Review of 'Unseen Academicals'

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
32nd book in the 'Discworld' series

unseen_academicals.jpg }Yet another Discworld novel from the mind of Terry Pratchett. It is no wonder that every time a new book comes out here in the UK he goes to the top of the bestseller list.

This time Pratchett's wit is trained on football with the Unseen University drawn into a football match where they are not allowed to use magic and where the rules of football have only been just invented. On the plus side they have the librarian in goal (who is a orangutan for reasons embedded in Discworld folklore) as well as an orc…There is, of course, added to the mix the best cook in the university (perhaps in Anhk Morpork and some candlestick fillers…(!) The match at the end lives up to it's promise and is easily the highlight of the story.

I can't say I am a big fan of football but this novel is certainly entertaining enough though I did not really find it as engrossing as his earlier novels. It has been quite a few years since I have picked up a Discworld and read it cover to cover within a week. The writing seems to be as good as it ever was except that today it seems so much more interested in numerous characters and “in jokes” that perhaps the story suffers somewhat. Now it takes several months as I can't really seem to get into the characters and feel anything for them. Still, it is a good laugh…

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Review Date: 2010-11-06


Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Corgi

Publication Date: 2009

ISBN: 978-0385609340


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