Unseen Academicals

Not really one of Pratchett's best, although even a mediocre Pratchett is still well worth reading. The topic is, of course, football, as seen through the lens of the Unseen University (as much its domestic staff as the wizards themselves), with additional swipes at high fashion and academia along the way. Ridcully and Ponder Stibbons feature, along with a number of other recurring characters, but the focus is really on a group of new characters, making this something of a one-off.

Full of the usual humour, although possibly with more innuendo than usual, but not really rising to the level of the top-notch Discworld books.

In which the wizards find an unexpected financial reason to take up the game of football, an orc proves his worth, and we're treated to the love story of Trevor and Juliet. This is not one of the best Discworld stories, and the football content doesn't really interest me, but much of it is entertainingly written and there are some good new characters.

Towards the end, it becomes more serious and less entertaining.

I have never not enjoyed a Pratchett book. This one isn't going to the top of the Pratchett mostly because it has a heavy focus on the Wizards and I prefer the Witches and Watch books a bit more, but it's still a great read and manages to make football/soccer interesting to me which ... well, no one has ever made football/soccer interesting to me before.

This was a fun one. The unseen university is forming a football (aka soccer team) to take on the other soccer teams in the city of akh morpork, however while that is the central plot device the book is not really about that all

I found that this book really was more about finding value in ourselves and not getting hung up on the way we were born or created. It challenges the idea that stereotypes are reality and that we we can find value in our selves.

One of the main characters, MR Nutt is a orc, and discovers this about himself and has beceome overwhelmed with finding value within himself despite societal pressure to view him with the stereotype of his race.

Juliet another character also embarks on a bit of self discovery as a fashion model and love interest of another character.

All in all this is a great read

A good cast of new characters introduces football to the world of Discworld but unfortunately they are not as interesting of complicated as some of the other well known characters such as Sam Vimes or Granny Weatherwax. Nonetheless its still a good read and will having you laughing out loud more often than not. Of course as a football fan myself I loved the actual football in the book!