Unseen Academicals Review

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meerkat

Sergeant-at-Arms
Jan 16, 2010
9,413
2,800
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Pocklington East Riding Yorkshire
#25
For what it's worth and it's not worth much...
I felt I was waving a fond faretell to the DW. As I read through it appeared that certain characters were appearing and disappearing in sentences with very little 'fleshing out'. I felt I was reading a requiem. Having read it three times now, as I originally thought I had misunderstood the sensation I was getting, I still arrived at the same conclusion. :cry:
I am now re-reading the entire series and wait to see what happens when I reach UA.
 

poohcarrot

Sergeant-at-Arms
Sep 13, 2009
8,317
2,300
NOT The land of the risen Son!!
#26
meerkat said:
For what it's worth and it's not worth much...
I felt I was waving a fond faretell to the DW. As I read through it appeared that certain characters were appearing and disappearing in sentences with very little 'fleshing out'. I felt I was reading a requiem. Having read it three times now, as I originally thought I had misunderstood the sensation I was getting, I still arrived at the same conclusion. :cry:
I am now re-reading the entire series and wait to see what happens when I reach UA.
It's worth a lot :laugh:

But I disagree with you.

When I read Making Money I thought the same. It wasn't original, it wasn't laugh out loud funny. It didn't seem to have any deep meaning. To me it seemed like a book that had been produced by a conveyor belt author who had to meet a deadline to satisfy his publisher.

But, I thought Nation was brilliant. And I thought Unseen Academicals was very good, definitely in the top half of all TP books.

You can't have a book set in AM without having Vimes, William De Worde, Angua etc. Their characters didn't need to be fleshed out coz we already know their characters. Nutt was good, Glenda was good, Vetinari was brilliant, and Dr Hix has to be one of my favourite characters ever.

I recommend not passing judgement until you read "Midnight". :laugh:

I didn't like Monstrous Regiment. Maybe UA is just your Monstrous Regiment.
 

meerkat

Sergeant-at-Arms
Jan 16, 2010
9,413
2,800
67
Pocklington East Riding Yorkshire
#27
Hi Poohcarrot.
You could be right. I do not like Monstrous Regiment either, I think it is a bit anaemic.
But don't get me wrong, I liked UA very much and felt a lot for Glenda, and strangely and I can't explain why, Pepe. I also have a thing for Vetinari and don't get me started on why I like Sam Vimes or both of us could end up needing therapy. ;)
It's just the sensation I got when reading UA. I shall plow on and see what happens this time round.

BAN ALL CRAB BUCKETS!
 
#30
Two things in my re-reading that I found rather odd to be there:

Vetinari said:
Cunning: Artful, sly, deceptive, shrewd, astute, cute, on the ball and, indeed arch...
U A Page 57

Now when I read the word cute, I think of cats, spaniel dogs, bunny rabbits and guinea pigs ... I do not think of Politicians ... could that have been acute?

Nutt said:
"I have comitted what you said to memory, Mr Trev."

Trev replies "Oh Brutha, an I'll bet you 'ave, at that..."
U A page 72

What does an Omnian prophet got to do with football? Especially one that someone like Trev has probably never heard of? Should that have been brother? 'Oh brother ...' sort of thing?

Just some observations that I thought were odd word choices that's all!
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#31
Lady Vetinari said:
Two things in my re-reading that I found rather odd to be there:

Vetinari said:
Cunning: Artful, sly, deceptive, shrewd, astute, cute, on the ball and, indeed arch...
U A Page 57

Now when I read the word cute, I think of cats, spaniel dogs, bunny rabbits and guinea pigs ... I do not think of Politicians ... could that have been acute?

Nutt said:
"I have comitted what you said to memory, Mr Trev."

Trev replies "Oh Brutha, an I'll bet you 'ave, at that..."
U A page 72

What does an Omnian prophet got to do with football? Especially one that someone like Trev has probably never heard of? Should that have been brother? 'Oh brother ...' sort of thing?

Just some observations that I thought were odd word choices that's all!
There are plenty of people who aren't even Christians who say 'oh Jesus!' as an expletive. I see nothing wrong with 'oh Brutha!' ;)

And one of the dictionary definition of 'cute' is cunning - so that works in this context as well. :laugh:
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#34
:laugh: Of course it could be a mistake, it's not like it's all that unusual for a printing error to creep in. :p

I still think the 'Oh Brutha' is an expletive and perfectly apt for a street-wise AM bloke like Trev to use. In fact if Mr Trev said "oh my life" or "oh my word" it really would sound odd. ;)
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#36
Lady Vetinari said:
poohcarrot said:
The opening line for Jan!

Mention the Lord of the Rings just one more time and I'll more than likely kill you.
Well, for once I am going to mention it ... :laugh:

Does anyone else think that the Micromail is just a parody of Mithril in Lord of the Rings?
That's certainly what I thought. :laugh:
 

Jan Van Quirm

Sergeant-at-Arms
Nov 7, 2008
8,524
2,800
Dunheved, Kernow
www.janhawke.me.uk
#39
Tonyblack said:
Lady Vetinari said:
poohcarrot said:
The opening line for Jan!

Mention the Lord of the Rings just one more time and I'll more than likely kill you.
Well, for once I am going to mention it ... :laugh:

Does anyone else think that the Micromail is just a parody of Mithril in Lord of the Rings?
That's certainly what I thought. :laugh:
Mithril is nothing to do with mail as such - it's an extremely rare metal, far more costly than gold (in a number of ways besides price) and has a variety of uses, some of them magical. The only reason it's associated with mail is that Bilbo gave a child-elf's mailshirt to Frodo and this was how he survived the killer spear stab in Moria (from the troll in the film, an orc in the book).

Tolkien was an author not an ism. His writings are fictional and not about civilised society, rather on how they became civilised in a parellel timeline vaguely based on north-western European myth.
 

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