{"id":4550,"date":"2018-05-18T05:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4550"},"modified":"2018-06-07T13:09:15","modified_gmt":"2018-06-07T20:09:15","slug":"mark-reads-monstrous-regiment-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/05\/mark-reads-monstrous-regiment-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Monstrous Regiment’: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first part of Monstrous Regiment<\/i>, Polly tries to hide in plain sight, and Vimes begins a new mission. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Hello, friends, and welcome to my journey through the THIRTY-FIRST DISCWORLD<\/i> BOOK! That number seems both entirely reasonable and viciously impossible, but here we are. I am almost 75% of my way through this series, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really loving this particular stretch of books. So, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going into Monstrous Regiment<\/i> that I feel both a little hesitant and boisterously eager to find out what this is all about. LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S TALK.<\/p>\n

Polly<\/b><\/p>\n

My hesitation comes from not knowing where exactly Pratchett is going to take the story of young Polly. In this plot, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a set-up which uses a trope that many of us who have read fantasy are quite familiar with: a young, boyish girl disguises herself as a boy in order to infiltrate some organization\u00e2\u20ac\u201da military force, a wizarding school, a training program\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat normally restricts girls. In doing so, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of commentary about how girls can do things just as good as boys. There is, of course, a huge value in this sort of story, and as a dude, I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dream of denying how powerful stories are like this. (Particularly for the genre of fantasy, which has been dominated by men for so long.)<\/p>\n

I am guessing we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to get some bits that stick close this trope. Even if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used in humorous ways\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlike the scene where Polly tries to walk like guys do\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI still hope that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something that elevates this beyond the obvious. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been some weird gender stuff before from Pratchett. (Though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the fixation on fatness that ACTUALLY bothered me here; those descriptions felt needlessly cruel to me.) And I say this not as an expert but rather as someone who is still learning\u00e2\u20ac\u201dreally, un<\/i>learning\u00e2\u20ac\u201dall the shit our essentialist, cissexist society has taught me to believe. At the same time, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Pratchett? I know that on the face of it, that is silly logic, but the guy upended tropes and expectations ALL THE TIME.<\/p>\n

One thing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left unsaid here, though, has little to do with gender or presentation and everything to do with character motivation. Why<\/i> is Polly so interested in joining this regiment? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some social context I can glean from the exposition. Borogravia and Zlobenia have been at war for nearly a thousand years; their citizens hate one another for the most part. (Or\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 do<\/i> they? I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m making an assumption rather than an educated guess.) There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a constant friction between the two nations that war is just a part of these peoples\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives. It is a constant<\/i>, so to Polly, it must make sense to get involved, right?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an uncomfortable notion to think about because, at least in a distant sense, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve grown up with one war or another in the background of my life. From the Gulf War\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe first real war I recall being on the news\u00e2\u20ac\u201dright up to the many imperialist disasters unfolding around the world, war has been a ubiquitous thing. My father was an Army man, too, so on top of all of this, I was pressured to join the military for many years, right up until my dad passed away. He always saw it as a reasonable, honorable thing to do and a solid career. Which always bothered me because the Army forgot<\/i> my father. They did very little for him after he was in the war, and when all his bizarre medical issues began to crop up, they flat-out denied him care or any real help. There was certainly no assistance provided to him when we went through our roughest patch as a family and he had no job. And I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever ignore that contradiction, that my father wanted me to be a part of something that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care that he<\/i> had been a part of it.<\/p>\n

So what makes Polly so certain that she is willing to risk a great deal just to join these men? What are we missing?<\/p>\n

Vimes the Negotiator<\/b><\/p>\n

I find it hilarious that Vimes actually hates<\/i> being a negotiator, and yet he keeps ending up in scenarios like this one. Some of what we learn here from his POV helps inform my thoughts on Polly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plot, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also curious how her story will intersect with Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. In particular, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve noticed that lately, Vimes has been involved in stories about transitional states. So, if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case here, how is the world going to change? How does Polly fit into that?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m making an assumption here, and this story could have nothing to do with making the world a better place. But my mind went there because I can already see Pratchett prodding the issues of war and nationalism through the conflict between Borogravia and Zlobenia. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sense of how absurd this war is, especially since we know so little about it. What exactly spawned this fight? Who cares<\/i>? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a thousand years, the two sides hate one another, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all that matters. There are other little clues, too, like how Vimes solves the problem of zombies in the lower crypts. To Vimes, zombies are not a terrifying force to be feared; they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just a part of the Watch. Hell, Constable Reg Shoe is one of Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most dependable officers! Pratchett uses humor to shine a light on what are otherwise ridiculous scenarios.<\/p>\n

And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case for religion, too, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m super curious to see if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be able to determine what sort of real-life metaphors there are for the faith of the Nugganites. I feel like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some fun had with Catholic doctrine. The concept of a Living Testament as one that constantly <\/i>changes is hilarious to me. We really get a sense that Abominations are declared like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 once an hour. HOW DO YOU POSSIBLY KEEP TRACK??? (With a binder, of course.)<\/p>\n

I am eager to see if Duchess Annagovia is<\/i> still alive, too. That seems like such a strange little part of this faith: images of her are common, but no one has seen her in over thirty years? Is the royal family hiding her death to cling to power? And how the hell is Vimes going to get to the bottom of this? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a clear plan-of-attack yet, you know? However, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important that he do something<\/i>. Borogravia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s location means that its conflicts make it difficult for the continent to do business. So we do<\/i> have an explanation for why Vimes is here. I just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the hell he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s supposed to do!<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=f1SjYo3n9SM<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"