The latest novel by Great Britain’s best-selling author Terry Pratchett is a parody on European football (soccer) and all the cultural phenomena that go along with it, such as cheerleading and football hooliganism. The book, Unseen Academicals may therefore be a bit more exciting to Europeans than to Americans.

But this novel is really about a much wider array of human follies and foibles than just football; most of which are universal, American as much as European. Other themes in the book include goblins and orcs, pies of every conceivable (and inconceivable) variety; as well as fashion supermodels and their excessive adulation by the public.

In typically characteristic Pratchett-fashion, everything on the Discworld mirrors things in our own world with a slight and hilarious twist. For example, a tail-gate market on the Discworld becomes a cart-tail market. And instead of cheerleaders, there are naiads dancing on the sidelines.

The book has many heroes, in particular a goblin-turned-orc by the name of Mr. Nutt. Because he’s one of only a handful of surviving orcs on the Discworld, two of the world’s most powerful leaders take him under their wings to help him save himself as well as his dying race.

It bears mentioning that the two leaders in question, Lord Vetinari and Lady Margolotta have been at this before. Their previous projects have included rock trolls, werewolves, golems, and vampires, all of which they assisted in becoming integrated and accepted members of human society.

As part of his process of merging into human society, Mr. Nutt has been assigned by Lady Margolotta to accumulate ‘worth.’ A task which he goes at with no restraints and in the process makes many friends and allies. Nutt’s co-worker Trev Likely stops at nothing to save his life when it’s in peril. And in the night kitchen of the Unseen University where he works, Nutt finds a romantic interest in Miss Glenda Sugarbean, supreme creator of the crusty onion pie and other gourmet delicacies.

Mr. Nutt so impresses his superiors at Unseen University with his strategic thinking and vast knowledge that they decide to place him in charge of the school’s new football team as its head coach. After that, there is no stopping the events that follow.

Unseen Academicals is a parody not only on European football (soccer) but also on food (especially pies), clothes and modeling, and the perplexing nature or human beings. So if you don’t wear clothes or eat food, then this book may not amuse you. But if you do, it will most assuredly provide you with barrels of laughs.

Britt Hellman lives in North Carolina with her spouse and their three boys. She’s a professional copywriter and does book reviews as a hobby. Visit the website The Light Fantastic, where you can order Unseen Academicals or any of the other 36 novels in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

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