| $@%&! level: Low “Bedroom” level: None Violence level: Medium Back Cover: “Bad Blintz is not like other towns. Something evil lurks here, something that can drive even the most educated rodents out of their minds with fear. Enter the Amazing Maurice: Talking cat, genius con artist, and mastermind behind the greatest Pied Piper scheme in Discworld's history. With the help of a pipe-playing kid and a troupe of strangely intelligent rats, Maurice is prepared to turn this town upside down as only a clever cat can. But it will take all of his cunning and skill to make sure that Bad Blintz doesn't put an end to their plans...forever.” |
I'm really not sure what to say about this one. I actually read it after listening to the radio play from the BBC, because my David Tennant fandom leads me to some of the best places. This also explains why Dangerous Beans is my favorite character, although I might have got there regardless, since I'm often partial to the unusual and clever types. Anyway, Dangerous Beans is kind of cute.
It's a mystery, with a lot of danger thrown in, but the mystery and the danger are almost entirely rat-sized. Don't worry, though—it doesn't take long to get used to the rat perspective of the world, and believing in talking rats (and one cat) is actually a little easier than in many fantasy stories because it does at least give an explanation for their intelligence. Okay, so the explanation is that they ate garbage infested by magic, but it is at least some explanation, which is more than I ever got from Disney.
Here's a bit of a spoiler, just because I think it's kind of sweet. The rats dream of a world where they can live together with humans in peace, and they dream of that because of one of those children's books where animals wear little vests and hats and talk to each other as well as to people. They think it's real, and try to imitate it. In fact, it's downright tragic when someone tells them it's just a story. All those shattered dreams. Actually, now I think about it, Terry Pratchett has a long-standing campaign to make people think about the stories we tell to children (or in this case, rats), and how we may be setting them up for disappointment. On the other hand, some of the dreams we sell may inspire them to try to make it real, and that can change the world in big ways and small, which is how the Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents find themselves with a happy ending.