Welcome to Friday Firsts – a weekly meme created by Tenacious Reader. First paragraphs. First impressions. A new favourite?
| Friday Firsts: August 28 |
Monstrous Regiment
Book Thirty One of Discworld
by Terry Pratchett
Fantasy | 476 Pages | Published by Doubleday in 2003
| First Paragraphs |
Polly cut of her hair in front of the mirror, feeling slightly guilty about not feeling very guilt about doing so. It was supposed to be her crowning glory, and everyone said it was beautiful, but she generally wore it in a net when she was working. She’d always told herself it was wasted on her. But she was careful to see that the long golden coils all landed on the small sheet spread out for the purpose.
If she would admit to any strong emotion at all at this time, it was sheer annoyance that a haircut was all she needed to pass for a young man. She didn’t even need to bind up her bosom, which she’d heard was the normal practice. Nature had seen to it that she barely had any problems in this area.
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| First Impressions |
I am so very exciting to be diving back into another Discworld adventure, this time with Monstrous Regiment, the thirty first novel in the series.
With a premise which sees Polly Perks joining the army in order to save her brother, this is an opening that oozes Pratchett’s wit, charm and flare throughout these two short paragraphs. And knowing just how wonderful Pratchett’s writing is, I’m in no doubt that this will be another wonderful, humorous adventure across Borogravia.
What are you currently reading? What were your first impressions?
Books by Proxy 
I just started reading the Bone Shard Daughter. The start confused me a bit with several POVs and I didn’t identify the main protagonist, yet. Can’t say that I’ve got preferences for one of the characters.
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I’ve seen some really good reviews for it but haven’t read it myself! Hopefully it will improve as you continue… but these things are subjective after all!
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I don’t complain, it’s quite good actually
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Love that excerpt! This sounds like a fun installment😁
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Oh it’s so fun – I can’t stop smiling when I read it! 😀
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I used to be a Pratchett fan many years ago. I didn‘t read all of the Discworld novels, but a fair few. And I had a Discworld PC game that I liked quite a bit. This was 20 years ago… I tried another of his books a while ago and couldn‘t get into it. I didn‘t like the humour. It‘s most likely me. There is another book sitting on my shelf, so I will give it one more try eventually.
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These things happen! Either our sense of humour changes or an author just writes a book we don’t get along with at all! Fingers crossed for the book sitting on your shelf!
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Great choice – I love that Polly feels ‘guilty about not feeling guilty’.
Lynn 😀
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Hehe she does seem like quite the character! I am really loving Pratchett at the moment! 😀
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A great choice of quote, Proxy:). This is one of Pratchett’s darker reads – but then, he’s talking about war and prejudice. I really hope you enjoy it – I think there is an interesting dynamic between Tchaikovsky’s The Guns of Dawn and Monstrous Regiment.
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Oh how interesting, perhaps I should read The Guns of Dawn next to see what parallels there are between them! 😀
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