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Monstrous Regiment (novel)
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Not to be confused with the Laurie R. King Novel.

Monstrous Regiment is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 31st
novel in his Discworld series. It takes its name from a 16th-century tract by John
Knox opposing female rule, titled The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the
Monstrous Regiment of Women.
Monstrous Regiment
Monstrous regiment.jpg
First UK edition
Author
Terry Pratchett
Cover artist
Paul Kidby
Language
English
Series

Discworld
31st novel – 6th individual story

Subject

Folk song (especially "Sweet Polly Oliver"), Joan of Arc, Milunka Savić,
crossdressing during wartime, the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, Feminism,
transgender people
Characters:
Polly Perks, Corporal Strappi, Lt. Blouse, Sgt. Jackrum, Igorina, Sam Vimes

Genre
Fantasy
Set in
Borogravia, Discworld
Publisher
Doubleday
Publication date
2003
ISBN
0-385-60340-1
Preceded by
The Wee Free Men
Followed by
A Hat Full of Sky

The cover illustration of the British edition, by Paul Kidby, is a parody of Joe
Rosenthal's photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. Monstrous Regiment was
nominated for a Locus Award in 2004.[1]
Plot summaryEdit

The bulk of Monstrous Regiment takes place in the small, bellicose country of
Borogravia, a highly conservative nation, whose people live according to the
increasingly strange (and harmful) decrees of its favored deity, Nuggan. The main
feature of his religion is the Abominations; a long, often-updated list of banned
things. To put this in perspective, these things include garlic, cats, the smell of
beets, people with ginger hair, shirts with six buttons, anyone shorter than three
feet (namely dwarves, children and babies), sneezing, jigsaw puzzles, chocolate
(which was once Borogravia's staple export, plunging the country into increasing
poverty), crop rotation (which denigrated Borogravia's food supplies), and the
colour blue.

The list of "Abominations Unto Nuggan" often causes conflicts with Borogravia's
neighbours, with uncertainty over the whereabouts of Nuggan and how to lead moral
lives leading the inhabitants of Borogravia to deify their Duchess, to whom they
pray instead as the traditional head of the Nugganitic church. This slowly causes
problems as, on the Discworld, belief grants power. Borogravia is in the midst of a
war against an alliance of neighbouring countries, caused by a border dispute with
the country of Zlobenia. Other factors include Zlobenia's Prince Heinrich claim to
the Borogravian throne, believing his aunt, the long-unseen Duchess, to be dead,
and Ankh-Morpork's diplomatic involvement following the destruction of Clacks
towers by Borogravia. Rumour is that the war is going poorly for Borogravia, though
the country's leadership (and "everyone") denies it.

Polly Perks's brother Paul is missing in action after fighting in the Borogravian
army. Paul is naive and believes what he is told regardless of the credibility or
political leanings of the source, and even though Polly is more qualified to take
over the family business (a famous pub known as "The Duchess"), according to
Nugganitic law, women cannot own property, so if Paul does not return the pub will
be lost to their drunken cousin when their father dies. Partly to ensure her own
future but mainly to ascertain whether Paul is alive, Polly sets off to join the
army in order to find him. Women joining the army are regarded as an Abomination
Unto Nuggan, so Polly decides to dress up as a man (another Abomination) and
enlists as Private Oliver Perks (taking her name from the folk song "Sweet Polly
Oliver"), a song that her father sang to her when she was a young girl.

While signing up, Polly encounters the repulsively patriotic Corporal Strappi, and
the corpulent Sergeant Jackrum. Despite her apprehensions regarding Strappi, she
kisses the Duchess – that is, she kisses a painting of said noble – and by doing
so, joins up. Due to the shortage of troops, her fellow soldiers include a vampire
named Maladict, a troll named Carborundum, and an Igor named Igor. They also
include "Tonker" Halter, "Shufti" Manickle, "Wazzer" Goom, and "Lofty" Tewt.

That night, Polly encounters an unknown supporter whilst answering a call of

nature, who assures her that although they know that Polly is a girl, they won't
give her away. They also give her some hints on how not to be discovered. Over the
next few days, Polly makes a startling discovery: Lofty is also a girl. Since Lofty
and Tonker are always together, Polly assumes that Lofty joined the army to follow
her man, just like in "Sweet Polly Oliver". Later, she finds out that Shufti is
another girl, and a pregnant one. She also joined the army to find her man; in this
case, the father of her child, who she'd only known for a few days, and is known as
Johnny.

Gradually, Polly discovers not only that everyone in her regiment is female, but
also receives confirmation of Borogravia's bleak situation. Most of her country's
forces are captured or on the run, and food supplies are limited. This point is
driven home when Igor (actually Igorina) demonstrates her surgery talents and saves
several lives among a group of badly injured fleeing soldiers.
The regiment, under the leadership of their inexperienced commanding officer
Lieutenant Blouse, makes its way toward the Keep where the enemy is based.
Meanwhile, thanks to a chance encounter where the regiment unknowingly subdue and
humiliate an elite Zlobenian detachment, including Prince Heinrich, their exploits
become known to the outside world through William de Worde and his newspaper, The
Ankh-Morpork Times. Their progress particularly piques the interest of Commander
Vimes, who is stationed with the alliance at the Keep. Vimes has his officers keep
track of the regiment, occasionally secretly providing aid. As a result of Maladict
suffering from caffeine withdrawal following the loss of his coffee-making
equipment, he and other members of the regiment experience 'flashsides' to Earth's
Vietnam War.

Polly and most of the regiment are able to infiltrate the Keep, disguising
themselves as washerwomen, and once inside plot to release the captured Borogravian
troops. They manage to do so, and Borogravia is able to retake much of the Keep,
but when Polly admits they are women, their own forces remove them from the
conflict and they are brought in front of a council of senior officers, where their
fate will be decided. With the council about to discharge them and force them to
return home, Jackrum barges in and intervenes, revealing that a third of the
military's top officers (including Chief of the General Staff General Froc) are
actually women as well. But in the midst of this revelation, the Duchess, now
raised to the level of a small deity by Borogravians' belief, takes brief
possession of Wazzer, her most passionate believer. The Duchess urges all of the
generals to quit the war and return home, to repair their country, returning their
kiss of service, and ending their obligation to her. It is revealed that Nuggan is
now dead, being reduced to a whisper, with the new Abominations (the last being
rocks, ears and accordion players) being produced by the collective anxiety of his
'worshippers'.

In a private moment with Jackrum, Polly reveals to her Sergeant that she now knows
him to (physically) be a woman and persuades Jackrum to go to the home of his grown
son William and reveal himself as William's long-lost father. The regiment is sent
to the enemy and successfully negotiates a truce, and military rules are changed so
that women are allowed to serve openly and Maladict reveals himself as really being
Maladicta. Polly finds her brother alive and well and they return home to the
Duchess with Shufti, who joins Polly in her refusal to be subjugated on the basis
of her gender and marital status. The other members of the regiment go on to lives
that they would not have been able to consider before their emancipation, such as
Igorina opening a gynaecology clinic on the basis that many women would prefer to
see a female practitioner.

Sometime later, despite the peace they had desperately fought for, conflict breaks
out again. Polly, having received correspondence from Sgt Jackrum, leaves the
tavern to seek new ways to fight a war using the influence she gained and finds
herself in the role of commander of boy-impersonating young women who are marching
off to war, reuniting with Maladicta.
CharactersEdit

Borogravians

Grand Duchess Annagovia

General Froc
Major Clogston
Lieutenant Blouse (of the Tenth Infantry)
Private Lart Hubukurk the younger
Private Joe Hubukurk the elder (retired)
Sergeant-Major Jack Jackrum
Corporal Strappi
 Polly Perks
Igor
Maladict
Carborundum
"Tonker" Halter
"Shufti" Manickle
"Wazzer" Goom
"Lofty" Tewt
Enid

Zlobenians and other neighboring countries

Prince Heinrich

Ankh-Morporkians

Samuel Vimes (of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch)

Angua von Überwald
Buggy Swires
Reg Shoe
Clarence Chinny (Consul to Zlobenia)
William de Worde (of the Ankh-Morpork Times)
Otto Chriek (of the Ankh-Morpork Times)
Ronald Rust

Reception
References
External links
Last edited 3 months ago by Marcocapelle
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