Monstrous Regiment (by Terry Pratchett)

(Amazon UK link)

In my gradual re-read of Terry Pratchett’s lengthy ‘Discworld’ series, I had reached ‘Monstrous Regiment’, which I only previously read once in March 2004. It was shortly after publication date, and I read it to my two sons, who were teenagers at the time. We had mixed feelings about it at the time, and I recalled it being about a girl who joined the army… so I didn’t think it would be all that appealing.

It turned out to be more interesting than I had expected. Polly is the main character, and we meet her dressed as a boy so that she can join her country’s army. There are always wars, and recruiting officers tour around looking for likely lads. Polly has been working as a barmaid in her father’s inn, and has thus had the opportunity to observe a lot of men and listen to male conversation in a way that would not normally be possible for teenage girls in that era.

She is accepted, kisses the picture of ‘The Duchess’, who is a somewhat odd figure, something between a minor god and a monarch, whom nobody has seen for a long time. But The Duchess apparently tells some people what they should be doing. One of Polly’s new colleagues is a devout worshipper. They’re quite a mixed bunch - there’s a vampire (reformed); there’s a troll, and there are other different shapes and sizes of new recruits. Polly realises there may be problems when she needs to use the ‘facilities’, but she manages, although it’s not long before she starts to wonder if others of her group may also be of the female persuasion…

Polly is a quick thinker, and asks a lot of questions which makes her unpopular with one of the officers, although the other, a very large sergeant, is more benign and generally well-disposed. And they start out on their way to fight battles with no training, because the army is running out of people…

There’s quite a bit of politics in the book, Discworld style, which I skimmed. I lost track of who was attacking whom, and how the different ambushes, battles and so on worked. I was more interested in Polly’s story, her growing friendships with her new acquaintances, and the difficulties she finds in a man’s world, contrasted with her very different life prior to joining up. It’s a theme Pratchett explored in ‘Equal Rites’ in rather a different way.

Samuel Vimes of the Ankh Morpork Watch is in this book, in a fairly minor role until the end, but most of the characters are new so it’s certainly possible to read this as a stand-alone story. I prefer to read a series like this in chronological order where possible, but it’s not necessary. Still, a working knowledge of the way different races (humans, trolls, vampires, wizards etc) manage to co-exist in the Disc is a useful background. Knowing who Vimes and the other Watch members are is a nice bonus.

‘Monstrous Regiment’ is still not my favourite of the Discworld books, but I liked it better than I did nearly nineteen years ago.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews