My Discworld Book Number
This is my 33rd Discworld book.
Discworld Serial Number Based on Publishing Date
This is the 31st book in the Discworld series and was published for the first time in 2003.
Introduction to Discworld Series
Discworld is a fictional world created by writer Terry Pratchett. It is a flat world balanced on the back of 4 elephants; they in turn stand on a giant turtle. The turtle’s name is Great A’Tuin. The names of 4 elephants are Berilia, Tubul, Great T’Phone, and Jerakeen.
Pratchett writes stories set in this world. He has written 41 Discworld books. The genre of these books can be broadly said to be fantasy-satire.
Discworld is a satiric reflection of our own world. The flat world should be the first indication of the satire. Because in this world things are as people (as in flat-earthers) want them to be.
Magic is strong in Discworld. Light travels quite slowly because of thick magic in the atmosphere.
In this world different humanoid species (combinedly known as sapients) live together, but not necessarily peacefully.
Premise of Monstrous Regiment
The books of Discworld series are set in different parts of Discworld with different set of characters and different subjects. Based on these, there are various sub-series of Discworld series and some stand-alone books. The stand-alone books follow the context of the whole series. Regular Discworld characters may make guest appearance in these books.
Monstrous Regiment is one of these stand-alone books with few significant guest appearances from the City Watch subseries. Among the regular characters, so far I can remember, Death has made big or small appearances in each book of the series.
Monstrous Regiment chiefly satires on war, religion, and gender politics.
Two countries, Borogravia and Zlobenia are always at war. Now few people from Ankh Morpork have been called upon to interfere in the matter. Commander Samuel Vimes and sergeant Angua from Ankh-Morpork City Watch have come to teach Borogravia a lesson as it has damaged some Ankh Morpork properties in Zlobenia. But Vimes as ususal has his own agenda. Meanwhile the staffs from Ankh Morpork Times have come to cover the war because of a particular regiment of Borogravia.
Borogravian worship a god named Nuggan. it is ruled by a Sharia-ish law named Nugganatic law, as written in book of Nuggan. The laws change everyday to include more and more actions and things in the list of abominations.
Pictures of living creatures were an Abomination in the Eyes of Nuggan.
Painting birds is not allowed so also women joining army. These two items have especially affected our lead character Polly Perks. Her not very smart in worldly ways elder brother Paul was banned from drawing birds and was forced into joining the army. Now he is missing in action.
Polly belongs to an inconsequential village Munz. She runs her family-owned inn but legally she can never own it. If her brother does not come back, she will lose the inn to a cousin besides she has always felt responsible for her brother. She is one those enterprising and capable women who can mold situations.
Polly joins army as Oliver Perks. Surprisingly hiding her gender does not create a big issue because she discovers is not alone.
Borogravia was ran in the name of the Duchess Annagovia, who might be dead as no one has seen her since decades.
On the other hand, Zlobenia is a modern state where religion is banned. The ruler Prince Heinrich idolizes Ankh-Morpork and wants to follow its system. And also the prince is the next keen of the Duchess so if her death is confirmed then prince can automatically take over Borogravia.
After Polly joins army, it becomes a buddies-in-training kind of films where the student can do wonders.
Themes
WAR
The decades long constant war between the two countries reflects the umpteen wars in the Middle East. The whole way of life is centred around war in these countries.
There was always a war.
Throughout the book, writer has presented was and army in a way that it is an obvious satire on American policies in this area. For instance the aggressive recruitment tactics of American Army, or the “don’t ask and don’t tell” policies of the American Army in the 1990s.
His depiction of hyper-nationalism and the attitude of “my country is better than all other countries” are universal.
In the end, like everywhere else there are both good and bad people in the army. At one end there is vicious Strappi, while there is also Serge Jackstrum who could do anything to protect his “lads” even if his lads are not “lads”.
GENDER POLITICS
As the body counts go up it was difficult to get a young man in Borogravia. When there is no young man left to join army who will join?
In his unique style Pratchett has depicted gender issues never before. Changing female clothes to make, suddenly changes everything for a woman. Not only the way society perceives them but also the way they perceive themselves. It is as if the socks tucked in the trouser pull them forward.
The identity of the gender exudes power automatically. This is the truth for each specie of sapients. Even under strict religion code they happily visit “women of easy virtue”.
…men have always found space in their religion for a little sinning here and there.
Isn’t this the oldest con!
These make women to work harder and be more enterprising to win the “gender war”. In this book, readers can meet many hard working and enterprising women.
Pratchett has given an interesting take on the power in cross dressing. Some love it so much that end up making it their life choice.
I loved the way the pronoun swiftly changes in the book.
This might be the only Discworld book I have read in which a gay relationship is mentioned directly.
Also, the treatment towards the orphans in Girls’ Working School and the aftermath are quite sinister for a book supposed to be a satire. In a subtle way Pratchett has written about the horrifying tales.
RELIGION AND GODS
Religion and God rule over Borogravians. Their every action and thought are policed. Their story ends with Nietze-ish idea of “Nuggan is dead” and now they are in the look out for a new god.
MEDIA
As the representative of media, in the book we have the staffs from The Ankh-Morpork Times.
In Borogravia there is total ban on media. They only know the government propaganda, which tells them their country is winning
After registering few small wins the regiment of Polly is nicknamed as Monstrous Regiment. Ankh-Morpork people love an underdog winning story. So the regiment becomes the centre of “human interest” stories.
ADDICTION
Maladict is a coffee addicted vampire, and part of Mostrous Regiment. On face of it, it may sound funny but there is more to it. The desperation of a person trying not to fall off the wagon is vividly depicted through Maladict. I could relate immensely the depiction about how the moods of the person with mental sickness affect the people around them. One moment all of them are happy, next moment it feels as if each breath is akin to carrying a ton of stone.
My Two Pennies
My personal take on the book would be an ideal feminist book, which is a balance between entertainment and the truth.
Terry Pratchett writes the best character arc for women characters. Their endings have nothing to do with the prince-charmings. Their happily-ever-afters lie in their ambitions.
This was not a fairy-tale castle and there was no such thing as a fairy-tale ending, but sometimes you could threaten to kick the handsome prince in the ham-and-eggs.
Generally, we readers complain a lot about lack of books in adventure genre with female lead. Content creators take care of this by introducing a female romantic interest or turning an existing male character into a female character. And here Pratchett has gone and written a proper and original adventurous story about few women. I hope this female adventure without stereotyping them with introducing romance (especially the enemy to lover trope) is being read widely.
Maybe towards the middle of the book, the writer felt thinly veiled attack on Islam and Islamist countries would be too politically incorrect hence he overcompensates by painting the other side villain. But he could not elaborate the villainous characteristic a lot after saying religion is banned in their country. As an afterthought he mentions their prince is a little “rapey”, after depicting him a good intentioned goof with execution issue before that. Thinking a lot about politics in 21st century is compromising the content everywhere. Having said that, I have to accept as a content consumer I am also part of the problem.
Some Lines I Relate to
‘I live in city. I know sparrows from starlings. After that everything’s a duck as far as I’m concerned.
For me it is “sparrows from crows” and others are cranes. So obviously I am feeling personally attacked!
…the way people tell you lies, if they tell you enough lies, well, they sort of … show you what shape the truth is,…
This is something I have experienced, an odd reference here and there and one starts seeing the path to the truth.
That’s the trouble about the good guys and the bad guys. They are all guys!
Life was a process of finding out how far you could go, and you could probably go too far in finding out how far you could go.
End Words
Overall another great book from the Discworld series.
Musings 