I’ve lost track of how many Discworld novels have flowed from the pen of the incomparable Terry Pratchett, thirty or so I believe. This is the latest madcap adventure from the world that so resembles ours yet is nothing like it. Having brought gnomes, newspapers and the post office to his creation, Pratchett now tackles football. It is a compelling mystery wrapped in exciting adventure wrapped in effortless parody wrapped in genius. As with all Pratchett’s work it is a joy to read and hard to put down but I would advise new readers to start a bit further back in the series in order to fully appreciate the cameo appearances of established characters here.
'We play and are played and the best we can hope for is to do it with style.'
Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork. 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.
To do this, they recruit an unlikely group of players: Trev, a street urchin with a talent for kicking a tin can; Glenda, the night chef who makes a mean pie; Juliet, the kitchen hand turned world's greatest fashion model; and the mysterious Mr Nutt, who has something powerful, and dark, locked away inside him . . .
And 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!
'This isn't just football, it's Discworld football. Or, to borrow another phrase, it's about life, the Universe and everything' The Times
'No one mixes the fantastical and mundane to better comic effect' Daily Mail
Unseen Academicals is the seventh book in the Wizards series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.
Terry Pratchett(1948 - 2015) was born in 1948 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. He had his first story published when he was just thirteen, and after leaving school at seventeen to become a journalist he continued writing, publishing his first novel, The Carpet People, in 1971 and going on to produce the phenomenally successful Discworld and his trilogy for young readers, The Bromeliad. His first Discworld novel for children, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was awarded the 2001 Carnegie Medal.
Terry Pratchett as well as numerous other books, winning many awards and becoming the UK’s bestselling author. He was appointed OBE in 1998.
He died in March 2015 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. You can find out more about his life and work at www.terrypratchettbooks.com
