As Terry Prachett books go, this is not one of my favorites. It started off strong and witty, but I lost interest by the middle of the book. It takes too long for the book's main plot to start, and by the time it does, it just gets in the way of what I find to be more interesting sub-plots. This might have to do with the fact that I'm not a fan of reading about sports. Maybe if I were more interested in soccer I wouldn't have tuned out so quickly. I have my doubts though....

Pratchett takes on sport (somewhat disguised futbol) and crowd psychology as Unseen University enters the fray. Discophiles (you know who you are) will enjoy this most if they happen to know what the Premier League is or hooligans are.

If you like soccer/Football this one is good. If you like the staff of the Unseen University then this one is good. If you don't care for either of those and want more Sam Vimes, then this one isn't as good. I liked it, but I am hoping his next one has more Vimes. Much Better than Making money, not as good as THUD!.

I didn't find this book made as much sense as his others. (I know -- a complaint about lack of sense in Discworld? Ironic.) But that may have been because I don't know a darned thing about soccer; many of the jokes probably went over my head. It built up suspense about the game very well, however! I gave it 3-1/2 stars -- the lowest score I've ever given Pratchett. (But his previous two novels -- Going Postal and Making Money -- were odds-on brilliant.)

This book seemed to me to be different than his usual style of book writing. Instead of one story idea running through the whole book with one big moral speech at the end, this one seemed to have 3 mini stories running side by side with only a small hint in a case or two about morality or 'the summing up'. It was almost as if he had 3 short stories of 100 pages each and was running low on a deadline so he intertwined the 3 and got a 300 page book out of the deal. There is the usual witty comments and word play that Pratchett has a huge talent for in his earlier books and I did laugh at a few points however I have not been laughing at many of his later books as I did in the earlier ones. Perhaps after having poked fun at government, believes, traditions, medicine, theatre, policing, war/peace negotiations as well as a few other things....there really isn't much left for him to poke fun at. Guess he might just have to invent TV in Discworld so that he can make fun of reality TV or sitcoms.

Great book in the traditional Pratchett style. It was interesting look at the University because it concentrated somewhat on the wizards, who usually have a cameo, but we've never had a whole book about them, until now.

Personally, I like the direction in which Discworld is going- less gag comedy and more comedy disguised as coherent worldbuilding - and that means I like this book. A unique look at the "little people" of the Unseen University, combined with an emphasis on Lord Vetinari helps to keep the book's twists unanticipated while Pterry's humour shines on every page.