Unseen Academicals

Mass Market Paperback, 417 sidor

På English

Publicerades 4 oktober 2010 av Harper.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-116172-8
OCLC-nummer:: 526057694

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 put forth a football team composed of faculty, students, and staff—or lose the funding that pays for their nine daily meals—the more-than-usually-at-sea UU wizards find themselves in a quandary. To begin with, they have to figure out just what it is that makes this sport of foot-the-ball 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.

And the thing about football—the most important thing about football—is that it is never just about football.

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 put forth a football team composed of faculty, students, and staff—or lose the funding that pays for their nine daily meals—the more-than-usually-at-sea UU wizards find themselves in a quandary. To begin with, they have to figure out just what it is that makes this sport of foot-the-ball 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.

And the thing about football—the most important thing about football—is that it is never just about football.

9 utgåvor

読書狂 recenserade Unseen Academicals av Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #37)

just not for me

3 stjärnor

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.

Björn recenserade Unseen Academicals (Discworld, #37; Rincewind #8) av Terry Pratchett

None

2 stjärnor

You know the sort of plot where there's something the narrator isn't telling us, because if he told us too soon there'd be no plot, but he can't actually come up with a very good reason not to tell us?

Unseen Academicals is fairly mediocre, as Discworld novels go. There's magic in it (though some of the best bits come after magic is literally removed from it), there are cameos by all your favourite characters (though they come across more as checking boxes), there are some very nice (but rather preachy) sentiments about tolerance and intolerance, mob mentality, and the like. And when it's good, it's often quite good; fans of Vetinari and Ridcully, especially, should have a lot of fun. But it's also a fairly unfocused novel, padded with half-mumbled character exposition, using Romeo & Juliet and various lads' football comics as crutches to keep the story doing anything …

You know the sort of plot where there's something the narrator isn't telling us, because if he told us too soon there'd be no plot, but he can't actually come up with a very good reason not to tell us?

Unseen Academicals is fairly mediocre, as Discworld novels go. There's magic in it (though some of the best bits come after magic is literally removed from it), there are cameos by all your favourite characters (though they come across more as checking boxes), there are some very nice (but rather preachy) sentiments about tolerance and intolerance, mob mentality, and the like. And when it's good, it's often quite good; fans of Vetinari and Ridcully, especially, should have a lot of fun. But it's also a fairly unfocused novel, padded with half-mumbled character exposition, using Romeo & Juliet and various lads' football comics as crutches to keep the story doing anything until Pratchett gets to where he really wants to go. When he does get there, it's all very serviceable, and for any other author it would be a solid novel; but I expect more of Pratchett.

Ämnen

Literature & Fiction -- Comic
Literature & Fiction -- Women's Fiction -- Single Women
Science Fiction & Fantasy -- Authors, A-Z -- ( P ) -- Pratchett, Terry
Science Fiction & Fantasy -- Fantasy