Skip to main content
Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett
Discworld Series, book 31
My rating: 8/10

When Polly Perks' brother goes missing, presumably captured in the war between Zlobenia and Borogravia, Polly must cut her hair and leave her work as a barmaid to find him. Pretending to be a man, she joins the army and is added to a small regiment called "the Ins-and-Outs", in which she soon discovers there are more secrets than hers alone.

The main reason this story has such a high rating is the strong female leads. Although he has some strong female characters, like Tiffany Aching, Susan Death, and the witches, he is not famed for all the women he writes. The writing in this book is also done very well, incorporating his trademark humour into the writing without letting it overly influence the plot. 
That said, there are things that still need work. 
I did not give this book a 10/10. He still includes some stereotypes about women, and though I would include an example, it would be a spoiler. It's some of his better work, but in my opinion not the best.

Aside from that, it was a good book (still not a 10/10) and the good far outweighs the bad.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I love the Discworld, as you may have gathered from my four posts about it. I have read thirty six of the forty one so far, and I decided that right before the end was as good a place as any to stop and reflect on the Discworld and what makes (most of) the books such compelling reads. The first thing that I have to mention is, of course, the creativity. How could I not, with a picture of the Great A'tuin, the massive turtle that swims through space, carrying the four giant elephants that hold the Disc on their back, right here? From all of this to the Rimbow and the Circumfence to the cities and countries, the whole world is stunningly creative. All of the characters are also very well done, including Death, the Gods, the witches, and the wizards of the Unseen University. You have to give him kudos for  over forty  creative, funny, and original books on the Discworld. I also love the writing. His trademark humour is hilarious, but underneath it run deeper currents of actua...
Becoming,  by Michelle Obama My rating: 10/10 Former First Lady Michelle Obama tells the story of her previously unknown personal life in stunning prose. Covering everything from childhood, law school, and romance to work-life balance, the campaign trail, and her children, she lays out her life, decisions, and identity with impressive clarity. This book had a lot of insight about Michelle Obama finding her identity- which includes her struggle with race and gender. She talked about bringing more racial diversity to the table where she worked, and about the push back she received for the color of her skin. Becoming also contained a lot of ideas that seem really important right now about gender equality- including her sharing her experience as First Lady, having to deal with sexism from all across the board. I enjoyed that she was able to bring these issues into the light and talk about how these factors influenced both her and other women in politics. One pleasant aspect ab...
Unseen Acadenicals,  by Terry Pratchett Discworld Series, book 37 My rating: 6/10 A goblin working in the basement of the Unseen University, discovers his talent at "Foot-the-Ball", aka soccer, kicking off a journey into more than just sports. Joined by his friends--a cook, a model, and a soccer player--he must discover his talent and identity. Can he find who he is before it's too late? And maybe more importantly, can he be who he is without hurting everyone he loves? The development of soccer in Anhk Morpork was hilarious, but I do have to point out that as an American, it was very confusing! All through the book I was struggling with the fact that Pratchett was calling soccer "football". Aside from that, the humour was sharp and the characters were interesting. His writing was as good as ever, as well.  This is where it goes downhill. There's no good way for me to put this: the plot was sub par. It was meandering, confusing, and by the end, ...