Hardcover, 400 pages
English language
Published Oct. 15, 2009 by Doubleday.
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 …
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.
Viime vuoden Kiekkomaailma-rykäisystä jäi vielä uupumaan mm. tämä jalkapallotarina. Tavanomaiseen kohellukseen on heitetty mausteeksi Will Huntingia, Beckhamien kaltaisia valmisteita ja sen sellaista. Vähän väsyneen oloinen kokonaisuus, joka kierrättää samoja vitsejä tämän tästä.
Silly and fun while also being surprisingly deep... Terry Pratchett just tosses these stories out there, and it's amazing to me.
Gosh I love Terry Pratchett. This one touched a bit on game design stuff, made me question how simple football really is. Plus all the standard stuff about being a good person that is in every single one of the discworld books.
This 37th book in the Discworld series works well as a standalone novel. It’s an excellent spoof of academia and an anthropological look at British football fans (and pies, and slavery, and romance novels). Very funny and engaging, it provides useful back story for those who want to explore the other 39 Discworld adventures.
Struggling a bit to get into this one..... likely to be a holiday read.
Pratchett remains funny and never ceases finding ways to get Ankh-Morpork's citizens in trouble, but it's not his best work. Many good moments and characters, though they never reach the same compelling heights as Sam Vimes, Rincewind, Nanny Ogg, or even Moist Von Lipwig.
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!
