The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Discworld Book 28) by Terry Pratchett (MOBI)

Description

Carnegie Medal Winner * New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age * VOYA Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror * ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults * Book Sense PickThe Amazing Maurice runs the perfect Pied Piper scam. This streetwise alley cat knows the value of cold, hard cash and can talk his way into and out of anything. But when Maurice and his cohorts decide to con the town of Bad Blinitz, it will take more than fast talking to survive the danger that awaits.For this is a town where food is scarce and rats are hated, where cellars are lined with deadly traps, and where a terrifying evil lurks beneath the hunger-stricken streets….Set in Terry Pratchett’s beloved Discworld, this masterfully crafted, gripping read is both compelling and funny. When one of the world’s most acclaimed fantasy writers turns a classic fairy tale on its head, no one will ever look at the Pied Piper—or rats—the same way again!

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I’m a Pratchett fan, and enjoy the way his writing makes me think as well as laugh. Plus I like cats & Pratchett got Maurice right from my perspective.

⭐But, he does finally reach true cat. Regardless of his chosen companions.The story has all the best elementsConfusion, heroism, fear, mystery, betrayal, evil, devotion, valor, self sacrifice and redemption.

⭐The piped piper comes to a town in Uberwald, but finds that he’s late to the show that features cats, rats, and stupid-looking kids talking to one another. The twenty-eighth and first young adult entry of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents finds the residents—new and old, human and nonhuman—town of Bad Blintz figuring out the fine line between real life and a story. The aim to bring the same Pratchett humor that adults love to a younger audience is on target.A mixed troupe of “rat piper” con-artists arrive just outside the town of Bad Blintz lead by a streetwise tomcat, who a clan of talking rats and a stupid-looking kid named Keith on the streets of Ankh-Morpork. But everyone is getting fed up with just going around and doing the same old thing, the rats want to find a home to build their society and the kid would like to play more music. Maurice is just interest in money and hiding the guilty for how he gained the ability to speak, but he found more than he’s bargaining for in Bad Blintz because something weird is going on even his talkative rat associate find disturbing. Soon the troupe find out that they have stumbled into a long running conspiratorial plan hatched from a surprising source.As always, Pratchett connects his humor around a well-known fairy tale or story then completely turns it on its head when the same circumstances happen on Discworld even as the characters fight their own preconceptions when comparing “stories” to “real life”. The fact that he ably brought his unique style to a young adult market without losing any of the punch from the jokes makes this a very good book. Although some of the sections of the book were somewhat familiar to a long-time Pratchett reader does take a little away from the book, it doesn’t necessarily ruin the book for first time readers.Terry Pratchett’s first Discworld foray into the young adult genre is classic Pratchett through targeted at a younger audience. I found it as funny as the rest of his series, but some of the plot points were simpler than his usual work for obvious reasons. However this minor fact doesn’t ruin a very good book.

⭐Once upon a time there were rats who ate a little too much from rubbish heap behind the Wizards’ university. They were Changed, and learned to think, to talk and, later on, to develop a conscience. They named themselves after things they saw in the rubbish, perhaps a little before they knew what the words meant. Pratchett is a good enough writer that rats like Dangerous Beans, Peaches, Darktan, Hamnpork and Donut Enter are a lot more vivid and believable than 9/10ths of what passes for literature today.Maurice is a cat, and he is also Changed, although he really doesn’t like to talk about how it happened. But he’s always careful now to ask his food if it can talk before her eats it. He’s the brains behind the scam.Together with the stupid-looking kid who plays the flute – his name is really Keith – the rats and Maurice work the pied piper scam. For a modest fee, Keith can get rid of the sudden plague of rats that afflicts a town. And what with rats widdling in the flour and tap-dancing on the kitchen counter – there’s always someone who wants to be in theater – the town is always grateful when Keith successfully pipes the rats away.Until they arrive at the town of Bad Blintz. The traps are worse, the poisons more lethal and the rat catchers more ingenious than anywhere else. And there is something really evil living lower down, under the rat tunnels. Something that hates. Something that takes you over.Pratchett has called this a children’s book, but it would be more accurate to say it was based on a children’s book. It’s really about myths and the role of myths, and what it means to be “human.” As just one example, the rats drag along with them a collection of children’s fairy tales, remarkably like Peter Rabbit, and think it’s a reference book for humans. The Pied Piper of Hamlin, of course, is itself a fairy tale. With (or perhaps despite) the “help” of Malicia, the Mayor’s daughter and the granddaughter and grand niece of the Sisters Grim, the rats, Maurice and the stupid-looking kid must learn the hard way that if you aren’t making up your own story, then you’re just a character in someone else’s.Fun and thought-provoking, if somewhat different than the usual Pratchett novel. Recommended.

⭐I’ve read a lot of Terry Pratchett’s books over the years and have always enjoyed them for their humour and for the unusual characters the author creates. The plots and settings are crazy but curiously appealing. It’s easy to suspend disbelief and just go along with the author and the miscelleny of characters. This book stars a cat that teams up with a tribe of rats. Unlikely? Yes, of course, but Terry Pratchett’s skill makes it credible, at least while turning the pages. Even when the book is finished, readers can stay in that other world for quite a while; it feels real. Buried in the humour and the narrative, there’s a lot of gentle social comment.

⭐The current hardbacks (initial print run The Amazing Maurice, Shepherd’s Crown and I Shall Wear Midnight) are slightly damp-damaged with the paper having a slight wave. The covers are unaffected, and the inside text, flysheets etc. are also unaffected. I highly doubt this will affect any others after this print run and is simply because they were probably stored overlong somewhere slightly damp while all the transport problems are going on. If that would affect your purchase and you don’t care about a first edition, I’d maybe just wait a little while. It could probably also be fixed by carefully (and with plenty of padding) clamping them for a while.

⭐Something to cheer me up. The rats became woke after something got disposed of in the dump outside Unseen University. And they team up with Maurice, a woke cat. And Stupid Looking Kid, a musicianAlmost none of Pratchett’s regular characters appear in this book, although of course they don’t need to.The action takes place in Bad Blintz, a town in Überwald with a rat problem. The rats have a rat problem too. But it’s really a human problem

⭐Reading this as an adult of advanced years I found it incredibly dark for Sir Terry. I found that the challenging of the characters’ perceptions became a mix of Animal Farm and Frankenstein (the book!). It is very thought provoking and made me think about how I perceive others.For some reason my Kindle Fire struggled with this book, not being able to open it each time I came back to it but that may be my memory card though I don’t usually have problems. It kept saying that there was a problem with the format and I would have to buy a genuine version from the Kindle store – that is where I bought it. I had to delete the first one and buy it again because I can’t see how to raise an issue with Amazon.

⭐I suppose it is as advertised, but I expected something better. The format is the same size as a standard paperback. The pages are printed on what feels like recycled paper and there are no illustrations.I had hoped for a book that would look good on the shelf and be a pleasure to read. This edition fails on both counts.Of course, the story is excellent. I already have it as a paperback.To misquote Mr. Knightley – “It was poorly done”.

Keywords

Free Download The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Discworld Book 28) in MOBI format
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Discworld Book 28) MOBI Free Download
Download The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Discworld Book 28) 2009 MOBI Free
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Discworld Book 28) 2009 MOBI Free Download
Download The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Discworld Book 28) MOBI
Free Download Ebook The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Discworld Book 28)