Monstrous Regiment (2003)
Monstrous Regiment is a 2003 fiction book written by Terry Pratchett.
Borogravia runs on rules, most of them petty, and one of them says women do not carry rifles. Polly Perks cuts her hair, pulls on trousers, and enlists as a boy to track down her missing brother. Her regiment is a ragtag last draft: an Igor, a religious zealot, a troll, and Maladicta, a vampire who has traded blood for a fierce coffee habit. Holding them together is Sergeant Jackrum, the wiliest soldier in a losing war. Pratchett aims his wit at patriotism, propaganda, and who gets counted as a soldier.
Quick answers
What is Monstrous Regiment about?
Borogravia runs on rules, most of them petty, and one of them says women do not carry rifles. Polly Perks cuts her hair, pulls on trousers, and enlists as a boy to track down her missing brother. Her regiment is a ragtag last draft: an Igor, a religious zealot, a troll, and Maladicta, a vampire who has traded blood for a fierce coffee habit. Holding them together is Sergeant Jackrum, the wiliest soldier in a losing war. Pratchett aims his wit at patriotism, propaganda, and who gets counted as a soldier.
When was Monstrous Regiment published?
Monstrous Regiment was published on 4 September 2008.
Who made Monstrous Regiment?
Monstrous Regiment was written by Terry Pratchett.
Similar books
Monstrous Regiment in our writing
- Companion guide: Discworld: The Complete Guide to Terry Pratchett's Flat Planet
A few thoughts on Monstrous Regiment
Fans of sharp military satire should watch M*A*S*H, which finds the same gallows humor in a pointless war, and Mulan, another recruit who hides her sex to serve. For the propaganda machine Borogravia runs on, Starship Troopers plays jingoism as a straight-faced joke.
War satire that laughs at the machine to survive it
Polly Perks cuts her hair and enlists as a boy because the rules say women cannot carry rifles, and Monstrous Regiment aims real anger at the patriotism dressed up to send people off to war. These share that same nerve: a woman proving herself in an army that would reject her on sight, and units that use comedy to survive propaganda and pointless orders.
More Discworld City Watch under real institutional strain
Monstrous Regiment's ragtag draft eventually crosses paths with the City Watch, and those books share the same appetite for testing old prejudice through people who have no choice but to work side by side. These follow Vimes assembling a force nobody expected to work, run through corrupt guilds, faked wars, and a city that keeps daring its institutions to actually be fair.