Customer Reviews

A Stainless Steel Trio: A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born/The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted/The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a joy it is to read (or reread) the Stainless Steel Rat books. I hope that the whole series will become available again so I can fill in any I may have missed. Harrison is one of the very few writers able to combine humor with good science fiction. You can usually just hand one to a friend and say please read the first page and if you're not hooked, quit.

If you are a Rat fan, then this is sort of a must read. If you have never read of the Rat, then you are missing out on a lot of fun reading and this is a good place to start.

A Stainless Steel Trio is actually three novels and each of the three are prequels to the first book in the series, The Stainless Steel Rat. The three novels here are:

A Stainless Steel Rat is Born
The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues

Harrison has taken the hero of eight previous novels, Jim diGriz, aka Slippery or Slick Jim, and has added some background to how he became the master criminal of the galaxy and why he is so prone to thumb his nose at all authority and refuses to follow the "rules."

These three novels should be read in sequential order to fully appreciate them, but it is not absolutely necessary. The other eight novels in the series, after the first, can be read in any order you chose.

These novels, like most in the series are more or less character driven with Slippery Jim being the primary source. Many who read these three and the others, will be strongly reminded of Harrisons Death World Series...three outstanding reads.

Slippery Jim, The Stainless Steel Rat is funny, quite introspective and has a complete set of rules and morels which are completely his own. Even though he breaks every law in the known universe (Except killing) his ethics and morals are actually much higher and more demanding than the rest of the human (and some not so human) species.

I have been a Rat Fan since Harry Harrison published his first work (which was actually a short story featuring Slick Jim) and continue to be so to this date.

The work being reviewed here is a Kindle down load and it came through in pretty good shape. There was, as is often the case, a bit of a problem here and there with the punctuation and the sentences were broken in odd places at times but this was not bad enough to distract from the work all that much.

These books are simply fun to read. The author does not take himself all that serious and the main character in the book certainly does not either. Much fun is poked at just about everything and some of the situation Jim finds himself in, unlikely though they may be, are quite unique and interesting.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Actually, this is a four star series. The extra star is to balance out bad reviews given for reader errors that have nothing to do with the book.

It is a solid, entertaining read, well worth the time, and this edition gives you three novels out of this sometimes hard-to-find series.

This volume contains the three prequel novels to the stainless steel rat books, and each is an easy and enjoyable read - the kind of thing that relaxes me and puts me in a good mood. Highly recommended.

I read the whole series back in the 70's and remember that I really enjoyed the series. But unfortunately I don't remember a lot of details about them so this was a welcome refresher. I remember him as a rebel against the establishment, one with a wicked sense of humor, and I was rewarded by that exact same character. Harry Harrison's books have held up to the passage of time because they're about people not science. While some of the ideas were a little out-of-date, for the most part there were so few that it didn't bring the book down. For me Harry Harrison is a must for the library of any science fiction fan.

I stumbled upon the series long ago. Kind of read them out of order, but they were all very fun books. Was really glad at least some of the adventures of Mr. di Griz were on the kindle!

The books are even more fun for me to read now. I really hope more of the series shows up soon.

Great science fiction, silly stories, and just a heck of a lot of fun.

These were some of my favorite books growing up. Harry Harrison is possibly the most undervalued science fiction writer of the 20th century. I recommend reading "The Stainless Steel Rat gets Drafted" directly after reading Robert A. Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" to get diametrically opposite perspectives on the same concept. I just hope they make the "Bill the Galactic Hero" series available on Kindle soon. But if I could pick between the two, I would definitely go for the RAT!

The book was bought for my Father, tends to take a long time to read any book as he has so many open at once. Being retired he should have the time to indulge his interests.

However, once he had started on the trio, it was not put down until he had completed it in two days. This is speed reading for my father. Once the book was passed to me I found that it was difficult to put down and it was read over a weekend.

I have previously read Harry Harrison, but find the "Stainless Steel Rat series particularly entertaining with the main characters anarchic approach to society whilst still having regard to the sanctity of life and liberty. This book would not be to everyones taste, they will probably take it too seriously, but for people like myself who wish to forget the outside world once in a while, the "Rat" is a good diversion.

These first three books in the Stainless Steel Rat series are marvelous. The first book explains how Jim DiGriz, the son of porcuswine farmers on a backwater planet, becomes one of the greatest criminals of his time. The next two books feature various adventures as we follow Jim on his quest to satisfy his longings for more fun, more booze, and more money. I got hooked on this series after most of them were out of print, I am so glad that I can now get copies of the first three books in one handy paperback volume. I really love this series, just look at my name!

Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series make me laugh when I read them. This trio is no different and as usual he excels. Go Go Go deGriz!