Unseen Academicals: (Discworld Novel 37)

Terry Pratchett

Nov 2009 · Random House

About this ebook

'We play and are played and the best we can hope for is to do it with style.'

Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork. And now the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match without using magic . . . so they're in the mood for trying everything else.

To do this, they recruit an unlikely group of players: Trev, a street urchin with a talent for kicking a tin can; Glenda, the night chef who makes a mean pie; Juliet, the kitchen hand turned world's greatest fashion model; and the mysterious Mr Nutt, who has something powerful, and dark, locked away inside him . . .

And the thing about football - the important thing about football - is that it is not just about football. Here we go, here we go, here we go!

'This isn't just football, it's Discworld football. Or, to borrow another phrase, it's about life, the Universe and everything' The Times

'No one mixes the fantastical and mundane to better comic effect' Daily Mail

Unseen Academicals is the seventh book in the Wizards series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

Ratings and reviews

I've read, perhaps, 5 other Discworld novels, including the first three and my favourite, Going Postal. In ways, it follows the same format as Going Postal, as the modern sport of football is created by the main characters through a series of incremental improvements. However, in this book the improvements are slapped together quickly and the main character never really feels like he is centre stage. Certainly, this book was far less humorous than others I have read.

Any Terry Pratchett story is pure beauty. The finest blend of storytelling, world and character building, subtle comedic timing and well-played strategic tie-ins from start to finish. Definitely hands down (and up, and down below...too slow) one of my favourite authors of all time.

(but the story feels like it's not quite sure what it's doing)

About the author

Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he was the author of over fifty bestselling books which have sold over 100 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 for services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.

www.terrypratchettbooks.com