Customer Reviews

A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"A Stainless Steel Rat is Born" provides an interesting and entertaining starting point for the saga of "Slippery Jim" Digriz, The Stainless Steel Rat: Space Age Rogue and Crook Extraordinaire; Anti-Hero and Master Criminal.

While not the first, or best written, book in the series, there's something you just have to like about this unapologetic and extremely capable, irreverent, alcoholic thief.

In this episode, we learn how 17 year old Slippery Jim graduated from his roots as a small time and frustrated thief to the big leagues - learning how he found his mentor - the Bishop: learning the finer points of "the craft" from him, then leaving the planet with him for new horizons when the local scene gets a bit too hot for the pair.

Unfortunately, they are sold into slavery by the captain of the ship they had bribed to help them escape from their decidely un-heaven-like home planet, "Bit O'Heaven". As in all of the Stainless Steel Rat novels, Jim's efforts to extricate himself from this predicament has wide ranging consequences. And, as in many of the novels, he is again an unwitting tool of the Space League's efforts to bring sanity to yet another dysfunctional culture - all the while lampooning fast food and various human foibles, and outsmarting or outmanuevering all authority figures who attempt to keep Jim and The Bishop from horning-in on their own profitable scams.

Even though decidedly cut from the same cloth as previous books in the series with little innovation in terms of plotline or themes, the book is a pleasant read: lightweight fun for "rat" fans. It is not as rich as some of the "rat" novels in terms of inspired zaniness, outlandish technology, and the humorous juxtaposition of themes and cultural icons - all of which are hallmarks of the series. Even so, I feel it is a worthwhile contribution to "Rat Lore" for Harry Harrison Fans. Three Stars!

What an amusing and entertaining read! If you've read the Stainless Steel novels, you allready now of Sleepery Jeem and his inter-galactic adventures.. But this insight into his character and background is a triumph to the sci-fi serial heros. Harrison is one of the funniest sci-fi authors of the past 30 years, probably best known for his novel, "Make Room! Make Room!" for which the movie Soylent Green was based upon. Harrison writes like a mutated Arthur Douglas/Larry Niven/Rex Stout mixture, and the reader will double over at the funny circumstances, the hilarious dialogues, and the quick but dry-witted narration of Slippery Jim DeGriz. The Stainless Steel hero is the future day Anti-hero, the hero who is actually the smartest crook to ever live! Read this book and then read the other Stainless Steel novels. You will have a new favorite sci-fi character!!!!

Having been a Harry Harrison fan for more years than I can remember, I was delighted when he finished this prequel to the Stainless Steel Rat series. (It should be noted that there are two other of these prequel works, The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted and The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues and that all three of these novels can be purchased via the Kindle store under the title A Stainless Steel Trio Anyway, I first became acquainted with Harrison's writing through reading his Deathworld series, one of my favorite reads.

Those familiar with the author's hero, or antihero, as the case may be, James diGitz, will be on familiar ground with the work being reviewed here. Those who, like me, have often wondered where Slippery Jim got his start will have all of their questions answered.

James diGitz was probably one of the first, if not the first, true antihero featured in Science Fiction. Of course Conan predates this character but he falls into the fantasy genre and not SiFi. Jim is a master criminal and the most wanted man in the Galaxy. Yes, he is an absolute crook! But it must be known that even though is chosen profession is well outside of the law, he has a personal set of ethics which far out those that are trying to imprison/rehabilitate/execute him. Think here of Robin Hood ; a high tech Robin Hood that is indeed a thief, but a good hearted thief with extremely high morals.

In this particular book we learn how James got his start at 17 years old while living on one of the most boring planets in the universe. (The entire planet's economy is based on hog raising...well, not actually pigs per se, but rather genetically altered pigs which are actually giant crosses between swine and porcupines...1000 pound and up critters; mean and nasty! Jim, who was raised on one of these pig farms, knows for sure he wants something else in life and decides at a very early age that crime...big time crime, is the answer.

In this work our hero meets the legendary The Baron; a master criminal who has never been caught and in fact is absolutely nameless throughout the galaxy. Jim finds him and so begins his training.

As with many of Harrison's books, there is a lot of world hoping going on. In this book Jim and The Baron find themselves abandoned on a planet which is just one step ahead of medieval times and must use there wit to thrive and escape.

Is this work, along with the other 10 novels in this series the best science fiction ever written! No, far from it. But is it is fun. Harrison has a good sense of humor and along with presenting us with a likable protagonist, he has given us a funny one. These books are ideal starter SiFi books for young readers although it must be noted that the down side here is that these novels and Jim diGitz does glorify criminality, i.e. steeling. There is no sex involved in these books, even though our hero is very much a ladies man, violence is present but very low keyed (A part of the code Slippery Jim goes by is to not kill anyone), there is absolutely no "bad language" involved in any of the stories I have read and the "good guys" almost always win. Yet, even though these are perfectly appropriate for young readers (perhaps 15 and up), they are never-the-less targeted to the adult reader. I personally find the author's approach rather refreshing. Even though, as strange as this sounds, each of these novels is more or less a lesson in ethics...sort of inverse ethics I grant you, but good ethics never-the-less.

Following is a list of the Stainless Steel Rat books. I have not listed them by publication date, but rather in an order that I have personally found works quite well and more or less follow the life of our hero in chronological sequence. Others may prefer a different order and it should be noted that each and ever one of these books can be read as stand-alones.

A Stainless Steel Rat is Born
The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues
The Stainless Steel Rat (Actually, this was the first in the series
The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You! (Stainless Steel Rat, Book 3)
The Stainless Steel Rat for President (Stainless Steel Rat Books)
Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell
The Stainless Steel Rat Joins The Circus (Stainless Steel Rat Books)
Stainless Steel Visions (Stainless Steel Rat)

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

A Stainless Steel Rat is Born is a prequel to the Stainless Steel Rat series. Jimmy Bolivar diGriz is a smart and ambitious 17-year-old who feels trapped and inhibited on the backward planet of Bit O' Heaven where his parents are porcuswine farmers. Jim learned early in life that he was clever and unscrupulous enough to take what he wanted from others and, more than anything, he enjoyed planning and carrying out these little escapades. So, while his classmates were drudging through the material that he had already easily mastered, he decided to spend his time learning useful skills like lock-picking and fighting until he was old enough to be sent to the adult penitentiary where, he presumed, he'd meet masterminds like himself who could tutor him in more nefarious skills. That's why we meet Jimmy robbing a bank and purposely getting caught on his 17th birthday.

Unfortunately, prison is nothing like what Jim was expecting; it's full of losers. But Jim does pick up one useful scrap of information there: the cleverest criminal in Bit O' Heaven, The Bishop, has never been caught. Jim knows he must escape prison, find The Bishop, and become his apprentice.

A Stainless Steel Rat is Born is a great addition to the Stainless Steel Rat series. It fills in Jim's backstory, gives us the origin of his names for himself ("Slippery Jim diGriz" and "The Stainless Steel Rat") and is just plain entertaining in its own right. It's a great place to start with the series and can easily be read as a stand-alone novel.

If you're an audiobook reader, you must try this series on audio. (And if you're not an audiobook reader, this is a good one to start with -- it's only about 7 hours long). Phil Gigante's narrations really add to the humor. In this book he starts off with a rather hickish sounding voice for Jimmy -- different than the voice he used in the other books. At first I was slightly annoyed and thought it was a mistake, until I realized that over the course of the book he gradually and discreetly morphed the voice into the one I was used to (which I like much better). I see now that he was showing the transition from Jimmy diGriz, son of porcuswine farmers, into The Stainless Steel Rat. Nicely done, Mr. Gigante!

Jimmy diGriz has an a goal in life. He wants to become the best criminal on Bit O` Heaven. He figures the best way to do that is to get some instruction from the master criminals in the planets jail. Once he gets inside, after a bit of a rigged trial (he did the rigging), he finds a bunch of thugs and malcontents. They aren't very smart either. So Jimmy knows that he has to set his sights higher. The guards are slightly brighter but no match for Jimmy and he is soon on his way. But normal crime is boring, there are only so many ways one can rob so many banks. Depressed, Jimmy begins to think that he didn't think this through very well. Then one day he happens across a news report about the best criminal Bit O' Heaven has never seen. The Bishop. He was never caught. The only thing the police ever found was a drawing of a chess piece at his many crimes. His spree went on for 10 years before ending abruptly. Jimmy knows either the bishop is dead or he went into retirement, to live off the funds he liberated. Who better to learn from than the best? So Jimmy decides that he will resurrect the Bishop and hopes that a crime done in the old thief's name will draw him out. It does and Jimmy is soon on a adventure that will transform from the small time thief that he is, into the legendary Stainless Steel Rat.

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This is the prequel to the Stainless Steel Rat series. I haven't read any others so I can't comment on them but, this was a pretty good old fashioned sci-fi adventure. By that I mean that there is no sex, not a lot of swearing, and not a lot of over the top violence. The story does move at a pretty good clip and it kept me entertained, enough that I'm thinking of finding the rest of the stainless steel rat adventures. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a decent adventure that's not about someone racing around the universe to stop the big bad baddy that's going to eat the universe or something. I would also recommend this to younger readers, even though it is about a thief he does have his own moral code (that's generally higher than everyone else's) he follows and tends to be more like robin hood then a gangster. M.a.c

The stainless steel rat series by Harry Harrison is one of the most entertaining set of science fiction books ever published. This book is the first in that series and properly sets the stage for the further joy to come. James (Jim) Bolivar diGriz is a teenage boy living on the planet called Bit O'Heaven. Like nearly all 17-year-old boys, he has a rebellious streak and finds school boring. To alleviate those problems, he turns to a life of crime. His hero is a master criminal known only as "The Bishop" and through a series of criminal maneuvers; he manages to make contact with the man.
This launches them on a series of adventures where they hide out, stow away on a space ship and are unceremoniously dumped on the backward planet of Spiovente. It has a feudal social and governmental structure, ruled by a set of lords called Capos, who reside in their walled castles and wage war against each other. Jim and his companion are immediately made slaves and fitted with controlling collars around their necks. These collars are remotely controlled and if the button is pressed long enough it will prove fatal.
Never losing his sense of adventure and humor through the mud, muck, blood and bad food, Jim manages to outwit all the dimwits around him, proving to be a force in the constant state of war.
The book is relentlessly entertaining; Harrison demonstrates his talent as a writer of science fiction with a comedic tone. His style is light, there is very little in the way of hard science, the plot deals more with the absurdity of human actions rather than the consequences of scientific advancement.

A STAINLESS STEEL RAT IS BORN is my first Harry Harrison novel. I would be willing to try another, but this novel did not send me rushing to the nearest bookstore for the next installment.

A STAINLESS STEEL RAT IS BORN tells you how Jim DiGriz embarked on a life of crime. DiGriz is 17, and the novel does do a good job of giving him a believable smug, smart voice. I would have liked this novel a lot if I had read it when I was about 15, I think.

Jim grew up on a planet called Bit O'Heaven. The fat, tame, insular, unimaginative adults that live on this "piggy planet" are most notable for their expertise at producing incredibly fattening fast food. Jim actually camps in an automated fast-food drive-though at one point. All of this lands as commentary on Americans, but there's no unpleasant bite to it. This is one of the funniest bits of the novel.

Our ambitious young hero decides that to become a Master Criminal, he needs a mentor. Master Criminals are hard to come by on Bit O'Heaven, but he does finally locate one. First, he has to notice that Master Criminlas would be the ones who don't get caught, and then figure out a way to connect. Once he does, he gets off planet. He is off on his first adventure, and things should heat up, but instead they slow down, as if Harrison had lost interest.

Overall, A STAINLESS STEEL RAT IS BORN comes across as lacking energy and inspiration. Probably the novels written earlier had more of that. I am willing to give the series another try, but I will find a fan and make sure I pick a really good one before I spend any more time on it.

There is some information in this review which may be considered Spoiler information. You stand warned.

The book started off well, and I think that Harry Harrison had a good premise...for a short story. Attempting to turn this plot into a whole novel, let alone a series of them, is somewhat foolish. The material just isn' t there for a whole series of books about Slippery Jim. The first book alone seemed to stretch over one hundred pages past where it should have. I can't, offhand, think of any particular place that it should have stopped, but after Jim met the Bishop and he got turned down, or after the Bishop was captured and freed, or even after they left Bit O' Heaven would all have been good stopping places with a slight rewrite to give a conclusion. Even at the end of the book the way it is, though, there is relatively little conclusion, and the reader is left dissatisfied.

Not a bad book, but probably not one you should pay full price for, either.
Harkius

This book is one of the most thought provoking books I have ever read. As soon as I started reading it, the character of Jim Di Griz sprang to life in my mind. As the book progressed, I began to realize that Jim Di Griz is really the part of us all that likes to defy authority, break rules on purpose, and create anarchy.

The book made me reconsider my views on the authority and law breakers. Which is the greater evil? I couldn't put the book down until I had finshed it and started to read again.

This book is one you won't be able to put down. If you know Jimmy diGriz, you won't be disappointed. Rising from the crowd to stand out, with the help of a very good criminal, the Bishop, he is the same Slippery Jim as in all other books. From the junk food shop, where he was in hiding, to Spiovente, where he had to fight for his life and the life of his tutor, you won't forget him. The situations he's in will make you smile, but at the same time will make you reconsider all your attitudes. If you're looking for a good book, this is it