Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

"Polly Perks joins the Discworld army to find her brother Paul. "Ozzer" cuts off blonde braids, dons male garb, belches, scratches, and masters macho habits aided by well-placed pair of socks. Legendary and seemingly ageless Sergeant Jackrum accepts her plus a vampire, troll, zombie, religious fanatic, and two close "friends". The best man for the job may be a woman."

This is my favourite and most read of all the discworld novels, closely followed by The Nightwatch.

Monstrous Regiment is about a girl who dresses up as a boy to get into the army of an extremely misogynistic and backward country so she can try to rescue her older brother Paul, whom she has taken care of since she was a child. That’s not a spoiler, by the way: that’s on the back cover. The entire story is about female and male roles, and whether or not they should change. It’s also a book that will probably make you think a few new thoughts, especially if female equality isn’t an obsession of yours, and therefore obviously worth reading.

Monstrous Regiment will also make you think about war. There is enough about realistic fighting in it to make you freeze in shock at points. Like Night Watch, like all of Sir Terry’s best writing, it deals with a serious subject in a crazy way and in turn has a deadly serious razor edge to it. Yes, yes, war is bad and grass is green but Monstrous Regiment will make you feel up close and personal what it’s like to be a soldier. If you don’t feel some wheels turning in your head as you re-evaluate your position on whether anybody should fight anybody with anything after reading this book you are probably dumber than a pigeon.

The third subject Monstrous Regiment takes on is religion. Yes, organized religion and heavenly religion, too. Once again, the book will probably surprise you. It astounded and amazed me by its bravery in handling this particular hot potato. I won’t go into the subject at length here because there are some spoilers that are pretty important to the discussion, but suffice it to say that new thoughts may well rocket back and forth in your head at the speed of a light clacks’ signals. (very fast) Sir Terry is a genius when it comes to turning established “truths” on their heads and then turning them back over again . . . and back upside-down just for good measure.

So definitely, without doubt, read the book. There are some terrific characters introduced here. The protagonist, Polly Oliver Ozzer Perks, is a very likeable girl. I’d be entirely happy to have Polly on my team any day, and I’d not hesitate to call on her in time of need. She’s smart and solid. That’s high praise from me.
Age rating is about 13/14+. Overall: The action in the book is fast and furious, the humor is hilarious, the writing is fresh and vibrant, the ideas breathtaking, and there are even a few brief appearances by Samuel Vimes, who is my favorite of all Sir Terry’s characters, male or female.