The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
by Terry Pratchett
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Read in July, 2007
Well, I have definitely learned a lot about rats. I have mixed feelings about this book. Terry Pratchett is usually SO GOOD at mixing light-hearted silliness with a more macabre subject matter, but this time something felt a little… off. The rats are great at first, a nice blend of ratty grossness and the angst that comes with sudden enlightenment… or puberty. The rat characters are well-developed and as authentic as a bunch of talking rats can be. Maurice the cat is also a wonderful ch...more
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I think the only remaining Pratchett I haven't read, until he produces the next one. Plenty of fun, as zippy as ever, although one can see that Pratchett is banking on the fact that the "young adult" audience this book is pitched towards is too young to have read his earlier iterations of the same themes in the Bromeliad trilogy and in the early Discworld books--or (especially) his first book, The Carpet People. Also Pratchett seems to be on the verge of exhausting his Discworld settin...more
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Read in July, 2008
I picked this book up a couple of years ago at a bookstore in an airport and had never gotten around to reading it until now. I wish I had read it sooner. It's a really funny, clever book.
Maurice is a talking cat. He runs a scam with a group rats of talking rats. The rats pose as a 'plague' so a boy posing as a rat piper can lead them all away and collect payment.
I have seen a few reviews complaining about how dark it is, perhaps because this is was marketed as a YA book, but I didn't...more
Maurice is a talking cat. He runs a scam with a group rats of talking rats. The rats pose as a 'plague' so a boy posing as a rat piper can lead them all away and collect payment.
I have seen a few reviews complaining about how dark it is, perhaps because this is was marketed as a YA book, but I didn't...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
Adults and kids over 12
A rather stand-alone discworld edition, this novel is set in a small town (vs Ankh-Moorpark, Lancre, or Bad Ass,) but still has a familiar Pratchett tone. Aimed at what, teens? Tweens? Maurice and his rodential friends is a book well worth reading by adults, also, and is probably too intense for sensitive young readers, as some of the images are rather graphic. (Actually it's probably more intense than some of Pratchett's "adult" novels, possibly because the ideas are potentially a b...more
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Even if I didn't love every word that ever rolled off Terry Pratchett's pen (which I do) I would give this book a definite 5. It has everything you could want in a fantasy aimed at the young and young at heart: talking rats, stock fairytale characters turned on their ears, a cat who has teamed up with the rats, some really incompetent Exterminators and a Pied Piper who is (you guessed it) working with the rats.
It's funny on many levels. There's a scene where a - let's call him a bomb expert - ...more
It's funny on many levels. There's a scene where a - let's call him a bomb expert - ...more
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Read in February, 2003
Finished The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. For just over 250 pages, it was a pretty quick read. I'm of two minds about it being a juvie - some of the descriptions were a bit grim, for example. But then again, ya gotta learn the hard lessons sometime. Not quite as serious as some of his later Discworld novels (see my comments on Night Watch) but a more polished work than the early ones.
The rats' names were a hoot - I may adopt Dangerous Beans as a nick for a whi...more
The rats' names were a hoot - I may adopt Dangerous Beans as a nick for a whi...more
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Well, I loved Terry Pratchett's "The Wee Free Men" so much that I thought I would be disappointed by this one. While I still liked those little blue miscreants better, this book was very entertaining. Maurice is simply a delicious character, and I loved the various rats (who, now that I come to think of it, remind me of the Wee Free Men). Of course they have great names, these rats, and that alone is worth the price of admission, as they say. Few authors can make me laugh out loud, but...more
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I guess I just don't like rats. Couldn't suspend my deep-seated human reaction to the idea of gangs and bunches of rats, especially ones even smarter than they are in reality. Same thing happened with the movie Ratatouille, cute funny movie, just the ick factor kept pulling me out of the story over and over again.
I still liked the book and bet that those who aren't as squicked out about rats would enjoy it even more than I did. Especially loved the character of Malicia, the girl who can't...more
I still liked the book and bet that those who aren't as squicked out about rats would enjoy it even more than I did. Especially loved the character of Malicia, the girl who can't...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
fantasy lovers, kids
I'm not sure if this is more of an adventure or a fantasy, but it was good fun! Pratchett is a master at taking a well known story and giving it a tweak or two until it becomes something completely unexpected. The story in question this time around is the Pied Piper. And the tweak is that the rats are in on the deal and agree to split the money with the piper. So much fun! I liked the cameo appearance by DEATH. If you're a fan of his Discworld books, this one is worth looking for in the kids boo...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
most anybody, but especially people with a taste for something strange and differently deep
The amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was on of those books that totally took my under. There was some boring stuff in it, I must admit, but it didn't last very long. Mostly it was a very feeling book. With strange viewpoints, and, shall I say, morals. It seems strange for a young adult book like this one to make you feel so much... but it was written wonderfully (even though it has those few references to when the mice had to 'widdle' on things, which is very Terry Pratchett) and has tha...more
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Read in January, 2000
recommends it for:
guys who like funny fantasy
The Pied Piper tale gone horribly wrong! Ha, ha! The rats have gotten into the garbage behind the wizard's university, and Maurice (a cat) has gotten into the rats, and now they will never be the same.
They hit the road and used the Pied Piper story as a template to extort their way to a tidy sum. But now the rats aren't having fun anymore, and they are just about ready to call it quits, when they run into a village that already HAS a rat problem.
I love the juxtaposition of silly humor with...more
They hit the road and used the Pied Piper story as a template to extort their way to a tidy sum. But now the rats aren't having fun anymore, and they are just about ready to call it quits, when they run into a village that already HAS a rat problem.
I love the juxtaposition of silly humor with...more
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Read in June, 2008
This book just did not click with me! Maybe it’s because I’m not much of a fantasy reader, maybe it’s because I couldn’t get on board with the abandoned fairy tale frame story, or maybe it’s because it was just plain weird. I’m all for talking rats (see Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH or Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat), but when these guys started discussing eating the “green wobbly bit” of dead rats, I knew it was not for me. I’m afraid this might be my first and la...more
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Read in August, 2007
A nice, light escape to relax with in between meetings. The characters seem quite self-aware; I feel sometimes almost as if they can see that they're in a storybook, which helps to temper the weirdness of the plot twists in the sense that everything is played out at a high but consistent level of fantasy. I'm trying to figure out when the story is supposed to be set- they have safety matches, wind-up toys, and books printed in colour, but use swords, horses, lanterns, and candles... mid-180...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone with a sense of humor, especially cat and/or rat lovers.
I absolutely love reading Terry Pratchett's work, and this book was no exception. Pratchett has a great, possibly considered dry, definitely British sense of humour, and a knack for creating lovable oddball characters. Though this novel is set in Pratchett's Discworld -- a world where magic is part of everyday life -- you do not need to have read any other Discworld books to enjoy it (though the significance of some small tidbits might be missed if you are not familiar with Discworld lore).
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Read in July, 2007
I love Terry Pratchett. His stuff is always so funny, clever, and easy to read. I didn't find this one quite as sharp and thoughtful as his other young adult stuff (The Bromeliad Trilogy, The Wee Free Men), but it was still really enjoyable. Great characters, as always. I was an especially big fan of Keith, who's now on my list of fictional characters I want to be friends with. Missy, you should read this, b/c I bet you'd love Keith, too! I know you've got a thing for those young boys. ;)
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Read in January, 2006
recommended to Tara by:
A friendrecommends it for: Everyone of all ages
This was my first book into the world of Terry Pratchett. It was also my first book into the world of fantasy, and I want to go back! I am sure that my love for rats helps. I will defiantly be reading more of Pratchett's books. I absolutely loved the political symbolism in this book. I believe most people would like this book, even if there not into fantasy. I think it is comparable to "Animal Farm" (if that is at all possible...)
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Read in March, 2008
Terry Pratchett is such a good writer in part because even his young adult fiction can be thoroughly enjoyed by adults. This is a funny, yet moving retelling of the Pied Piper story. It does have some really scary moments so it's definetly young adult and not children's fiction. But I love it. I've read it atleast twice. Pratchett's creativity and humor as well as his memorable characters never disappoint.
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Don't be fooled. Terry Pratchett is not just another fantasy or kids writer. He is a satirist of the highest order and a very fine writer. I am not going to comment on every one of his books, beyond saying that Maurice and The Wee Free Men are two of the best, but all (except perhaps the first 2 DiscWorld books) are well worth reading.
A prime example of a writer who transcends genre.
A prime example of a writer who transcends genre.
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Read in June, 2008
It's a discworld book for tweens/young adults. And that's exactly what you get. It looks, reads, and quacks like the grown-up discworld books but is a little simpler. And the main characters are children. It was a good story and fairly funny. Maurice was a good character, and I wonder if Pratchett intends to reuse him.
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I actually didn't know it was a Discworld Novel when I was reading it, and wondered about the familiar names, thought it was a book to kids set in a similar world, heh.
And they are mentioned in another book! Like many other characters are mentioned in other books before they have their own books written.
And they are mentioned in another book! Like many other characters are mentioned in other books before they have their own books written.
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