War, Discworld style. Polly Perks needs to find her brother, Paul. But Paul is a soldier - unless he's a prisoner or a casualty - so Polly pretends to be a boy and joins the army. Polly doesn't know a lot about the army, but even she can work out that her fellow recruits (not to mention the sergeant) are quite ... unusual. And Polly doesn't know the half of it.

Very funny, very clever and very powerful. One of the best Discworld novels, and strongly recommended. ( )

This book is quite excellent. It is highly amusing, like most of the Discworld books are and it has an insidiously amazing message if your looking for it. The obvious messages seem to be that discrimination against women is bad and that blindly following religious writings doesn't get you very far. Both of these are good, but it is interesting that the theme of the book also applies so well to homosexualtity and the common "don't ask, don't tell" policy that is expected and even enforced in the US military. I can only assume that Pratchett was not unaware of this reading of his novel. I really don't know what his views are on the subject, but I find it extremely hard to believe that he is against homosexuals in the military after reading this book.

Even without that message, though, Pratchett does some of his best work in this novel. The characters are interesting, their conundrums are believable, and the conclusion is exciting. Anyone who likes the Discworld series should pick up this book. ( )

es ist sicher nicht eines von pratchetts besten büchern, die charaktere sind fade, ihre beweggründe zu offensichtlich, die diaologe sind platt und ständig wird dasselbe thema wiederholt. ja, oh mein gott, es sind alles mädchen...auch das ende macht nicht viel her, erst scheinbare veränderung, dann wiederholt sich die geschichte...naja, das haben wir ja im großen und ganzen bereits gewusst. auch ist der erzählstil nicht ganz so humorvoll wie von pratchett gewohnt, da das timing nicht stimmt. im widerspruch zu meinem vorredner: wenn man noch kein pratchett buch gelesen hat, nicht unbedingt mit dem anfangen ( )

Samuel Vimes is Commander of Ankh-Morpork's police and now a Duke. He has been sent to Borogravia to stop a war. It is an unstable and backward country which seems always to be at war with someone about something. The army is recruiting again but choices for new personnel are slim. But they keep trying. A recent drive has brought in a new batch which seem odd, to be polite. It includes a vampire, a troll and an Igor"•a humanoid seemingly stitched together from spare parts. And then there is Polly a barmaid, who has disguised herself as a boy. They're thrown into the fray with little or no training. ( )

Not a Discworld Classic: There are those who will buy this book simply to have it in their Pratchett collection (I did). Fair enough. It is written by Terry Pratchett so it is guaranteed to be smoothly written with wry humour, mild satire and a tragic yet fondly deprecating look at what passes for humanity.

Unfortunately the underlying message and sermon here is delivered with all the integrity of a multi-millionaire pop star protesting about world poverty and the chokingly politically-correct message is as embarrassing as your father dancing at a wedding. As a whole the book is not funny enough to be engaging, with weak slapstick taking the place of the usual witty humour and the characters too thin for you to care about. The plot is just silly, devoid of believability (is that a word?) and barely has enough substance for a short story let alone a novel. The book then ends on a decidedly jingoistic note in complete contrast to the rest of the story and leaves you feeling completely depressed and like you've wasted your time reading it at all.

All in all this book feels awkward and rushed, with the bare bones of an idea but with way too little thought or planning for the standard we expect from this author. Sadly, when you produce such a high quality for so long expectations will rise and Monstrous Regiment fails to reach them.