Althea M. (althea) reviewed on 9/15/2008 + 774 more book reviews

In Pratchett's umpteenth Discworld novel, he takes on the foolishness of societally-imposed gender roles, the horrors (and pointlessness) of war and the ironies of religion. Serious stuff! And yes, the book is a lot more serious that many of the earlier Discworld books, which pretty much played everything for laughs. However, that's not to say that this story isn't funny - it certainly is - just that the humor's a little more pointed and thought-provoking.
A young woman, Polly, disguises herself as a boy in order to join the Borogravian army (imagine any small, war-torn, Eastern European city-state) - in order to find her brother, whom she needs to fetch home so that she can inherit the family business. Unfortunately, cheery propaganda notwithstanding, she's joined up at the tail end of a war - on the losing side. Her fellow recruits are seemingly the bottom of the barrel - and include a (coffee-addicted) vampire, a troll, a religious freak - and an assortment of other characters - none of whom may be exactly what they seem.
I don't think this will go down in history as THE quintessential Discworld novel, but it's a timely satire, well worth reading.

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