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.

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

 

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Thirteen year old Tiffany Aching is continuing her training to be a witch.  At the moment, she’s apprenticed to Miss Treason, a 113 year old witch whose house is festooned with cobwebs and skulls to impress the locals. She takes Tiffany out one cold night to watch the dancing, because she says it must be witnessed—and not to dance.  It’s very cold and very dark, and seems to get colder as they go into the woods.   Tiffany is a bit disappointed and mystified to find that it’s only Morris folk dancers, like those she’s seen traveling around the countryside when they can get past the public houses.  What is so important about Morris dancers?  Though to be fair, something does seem a bit different, a bit off…

Tiffany’s feet don’t think so, though, as her foot starts tapping and before she knows it she is dancing—and catching the attention of one of the most important dance participants.

The Wintersmith has never really noticed humans, but he finds himself infatuated with this girl who has dared to join the dance.  He wants her for his wife.  He woos her with snowflakes in her image, with ice roses, and blizzards that threaten to kill everything living.  Tiffany has never quite had a real boyfriend, so dealing with one of this magnitude is quite a challenge.  She will need all her wits and all her friends to save her world.

And the Wee Free Men are going to help, of course, not to mention a rogue cheese named Horace, an assortment of witches, and maybe even a boy in not so shining armor.

Pratchett continues to delight me with is sly, humorous, and insightful tales.  Tiffany Aching is one of my favorite parts of the Discworld series as it follows a young girl from age 9 as she learns her trade as a witch.  It’s less about magic and more about understanding people—or people-like creatures like the Wee Free Men aka the Feegles who are small blue pictsies with more courage than brains.  They fear no creature but the idea of math has them quaking in their boots.  I understand that.

As usual, Pratchett delivers laughs and lessons in a wonderfully concocted tale.  Do start with Wee Free Men, though, to get the full effect.  Meeting the Feegles for the first time is not to be missed.

The Tiffany Aching series in order:

Wee Free Men

A Hat Full of Sky

Wintersmith

I Shall Wear Midnight

The Shepherd’s Crown

Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

Reviewed by Jeanne

Nine year old Tiffany is the granddaughter of a shepherd who may or may not have been a witch.  She sees the world in unusual ways, and when a creature tries to trespass, she takes it out quickly. Okay, she may have used her baby brother as bait, but needs must, right?

The creature in the river isn’t the only oddity around; Tiffany has caught glimpses of some six inch high blue men who have flaming red hair and seem to be wearing kilts—well, the ones who are wearing anything at all. These are the Nac Mac Feegle, the Wee Free Men, also known as pictsies (definitely not pixies).  They are immensely strong, and born for drinking, fighting, stealing, and fleeing in terror at lawyers.  They’re also leery of Tiffany who they call a“wee bigjob hag” and (horrors!) she can write things down.  While not her first choice of allies, they become indispensable when she has to find her missing brother.

Soon Tiffany will find herself facing a fearsome Queen, a horde of nightmares, and the prospect of matrimony. How will she ever prevail?

I have enjoyed several of Pratchett’s Discworld novels, but I have to say I find the Tiffany Aching tales to be particularly enchanting.  They have Pratchett’s trademark humor—lines that beg to be read aloud to someone, even if you have to chase them down to do it.  One of my favorite exchanges is when Tiffany approaches a traveling teacher and says she has a question about zoology:

 “Zoology, eh?  That’s a big word, isn’t it.”

“No, actually, it isn’t,” said Tiffany. “Patronizing is a big word.  Zoology is really quite short.”

In another passage, he comments that people were glad to see the teachers because they would tell a child enough to stop him asking questions, but they wanted the teachers gone by sundown for fear they’d steal chickens. I will spare you other favorite sections—oh, how I want to tell you about the teachers under the stars! —but this will give you a bit of the flavor.

However, the books aren’t just fluff and fun.  There’s a thread about figuring out who people really are.  Tiffany’s beloved grandmother was a rough, taciturn old woman who took care of sheep.  She was respected in the community for her abilities, with folks leaving her favorite Jolly Sailor tobacco as payment, but Tiffany begins to wonder if there was more to Granny than she thought.  More to the point, is there more to Tiffany than she knows?

There are also some shrewd and pointed observations about society and human behavior along the way, and the books have uncommon heart. Tiffany finds there were consequences for her previous actions, but she is brave, resourceful, and takes responsibility.  She will set things right because she caused the problem, even if she didn’t mean to.

I think if I could live up to Pratchett’s ideals I would be a better person and the world would a better place.

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

Reviewed by Jeanne

I love Book Bingo.  It really pushes me to read outside my usual mysteries and I find books I love that I would not have picked up otherwise. I had a “Read an Award Winning Book” square and just happened to see this book qualified.  I hesitated only because this was a second book in a Discworld YA subseries but book one wasn’t readily available.  I decided to chance it.

Tiffany Aching, one time Queen of the Nac Mac Feegle aka The Wee Free Men aka Pictsies aka Persons or Persons Unknown and Believed to Be Armed, is on her way to her apprenticeship in magic.  Her teacher is Miss Level who is twins. . . well, more precisely, she is one person with two bodies. She’s going to help Tiffany with the basics of being a witch which is not exactly what people might think. Oh, there’s some magic to be sure, but it’s more about caretaking—looking out for those around you, human or otherwise.

But unbeknownst to Tiffany, there is something looking for her, something drawn to her power.  The Wee Free Men set out to save their erstwhile queen, which is quite the challenge when one is six inches high and Tiffany is many miles away.  The way they resolve this problems makes for much comedy relief as the menace draws closer.

As with all of Pratchett’s work, there is a bit of social commentary along with side-splitting humor and remarkable word-smithing.  My favorite from this book is found in an exchange between Tiffany and Miss Level, in which Tiffany is asked if her Granny Aching was a witch.  Tiffany doesn’t think so, but after Miss Level asks if Granny helped people, Tiffany responds by saying that her granny made people help each other.  The witch responds, “Well, there’s not many of us who are that good.”

This resonates even more with me in these difficult times.  Getting people to help each other is indeed a powerful magic.

Yes, I have bought a copy of the first book to read because I really need to know how she defeated the evil with a frying pan.