Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

As the 28th novel of the Discworld series, I was a little disappointed with Monstrous Regiment. It had a good story, believable characters and a well-planned plot but felt a bit outside of the realm of the Discworld that Terry Pratchett fans adore. PLOT An unusual choice of subject matter, Monstrous Regiment is about a woman who wants to become a soldier during wartime in order to find her brother. She cuts off her hair, changes her name, dresses as a man and goes to seek her fortune. The rest of the members of the regiment (called the Ins and Outs) include a troll, a vampire, an Igor and various other creatures. Throughout their travels, the Monstrous ...

What do a young girl, a vampire, a troll, and an Igor have in common? They’re all in the Monstrous Regiment, of course. And they all have a secret reason for joining the Borogravian Army. And they all have another secret, or at least they think they have… Borogravia is a country on a mission. The trouble is, it’s a stupid mission. Worshipping the god Nuggan, they follow – or at least try to follow – his laws, which basically consists of avoiding a lot of Abominations unto Nuggan. The trouble is, there’s a hell of a lot of these, and many of them are stupid – for example, the colour blue is an abomination unto Nuggan. No-one knows why. Some of the ...

I hate winter! There's virtually nothing I can find to say about it that's positive, and that includes Christmas. Bah! Humbug! I'm the kind of person, who at this time of year wonders if 'Rudolf' doesn't just mean 'blind reindeer' in Greenland or wherever (it would explain the red nose) and that's as far as my interest goes. It does however, have one redeeming feature and that is the release around this time of year (ready for Xmas) of the latest Terry Pratchett offering. Monstrous Regiment will no doubt have John Knox spinning in his grave (and no bad thing at that according to some), for it was he who coined the phrase. ...