Monstrous Regiment

Terry Pratchet, Discworld Novel

Discworld novels have always fascinated me. They are abundant with silly yet colorful and cheerful imageries and at times dark and morbid satire of our world. This one will fall in the second category; literally a kick in the socks!, it is.

The author mocks the Man's world which maybe preaching for equal rights for women, yet in the inside, struggles to remain the same way it was, all these ages. I remember reading another discworld novel based on the same theme, called Equal Rites which was much more lighter than this novel. It also points to the futility of war, jingoism and a lot of bullsh*t we do in the name of our motherland.

In a country called Borogravia, a girl called Polly Perks joins the army disguised as Oliver Perks, inorder to find out what happened to her brother Paul. She joins the last of the recruits, that the country will ever produce, and finds herself in a very abnormal regiment. A vampire, a troll, an Igor are among them, along with the best sargeant in the Army, (still alive and not captured)
Humor is in liberal doses, and there are enough conflicting and complicated situations to keep you interested, any case.

Couldn't help posting these here (from Wikipedia, follow the troll link above):

Trolls are theoretically immortal, but as they get older they get bigger and slower and tend to be more inclined to sit and think. They call this "getting philosophy". Eventually they just stop moving altogether, gradually "decomposing"/eroding into an oddly-shaped heap of minerals with a tiny living spark in the center. Many of the Discworld's mountains are actually very old trolls.

According to The Discworld Companion, there exist, in addition to humanoid trolls, troll dogs, troll horses and troll ducks (although the ducks tend to sink a lot). However, none of these have been seen in the novels thus far.

Gnolls:

Another relative to the troll is the Gnoll, which resemble humanoid compost heaps, and seem too organic to really be a kind of troll. It has been suggested that they have the same relationship to soil as trolls do rock. They are scavengers, although no-one has enquired too closely as to what, exactly, they scavenge. Many of the gnolls in Ankh-Morpork work for Harry King, collecting rubbish for recycling, although they have to be watched to ensure they don't eat it.