Watchmen -- Review by Ryan Wald

WATCHMEN
By Alan Moore
Rating: **** (4 Stars)

Watchmen was one of the most anticipated novels of 2008. It is the story of six masked vigilantes who acted as heros in the mid 1980’s. They called themselves the Watchmen. Then the government passes a law that would ban these heros from wearing their masks, called the Keene Act. This put them all to rest. Then one night a man shows up to one of these ex-hero’s’ door, and kills him in the dead of the night. When one of the old Watchmen finds out, he creates a theory that a masked murderer is out to kill all of the old heros. Throughout the story we meet all the heros and receive a background of all of them, leading up to the events in the beginning of the novel. A recurring phrase appears throughout the book that reads, “Who watches the Watchmen?”, which lingers overhead the entire novel. As the plot unfolds and more danger becomes eminent, these heros discover a series of disturbing truths about both them and their fellow heros. There is a sense of mystery that causes you to feel as if you have no idea what is going to happen throughout this novel. In the end an ingenious and catastrophic plot in unveiled that is the most shocking, twisted, and brilliant plan you could never imagine. I gave this book a rating of four stars because as good as it was, I wasn’t satisfied with the end of the book because the plot was so intricate I found it hard to follow. I would, however, recommend this book to a friend.