214 pages
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A sequel to a prequel.,
By
This review is from: The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (Hardcover)
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.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A PREQUEL TO THE SERIES - VINTAGE HARRISON,
This review is from: The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (Mass Market Paperback)
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
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Audio version,
This review is from: The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (Stainless Steel Rat Series) (MP3 CD)
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.
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