I’ve just finished reading Terry Pratchett’s delightful Unseen Academicals over the span of two days.

As with most of Pratchett’s work, this novel takes aspects of our normal day to day existence and gives them new meaning. The core plot thread in this novel is around the game of football (or soccer, if you use the name football for a game involving an oval ball) and the sometimes very scary fanaticism that revolves around it. He describes the good of being part of the crowd, but he also shows the dark underside of the football fan in the form of violent hooligans. In fact the efforts of the Patrician, with the help of Unseen University, to make football a more civilized and safe game are almost undermined by the fact that the hooligan element in the crowd had over time gained more control over the game than the actual football clubs had.

In terms of cast, this is definitely an Unseen University book. We see some interesting changes in the staff of Unseen University, with the Dean having departed for greener pastures in Pseudopolis and so many jobs delegated to poor Ponder Stibbons that he in fact now holds a controlling vote at the university council because of the number of posts he holds. So despite Archchancellor Ridcully obviously being the head of the university and wizards (“first among equals”), Stibbons is in fact the person in charge. Rincewind is in this book, but essentially just as a background supporting character, there is one little passage that illustrates why Ridcully keeps his Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geology around, I won’t quote now but it boils down to Rincewind being lightning rod for trouble and drawing it away from the other wizards.

We see a lot more of the “below stairs” UU staff, in fact they are the main characters in the book. There is Glenda who runs the Night Kitchen, her friend and assistant Juliet who is destined to be the greatest fashion model ever, Trev who runs the candle maker vats and a candle dribbler called Nutt with some huge and important surprises up his sleeves. This book is in fact also the story of Mister Nutt, who has had a more difficult childhood than most and discovers that his heritage scares everyone. Mister Nutt also discovers that people can be very adaptable and accepting of someone who tries to make the world better, regardless of what that person’s ancestors might have done (or been made to do).

I must confess that this book is for me one of Pratchett’s better recent Discworld works. I certainly found it a more satisfying read than Going Postal or Making Money.