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The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is a perfect example of Terry Pratchett doing what he does best: taking something familiar, twisting it sideways, and using it to say something sharp, kind, and quietly profound.
On the surface, it’s a playful riff on the Pied Piper story, complete with a talking cat, a gang of highly intelligent rats, and a scam that’s gone on just a bit too long. It’s funny, fast-moving, and full of that unmistakable Discworld wit. Maurice himself is a brilliant creation — selfish, lazy, cynical, and yet impossible not to like. He’s exactly the sort of character who would absolutely insist he’s not the hero of the story, right up until the moment he accidentally becomes one.
What really elevates the book, though, is the way it treats its younger audience with genuine respect. The rats aren’t just there for laughs (though they’re very funny); they’re thoughtful, philosophical, and increasingly aware of their own personhood. Their debates about language, belief, leadership, and what it means to be “people” are handled with surprising depth, without ever feeling heavy-handed or preachy.
Then there’s the darker edge. This is a story that isn’t afraid to be unsettling. The villain is genuinely creepy, the stakes feel real, and the book doesn’t shy away from the idea that intelligence brings responsibility — and fear — along with it. Pratchett trusts the reader to handle that darkness, and in doing so makes the story more powerful rather than less accessible.
The humour is sharp but warm, the pacing is excellent, and the emotional beats land beautifully. By the end, what starts as a clever con story becomes something much more meaningful: a meditation on choice, empathy, and deciding who you want to be, even when the world has given you every excuse not to care.
It’s funny, strange, touching, and smarter than it has any right to be. Whether read by children, teenagers, or adults, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents offers something genuinely special — a story that entertains first, then lingers in the mind long after the last page.
Gareth Ellis - Author 