Unseen Academicals: A Discworld Novel

“Football, food, fashion and wizards collide in Pratchett’s affectionate satire on the foibles of sports and sports fans. . . .The prose crackles with wit and charm. . . . At its heart, this is an intelligent, cheeky love letter to football, its fans and the unifying power of sports.” —Publishers Weekly

Football (aka soccer) comes to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork, upending the wizards of Unseen University—and dividing Discworld—in this wonderfully funny novel in Sir Terry Pratchett’s internationally bestselling Discworld series (and the 7th book in the Wizards collection). This fantastic new recording is read by Colin Morgan (Merlin; Belfast), with Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reading the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace) starring as the voice of Death.

The wizards at Ankh-Morpork’s Unseen University are renowned for many things—wisdom, magic, teatime—but athletics, not so much. When Lord Vetinari, the city’s benevolent tyrant, strongly suggests to Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully that the university revive its sports program and field a football team composed of faculty, students, and staff—or lose the funding that pays for their nine daily meals—the wizards of UU find themselves in a quandary. First, they have to understand what makes foot-the-ball so popular with Ankh-Morporkians. Then they have to learn how to play it—and win—without using magic.

Of course, the thing about football is that it is never just about football.

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Unseen Academicals is the seventh and final book in the Wizards collection (and 37th Discworld book). The other books in the Wizards collection include:

• The Color of Magic
• The Light Fantastic
• Sourcery
• Eric
• Interesting Times
• The Last Continent