[book review] Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett (Discworld)
Re-visit; originally read 2003-2004. I finally got another copy after my original 'disappeared'.
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"Invade the one place you've never conquered."
Borogravia is at war again. They're usually at war. It's noteworthy when they're not at war. The country has more guts than sense and more honor than wisdom, and a conspicuous shortage of men of fighting age. The rulers of Borogravia would rather go down fighting than surrender, or, indeed, come to any sort of cease-fire, but they didn't consult the populace on that plan. Polly Perks's brother joined the army some months ago, and nobody has heard from him. The only young men who return from the battlefield are shell-shocked and wounded. These were, for the most part, able-bodied, able-minded men. Polly's brother is not. So, she sheers off her hair and joins the army to find her brother.
This is my favorite Discworld novel. That is saying a hell of a lot, because I absolutely adore Discworld, and Terry Pratchett is a genius. I don't throw that word around lightly. This is a man of singular talent, the sort that produces art to leave the reader stunned. This is a stand-alone novel in the Discworld canon, in that it isn't part of one of the many sagas, so you can jump into the series at this point. This novel takes place in Borogravia, removed from the usual setting of Ankh-Morpork, and while an understanding of the Discworld universe can only enrich the experience many of the fantasy stereotypes explored are prevalent enough that they don't need intensive, universe-specific introduction. Borogravia is a provincial, fanatically religious police state, and while Ankh-Morpork is far from an egalitarian democracy at least women there can wear trousers without risking being sentenced to hard labor. In the tradition of all freedom-loving ("I mean money-loving") peoples of the industrial world, Ankh-Morpork gets involved in the conflict for noble reasons, certainly not to protect their own interests. Certainly not. Well, their interests are the greater good, so I suppose they are involved for their own interests. Incidentally, when are the clacks towers going back up? And when will commerce commence unhindered? This is also a battalion story, about a ragtag band of brothers going up against a far better armed and trained garrison, and this aspect is also deconstructed.
It is interesting to re-read the book having known the great reveal(s) at the end. I've caught several hints Pratchett dropped throughout the story. And there are multiple tiers of 'reveals', to the last page. It's also going to be difficult to talk about the wonderful commentary on patriarchy and sexism without riddling the review with massive spoilers, but I'm going to see what I can do here. He ably deconstructs the girl-dresses-as-boy-to-get-shit-done genre, which I admit is a huge guilty pleasure of mine. He addresses the social construct that is gender and roles associated therein, and the deep misogyny in many religions. The girls aren't glorified because they dump the trappings of femininity. This isn't a femme-phobic book. They are not a monolithic group. They run the spectrum from belligerently masculine, to androgynous, to femme, and they're all okay, they're all important, they all have something to contribute. There is a canon, un-sexualized lesbian relationship. Pratchett is one of the most feminist writers I have ever read, because he treats women (all sentient female-persons) as people. They are people that have had a different experience, and that is okay. It doesn't matter to which degree gender differences are innate, programmed, socialized, whatever--they're all people, they're all valid and complex. And bearing the brunt of sexism has given them a perspective the males lack.
Pratchett is, foremost, a humorist, but his novels are inundated with pathos. He hints at horrific realities with a dry world-weariness and yet the weight of the tragedies, injustices, etc, is not lost. This is one of the hardest balances to achieve, humor and unflinching critique--most of the time with other authors there seems to be a forced dichotomy between comic relief and the real, tragic meat of a story. Pratchett's writing is a seamless whole in this regard. This is dark humor in the truest sense--humor in the midst of unflinching reality, humor that comes from unflinching reality. It is the dry humor that arises because the only other option is despair. This is one of the darker books, in this regard--the other Discworld novel that comes to mind is Night Watch--dealing as it does with war, violence, and poverty. Because of that I would place this stand-alone book with the City Watch saga in tone, not only because Vimes and the crew play a background role.
I would love to read more about Polly and the Ins-and-Outs, but thus far, this is the only book that features them. Maladict may have made a cameo in Carpe Jugulum, but I'm not sure how common a name Maladict is in the Discworld vampire community. I would gladly read an entire book about Tonker and Lofty traveling through Borogravia, righting wrongs and taking revenge and generally bringing justice and feminism to the most downtrodden members of society. (Are you listening, Terry? We met at the North American Discworld Con in Tempe in 2009 and I said I liked your books and wanted to be a writer and that you were a huge inspiration to me. I'm sure you remember me.)
-----------------
"Invade the one place you've never conquered."
Borogravia is at war again. They're usually at war. It's noteworthy when they're not at war. The country has more guts than sense and more honor than wisdom, and a conspicuous shortage of men of fighting age. The rulers of Borogravia would rather go down fighting than surrender, or, indeed, come to any sort of cease-fire, but they didn't consult the populace on that plan. Polly Perks's brother joined the army some months ago, and nobody has heard from him. The only young men who return from the battlefield are shell-shocked and wounded. These were, for the most part, able-bodied, able-minded men. Polly's brother is not. So, she sheers off her hair and joins the army to find her brother.
This is my favorite Discworld novel. That is saying a hell of a lot, because I absolutely adore Discworld, and Terry Pratchett is a genius. I don't throw that word around lightly. This is a man of singular talent, the sort that produces art to leave the reader stunned. This is a stand-alone novel in the Discworld canon, in that it isn't part of one of the many sagas, so you can jump into the series at this point. This novel takes place in Borogravia, removed from the usual setting of Ankh-Morpork, and while an understanding of the Discworld universe can only enrich the experience many of the fantasy stereotypes explored are prevalent enough that they don't need intensive, universe-specific introduction. Borogravia is a provincial, fanatically religious police state, and while Ankh-Morpork is far from an egalitarian democracy at least women there can wear trousers without risking being sentenced to hard labor. In the tradition of all freedom-loving ("I mean money-loving") peoples of the industrial world, Ankh-Morpork gets involved in the conflict for noble reasons, certainly not to protect their own interests. Certainly not. Well, their interests are the greater good, so I suppose they are involved for their own interests. Incidentally, when are the clacks towers going back up? And when will commerce commence unhindered? This is also a battalion story, about a ragtag band of brothers going up against a far better armed and trained garrison, and this aspect is also deconstructed.
It is interesting to re-read the book having known the great reveal(s) at the end. I've caught several hints Pratchett dropped throughout the story. And there are multiple tiers of 'reveals', to the last page. It's also going to be difficult to talk about the wonderful commentary on patriarchy and sexism without riddling the review with massive spoilers, but I'm going to see what I can do here. He ably deconstructs the girl-dresses-as-boy-to-get-shit-done genre, which I admit is a huge guilty pleasure of mine. He addresses the social construct that is gender and roles associated therein, and the deep misogyny in many religions. The girls aren't glorified because they dump the trappings of femininity. This isn't a femme-phobic book. They are not a monolithic group. They run the spectrum from belligerently masculine, to androgynous, to femme, and they're all okay, they're all important, they all have something to contribute. There is a canon, un-sexualized lesbian relationship. Pratchett is one of the most feminist writers I have ever read, because he treats women (all sentient female-persons) as people. They are people that have had a different experience, and that is okay. It doesn't matter to which degree gender differences are innate, programmed, socialized, whatever--they're all people, they're all valid and complex. And bearing the brunt of sexism has given them a perspective the males lack.
Pratchett is, foremost, a humorist, but his novels are inundated with pathos. He hints at horrific realities with a dry world-weariness and yet the weight of the tragedies, injustices, etc, is not lost. This is one of the hardest balances to achieve, humor and unflinching critique--most of the time with other authors there seems to be a forced dichotomy between comic relief and the real, tragic meat of a story. Pratchett's writing is a seamless whole in this regard. This is dark humor in the truest sense--humor in the midst of unflinching reality, humor that comes from unflinching reality. It is the dry humor that arises because the only other option is despair. This is one of the darker books, in this regard--the other Discworld novel that comes to mind is Night Watch--dealing as it does with war, violence, and poverty. Because of that I would place this stand-alone book with the City Watch saga in tone, not only because Vimes and the crew play a background role.
I would love to read more about Polly and the Ins-and-Outs, but thus far, this is the only book that features them. Maladict may have made a cameo in Carpe Jugulum, but I'm not sure how common a name Maladict is in the Discworld vampire community. I would gladly read an entire book about Tonker and Lofty traveling through Borogravia, righting wrongs and taking revenge and generally bringing justice and feminism to the most downtrodden members of society. (Are you listening, Terry? We met at the North American Discworld Con in Tempe in 2009 and I said I liked your books and wanted to be a writer and that you were a huge inspiration to me. I'm sure you remember me.)