Monstrous Regiment

If you haven't read Terry Pratchett, you've been missing a treat. Monstrous Regiment is Pratchett's 30th Discworld novel, and I've read most of them. The books are satires and parodies, set on a flat world that rides through space on the back of a turtle. There are recurring characters in a number of them, and while a few of them appear briefly in Monstrous Regiment, the tale is really about Polly Perks, who disguises herself as a boy to join the all-male Borogravian army. She enlisted to find out about her brother, the one she always had to look after before he joined the Army, who's gone MIA. In telling Polly's tale, Pratchett primarily mocks religion, war/the military, and of course, gender roles.

Perks is an intelligent and well-developed character, who quickly discerns reality from what people claim it to be. No reader would be surprised to discover that she makes a fine soldier "despite" her gender. Her sergeant, the legendary Jackrum, is the gruff, know-everything NCO who's less concerned with rules and more concerned with getting done that which needs to be done. Most of the other new recruits aren't noteworthy, though Maledict, a reformed vampire (he doesn't drink blood), is enjoyable for a while.

The plot is eminently readable, and fairly entertaining, but it doesn't meet the standards of his best works. Almost all of the Discworld books are designed to be funny (Night Watch is the only exception that comes to mind), but a number of them lose their humor (and consequently, their direction) in the telling of the tale. Monstrous Regiment is moderately funny at first, but then Polly's story gets bogged down by the mission she and her regiment find themselves on. The story doesn't get boring, but it nevertheless failed to keep me engrossed. It's worth a read, but not before a number of the other books in the Discworld Series (Mort, Witches Abroad, Thief of Time, and Night Watch all spring to mind).

Rating: 7/10