{"id":5010,"date":"2019-07-31T05:00:47","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5010"},"modified":"2019-07-29T13:11:45","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T20:11:45","slug":"mark-reads-unseen-academicals-part-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/07\/mark-reads-unseen-academicals-part-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Unseen Academicals&#8217;: Part 23"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the twenty-third part of <i>Unseen Academicals<\/i>, the gang gives a warning, the team rejects salads, and the game is almost here. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <i>Discworld<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I GOT A THING RIGHT and then I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prepared at all.<\/p>\n<p><b>The Meeting<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Holy shit, I love it when characters I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect to interact are all in the same room. It was only initially surprising that Lady Margolotta was in Vetinari\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office. Because of <i>course<\/i> she visited him! But I love that the timing of it meant that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d see Glenda <i>again<\/i> and meet Trev. At this point, the only thing I really need is a reunion between the Lady and Mr. Nutt. It has to happen, right??? Anyway, before I get to the beautifully chaotic confrontation of Vetinari, Pratchett drops one HELL of a revelation in the midst of the conversation:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBut, of course, there is still the Loko business to sort out. The dwarfs still want total extermination.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHow many orcs are there?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNobody knows. Perhaps Nutt will be able to find them.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like it was ever definitive that there were <i>no<\/i> orcs of any sort left. And I did figure out that the Loko reference was a reference to what Nutt is. But there are definitely more of his kind! And Lady Margolotta thinks Nutt can FIND THE OTHER ORCS? Oh my god, talk about being useful. What a <i>perfect<\/i> mission for him!!! Look at all he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s learned here in Ankh-Morpork and under the Lady; he could help rehabilitate other orcs? I WANT A WHOLE BOOK OF THIS, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Anyway: I do feel better about the outcome of this football match for two reasons. The first is that the meeting with Vetinari <i>did<\/i> confirm that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s well aware of how chaotic and violent the game <i>could<\/i> be. And I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be peaceful and fair! Rather, I think a couple wildcards\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnamely, Mr. Nutt and Trev\u00e2\u20ac\u201dare going to keep things interesting. Again, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore that if it came down to it, Mr. Nutt could easily wipe out the entire AMU team. Is he going to? No. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too aware of how other people view him, and after he nearly lost it upon \u00e2\u20ac\u0153remembering\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that he was an orc, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done such a good job at keeping everything at bay. Will the game test that resolve? Oh, most definitely. But I think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to fine. The second reason I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a little more certain\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut still nervous as hell!!!\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis the incredible micromail piece that Pepe made for Trev. I knew it!!! I was right about another thing! Allow me this celebration! So, I think the game <i>will<\/i> be violent, but Trev\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got another thing to his advantage.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Okay, so: there are a few smaller things I just want to call attention to before I move on. First:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The battle of the stares went on for a year too long and then Lady Margolotta turned her head away sharply\u00e2\u20ac\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>AHHHHHH, GLENDA WON THE STARING WAR WITH THE LADYSHIP. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even really notice it until Vetinari pointed it out. I just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this whole interaction was so electrifying and funny. Glenda truly does not give a fuck most of the time, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so fun to watch her stand up to people who are so much powerful than she is. Look, I honestly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d cross paths after Glenda mistook the Ladyship for someone else, but here we are!!! This was so damn satisfying, I swear.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHow can a man live without pasta?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 said Bengo. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThis is barbaric!\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sports perspective for y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all: before a cross country race, a track meet, or before a big game for the one semester I played soccer in high school, the most common meal we were told to eat was pasta. I have no idea if there is any truth to carbo-loading before these sort of events, but it seemed to work for me and my teammates. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d eat pasta the night before a race, have a decent breakfast on days we had an afternoon run, or have something very light if we raced in the morning. I loved seeing this detail in the text!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe point is they are friends. Partners in adversity. They are a team. That is football. You have to train a team to be a team and I will have no problem with them having a very large breakfast in the morning.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so good, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all!!! It continues to impress me, though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not surprised. This is what he does: he finds ways to get into the heads of these players and unite them without them even being aware of what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brilliant!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>And even Glenda found that her automatic, unthinking cynicism was letting her down.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I talked about cynicism in the last review, and it was cool to see this acknowledged in the text again. I still think Pepe is more cynical, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that Glenda tends to assume the worst of everything around her. In this case, Juliet and Glenda are being offered an opportunity they may never have again, and look\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 why not take it?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a logistical reason I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d take it, though. This match, however it turns out, will probably get <i>real<\/i> ugly. Perhaps Juliet and Glenda will be safer where Madame is sitting? Ugh, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I am not that cynical about how this book will turn out, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deny that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m nervous. What the hell is about to happen???<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/E3Si2EI1Otw<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markoshiro.com\/blog\/2019\/5\/7\/the-anger-is-a-gift-trade-paperback-is-out-today\">The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><strong>If you&#8217;d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/ey636\">sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the twenty-third part of Unseen Academicals, the gang gives a warning, the team rejects salads, and the game is almost here. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,248,561],"class_list":["post-5010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-unseen-academicals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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