Unseen Academicals

January 25, 2010
In the magical universe of Discworld, the dithering and very dotty wizards at Unseen University struggle to master the arcane rules of football as they enter a violent street sport competition. The challenges include getting the sedentary and distracted professors to play with some enthusiasm (and without magic), defending themselves against their opponents’ unsportsmanlike behavior, and naturally, to win. It’s not easy to track the multitude of characters, but Stephen Briggs gives each of them a distinctive voice. Briggs has been adapting Pratchett’s novels to the stage since 1991, and the recurring characters are his to command. His performance brings out the best of the satirical humor and Pratchett’s really good bad puns. Fans of Discworld will not be disappointed. A Harper hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 31).

August 31, 2009
Football, food, fashion and wizards collide in Pratchett’s 37th Discworld novel (after 2007’s Making Money
), an affectionate satire on the foibles of sports and sports fans. The always out-of-touch wizards at Ankh-Morpork’s Unseen University stand to lose a very big bequest unless they enter a team in a violent but popular street sport competition. As the wizards struggle to learn the game, aided by the university’s hired help, Ankh-Morpork’s ruler schemes to use the competition for his own purposes. Though the book suffers from a few awkward moments (Pratchett’s attempts to discuss racism through the strained relationships of dwarves, humans and goblins fall particularly flat), 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.

October 27, 2009
The 37th novel (after Making Money) in Pratchett's wildly popular "Discworld" series is set in the bustling metropolis of Ankh-Morpork and boasts the return of the wizards of Unseen University. Lord Vetinari, Ankh-Morpork's patrician, is responsible, as usual, for setting into motion the novel's two main story lines: the assimilation of a member of an ancient, and heretofore shunned race, into the city, and the regulation of "foot-the-ball," a game that leaves the streets littered with bodies of players and spectators alike. Verdict While having more than its fair share of laugh-out-loud lines, this title is far from Pratchett's best. He fails to integrate his great wisdom and fondness for the human condition, and his humorous observations about its absurdity are left hanging. However, it is still a well-written crowd pleaser. For serious fans, but newcomers might prefer to start with one of the earlier titles.-Amy Watts, Univ. of Georgia Lib., Athens

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2009
Imagine Harry Potter rewritten by Monty Python: That's the mood of Pratchett's return to Discworld (Making Money, 2007, etc.).

This account of Unseen University's entry into the world of soccer (or, as they occasionally call it,"foot-the-ball") pushes past the usual conventions of satire to offer equal parts absurdist philosophy and heartwarming romance. Here, all the professors are ponderous buffoons as well as wizards, though occasionally they indulge those they consider their inferiors with"the sarcasm of a born pedagogue." Those inferiors generally have a whole lot more common sense and occasionally more learned erudition, particularly in the case of our hero, Mr. Nutt. A lowly candle dipper who is also a goblin and may well be something else as well, the humble Nutt ultimately reveals more brain power than anyone else in the novel, along with a variety of other powers, even though his background makes this intellectual range and depth seem unlikely. When Unseen University decides to field a soccer team, Nutt emerges as the coach, the driving force and the potential star, using his"talent for pattern recognition in developing situations" to train a team of players who previously had no conception of teamwork. In the process, Nutt not only falls in love with a worthy cook no one else considers lovely, he also helps his mate win the heart of the cook's helper, who has somehow become the rage of the land as a fashion model. Pratchett has great sport with a university that employs a Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography and Chair of Indefinite Studies and spouts platitudes such as"if we can make a tradition out of not observing another tradition, that's doubly traditional." Of course, that's not such a weird comment in a society whose adages include"the leopard may change its shorts" and"thirst springs eternal."

A witty addition to the long-running fantasy series.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2009
No one has ever known Lord Vetinari, tyrant of the magical Renaissance city-state of Ankh-Morpork, to be a football fan, the game being, after all, the passion of the working classes, who like it played with maximal savagery. So everyones flummoxed when he proposes reviving the sport as it was meant to be; namely, including a few emendations to be introduced by a faculty-and-staff team from that Oxbridge of wizardly knowledge, Unseen University. Now UUs faculty is portly and, save for meals, lethargic, so youthful menials Trev, son of late football immortal Dave Likely, and Mr. Nutt, the new candle-dribbler, must bring the ponderous profs up to team speed. They couldnt do it without Glenda, pie-maker nonpareil and mistress of the universitys Night Kitchen, and her assistant, best friend, and de facto ward, the gorgeous Juliet, with whom Trevs understandably smitten. Or without the mysterious Pepe, designer to dwarf fashion entrepreneur Madame Sharn, who finds in Juliet the ideal model for her new line of micromail haute couture. Or, come to that, without micromail. In short, this is as busy and as daft as any other Discworld yarn, which means it is the quintessence of daft. Nobody writes fantasy funnier than Pratchett.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)