by Terry Pratchett.
I liked Nation, but in a distant, pastel kind of way. I liked Unseen Academicals much better.
One. Hey! It’s not just a romance, and a competently written double romance, with four interesting main characters. This, I might note, is not easy to write, and Terry Pratchett handles it with the facility of a second Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.
Two. The Shove. Terry Pratchett digs into the group mind and comes up with a consistent but not-directly-stated psychology. How do people act in groups? Why do they become like a different creature when they get into large groups–and why sometimes, but not always? How do demagogues shove us around so easily? Why do obvious lies get so much credence?
With the Shove, Unseen Academicals is a small education in thinking for yourself, like all the best Terry Pratchett novels.