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Summary: Haven't really read it, but noticed a similarity to....
Review: Ok, I have not read any of the Discworld series at this point in time, but the title struck me as a bit of an allusion or, oppositely, an originator for Mr. Bobo's Mouse Circus in Neil Gaimans "Coraline" (great book, for a kids book)...does it interest anyone to know that Gaiman and Pratchett intersected about 1990 or so to write a novel together, "Good Omens" (another kick-nuts book)?
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Summary: I Love this Book!!!
Review: ...This story is based on the story of the pied piper. It uses a cat called Maurice as the ringleader of a group of rats who can talk and a "stupid looking kid" called Kieth who plays a flute. They plauge a town and then Kieth offers to get rid of the rats. He plays the flute and the rats, knowing what is going on, follow him. Kieth gets paid and Maurice "looks after" the money. This sceme works for several towns but then something unexpected happens...
Mr. Pratchett writes so well and he grips the reader. I loved the names of the charecters in this book like Dangerous Beans and Inbrine. I would reccomend it to all fantasy lovers like myself who are looking for a good book.
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Summary: Warping the Weave
Review: A new Discworld novel (actually probably a novella, by length, but it's bound in cloth with a price to match) by Terry Pratchett, this one skewering the tale of the Pied Piper, with some deep digs at Beatrix Potter... Warped, whacked out, very funny, his usual satirical twist on British customs and culture. So far Pratchett, though ringing the changes on quite a successful formula, has not really been repeating himself and certainly never boring anybody...This novel traces the tale of a cat named Maurice and his troop of rats, all of whom lived a bit too close to the wizardly garbage pile at Unseen University and thus were exposed to magical leakage and somehow developed intelligence. Maurice, being the cat that he is, hooks up with a stupid-looking kid who plays the flute, and they develop a lucrative scam infesting towns and being paid to rid the places of vermin...at which point the troop moves off to the next town. But these rats have plans of their own...and when they meet the story-spinning granddaughter of the famous Grim Sisters, the whole thing gets very messy. Not a cute little talking animal story. Not really for children. Not a bad read, not at all.
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Summary: Don't let the suggested reading age fool you...
Review: Despite the 9-12 suggested reading age that Amazon lists, this book is a lot more adult than I expected. I figured that the story would be dumbed down for the children, but I bought it anyway because I'm a Pratchett fanboi. Well, I was wrong. The story is easily on par with Pratchett's other Discworld novels, and doesn't appear to be dumbed down in the least. I didn't laugh as much reading this novel as I have when reading some of his previous works, but that's probably because this story is just a tad darker than some of the other Discworld novels. Still, it was a very enjoyable read, and I highly recommend it.
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Summary: More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Rats...
Review: For "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents", Terry Pratchett's 28th Discworld book, he states in the Author's Note at the end that he did a lot of research into rats before writing this book. It shows. This also marks Pratchett's first Discworld book for the young adult set. It actually serves as a pretty good introduction to the Discworld, giving us an entirely new set of characters to play with thart aren't bogged down in the already established Discworld cosmology (save the necessary cameo by Death, the famous anthropomorphic personification). The story is a spin, obviously, on The Pied Piper of Hamlin, but with Pratchett's usual fairy-tale-crashes-head-on-into-real-world take on things. The rats (and cat) talk - and scheme and scam - but do so in a way completely at odds with the standard Disney-like children's book characters. They're really more characters trying to come to terms with being saddled with things they never wanted - like sentience - than anthropomorphic animals. In fact, stories like Peter Cottontail (and the Brothers Grimm) are parodied throughout the book. In keeping with Pratchett's previously mentioned belief in previous books that kids are just as capable (if not more, in some cases) of dealing with nastiness, death and general unpleasantness, Pratchett doesn't really pull any punches in his narrative. He treats rats as they really are - smelly, foul, incontinent sometime cannibals. That's not to say that, like all of his protagonists, they're not actually good beings - they're just not cute, fluffy and sweet. However, all this said, it's still a story about humankind - and ratkind - triumphing over it's baser beliefs and practices. It's a great story and which, as with all of Pratchett's best books - deals out humor, suspense and creepiness in equal measure. I recommend it for kids, adults, Discworld fans and those new to the series. It's as good as any Discworld book he's done so far and it doesn't need the established background to tell a great story.
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Summary: You'll never look at rats the same way again...
Review: Great fun, this book. What starts out as a simple restructuring of the story "The Pied Piper of Hamlin", turns into a darker, deeper tale. Although written with kids/young adults in mind, Terry Pratchett gives us characters that we care about and a plot that is every bit as complex and interesting as his "grown up" Discworld stories. As a fan of Terry Pratchett, I can highly recommend this book to fellow fans as well as those who have never heard of Mr. Pratchett. If you've never loved a rat, here's your chance!!
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Summary: Excellent Book -- Not Just for Kids
Review: I don't agree with the Reading Level assigned to this book (ages 9-12). Sure, 9-12 year olds could read it without problem. But, it's not a really a kid's book. It's just a very, very good book that's fun and light to read. It's also almost entirely independent of any need for prior knowledge of the Discworld. At a guess, I'd assign it a place just after "Moving Pictures" (purely based on the "Gaspode-the-Wonder-Dog" affect plus the fact that Maurice is mentioned twice in "Reaper Man" (which comes just after "Moving Pictures")). Definitely a book to read. Anyone CAN read it and everyone SHOULD read it.
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Summary: Disappointment for this Discworld Fan
Review: I knew this wasn't meant to be an equal Discworld novel when I first opened it, but nevertheless I was disappointed. This lacks the character and fancy of Pratchett's other books. I kept expecting the plot to take an interesting twist, as Discworld novels often do, but was failed. Also, I was disturbed by a passage in which a rat-catcher strikes the young heroine - a blow so well described that I feel the fist in my own face... particularly distressing to read in juvenile literature.
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Summary: NOTHING COULD TOP IT!!!!
Review: I really liked the book. I liked all of the names of the rats, especially Dangerous Beans and Hamnpork. It was really funny especially because they dragged around the book "Mr. Bunnsy has an Adventure".
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Summary: Dragging down the curve...
Review: I'm a diehard Pratchett fan, and so when I bought this book after reading all the novels (up to The Last Hero), I felt distinctly let down. This wasn't a bad book in any way except comparing it to Terry's earlier works of two decades of witty retorts and spliced fables. This book has the same sort of premise, but has a distinct 'lite' feel about it, presumably for the younger audience he seems to be aiming for. The sad truth is this is not a kid's story, and the stripped-down vocabulary does not do justice to Terry's writing skills. All in all, this is, I say again, not a children's book and will not pass muster for the teenagers and the adults: It winds up in a no-man's land in the middle.
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