Terry Pratchett's 37th DiscWorld novel since 1987. 37 novels, 22 years. Made a knight by Queen Elizabeth II in 2009 for his "services to literature," Terry Pratchett has sold more than sixty-five million copies worldwide.
Unseen Academicals is a 400-page chronicle of an unlikely cohort of characters - goblins, humans, trolls, dwarfs, wizards and an ape who make up the staff and faculty at Unseen University, a wizardry school that, unlike Hogwarts and JK Rowlings offerings, focuses almost entirely on the faculty and hardly at all on the students of UU.
The plot follows four unlikely friends- Glenda and Juliet, manager of the Night Kitchen and her assistance, Trev Likely, manager of the candle vats, and Mister Nutt, his deputized goblin assistance of unequaled, and unheralded intellect, whit, and vocabulary. Mister Nutt also undertakes the management and training of the UU football team, the re-writing of its rules and teaching the wizards how to compete WITHOUT magic.
 |
| from http://www.booksillustrated.com/en-UK/the-art-of-discworld Paul Kidly, Illustrator |
The stories of these major characters, along with the wizards they serve (Archchancellor Ridcully- "the supreme authority in the affairs of the wise, the cunning and the crafty," Ponder Stibbons, the Chair of Indefinite Studies, the Professor of Illiberal Studies, the Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography, and Dr. Hix, Head of the Department of Post Mortem Communications just to name a few) and their various adventures alternate throughout the text. At no time does the reader really experience the same scene through more than one character's experience or point of view.
While the major point of the story appears to be the necessity of the University to start a football team in order to receive a sizeable bequest from a deceased benefactor, the backdrop, characters and author's whit provide some amazing undertones to this book:
- the life, love and sport of football and the unyielding adoration and allegiance of its fans,
- Romeo & Juliet - a dimwhitted, doe-eyed, kitchen-maid Juliet (no literally that's her name) and her admirer Trev Likely. Trev, an underachieveing, mans-man sort, escapes to the street football matches during the day while still maintaining employment by setting the standards quite low for the candle-making department he helps oversee.
- political posturing - Dean Henry Two Chairs scandalously leaves for a higher paying role at Brazeneck College, a younger competiting university!
- class structure - "you have to grab life or drop it back into the crab bucket" (p. 159)
- work ethic - "it is a well-known fact in any organization that, if you want a job done, you should give it to someone who is already very busy." (p. 26)
In my opinion, the first 200 pages of the book, while whitty and smart were rather difficult to get through. Some of the details are important as they impact other characters or events later in the book, but for the most part, the character development rambles into the extemporaneous.
When shopping for this particular book, Pratchett's last Discworld Novel, Making Money was published in 2007, I tried several book shops, a couple used ones as well as traditional retailers who were out-of-stock. I received comments such as "they're so hard to keep around," and "they're so popular." I ended up tracking one down at a county library across town and had to get it on reserve. I personally cant quite understand why I had this issue. The Discworld series, as a body of work has a Lexile range of 650-890 depending on the book, which can range from 4th grade to 6th grade based solely on vocabulary and sentence structure. I think that with a lot of the undercurrents political commentary (classism, racism, etc.), and social commentar, the books might be more appreciated by middle schoolers and high schoolers, although I am still not sure if they would appreciate the references if they are not thinking critically, asking questions or already somewhat cynical in nature.
Overall, while I enjoyed this book (eventually), I personally dont see the stories and tribulations of the "pointy hats" appealing to young female readers, or the jocks and "in-crowd" types. I think that the Dungeon & Dragons, Dragon-Ball, graphic novel, comic book (worried they might live with their parents until they're 40) types might gravitate more toward this particular book and Pratchett's series of books. Making Money was about the Ankh-Morpork Royal Mint and 2004's Going Postal was about the Ankh-Morpork Post Office. Academicals appeared to include a sports backdrop which may have been able to entice new readers, but as his 37th book, I feel like I might not have the working knowledge or a vested interest into the world of Ankh-Morpork to make real connections, although the books do seem to appear unconnected except for the fact that they are all set in the fictional world of Ankh-Morpork, under the watchful eye of Lord Vetinari.
Check out Terry Pratchett's other novels on his website:
http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/
You can also try his author's page on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Terry-Pratchett/e/B000AQ0NN8/ref=sr_tc_ep?qid=1298399235
Also, interesting news....due to his acclaim in England, it appears Academicals is going to make it to the tv screen, Pratchett's fourth such novel to do so:
http://www.sfx.co.uk/2011/01/25/next-pratchett-tv-adaptation-announced/
According to Amazon, a similar author (though at first examination she does appear to write more for the YA Sci-Fi friendly girls out there) is Robin McKinley:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sword-Robin-McKinley/dp/0441068804
Robert Rankin, another British author, and his Brentford trilogy appear to have similar traits: London setting, characters with general do-gooder-ness despite prior slacker tendencies. Here's Book #1 in the trilogy: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/055213841X/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0029NZX3K&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0XYPH7Z4PK2YWVE70BNT
