Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

Unseen Academicals is the 37th novel in the Discworld series.  In it we see the wizards of Unseen University faced with being reduced to only three meals a day due to the looming possibility of losing a substantial financial bequest.  This can only be thwarted if they field a team in the now legalised (but traditionally very violent) Ankh-Morpork foot-the-ball league.

In the course of their preparations for the match, we are introduced to: Trev Likely, son of the foot-the-ball legend Dave Likely (deceased); Mr Nutt, a mysterious polymath of the non-human persuasion; Juliet, a budding fashion model; and her boss Glenda, who bakes great pies.  A "star-crossed lovers" story unfolds as these four get entangled in the varying fortunes of the Unseen Academicals foot-the-ball team.

I read Pratchett's first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, shortly after it was published in 1983.  Over the intervening years it has been a pleasure to await the publication of the next novel.  Who would have thought all those years ago that we would be here in 2010 reading the 37th novel in the series?  What a delight the last 27 years has been, at least in this respect.

Unseen Academicals is by no means the best story Pratchett has produced, being tangentially inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  The plot is straightforward (by Pratchett standards), and the characterisation is as crisp as always.  However, this book has a lot of dialogue.  I couldn't help but feel that Pratchett made the dialogue do too much work by way of narrative, description and exposition.  Even so, it was a pleasure to read and good for a giggle and a guffaw, as always.

Publishing details: Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (Corgi, London, 2010, pp.540)