The Sixth Watch

Powerful ending to an excellent series, the Sixth Watch brings together elements from all five previous books, nesting them like Matrushka dolls. Many strong characters are on the stage, and all are changed by the events and conclusion.

The first novel of the series was published 20 years ago (1998) in Russia, finally appearing in the US in 2005. Later novels were translated more quickly as the author and series gained a strong following. Each of the novels (including this one) is broken into three parts, and at the beginning, each could stand alone as a story. My first impression is that these three would not.

While the main character is Anton Gorodestky, a key character in the last four books is his daughter Nadya. By the time of this story she is fourteen. Some of her actions lighten the story, and I recognize some of her in my own daughter. It does feel as if her mother, Svetlana, takes less of a role in this book. Also greatly reduced are the references to music, which provided commentary and aided decisions in the earlier books.

Reading these books as they've become available means loss of the details of the earlier books over time. The first several have recently been republished with a common cover theme, and I just found the first one to match the series in a used book store. I look forward to reading it soon and providing an actual review to this excellent book.