Unseen Academicals (2009)

OK ( )

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. ( )

Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett's latest addition to the Discworld series, showcases the author at his best. Funny, smart, and with a keen eye for good characters, Pratchett just seems to get better and better. This audiobook was narrated by Stephen Briggs, and between these two masters, it was the sort of listening experience that makes you wish your commute was longer. Please note that this review contains spoilers.

First, the cast. Glenda Sugarbean, cook extraordinaire, manages the Night Kitchen at Unseen University, with some assistance from her slow-witted but very beautiful friend Juliet. Young, streetsmart Trevor Likely runs the candle vats in the belly of the University. Then there's Mr. Nutt, a candle-dribbler at the University who is just trying to gain some worth in people's eyes. Because there is something not quite right about Mr. Nutt, not quite... normal. But no one can quite figure it out, Mr. Nutt least of all.

The occasion for the story is football. Football in Ankh-Morpork is a rough sport, as Trevor knows only too well: his father, the famous Dave Likely, died in a match. Each section of the city is fiercely loyal to its team. This, incidentally, sets up Trevor and Juliet, from different parts of town, to be romantic (but rather less poetic) lovers than Shakespeare's star-crossed duo. But the real love story I enjoyed in this tale was Glenda and Nutt. It was so vague at first, I wasn't sure Pratchett was going there, but I was so glad he did. Glenda is one of those characters you just love to be around, and as for Nutt — well, you root for him almost from the moment he walks onto the page. They're perfect together.

We have, of course, the usual hilarious scenes among the senior faculty of the University, this time funnier than ever because in order to keep a hefty bequest, they must form a football team and play a match. Yes, the wizards playing a match. It is not to be missed. And then there's the whole dwarf fashion scene, with Juliet becoming a star overnight for modeling the latest dwarfish innovation: micromail (it doesn't chafe, you know). The micromail mastermind, Pepé, is simply hilarious and probably made even better with Briggs's voicing.

I do take issue with Pratchett's moral judgments about the Supreme Being (all theoretical, of course, as Pratchett is an atheist). Pratchett here muses, through Lord Vetinari, that if there *is* a God, it is our duty to be morally superior to Him. Because everything wrong about the world is God's fault, not ours. I will never understand a belief system that refuses to believe in God because it judges Him to be reprehensible; it just isn't logical.

In any case, theology aside, this is a highly enjoyable story that makes me wonder why it's been so long since I picked up a Pratchett book. Discworld is always fun! ( )

The latest in the discworld novels sees Ankh morpork's traditional game of foot-the-ball turned on it's head. No longer is it something along the lines of the Eton wall game, where a man such as Dave Likely might score so many as 4 goals in a lifetime. instead it is transmuted into a beautiful game where the ball flies, where skill counts and where playing rough isn't the route to a win anymore. Playing alongside this is a romance of Romeo & Juliet proportions, only this, being the discworld, is Juliet & Trev. they're lifelong supporters of opposing teams, and it is a case of never the twain shall meet, until they do, in the Unseen University's Night Kitchen. That's the preserve of Glenda, a woman who can do amazing things with a pie, and who reads romantic novels on the side. Also stirred into the pudding is Mr Nutt. He's an odd little fellow who works in the candle dribbling department, but speaks very posh and can quote the great philosphers and write epic love poetry. He's also an Orc, and everyone knows that they can rip a man's head off with their bare hands, but he hasn't done that to anyone ... yet. The showdown at the end is a classic along the lines of a Western gun fight, or Clint Eastwood' "Go ahead, make my day". As usual with Pratchett you can see some of the jokes building from a reasonable distance, but they're always worth the payoff when it is delivered (the footie chant being a classic case in point). With his announcement that he has Altzheimer's each new book is read with an eye to "has he lost it" and, on the basis of this book, the answer is an emphatic NO. ( )

I had intended never to own a Terry Pratchett book for the very unreasonable reason that whenever he did a book signing at Forbidden Planet at its former London location on New Oxford Street, there was a massive queue of pasty-faced, slightly overweight men in long leather coats and fedora hats blocking my way into the shop. They disrupted my comic-buying mission and ruined my plan to browse the lower-floor book section, it being off limits to all but Pratchett acolytes.

Annoying! And it felt like an unpredictable, occasionally-repeated personal attack upon me by Terry Prachett (well, I did say it was an unreasonable reason). So, I've never read him - but my wife and son have, and they rather disloyally enjoyed his books, which is why I entered a Goodreads Giveaway, which I surprisingly (and ironically) won and so own this one.

I suppose I might eventually read it myself, and I might possibly, grudgingly, enjoy it. But I've still got my eye on you, Mr Pratchett!