The Amazing Maurice is quite a strange addition to the Discworld series. I haven’t read it before, and I must confess at first I was not enjoying this story. It’s a lot more microscopic than a typical zany Discworld adventure with a tight focus on Maurice and his Rodents. The story reminded me of Carpet People (one of Pratchett’s first books and also another tale about tiny characters) in that the prose and tone were a bit harsh.
It’s very strange to me that this was considered a YA or aimed for younger audiences because in many respects its quite a lot more gritty, deadly and disturbing than your typical Discworld book, although I guess easing up on the wider satire?
Anyways its hard to not just ramble through the plot of the story to explain my points – Maurice read to me a little more formulaic, with a quieter setup but heavier climax than a Pratchett book, in many ways it could easily have been a non-Discworld novel take from that what you will.
Lonely Power Poles 
You’ve put into words a vibe I’d always had about the book. Maybe because it’s largely written from a cat’s perspective (and we all know Pratchett’s opinion of cats…)?
The movie version is great, btw.
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