Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

 

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Borogravia a country that has been mentioned a few times in earlier novels comes to the fore after the Clacks Towers are destroyed during their conflict with neighbouring Zlobenia. Ankh-Morpork is part of a military force made up of numerous nations (most of which fought Borogravia before) and have secured a major foothold. Borogravia a nation always at war with someone is now struggling to feed itself and quite literally the young blood of its people has been drained, the last recruiting parties bringing forth no new soldiers all except one and this is their story.
Polly Perks the daughter of a publican disguises herself as a young man and enlists in an effort to find her older brother, along with him/her come a collection of individuals including a Vampire, a Troll and an Igor and led by Sergeant Jackrum they head to the front. Samuel "The Butcher" Vimes (well that's propaganda for you) is in overall command of the forces aligned against Borogravia and he can see that the country is dying and their obsession with conflict and worship of a "dead" God and a probably dead Duchess is a quick road to ruin but the Zlobenian leaders want a victory and only the Monstrous Regiment are in a position to change the destiny of a whole country even the region.
It was only on rereading the Discworld series once again that I realised how often Borogravia and its God were mentioned, not sure how planned it all was but it worked out pretty good. The story is highly entertaining and within the drama and humour serious questions are asked about the military, religion, gender roles and many other things including the power of the press and propaganda to shape a narrative. The novel does standalone with the Discworld and more power to it for that, it is a favourite of mine if I just want to grab a book of the shelf and lose myself in an adventure.

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