? Please decide.

Still, I enjoyed it. More Twilight lore, new powers, another decent magical detective plot, and more of that addictive Watch bureaucracy where Light and Dark are somehow both cosmic forces and office departments.

Good read. And now that I know this is not the end, I’m eager to jump into the next ones.