Monstrous Regiment

329 pages

English language

Published Dec. 30, 2003 by Doubleday UK.

ISBN:
978-0-385-60340-9
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(81 reviews)

Monstrous Regiment is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 31st novel in his Discworld series. It takes its name from a 16th-century tract by John Knox opposing female rule, titled The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. The cover illustration of the British edition, by Paul Kidby, is a parody of Joe Rosenthal's photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. Monstrous Regiment was nominated for a Locus Award in 2004.

5 editions

Dark satire on many levels

Was going for 3,5 stars, but am currently leaning towards 4+.

The story is a satire on sexism, religious fundamentalism, nationalism and war. To me personally, it felt as one of Pratchett's darker stories: a backwards country so depleted of men and boys and girls that are being religiously repressed and for varying reasons take their chances in the army. Add to it the futility of being in a constant war about Who Knows What. But we are winning, I assure you.

The book has an all-new cast of characters (apart from a few cameos) with interesting backstories. I particularly liked Jackrum, who fulfilled the role as wizened old soldier and father figure to the lads. In a way, he felt a bit as a counterpart to Vimes. Polly / Oliver was well written and developed as well.

The only thing that I did not particularly like, was the silly …

Review of 'Monstrous Regiment' on 'Goodreads'

Frankly one of the best discworld books so far!
It is funny and lighthearted but also deep and thought-full as only Terry Pratchett can be.
Definitely aged well and feels perfectly timely with all the gender related discussions happening nowadays.
Must read and great entry point for Discworld newbies too.

Review of 'Monstrous Regiment' on 'Goodreads'

One of Pratchett's weaker books, in my opinion. Starring a completely new cast of characters, with a few minor cameos from a few older ones, the book starts where a girl joins the military a la Mulan.

Eventually, she finds out that she is not the only one in her squad who is secretly a female.

Then, one by one, it turns out that everyone in her squad is female. This is stretching my suspension of disbelief near its breaking point, but I'm willing to go along with it for now.

But at the end of the book, almost every single major character is female. The only major character I can think of that isn't a lady is a Lieutenant whose name is Blouse. Even the characters who had been made out to be obviously male at the beginning of the book turn out to be chicks.

Now, I understand …

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