Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett

When "foot-the-ball" is played in the streets of Ankh Morpork the violence of a surging crowd is matched only by the violence on the pitch. Archancellor Ridcully is therefore, horrified to find that he and the other members of the Unseen University must form a team and play a one off game. Fortunately, Lord Vetinari wants to bring rules to the game taking it off the streets. With a funny little Goblin named Nutt as Head Coach and foot-the-ball legend Dave Likely's son as Assistant the team of the "Unseen Academicals" might just survive. "Unseen Academicals" is the thirty-seventh Discworld by the genius that is Sir Terry ...  Read the complete review

After casting his eye over films, music, opera, journalism and many other aspects of "civilised society", Terry Pratchett turns to football for his latest Discworld novel, Unseen Academicals. The story in this one is slightly convoluted (although Discworld books generally are!) It surrounds attempts by The Patrician, Lord Vetinari, to turn football from a street game played by thugs into a respectable sport. To achieve this, he turns to the wizards of Unseen University (UU) and one of their employees - a goblin, to whom there is more than meets the eye. Even this slightly-longer-than-usual (for me) plot synopsis doesn't even come close to ...  Read the complete review