Monstrous Regiment by Stephen Briggs

Monstrous Regiment Reviews

• 
  Ian Banks

  Only the second of Mr Briggs’ plays I’ve read (I acted in The Truth a year ago) and the better of the pair. The changes from the novel make more sense from an audience/ staging perspective and there’s a lot of great character moments. My only complaints would be that Vimes is more obviously a framing device here than in the novel and that we never discover - in this script - what happened to Polly’s brother (although we do in the novel).
• 
  Bonnie Dale Keck

  40 of so books, different collections, some audio, it's pratchett, read and heard some as well, all. Dates wrong.
• 
  Laura

  A fantastic look at societal views on women. The main character (Polly) joins the army, despite being a girl. The story tackles the ideas surrounding what women can and should be allowed to do and what happens if the world was to view them as equal to men. I was laughing at many of the moments in the book, and at the end, in true Pratchett fashion, I was very reflective; wondering how my views and society viewed the thought of women, essentially in power.
• 
  Bonnie Dale Keck

  40 of so books, different collections, some audio, it's pratchett, read and heard some as well, all. Dates wrong.
• 
  Kitten

  Around the Year in 52 Books: Fantasy.
• 
  Egle

  I think this is the best book by Terry Pratchett.
• 
  Maetco

  Not Pratchet's best.
• 
  Saga ER

  this fantasy abaut monsters is so awesome
• 
  Meg

  It's a long time since I originally read this book. I definitely get more of the social commentary now than I did then.
  A fun book with an interesting group of characters.
• 
  Victoria

  This is my favourite book maybe.
• 
  MH

  This theatrical adaptation could really use some trimming, both small internal cuts (most of the stuff with Vimes and Angua feels designed to make Discworld fans smile with recognition but doesn't really add much to the play) and larger tightening of the plot (Briggs is faithful to the novel's story to a fault) - the playwright admits in the introduction that it runs two and a half hours, and there's even an optional final scene that brings everything full circle (so it doesn't feel optional at all). Pratchett's humor is still there (although I'm not sure how much about Igors and the vampire league of temperance will land for audiences who don't know the books, let alone plot points involving clack towers), as well as some of the anger and darkness that makes this one of my favorites of the Discworld books, but I'm worried that bite might get lost in the long, long script.
• 
  Mirna

  I borrowed the paperback from a friend and it took me several sitting throughout 3 weeks to finish it.
  
  Borogravia is in the midst of war, the country seems to always be at war due to being proud of their...pride. Into the last battle enters a group of new recruits that earned the title Monstrous Regiment. It is lead by a seasoned and well-known veteran of many, many, many wars, Sargeant Jackrum, and comprised of a troll, an igor, a vampire, and girls. Oh, and a nerd.
  
  The theme is a frequent of Pratchett, on how strong, reliable and badasses women are while men are generally only good at being man. Except for Commander Vimes, of course. It also nudges on politics and policies and the tendency of men to burn themselves by being...man.
  
  Another theme that seems to caught my attention the most because it has been a resonance of repeats in my personal life in the last few years, especially the month I read the book, is identity.
  
  No matter how long you hide behind false pretenses, fake identities, some people will take notice. Some will also pretend along with you, because it fits their agenda.
  
  The plotline is interesting, but somehow the final twist is a bit sad. I had the notion that eventhough the book has a happy ending, Pratchett held no optimistic view toward whatever real phenomenons that inspired him to write Monstrous Regiment. I hope I was wrong.
• 
  Eu

  When I found this on the library bookshelf, I knew I had to check it out (and I did). Read it aloud with one of my friends who loves the original book probably more than I do (and that's saying a lot). If I can, I definitely want to see this performed live!
• 
  Liz

  Enjoyed this much more the second time around. The first time I found it annoyingly predictable, the second time I realised that underneath the integral story there's a lot of clever stuff going on.
• 
  RS Fuster

  Less of a ghost story and more of a poisson story. Learned more then i wanted to know.