Now the whole "everyone being girls" thing I felt wasn't stupid, just a little to obvious for my liking. It was pretty obvious right from the start which let the book down as a whole.

But Pterry took this 'secret' and did everything to it he could (like the washerwoman thing or visiting the brothel) it just wasn't enough to pull it all together in the end - not every book can be the pinnacle of brilliance

Indeed. The main problem of the book was not that these detestible jokes were there. The problem was that these detestible jokes were used to hold the entire book together.

l want to stand up for this book, so here goes.

lt was hilarious! lt kept you in suspense waiting to see who would be revealed as a girl next. l loved Equal rites, and this was kind of another take on the equality issue. Us girlies where denied so much for so long. Nowadays nobody would blink if a bunch of women joined the army, but alas this was not always so.

l loved this book, and finding out the ending made me laugh. l will read it again and again. A true classic. But, what would l know - l'm a girly myself!

Don't sell your self short. You'd know loads, mostly about baking cakes, knitting and fuffly kittens. :p

In that case, I'd like to claim a distinction between girls and girlys

Thank you Shadowgirl, and welcome to the very select club of people who really liked the book (by my last count, it's just you, me, and Ozzer). I wouldn't consider myself a girly girl, but I agree that there was a "girls rock" theme that required them all to be women in disguise. Perhaps we should feel sorry for the rest of these poor people who can't appreciate the humor that makes me smile every time I think about Polly and the gang.

and housework, allegedly

I can only repeat myself, I too liked the book...
Otherwise, I'm with Mowgli's last post! 8)

Aren't you ALWAYS annoying, Rinso? ;-)

I have to say that I didn't really care for MR myself. And regardless of the title, I think that somewhat mixed regiment would have worked better. If SGM Jackrum were male, yet figured that the others were female it would have shown that not all males are either assholes or clueless.

:roll: :badgrin:

I must admit that I actually DID like the book... the fact that they were ALL girls was not totally obvious to me, more a possibility that was toyed with all through the book, but then, us girls ain't so bright as you guys, so maybe that's why so far, it's mostly girls defending it in this thread. [size=7:5b0cf5ae5b](or maybe smart guys just don't like dumb girls getting the big part, eh fellas ? ) [/size] Well hey, maybe it's just a book that girls appreciate, which means our Pterry can actually communicate with women...



...


Nahhh, can't be that, no-one's THAT good...

I agree that no ones that good. I mean my own dad cant comuniocate to me

But I think PTerry is getting close

You know, on the past subject of who suffers more in a war, I would like to quote a source that shall go unnamed for now. "You know the sleeping feel no more pain, but living are scarred" Brownie points to whoever can tell me where it's from! That of course does not mean women and children suffer more, but really it depends on the war. For 'death beofre dishonor' types it is worse for the women and children, because they don't get the title 'died in service of their country'.

Other times, like as in the genocide/civil war of Rwanda it matters not the age, gender, or strength or the person you're fighting, and the women suffer just as much as the men who suffer just as much as the children who suffer just as much as the women. Who suffer more than the animals.

And you can add another person to the "people who like MR" list, Sunshine. I thought it was a great book, if in a different style and less finely woven than some of his others.

I also found the hints of relationship between two members of the Regement cute. And not glaringly obvious, so homophobes could easily say it doesn't exist. :roll:

Maladict needed to be female to make a point and complete the joke, I know. But she still seemed a very male charactor to me. I would think that if it hd to be revealed it should have been done in a way that mattered, not in a way that you go :blink: oh, look at that... Or maybe I am a hopeless dramatic. Whos favorite charactor is Maladict.

It seems to me Mal needed a better excuse to go to war. Though I guess 'I was bored and had to wear underwire' is reason enough... bordom seems to be the driving force for many vampires.

I also liked this book, but I have to agree that Terry over-exercised his theme. It seemed to me that Jackrum's female identity was telegraphed way early in the story, and seemed to be such a sure thing by the end. During the first reading, I found myself hoping that Jackrum would turn out to be male, just as a twist of expectations. "He" could have been used to working with female troopers and keeping everybody's (including the generals') secrets.

But... I liked what turned out, anyway.

i still think that some of the charecter should of stayed male. mainly Maladict because it would of been cooler, oh well