Unseen Academicals

by Stephen Briggs, Terry Pratchett

English language

Published June 19, 2010

ISBN:: 978-0-552-15337-9

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.

28 editions

読書狂 reviewed Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #37)

just not for me

3 stars

i admit i have no interest in any kind of sportsball, so i didn't really expect this one would be for me, and indeed it wasn't. parts of it were quite funny, i will always accept Drunk!Vetinari, and i did like Mister Nutt... i don't know, the characters were all good, i think the plot is where it failed to grab me. it kinda took too long to take off, and i'm not sure football had anything to do with actually solving Nutt's problem except that they both happened to take place in the same book. anyway, i love Drunk!Vetinari, so chatty, and he does drop a few bars, so i don't regret reading it.

Sacronte@comelibros.club reviewed El Atlético invisible by Stephen Briggs

Reseña Atlético Invisible

3 stars

3.5 y aquí concluyo la saga de los magos.

Me ha costado mucho entrar en el atlético invisible, las primeras 100 y pico paginas me han casi aburrido y las bromas no colaban como en otros libros. Lo primero de todo es que detesto el futbol y su imaginería y eso me hacia escéptico, lo segundo que (al principio) Huebo me recordaba a un Zanahoria pero con menos carisma, a Trev no le acababa de coger el punto entre macarrilla y ser "el mas listo de los tontos" y las Glenda y Juliet me parecían casi relleno, pero por suerte ha ido mejorando conforme leía, especialmente con estos tres titanes:

Glenda en mi opinión es el gran sostén del libro, el eje que une a todo el resto de personajes, una gran definición de la clase obrera consciente pero atrapada en el flujo diario que le …

3.5 y aquí concluyo la saga de los magos.

Glenda en mi opinión es el gran sostén del libro, el eje que une a todo el resto de personajes, una gran definición de la clase obrera consciente pero atrapada en el flujo diario que le deja unos márgenes estrechos para vivir y anhelar un futuro mejor. Siempre amable con el resto y extremadamente recelosa con los cambios pero capaz de usar toda su voluntad cuando es necesario.
Huebo por otra parte es un supuesto ser de una raza peligrosa pero que con una intelectualidad apabullante tanto poética como filosóficamente nos enseña el trauma de llevar la carga de lo que tus semejantes han hecho en el pasado y ser capaz de crear una relación positiva con el resto para limpiar su nombre.
Y por supuesto el recurrente Havelock Vetinari, el tirano de la ciudad que juega sus cartas y ejerce su poder con una maestría inmensa para equilibrar e intentar tornar cada pequeña situación a su favor en pos de seguir ejerciendo como patricio. Escucharle hablar de como lo hace es una delicia.

Hay alguna subtrama que no me ha llamado, el libro tiene altibajos aunque el final si es muy dinámico y tiene mejores bromas (especialmente en las escenas de los magos) pero no puede hacer sombra a ese primer cuarto de libro que, realmente, ha sido desértico. Creo que Tiempos Interesantes dejó el listón altísimo.

Taru Luojola reviewed Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (Discworld)

Oikeastaan juuri sitä mitä odotinkin

3 stars

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.

Chris reviewed Unseen academicals by Terry Pratchett (A novel of Discworld)

None

4 stars

DNF unfortunately. This is one of his later novels and sadly for me lacked the wit and spark of the earlier books. Got to about 25% and gave up. Sadly by this time in his life he no longer had the subtlety and rams the moral down your throat instead. Also, of the three main Discworld sub-series (Witches; City Watch; Unseen University) the third is the least serious and most likely to be a broad comedy. And therefore possibly the most likely to go wrong. Which it does.

Chris reviewed Unseen academicals by Terry Pratchett (A novel of Discworld)

None

2 stars

DNF unfortunately. This is one of his later novels and sadly for me lacked the wit and spark of the earlier books. Got to about 25% and gave up. Sadly by this time in his life he no longer had the subtlety and rams the moral down your throat instead.
Also, of the three main Discworld sub-series (Witches; City Watch; Unseen University) the third is the least serious and most likely to be a broad comedy. And therefore possibly the most likely to go wrong. Which it does.

levine reviewed Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #37)

None

3 stars

Takes a while to get going, could have been a little shorter perhaps. A middling book in the series, but still pretty good with some hilarious highlights.

MBybee reviewed Unseen academicals by Terry Pratchett (A novel of Discworld)

Review of 'Unseen academicals' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Silly and fun while also being surprisingly deep... Terry Pratchett just tosses these stories out there, and it's amazing to me.

jonathan.brodsky reviewed Unseen academicals by Terry Pratchett (A novel of Discworld)

Review of 'Unseen academicals' on 'GoodReads'

4 stars

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.

LingLass reviewed Unseen academicals by Terry Pratchett (A novel of Discworld)

Review of 'Unseen academicals' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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.

Didactylos reviewed Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (Discworld)

Review of 'Unseen Academicals' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

Struggling a bit to get into this one..... likely to be a holiday read.

willhopkins reviewed Unseen academicals by Terry Pratchett (A novel of Discworld)

Review of 'Unseen academicals' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

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.

Fynch reviewed Unseen academicals by Terry Pratchett (A novel of Discworld)

None

5 stars

As far as I'm concerned, it's really hard for Pratchett to take a wrong step when he's on the Disc. So of course I loved this book!

Terrance reviewed Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (Discworld)

Review of 'Unseen Academicals' on Goodreads

3 stars

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!