Terry Pratchett's sparkling wit and extraordinary imagination have made him the master of the Comedy Fantasy genre for the last 25 years. His recent diagnosis of Alzheimers has meant that every new book is welcomed as possibly the last. But they are also publicly scrutinised for signs that he is losing his formidable talent. Well, there's nothing to see here folks. Unseen Academicals is Prachett at his sharp-witted best.
Ankh-Morpork is, of course, home to the best-fed, overly-rested, but undoubtedly most powerful wizards on the disc. However, a lucrative old bequeathment is in danger of being cut off, threatening to reduce their usual 9 square meals to a miserable 3, with a selection of only 3 cheeses for afters. Under the terms of the bequeathment the Wizards must regularly compete in a game of foot-the-ball, the loutish, uncivilised but not quite illegal sport of the streets, where the winners are usually the men still standing at the end of the match with more than half their usual allotment of fingers/ears/noses/kneecaps. It's been nearly twenty years since their last match and unless they enter a team before that anniversary the funding will lapse.
The ridiculously non-athletic wizards are unexpectedly aided by several young workers in the university, including Trev Likely, son of a famous footballer, Glenda Sugarbean, a wonderful cook, but terribly bossy, and the real hero, Mr Nutt, whose murky past looks almost as bleak as his future.
Pratchett has always juggled multiple themes in his books. Sometimes (as with some of his more recent books) the delivery of his main message is lost in the noise of so many other plots and side-issues. His best novels have managed to seamlessly weave the sub-plots, romances and character developments with the underlying satire, all of which have made his books so special. Happily, "Unseen Academicals" manages to integrate its myriad of sub-plots, detours and Pratchettisms into a brilliant parody of the old underdog sports cliché. It is paced brilliantly, and the climax is as evocative and powerful as anything Pratchett has written. You can feel the crowd, the noise, the tension and excitement.
All in all a return to form for Pratchett. Once again he has managed to provide something fresh and original, which after 37 Discworld books, is quite a feat in itself.
Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork - not the old fashioned, grubby pushing and shoving, but the new, fast football with pointy hats for goalposts and balls that go glowing when you drop them. 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.
The prospect of the Big Match draws in a street urchin with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can, a maker of jolly good pies, a dim but beautiful young woman, who might just turn out to be the greatest fashion model there has ever been, and the mysterious Mr Nutt (and no one knows anything much about Mr Nutt, not even Mr Nutt, which worries him, too). As the match approaches, four lives are entangled and changed for ever.
Because 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!
Industry Reviews
"This is the 37th in a body of work so vast that it has spawned its own concordance, yet the quality remains as high as ever and the laughs as plentiful...Like all the Discworld novels, Unseen Academicals rewards a second reading. As ever it is peppered with allusions, from Keats to the Lewinsky affair, but, like Wodehouse, Pratchett wears his learning lightly and the pleasure of rereading is in teasing them out." -- Peter Inham Telegraph "Mention comic fantasy and Terry Pratchett is the first name that comes to mind...behind the fantasy Terry Pratchett looks at very real contemporary issues and scores many goals. This isn't just football, it's Discworld football. Or, to borrow another phrase, it's about life, the Universe, and everything." The Times "The subject matter is football, with a dash of Romeo and Juliet thown in...exactly what's needed to cheer us all up in the autumnal gloom. Terry has lost none of his ability to raise a laugh...I'll wager there are a few more books in him yet." Daily Express "We doubt whether Pratchett gives a fig about 22 men kicking a bag of wind,but he's ever fascinated by people,our vagaries, our vanities and our triumphs. And, when all's said and done, football is all about us, wherever we sit in society. In case you hadn't already guessed, the man of the match award goes, not for the first time, to Sir Terry Pratchett." SFX "Satirical, historical, fantastical and irresistible." Daily Mail
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