Unseen Academicals: A Discworld Novel

Discworld lives on in Unseen Academicals, the latest novel from Terry Pratchett. Delivering the trademark insight and humor readers the world over have come to expect from “the purely funniest English writer since Wodehouse” (Washington Post Book World), Unseen Academicals focuses on the wizards at Ankh-Morpork’s Unseen University, who are reknowned for many things—sagacity, magic, and their love of teatime—as they attempt to conquer athletics.

The wizards at Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University are renowned for many things—wisdom, magic, and their love of teatime—but athletics is most assuredly not on the list. And so when Lord Ventinari, the city's benevolent tyrant, strongly suggests to Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully that the university revive an erstwhile tradition and once again put forth a football team composed of faculty, students, and staff, the wizards of UU find themselves in a quandary. To begin with, they have to figure out just what it is that makes this sport—soccer with a bit of rugby thrown in—so popular with Ankh-Morporkians of all ages and social strata. Then they have to learn how to play it. Oh, and on top of that, they must win a football match without using magic.

Meanwhile, Trev (a handsome street urchin and a right good kicker) falls hard for kitchen maid Juliet (beautiful, dim, and perhaps the greatest fashion model there ever was), and Juliet's best pal, UU night cook Glenda (homely, sensible, and a baker of jolly good pies) befriends the mysterious Mr. Nutt (about whom no one knows very much, including Mr. Nutt, which is worrisome . . .). As the big match approaches, these four lives are entangled and changed forever. Because the thing about football—the most important thing about football­—is that it is never just about football.

“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)