{"id":4425,"date":"2018-01-08T05:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4425"},"modified":"2018-01-07T11:33:02","modified_gmt":"2018-01-07T19:33:02","slug":"mark-reads-the-amazing-maurice-and-his-educated-rodents-chapter-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/01\/mark-reads-the-amazing-maurice-and-his-educated-rodents-chapter-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents’: Chapter 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the sixth chapter of The Amazing Maurice<\/i>, Malicia leads Maurice and Keith to a headquarters, while Darktan and Hamnpork and Darktan duke it out. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figured this out, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. You can keep laughing at me.<\/p>\n

Malicia<\/b><\/p>\n

I feel like Pratchett is doing so MUCH here, and I love it. Malicia is well-read and savvy, so much so that she sees tropes everywhere. Well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not even that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s able to recognize them; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that she anticipates <\/i>them. Expects them. Believes that the world itself has<\/i> to have these tropes or else something is wrong. And for a moment here, those tropes DIDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T WORK. After she manages to pick a lock with a hairpin, I started to wonder if Pratchett was going to have all her trope expectations come true, despite how bewildering that would be for Maurice. Keith\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 not so much. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not as familiar with what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on with Malicia.<\/p>\n

BUT! He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one who actually<\/i> figures out the next major clue inside of the rat catcher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shed. I suppose it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s odd to even think of it as a clue, but look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m human. I make stories out of the world, too, even if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not necessarily there organically. (OR ARE<\/i> THEY.) After everything that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened in The Amazing Maurice<\/i>, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible for me to believe there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> some weird shit going on here. All the signs point to it, and just because the rat catcher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shed looked normal doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t rule it out. I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a theory, though, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not even sure I have enough information to MAKE a guess.<\/p>\n

But Malicia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on the right track, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t she? She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s making this story happen, no matter what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thrown her way.<\/p>\n

Darktan and Hamnpork<\/b><\/p>\n

I am just as invested in the greater mystery of the rats in Bad Blintz as I am in the complicated politics of the Changelings. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this is so COOL. In exploring the dynamics of these thinking, talking rats, Pratchett has unearthed a story I actually haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> really read before, at least not like this.<\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about the rat they found alive first, since it will provide a good transition point to talk about OTHER THINGS. I had hoped that this would provide me with enough to make an educated guess about what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on in this city, but I am proudly reporting that I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T GET IT. The traps and the poison make sense, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about where my understanding ends. I get the rat feeling frightened by the Changelings because she can tell that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not like the other rats she normally meets. But what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s with the sensation\/smell of there being tons of rats in a single location? Are they being herded<\/i> somewhere? If so, for what possible purpose? Why are the ratcatchers still posting up fake rat tails if they have access to so many rats? My only possible theory here is that these rats aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t <\/i>dead yet, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t possibly imagine what someone would do with so many living rats. Hell, where would they even keep them?<\/p>\n

But while the rats try to unlock this mystery, something else plays out simultaneously. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure issues of seniority or hierarchy used<\/i> to come naturally to them, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why Hamnpork is having such a hard time adjusting to the fact that Darktan has become so good<\/i> at being a leader. Hamnpork is older, and so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s expected of him to be in charge. However, Darktan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cleverness and creativity since the Change has pushed him forward, so much so that many of the younger rats now follow him without question. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to argue with Darktan when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen all the ingenious ways in which he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dealt with traps, mapping out new locations, and devising plans to solve the mystery of Bad Blintz. Yet he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leaving Hamnpork behind, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he? Not literally, of course, but Hamnpork is used to the older system, the older method of order and control.<\/p>\n

So what happens now<\/i>? Darktan defers to Hamnpork, but only in appearances. We all know\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand most of the rats do, too\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat Darktan is really<\/i> the one making all the important decisions. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just patronizing Hamnpork, tricking him into think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in control when he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not.<\/p>\n

How much longer can that<\/i> last?<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/2BDiuHMx310<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"