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The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

Terry Pratchett

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Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Discworld) (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Dancing rats 4 out of 5 stars.
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Terry Pratchett's Discworld series has topped British bestseller lists for years and has a sizable fanbase in the United States as well. Now, with rodent adventure "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents," Pratchett expands Discworld from adult fantasy to young adult fantasy as well.

A boy, a cat, and a troupe of rats arrive at the town of Bad Blintz. But while Keith is normal, feline Maurice and his "educated rodents" are not -- they speak, think, and are self-aware (they ate wizards' garbage). And they have a nice racket going, where the rats pretend to infest a town (they gnaw things and "widdle" on the flour), and Keith poses as a piper to lead them away. But something is wrong with Bad Blintz -- there are no native rats, yet the rat-catchers claim that there's an outright plague of them, and are producing rat-tails to prove it. (They bear a remarkable resemblance to shoelaces)

With the help of a too-imaginative-for-her-own good girl named Malicia, Keith and Maurice begin to investigate why all the rats are gone, and what the rat-catchers are up to. But when they discover the conspiracy, Maurice starts hearing the voice of something down in the sewers -- something evil, something powerful, something that can command hundreds of rats...

Pratchett is reknowned for his new spins on old material. Much as he gave a new spin to MacBeth in "Wyrd Sisters," here he gives a new spin to the "Pied Piper" legend, with some interesting philosophy and his trademarked humor as well. Does the idea of talking animals and preteens make you cringe? Don't -- Pratchett handles it with rare style.

There's plenty of humor in this book, from the names of the rats (Dangerous Beans, Additives, Big Savings, Toxie) to Sardines, the tap-dancing rat with a hat to the incident with the laxatives. His dialogue is still brilliant, especially when he deflates tense scenes ("Think of my dear wife and my four lovely children who'll be without their daddy!" "You're not married. You don't have any children!" "I might want some day!").

But Pratchett doesn't forget the deeper currents either -- the sense of evil he builds up is very genuine, and Spider is one of the most unique fantasy villains he's created. Also good is the attitude of the Changed rats: they cherish their greater intelligence, fear their instincts, and gradually we see them overcome some of those ratty instincts. Rather than eating one of their dead, they bury him like humans do.

Keith is a nice character, seeming dim but surprisingly intelligent. Maurice is the character that Pratchett does best -- he seems, initially, to have no good characteristis, but he's a good person underneath. (With a dirty little secret involving one of the rats) The Educated Rodents are all given individual personalities that Pratchett juggles very well. And Dangerous Beans, a little blind rat, has one of the best scenes in which he confronts the mysterious Spider.

"The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents" isn't actually that different from Pratchett's adult fantasies, and older fans of that series will enjoy this one just as much as the kids. Witty, thought-provoking, entertaining.

Diggers (The Bromeliad Trilogy)

Terry Pratchett

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Johnny and the Dead

Terry Pratchett

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The Truth (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Ankh-Morpork in all of its whiffy glory 5 out of 5 stars.
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When dwarves smuggle a printing press into Ankh-Morpork, the citizens don't know what to make of it at first. They figure the dwarves are up to their old trick of turning lead into gold. The "Ankh-Morpork Times" ('the truth shall make you fred') is born almost by accident and soon it has a rival in the "Inquirer," which publishes stories like 'Woman gives birth to Mountain Bongo' and 'Elvis ate my gerbil.'

"The Truth" is a strongly plotted fantasy with serious messages about freedom of the press and ethical journalism. Of course, you're going to have to chuck your sanity out the window when reading one of Pratchett's Discworld books, most especially this one. It might be a good idea to chuck your theology, too. Who knows? If the Universe is infinite, maybe there is a Disc-shaped world somewhere, supported by four elephants on top of a turtle. Maybe their lawyers really are zombies (some excellent characterization here), and the "Ankh-Morpork Times" really has a teetotalling vampire as its press photographer---a vampire who turns to dust every time his flash goes off, and has to be revived with a piece of blutwürst, a bit of dog meat, a drop of blood---whatever is at hand. Hopefully not blood since our Vampire, Otto has given up the b-word.

There is also a pair of very nasty villains named Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip, who assume the disguises of Brother Upon-Which-the-Angels-Dance Pin and Sister Jennifer of The Little Flowers of Perpetual Annoyance in order to pursue a dog who might blab out what really happened on the morning when Ankh-Morpork's First Patrician was kidnapped by said villains.

(Apology to readers: Pratchett really does induce long, complicated sentences from reviewers trying to describe his plots).

So, forget the plot. Read this book because it's hysterically funny and because you can be the first to entertain your friends with songs from the Vampires' Temperance Union.