Monstrous Regiment is a good deal darker than is normal for Pratchett. Set in Borogravia, a small, warlike nation on the Discworld, it follows Polly Oliver as she dresses as a boy and goes as a soldier. There's a lot of folk songs out there in which girls do this, following lovers, looking for lost people, seeking revenge, or death, or just because they want to do the things gender excluded them from doing.

Between the feminist reference in the title, and the folk, it's not entirely difficult to guess where this might be going. However, the backstories, adventures and politics are far less predictable, and highly engaging. It's a real page turner.

Pratchett explores not only the challenges and discomforts of war, but he also takes a very discomforting look at the treatment of women. It's very easy to read this book as a critique of some of the institutions the Catholic Church used to run, and the tendancies of right wing religious people today. In places, this is not an easy read. It is however a very good story, and there are some very funny moments too.