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M@ reviewed Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

Review of 'Monstrous Regiment' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Sometimes it's hard to figure out where Sir Terry drew the inspiration for his novels. I mean, here's a country where the religion, which appears to be a monotheistic cult, is constantly attacking various aspects of life as "Abominations Unto Nuggan". A lot of these are specific to women and their role in the society -- can't teach in church, have to cover their heads and dress in certain, modest ways -- but some are even dumber. Our protagonist, Polly Perks, sees her older brother chastised for drawing pictures of beautiful birds, and after a screaming match, the images are burned. That causes her to lose her faith:

A god that burned painted birds would not save a mother. A god like that was not worth a prayer.

Anyway, Polly's brother is semi-drafted -- by which I mean that jingoistic recruiting parties blaring propaganda have lured him into military service …

A god that burned painted birds would not save a mother. A god like that was not worth a prayer.

Anyway, Polly's brother is semi-drafted -- by which I mean that jingoistic recruiting parties blaring propaganda have lured him into military service -- and she picks up the fine tradition of women in fiction in wartime (relevant Wikipedia article), cuts her hair and, with the aid of vulgar language and some socks stuck down the front of her trousers, passes effortlessly as a man.

And that's all you need! It's Sir Terry at his finest, a rollicking skewering of sexism, a military comedy of manners, fun asides featuring favorite charaters (William DeWorde from The Truth and Vimes, from, uh, most of the rest of Discworld) and somehow it manages to be just as brutal towards jingoism as his actual novel [b:Jingo|47990|Jingo (Discworld, #21; City Watch, #4)|Terry Pratchett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327921813s/47990.jpg|1128623]

I led the review with a comment about finding Sir Terry's inspiration, but I do qualify it with "sometimes". This book was published in 2003, so this one's pretty straightforward. You have a dash of Taliban in the nutjob religion, and a dash of Americana in the jingoism/nationalism/sexism/[b:Forever War|21611|The Forever War (The Forever War, #1)|Joe Haldeman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386852511s/21611.jpg|423]/We Have Always Been At War With EastAsia([b:1984|40961427|1984|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1532714506s/40961427.jpg|153313]) of it all.

Jaelyn reviewed Monstrous Regiment: Discworld Novel 31 (Discworld Novels) by Terry Pratchett

Review of 'Monstrous Regiment: Discworld Novel 31 (Discworld Novels)' on 'Storygraph'

As her country fights an insane and mostly unwinnable war, Polly Perks signs up to the army to find her brother Paul. As dressing as the opposite sex is one of a multitude of insane religious rules in her country, she employs short hair, trousers, burping and socks in her pants to ensure she enlists as a man. As she signs up alongside a troll, a vampire and a zealot among others, she rapidly learns she’s not the only woman in the military. It’s Pratchett so you know it’s awesome, but it’s a great ride through the absurdities of war, nationalism, sexism, and religion. But it’s also a fun comic take on the very very very long history of women cross-dressing to join the military (many of whom had distinguished service before they were discovered).