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    Unseen Academicals: A Discworld Novel
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    Unseen Academicals: A Discworld Novel
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    Unseen Academicals: A Discworld Novel
    Ebook544 pages8 hours

    Unseen Academicals: A Discworld Novel

    By Terry Pratchett

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    “Football, food, fashion and wizards collide in Pratchett’s affectionate satire on the foibles of sports and sports fans. . . . The prose crackles with wit and charm, and the sendups of league football, academic posturing, Romeo and Juliet and cheesy sports dramas are razor sharp and hilarious but never cruel. At its heart, this is an intelligent, cheeky love letter to football, its fans and the unifying power of sports.” —Publishers Weekly

    Football (aka soccer) comes to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork, upending the wizards of Unseen University—and dividing Discworld—in this wonderfully funny novel in Sir Terry Pratchett’s internationally bestselling series.

    The wizards at Ankh-Morpork’s Unseen University are renowned for many things—wisdom, magic, teatime—but athletics, not so much. When Lord Vetinari, the city’s benevolent tyrant, strongly suggests to Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully that the university revive its sports program and field a football team composed of faculty, students, and staff—or lose the funding that pays for their nine daily meals—the wizards of UU find themselves in a quandary. First, they have to understand what makes foot-the-ball so popular with Ankh-Morporkians. Then they have to learn how to play it—and win—without using magic.

    Of course, the thing about football is that it is never just about football.

    The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Unseen Academicals is the seventh and final book in the Wizards collection (and 37th Discworld book). The other books in the Wizards collection include:

    • The Color of Magic
    • The Light Fantastic
    • Sourcery
    • Eric
    • Interesting Times
    • The Last Continent
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061942037
    Author

    Terry Pratchett

    Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) was the acclaimed creator of the globally revered Discworld series. In all, he authored more than fifty bestselling books, which have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.

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    Reviews for Unseen Academicals

    4/5

    1,685 ratings116 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Only my second Terry Pratchett book, but I think he's growing on me. His wit seems to lineup with mine pretty well.Yet, he doesn't just rely on his wit. this story would stand well on its own, and the humor only adds to it.
    • 5/5
      Unseen Academicals is the thirty-seventh book in the Discworld series, and not one I’d recommend starting with. While Unseen Academicals does stand alone, it contains a plethora of references to other books in the series, possibly the most self referential of any Discworld novels. Thus, I would suggest starting with Guards! Guards!, The Wee Free Men, Monstrous Regiment, or Going Postal instead.On the surface, Unseen Academicals is about sports. Ponder Stibbons, the new Master of Tradition of the Unseen University, has discovered that over eighty percent of the university’s food budget is covered by a bequest that stipulates they put forth a football (or soccer, if you’re American) team at least once every twenty years. Time is run out, and for the sake of the cheese cart, the wizards must play football. What Unseen University is really about is community. Being in the midst of a community can be a wonderful thing as you can feel supported and like you belong. But being in a community can also hold you back when you worry about how others will perceive you. You end up placing limits on yourself about what is “sensible” and never think about what it is you actually want. And it’s so easy for a community to turn on someone they perceive as different.‘”First, never, ever apologize for anything that doesn’t need apologizing for,” said Glenda. “And especially never apologize for just being yourself.”‘Unseen Academicals of course includes the faculty of the Unseen University, who should now be familiar from countless other Discworld books from Moving Pictures on. However, the majority of Unseen Academicals is focused around four new characters who all work in the servants quarters of the university. Glenda and Juliet are both cooks in the Night Kitchen while Trev and Mister Nutt deal with the university’s endless demand for candles. Other reviews have pointed out that these characters fall into general types you see in other Discworld novels. While I think that’s true to a certain extent, I believe that all four are distinctive and that if they can be considered a “type” they are the best of that type Discworld has to offer.Glenda is a sensible young woman who compulsively sorts out other people’s problems. In the back of her mind, she remembers her mother, who was so consumed with hard work and other people’s affairs that she had no time left for herself. Mister Nutt is a highly intelligent and educated goblin who is obsessed with finding worth. Trev is the orphaned son of the football’s biggest legend. Juliet is beautiful and maybe not as stupid as she appears. It’s hinted that she could grow and do a lot more if Glenda let her make her own decisions. I love all four of them and their friendships with each other. Glenda Sugarbean is a particular favorite of mine, and I love her growth through the novel. It’s a pity you don’t see more about her in the fandom.“A lot hinges on the fact that, in most circumstances, people are not allowed to hit you with a mallet. They put up all kinds of visible and invisible signs that say ‘Do not do this’ in the hope that it’ll work, but if it doesn’t, then they shrug, because there is, really, no mallet at all.”The pacing is slower than many of the other Discworld novels. I also think the ending was weak, although that could because the climax was a football game and I have little interest in sports. I actually liked Unseen Academicals better than previously after this reread. There was a lot about it that I’d never noticed before.While Unseen Academicals is not the best Discworld novel, it’s far from the worst. I’d say it’s in the better half of the series. Still, given the number of reoccurring characters who make appearances and sly references to other novels, I wouldn’t recommend reading it without experience in Discworld. However, if you’re familiar with the series, I’d encourage you to pick up Unseen Academicals.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
    • 3/5
      Football, wizards and fashion. And one orc. Good story, but the theme of another race going from discriminated against to accepted (dwarves, trolls, werewolves, vampires, golems, now orcs...) is getting a bit tired.
    • 4/5
      Probably the weakest of the later Pratchett, but definitely worth a read.
    • 2/5
      It never builds much momentum. The main plot point, a soccer game between the wizards of Unseen University and an Ankh-Morpork United challenger team, doesn't have enough meat to sustain a book, so Pratchett adds a number of minor plot points that trail off. The writing is uneven, with the humor dropping off in the middle before coming back at the end. Not a particularly strong Discworld entry.
    • 4/5
      I didn't realize this was a Discworld book until I was already about a quarter into it having never read anything by Terry Pratchett before. Even without the background of the previous 36 books, I was able to enjoy this story. At times I was literally laughing out loud. Pratchett's wit and humor left me wanting more to see what these crazy wizards and the beings around them would come up with next.
    • 4/5
      Football, love sonnets and Romeo and Juliet. Sort of. Only Terry Pratchett could meld these subjects and several more seamlessly. We meet a new type of character in this book, Mr. Nutt. One of my very favorites so far. I love the mystery surrounding him and all his potential, but for what we are not sure. Lord Vetinari has several memorable bits in this, my favorite being a glimpse of him drunk. This was a fine book, in my opinion, one I will read again and again.
    • 4/5
      Pratchett turns his gaze on the world of sports & politics and again makes some very telling observations while at the same time keeping us along for the laughs. He is one of the great writers of satire who has created his own world so he can poke fun at this one and reflect ourselves back at us while making us laugh.
    • 4/5
      Some good bits, some tedious bits, and a slightly limp ending. Still, the good bits were pretty good, and the tedious bits were not too long, and I didn't actually dislike the ending.
    • 5/5
      liked this book.

      on to the next book in the serie
    • 5/5
      Excellent - one of his best.
    • 5/5
      Quite possibly the best Pratchett novel thus far that I have read, if only because, despite my hatred of football, Ankh-Morporkian Wizards plus football equals something completely unmatched by any other humour writer I have encountered. You can have modern football with sci-fi as done by Rankin, or you can have modern football with modern settings ala everybody else, but modern football in Ankh-Morpork? Possibly the only way that football can be enjoyed anymore.
      The humour was the fantastic Pratchett-style as usual as being grown-up yet at the same time really rude at times, which is beyond most people.

      Possibly the most outstanding part of this novel for me was the character of Mister Nutt. Sublimely crafted by Pratchett, who has always managed to have sufficient characters that are 3D and not flat, shallow or passers-by. Mister Nutt is the epitome of everything wrong with humanity in the way he is treated, created et all, and he is also the epitome character that shows just how good Pratchett is at creating realistic characters, even if they are Goblins! (or any other number of mythical species, for that matter). Mister Nutt probably stands out as the most thoroughly thought through characters in the Discworld.
    • 3/5
      I have not read all of Pratchett's work, but I have read a lot of it and I can safely say this is the first book of his I ever trudged through. I look Pratchett, but this is definitely a weak link. A really slow, really weak link.
    • 4/5
      I am most definitely not a football fan. However, this book is really enjoyable to fans and non fans alike, especially if you like the discworld series. I don't want to give much away in terms of plot and ruin it for you but suffice it to say that Ankh Morpork and the Unseen University are drawn into the action in many hilarious and thrilling twists and turns
    • 4/5
      Good overall, but with some disappointing or simply confusing elements. I personally felt that the title was slightly misleading, as it was more to with the housekeeping and maintence staff of the unseen univerisity than the wizards. However, as almost all of Pratchett's books, there were plenty of laughs, and a strong plotline. Not the best in the series, but not the worst either.
    • 2/5
      Pretty poor - perhaps another half star. Football isn't my thing but the problem was that it didn't contribute to the discworld mythology or to insights into human nature, and wasn't very funny either. Better to re-read one of his better ones I think.
    • 4/5
      I would say with confidence that I have read more of Terry Pratchett's oeuvre than of any other author, which is probably why I've grown to have mixed feelings on the Discworld. At his best, Pratchett can be very funny but I find that too often I wanted to skip ahead a page or so ahead to get to "the interesting bit" that was surely only a page or so away."Unseen Academicals" has a promising set-up; the start of an organised soccer competition in Ankh-Morpork, with our friend the Librarian as goalkeeper. And while there are a few laughs, it gets lost in what could be called a mawkish subplot.
    • 4/5
      I wasn't enamored with Making Money or Going Postal, and was worried that Sir Terry had lost his edge, but this was light, clever and up to his old standards. Mister Nutt and Glenda are charming additions to his cast of characters.
    • 4/5
      Possibly the best Discworld novel Pratchett's written since Going Postal, though there's admittedly more than a bit of damning with faint praise present as he's felt like he's been coasting for years now.Its desire to parody the various genres (most notably romance and sports, with the usual healthy dash of fantasy) made it feel occasionally more formulaic than need be, particularly when combined with the fact that large parts of it felt formulaic (or at least derivative) with regards to Pratchett's previous Discworld books.
    • 4/5
      My husband's been a fan of Pratchett forever, but I'd never read anything of his. We listened to a bit of Unseen Academicals on audiobook on a trip recently and I was surprised to find it laugh-out-loud funny and engaging, so I decided to read the book. Those first impressions held true, and while I found the story to be lacking quite the level of narrative drive ("and then? and then??") that will keep me well and truly hooked, the humor, cleverness, gently biting satire, and genuinely engaging characters very nearly made up for that. I think Pratchett may be, for me, like Heinlein--I will have to be in just the right mood to enjoy his work, but when I am, it will be a delight to read him.
    • 4/5
      Any Pratchett novel set in Ankh-Morpork will win my heart from the outset, especially if the Watch are involved. And eventhough the closest this novel comes to involving the Watch is a speech from Vimes and bledlow Knobbs (no relation) of the Unseen University staff, I have revelled in its pages nonetheless. When the game known as football (or 'let's all try to cave in eachother's skulls while someone somewhere kicks a piece of wood around') threatens to bring the masses of Ankh-Morpork together in a far too organized and massive fashion, Lord Vetinari decides it is time to make sure that if people organize, they organize as he wants them to. At the same time, the Unseen University staff discover that they may face a hitherto unparallelled crisis of cheese shortage if they don't field a team to play football, courtesy of the fine print in one of their largest bequests. And then there's Mr. Nutt, for all intents and purposes a goblin, though an odd one. Poetry, knowledge and understanding is what he seeks as opposed to mucus, snot and other bodily fluids for the collecting and savouring. A walking and very much talking contradiction, is he what he believes he is, or is he what he is? As always, characters that could walk off the page and come to life in front of your eyes, intrigue, twists and sharp dialogue make this a great entry into the Discworld Hall of Fame. Can I find fault with it? Well, of course. The micromail seems just a bit too Deus Ex Machina. The plot is perhaps a bit too rife with coincidences (though to be honest it may just seem to be so, Pratchett has the tendency to tell another tell entirely between the lines) and some of the characters get far less showtime than they deserve, but none of it makes enough of a dent in the quality of this book to matter. I can't wait to read another one...
    • 4/5
      I liked it. This book appears to have its share of detractors, in comparison to other Pratchett books I've read. To which I say, the man can't put on his shirt without help these days. Give him a break! And it's a damn sight better than Nation, if you ask me. I'm proud of Terry Pratchett, and his resolve to go down fighting. And I'm not sure he's particularly down yet. It's also better than the Rincewind novels, in my opinion. I've never understood the appeal of Rincewind. I liked Glinda and Trev, and Nutt a lot, and always enjoy Vetinari and Ridcully. Hix the necromancer was very funny also. Glinda is certainly of a type: i.e., the same type Tiffany Aching and Agnes/Perdita came from. But it's not a bad type, and if there weren't enough women around who slightly fit the mold, I don't think he would use it so much, or that it would go over so well when he did. Lastly, some less-than-thrilled reviewer I've just read has commented that one of the basic plot points of the novel is that Nutt "is a goblin, which doesn't sit too well with Ankh-Morpork society". He's an orc. If you're going to gripe about a novel, please read it carefully first!
    • 3/5
      Fine, but no where near as good as Pratchett usually is. Some plot points never went anywhere, the wizards were far more powerful than usual, Vetinari spent a rather prodigious amount of time talking out loud, and the new characters all felt like retreads of old one. Still, quite funny and with a good heart to it.
    • 5/5
      This is the first Discworld novel I bought. Previously, I borrowed from my friend, but stuck in Hong Kong International Airport with nothing to read (having finished the 6 novels I brought from my flight from Florida), I happily relished the thought of finishing the HKD I had left in Page One, and quite naturally gravitated towards the thickest Discworld novel (remember, I had a flight back)I loved this book from the start. The footnotes of the Discworld series is probably one of the biggest reasons why I fell in love with the books. And on the first page, I had not one, but 2 footnotes, one of them being a footnote to a footnote. I think there's a literary name for it, or it's a comment on the meta-fictional nature of books or Pratchett just being funny, but loved it nonetheless.I also loved the cameo appearances by Rincewind, and I can't forget the dialogue when the Arch-chancellor Ridicully recounts his amazement at Rincewind's previous statement that his mother ran away before he was born.The book is naturally thick, since it covers about 4 plots - the Unseen Academy Aspect, Two separate love stories and the mystery of Mr Nutt. It might be a bit intimidating for first-timers, so I would recommend another, thinner book as an introduction to the Discworld series. Even though I'm not a huge football fan. I still appreciated the satire on football (well, the rest of my family is rather football-crazy).
    • 3/5
      I was very dissapointed with this book. It is well written but poorly editted. The editor seems to have thought that since it is Terry Pratchett, we'll just let it all through. The book is LONG. There are at least three plots: the acceptance of an Orc, the world of fasion, and the taming of football. At least one of them is not important enough to clog up this book. Each has merit and is brought to life in Pratchett's wonderful way. There is just to much going on and it detracts from the many positive elements in this book.
    • 3/5
      A nice return to wizards of Unseen University (with a cameo by Rincewind the Wizzard and his Luggage) in a story about the 'civilization' of 'foot-the-ball'. Overall, an enjoyable book, though still not topping "Thief of Time" or "Night Watch". For the most part, "Unseen Academical" seems to lack a singular plot to guide the various storyarcs to give the sense of a common thread.
    • 4/5
      Another consistently entertaining Discworld book. I've missed quite a few books in the middle, and I felt out the loop about the current goings on at Unseen University, but I still found plenty to love about this book.

      It's silly, but Vetinari's ongoing "war" with the crossword puzzle writer never fails to kill me. I'd like to see a few moments from her point of view to see if the feeling is mutual. Please, Mr. Pratchett!!!

    • 4/5
      I think this is the best book of Terry Pratchett's in a number of years, but it suffers from being overly complicated. That is what he's famous for, having many characters, many plots, and tying them all neatly at the end. The characters make sense, the plot closes nicely, I am able to tell the different characters apart but there is just too much of it!What I really loved about this book is the role of Lord Veterini. He's usually a shadowy figure, running his city with well placed short meetings. This time around, we see more of him, and how he thinks. I like the Unseen University, but I have a hard time believing that ancient wizards want to play football. They are school, wheres the students to bully into doing this. And of course, there's the ethical quandary involved, this time an orc, who species is known for being terribly warlike and dangerous.
    • 4/5
      Pratchett's books can seem superficial on the surface, but always have a much deeper theme, such as the redemption of an individual (or even a race). I also enjoyed the Trevor / Juliet subplot.
    • 4/5
      The wizards at Unseen University, an old and venerable institution steeped in tradition, realize that there is one tradition they have not been following, playing football. Football in Ankh-Morpork is also an old institution to the lower classes who proudly wear their teams colors and fight other fans in the "shove." The city's tyrant Ventinari wants to regulate the game to make it less violent. He sees the wizards predicament as an opportunity. The wizards must reinvent the game with less hitting and more strategy. They are assisted by Mr. Nutt, a goblin seeking worth, and Trevor Likely, a man who promised his old mum he would never play the game.This is a satire of so many things in society; stogy academicals, struggling lower classes, violent football fans, and the fashion industry. My favorite metaphor comes from a seedy fashion designer who calls the poverty stricken neighborhood he came from a "crab bucket." Glenda, the night kitchen cook, realizes what he means when she sees one crab being pulled from a bucket with two other crabs holding on.