The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Maurice is indeed amazing.  For one thing, he can talk—not a usual thing for a cat. He also is more or less the leader of a band of rats… who can also talk, surprisingly enough.  It may have something to do with the fact that they all came from an area near the Unseen University, the school for aspiring wizards in Discworld, where all sorts of odd potions, not quite empty caldrons, and other magical debris has been discarded. Maurice makes a decent living by convincing people that their towns have a terrible rat infestation which can only be cleared out in good fairy tale fashion by hiring a piper.  Not coincidentally, Maurice also has Keith, a young human piper in tow. 

The scam—er, service—has been working well so far, except that some of the rats are becoming concerned that they’re stealing. Maurice does his best to justify their actions, but these darn rats are just developing moral standards which are most inconvenient.  Besides, they’re already at a new town, one called Bad Blintz, and it should be ready to pay quite a lot of money to have a piper lead a bunch of rats away.

It’s soon obvious that there’s something strange going on in Bad Blintz.  For one thing, there aren’t any normal rats running around even though there seem to be signs of rats. For another, food is vanishing at an astonishing rate and the people of the town are hungry and desperate.  There’s something dark and dangerous going on, and unless Maurice and his companions can figure out what’s going on, they may come to a bad end in Bad Blintz.

This is one of Pratchett’s books for younger readers, but adults will certainly enjoy it as well. This adult certainly did.  Pratchett never talks down to his audience, and his thought-provoking ideas are always wrapped in humor and wit. The rats come with names gleaned from words they saw on tins and wrappers, such as Bitesize, Hamnpork, Peaches, Delicious, and Dangerous Beans. They also have distinct personalities, with Dangerous Beans being a dreamy philosopher and deep thinker who is influencing some of the younger rats, especially Peaches who dreams of a world where rats and humans get along. Hamnpork, the old leader, isn’t as taken with these newfangled ways, especially not with all this thinking. He thinks things were better when rats were just rats and not trying to build a moral society.

Another favorite character is the mayor’s daughter Malicia who loves reading and thinks life is a story.  As such, she’s sure events will always work out as they try to uncover what’s rotten in Bad Blintz—she just has to figure out what role everyone is playing in the story.  Keith is quite the puzzle, as he’s not handsome enough to be the romantic lead and not amusing enough to be the comic relief but she’s sure she’ll figure it out eventually.

And of course I loved Maurice! He’s a schemer, always trying to come out ahead—don’t put him in charge of dividing the spoils—but as he points out, he never eats anyone without first asking if he or she can talk.  He also has more of a conscience than he lets on, and while he might never admit it, he’s getting fond of some of the rats.

If you like a book that makes you laugh and think, this may be just the title for you. No one does fun fantasy like Pratchett!

Note:  There is a recent movie based on the book, The Amazing Maurice. While the movie eliminates some characters and plotlines and alters one aspect, I did enjoy it.  A few lines I recognized as coming straight from the book, which pleased me immensely. The voice actors were excellent, especially Hugh Laurie as the scheming Maurice and David Tennant as Dangerous Beans.