Customer Reviews

The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First there was "The Stainless Steel Rat", our introduction to Slippery Jim DiGriz, aka the Stainless Steel Rat, a high-tech, futuristic conman and thief, who is caught after a long and successful career by the galactic special corps, and recruited to join them because it takes a thief to catch a thief. Then followed four more books in chronological order, "The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge", "The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World", "The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You", and "The Stainless Steel Rat For President". Then, apparently growing bored with the direction his stories were taking, Harrison retreated to the beginning and wrote the prequel, "A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born". This book is the sequel to that one, and is in turn followed by "The Stainless Steel Rat Sings The Blues".

There are dangers to writing prequels that were unplanned at the time the original story was written; this book mostly avoids them. It is necessary to make it plausible that the character/s have had these experiences prior to the later stories, and that their characters have developed from these experiences into the character/s they are at the beginning of the original. It is easy to see how the Jim DiGriz from this book became the Jim DiGriz at the beginning of the original. It is also necessary, and much more difficult, to make a story that is interesting, but yet have it remain plausible that the events in it are not referred back to in the chronologically later, but earlier written, stories. Surprisingly, that too is managed well in this book.

What that leaves us with is a book which succeeds well at what it sets out to do: to be a fun romp, action-packed, plot-driven, not to be taken any more seriously than it takes itself, which is not very, but enjoyable brain-candy. The dialogue is a bit stilted, the characters are somewhat two-dimensional, the "philosophy" propounded by the members of the alien culture is downright silly, and Harrison never lets a little thing like consistent characterization get in the way of keeping the plot lively; DiGriz is supposed to be brilliant, but he makes enough stupid mistakes to keep himself in one exciting crisis after another. This isn't anything like great art, but it IS fun, and sometimes that's all you want. For those times, this is a perfectly enjoyable light read.

When reading this review it must be remembered that I have been an enthusiastic Harry Harrison fan for many years. I say this as my review of this work (and a couple of others) are most certainly influenced by my liking of this author and I fully admit that I am willing to give him a break here and there where as others may not.

The book being reviewed here is actually a prequel to the Stainless Steel Rat series. There are three novels included in this prequel where the author gives the history of James diGitz (The Stainless Steel Rat) and at times is known as Slick Jim. How did James become the master intergalactic criminal we have all followed throughout the years? Well the three novels, starting with A Stainless Steel Rat is Born and followed by the book being reviewed here gives us those answers.

The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted begins where the first novel, A Stainless Steel Rat is Born ends. We find Slick Jim in prison and being prepared to be returned to his home planet to face justice and serve untold years in prison for crimes he did indeed commit, but was unlucky in this case, to be caught.

This entire situation is of course unacceptable to Jim as he feels a strong urge to seek revenge against the man who sold himself and his friend and criminal mentor, The Bishop, into slavery on a distant planet and there for cause the death of the Bishop. Of course Slick Jim escapes his current confinement, seeks the villain to deal out proper punishment, and of course, with The Rat's luck, he finds himself drafted into the local army; a ruthless army which is about to invade a completely helpless world.

Now there are certain issues to note. The author did indeed serve in the military during WWII. He came away from this experience with a complete hatred of all things military; a strong distain... to say the least. . The book being reviewed here is actually an antimilitary tirade. This is all well and good, but I must warn the reader that the author gets down right nasty with his comments about everything connected to any military organization. He in not very flattering as to the military as an organization and is even worse when he describes military people as individuals, and I mean ALL military members. I could not find one positive statement in this entire work. As you know, this is a work of fiction, but it is quite obvious, in a completely overt and glaring way, that Harrison has an agenda here. This is okay I suppose, but many military families or those that have loved ones serving in the military, could quite well find this quite offensive.

We find Slick Jim drifting into one mess after another in this work; typical messes which are a trade mark of this series and others by this author. The action is good, the political commentary, if taken with a grain of salt is good, and the story moves right along and is quite entertaining.

I am giving this work four stars simply because I like the author. I would give it one star because the antimilitary ranting goes a bit over the top here and is simply annoying at times. I cannot give this one five stars, even if the above is not considered, because it simply is not this author's best work.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

This seventh novel in Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series is actually the sequel to the prequel A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born. Young Jim DiGriz is alone, back in prison, and out for revenge. After he escapes and is tracking his nemesis, he gets captured and drafted into the military.

At this point, The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (1987) turns into anti-military propaganda that doesn't even try to be circumspect. The army are the bad guys -- all blood-hungry idiots -- and they're preying on a planet who practices Individual Mutualism, an anti-work-ethic cooperative utopian philosophy that could never stand up to human nature. While the Stainless Steel Rat books are definitely meant to be fun, these types of themes come up often enough that I can't help but think of them as "agendas," and this particular anti-military agenda is likely to be perceived as insulting and disrespectful to the brave men and women all over the world who risk their lives to protect their countries.

Unfortunately, even if you manage to overlook the agenda, The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted offers little new entertainment for fans who've seen most of Jim's antics before. If you haven't read any of the Stainless Steel Rat books, you're likely to be more forgiving than I am, and this book is a fine place to start -- it will actually help if you haven't read most of the previous books.

The redeeming factor for the audiobook version of A Stainless Steel Rat is born is Phil Gigante's narration -- that's entertaining in itself. I'm not giving up on The Stainless Steel Rat, but I hope the next book will offer more creative entertainment and less ridiculous political philosophy.

When I first starting reading Harry Harrison, I thought that he was an average writer. Later, however, I realized that he is far from average,. His earlier Stainless Steel Rat were not as good, but I think he was just getting used to the Slippery Jim diGriz character. "Stailess Steel Rat Gets Drafted" was not his best but definetly one of them.I would tell anyone to read this, in a second. Thanks for taking the time to read this review.

I have read a few of the other books in the stainless steel rat series but this one is by far the best. It starts with a young and very cunning Jimmy Digriz in search of a man who abandoned him on a planet and generally wasn't very nice. In his search he becomes a soldier and goes all over the galaxy. You are taken from one exciting planet to another you really feel as though you are with him . If you can get your hands on this book you have to read it.

What can I say-it is another Stainless Steel Rat book. If you have not read any then I recommend you find a quite place to relax and be prepared to laugh and enjoy.

I am a huge Harry Harrison fan, especially his Stainless Steel Rat series.

This is possibly my favorite of his Rat books.

With puns a-flying, James deGriz, known as the stainless steel rat, is once again engaged in a major adventure. This time, he finds himself on a planet in a perpetual state of military emergency where young people are forcibly impressed into the military. As usual, Jim is on the run so he ends up in the military as a lowly soldier. The treatment of the common soldier is demeaning, even by the standards of military organizations and of course Jim is not one to simply accept his life as it is. He quickly manages to defraud his way into an officer position.
When his army invades another planet, he is the leader of the vanguard that captures a major power facility. After the capture, he learns that it is a planet with no military of any kind and not even a police force. The people are all followers of a philosophy established by an artificial intelligence and there is no violence and people work when they want and earn interchangeable work units called "wrrs." It is truly a rich utopia and the commanding General of the invading army wants to take control.
Naturally, Jim is in opposition and comes up with an ingenious plan to foil the success of the occupation. Through cunning, deceit, cooperation from the peaceful inhabitants and some luck, the invading army is "defeated" and Jim must decide what his next move will be. A quiet, peaceful existence on a utopian planet may tempt most men, but when you crave excitement, it can be a dull prospect.
Harrison is once again at his best in chronicling the adventures of the anti-hero Jim diGriz. It is an entertaining story; science fiction that cannot be taken seriously if you want to enjoy it.

When you need to stop a war, the Stainless Steel Rat is the man you turn to. Not that he is that keen to be your average grunt type stuck on a planet with a crazy warlord, etc.

However, given the man who killed his teacher is there, he is more keen than you would expect to give it a shot.

I see that the cover art has changed since the first edition. I like the original artwork better and let me explain why... When the Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted was published I was lucky enough to get a job in my school's library in the back room where books were prepared for library use or repaired. This book was one of my first that I bound in the plastic dust covers. While carefully putting on the cover I had to read the blurb on the inside of the paper jacket. How could I resist a cover with such an impishly cute main character? The blurb made me want to read the book and so I read the first chapter in between working on other books. I knew I couldn't get away with hording the book so I bought a copy for myself (in paper back). I've since been lucky enough to find a hard back first addition so I'm registering my paperback copy.

Since this book introduced me to the Stainless Steel Rat series and to Harry Harrison as an author, it's still my favorite of all his books.