Unseen Academicals - (Wizards) by Terry Pratchett (Paperback)

About the Book

"The wizards at Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University are renowned for many things - wisdom, magic, teatime - but athletics, not so much. When Lord Vetinari, the city's benevolent tyrant, strongly suggests to Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully that the university revive its sports program and field a football team composed of faculty, students, and staff - or lose the funding that pays for their nine daily meals - the wizards of UU find themselves in a quandary. First, they have to understand what makes foot-the-ball so popular with Ankh-Morporkians. Then they have to learn how to play it-and win-without using magic. Of course, the thing about football is that it is never just about football. The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Unseen Academicals is the 7th book in the Wizards series and the 37th Discworld book"--

Book Synopsis

"Football, food, fashion and wizards collide in Pratchett's affectionate satire on the foibles of sports and sports fans. . . . 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." --Publishers Weekly

Football (aka soccer) comes to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork, upending the wizards of Unseen University--and dividing Discworld--in this wonderfully funny novel in Sir Terry Pratchett's internationally bestselling series.

The wizards at Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University are renowned for many things--wisdom, magic, teatime--but athletics, not so much. When Lord Vetinari, the city's benevolent tyrant, strongly suggests to Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully that the university revive its sports program and field a football team composed of faculty, students, and staff--or lose the funding that pays for their nine daily meals--the wizards of UU find themselves in a quandary. First, they have to understand what makes foot-the-ball so popular with Ankh-Morporkians. Then they have to learn how to play it--and win--without using magic.

Of course, the thing about football is that it is never just about football.

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Unseen Academicals is the seventh and final book in the Wizards collection (and 37th Discworld book). The other books in the Wizards collection include:

The Color of MagicThe Light FantasticSourceryEricInteresting TimesThe Last Continent

Review Quotes

"Typically outlandish fun . . . [a] polished, supremely confident performance . . . Like the best of its predecessors, MAKING MONEY balances satire, knockabout farce and close observation of human -- and non-human -- foibles with impressive dexterity and deceptive ease. The result is another ingenious entertainment from the preeminent comic fantasist of our time." - Washington Post
"Surprisingly meaningful but never short of hilarious: a monstrous success for Pratchett." - Kirkus Reviews
"Start with Douglas Adams's comic science fiction (A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and J.R.R. Tolkien's alternative worlds, mix in James Ellroy's gritty realism and Jonathan Swift's unflinching satire and, if you're lucky, you'll get something like Terry Pratchett's THUD!" - Wall Street Journal
"Thirty-seven books in and . . . Discworld is still going strong . . . and doing so with undimmed, triumphant exuberance. " - The Guardian
"A triumphant effort." - The Independent on Sunday
"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." - Booklist
"At its heart, this is an intelligent, cheeky love letter to football, its fans and the unifying power of sports. - Publishers Weekly
"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....A witty addition to the long-running fantasy series" - Kirkus Reviews
"Non-stop wit . . . Pratchett is a master of juggling multiple plotlines and multiplying punchlines, and Money is a wondrous farce." - USA Today
"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. . . . You can't call what Pratchett does satire--it's far too good-natured for that--be he has a satirist's instinct for the absurd and a cartoonist's eye for the telling detail. . . . 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." - Daily Telegraph (London)