‘Rats with brains. Rats who can think. Rats who don’t turn and run. Rats who aren’t afraid of dark or fire or noises or traps or poison.’
A Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents takes the idea of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and flips it on its head. Instead of a piper leading away a plague of rats, intelligent rats cause problems and then their ally, the ‘rat-piper’, pretends to lead them away with his magic pipe.
Maurice, Keith and the rats plan to scam Bad Blintz, but that plan soon becomes forgotten due to new threats. Thankfully, Malicia, daughter of the mayor of Bad Blintz, decides to join them on their adventure. However, they still have to overcome and defeat the rat-catchers, the rat pit, Spider and the real piper. Will they survive with their weapon, intelligence?
The characters in this book all have unique personalities from the food-checking Maurice to the dancing Sardines. Ever since he became intelligent, Maurice asks possible food if it can talk. If it can’t, it is definitely food. Meanwhile, Sardines is a dancing rat and is extremely agile.
A main theme is the desire to evolve. For the rats and Maurice, this evolution is mental. The intelligent rats can write, light matches, and disable traps. Along with Maurice (the cat) the rats have also gained the ability to talk. A smaller theme within the desire to evolve is fighting instincts: the rats would normally eat their dead but bury Hamnpork, their leader, when he dies. Maurice fights his instincts by stopping himself eating anything that can talk, including rats. Another main theme is friendship. Maurice sacrifices two of his remaining five lives so Dangerous Beans can live. Also, the educated rodents rescue Hamnpork from a rat pit. When Hamnpork accidentally bites Keith, the boy stops Malicia attacking the rat and calls him ‘one of us’.
Set in a Discworld town, this novel has a realistic setting. Bad Blintz is a market town with a multitude of cellars, many forgotten. However, this book has elements of fantasy like the rats’ ability to talk.
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is a magnificent book overall, but one feature jumps out when I consider why I enjoyed the book: something well-known has been taken and turned on its head. If you’re a fan of the Skandar book series by A.F. Steadman, where unicorns are reimagined, you may be a future fan of Pratchett’s rework of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Or, if you enjoyed the traditional tale of the Pied Piper when you were younger, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents might be for you.