Monstrous Regiment

Monstrous Regiment is one of my favorite Discworld novels, and I got a second copy for a friend. Polly wants to find/save her brother after he has gone off to fight in the Borogravian army, which is facing a large opposition from several nations, including Ankh-Morpork, But due to the backward religion/laws of her country, women cannot fight and so she must disguise herself as a boy to get into the army. This leads to some interesting developments/adaptations for Polly, calling herself Oliver, to act and appear as a boy as she manages to get into one of the smallest, poorest, ragtag regiments of her country’s army, including some ‘monsters’ like a vampire, troll, and an Igor. But what Polly learns about her regiment, army life, and the real conditions of her country’s war changes her perspective as well. And then things get strange, as they tend to do in Discworld.

SPOILER ALERT ! ! !
Read no further if you wish to be surprised.

You were warned.

A satire on the military in which the only effective soldiers turn out to be women (an abomination in the country). Pratchett takes many of the cliches of military fiction and turns them in to a funny story. Sir Terry was never a fan of war or the army. That is quite clear in this and some of his other stories.
The country fighting is one of random, persistent repression that has managed to declare war on all of its neighbors and some distant countries as well. The war is prompted by many statements from their god who hates everything from women in men’s clothing to small stones.
A delightful ending.

This is a good story with a feminist theme – or anti misogynist. It includes the misogyny that comes from other women as well. And as with many of his works, it’s a strapping good yarn as well. I liked it – a lot of new characters, too, which is nice.

“Monstrous Regiment” shouldn’t work. The mix of fantasy, humor, war novel, social commentary (especially regarding the place of women in society), tying it in to the larger overarching storylines that have developed in the Discworld novels and creating a new setting and mostly brand new cast should have been a mess.

It shouldn’t have worked, but it did.

Borogravia is a small isolated backwater of a nation, with its only natural resources apparently being an infinitely deep well of hostility for its neighbors, flavored with the worship of a pugnacious (and increasingly strange) god and the cult of personality surrounding a ruler who has not been seen in decades and who never produced an heir.

And like all nations that can least afford a war, Borogravia is endlessly involved in them, typically as the aggressor. The nation is being steadily depopulated of men with all their limbs. Finally, Polly Perks has decided she’s had enough — her slow-witted brother has been taken off to war, and she has no idea whether he’s alive or dead, and she’s determined to find him and bring him back to the family inn. So Polly cuts her hair, disguises herself as a man (simple in a country where all women wear skirts or dresses, especially for a girl with a somewhat boyish figure) and joins the military.

Of course, it’s never quite that simple. This is war, after all, and a war that Borogravia has not just lost, but is apparently about to lose decisively, once and for all. Fortunatelly, Borogravians are both ignorant and pugnacious, and fighting for their horrible little country, because it’s THEIR horrible little country is what comes naturally. Despite overwhelming odds, including a massive coalition of foreign governments sick to the back teeth of the little country, Polly’s unit — which hides more secrets than just hers — blunders its way into history, fame and the possibility of transforming Borogravia forever.

In addition to telling a gripping adventure story of Polly’s unit roaming the wasteland that was once Borogravia, pursued by a very angry prince and his crack troops, and heading towards an impregnable castle that they have no chance to break into, let alone take, Pratchett is also making a very real examination of military life (one decidedly slanted in favor of the enlisted units, in Pratchett’s typical populist style) and, more importantly, what it means to be a woman in society and in the military. This is a lot for a little novel to be packed with, and it doesn’t always work — the Vietnam movie jokes that are tossed in are only mildly cute and probably should have been cut — and there’s probably too many interesting characters in her unit — as neat as trolls, Igors and the Discworld vampires are, we don’t need them in this novel, and certainly not both of them.

But overall, the book works, and works well, as an adventure novel, a military novel and even a novel that, in its own way, is an examination of modern female roles. In a lot of ways, its ambition helps elevate it — instead of just being a romp through the streets of Ankh-Morporkh (as fun as those may be), “Monstrous Regiment” is elevated to the level of “Small Gods” (with which it shares a bit of cosmology) and other “deeper” Discworld novels.

Strongly recommended for Discworld fans, and generally recommended for readers of military fantasy novels, including “The Black Company” and “A Song of Ice and Fire.” It’s surprising how much of a commentary “Monstrous Regiment” appears to be of those darker, more “adult” novels at times.

Terry Pratchett is always a master of off-the -wall, often outrageous humor aimed at society’s foibles. In his last novels, he digs deeper into into the serious ones, & Monstrous Regiment aims at mankind’s glorification of war, greed, & particularly society’s traditional underestimation of women’s capabilities.

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