“Unseen Academicals” by Sir Terry Pratchett
It is difficult to talk about a book that is a part of such a powerful, much loved, much read series.
Unseen Academicals is one of the last of the Discworld books, written by Sir Terry Pratchett. It is the last of the many books featuring the Wizards of Unseen University and it focuses on their efforts to transform the Ankh-Morpork version of football into something less murderous and more into an actual game.
Of course there are other things going on. This is one of the few Pratchett books where the main characters are falling in love. It is a romantic, heartfelt, and, for the most part, a chaste love.
As a true Discworld book much of the drama focuses on the difference between right and wrong, what makes a man a man and can we improve ourselves and gain worth. The struggle we witness as characters work to become better people and how they are successful through support of their friends is epic.
We have read the hardcover version years ago, when it first came out. This time we read it on Audible. This difference is important. When you read it to yourself you can “hear” the voices in your head. This is one of the many wonderful tricks of being truly literate, you can hear the characters and they become real. Terry Pratchett is a master at creating the voices so we can hear them.
The problem is not everyone hears them the same. And these are English books, written by a brilliant Englishman. They expect the voices and characters to sound one way, those of us here in America expect another.
In the Audible version some of my favorite characters were voiced so “wrong” that I could hardly stand it. Old people, women, children, the street folk, all have ways of talking that I am sure are EXACTLY what the English listener expects. But to an American they sound, well, goofy. I’ve dealt with this before, in other Pratchett Audible books, but this one was truly difficult for me to enjoy. I got over it.
Sir Terry wrote over 40 Discworld books. This one was not the last, but it was the last featuring the Wizards. But this was not written to be “The Final Wizard Book”.
John Steinbeck said, “Stories do not have beginnings or endings. They are like life, they just go from one story to the next. And Pratchett followed this philosophy.
Some of the characters are old friends. Some are new. Events happened before which influence how they are now. And at the end of the book, we know that other things will happen after the story ends.
Terry Pratchett is gone. But the Discworld is alive. The Turtle moves.
Read every day, and read for fun!
