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kynan's review against another edition
2.0
TL;DR: A passable sci-fi adventure masquerading as a Stainless Steel Rat story.
TL: The story starts out in the expected fashion with the "young" James diGriz engaged in a suitably far-fetched larcenous activity : robbing the Mint planet (mint as in money, not mint as in delicious flavour). As might be expected, things don't go entirely to plan and young, multi-talented Jim ends up in charge of a strange little search party sentenced to a rather difficult search 'n retrieval project on the prison planet Liokukae.
The first third of this book is very much in the mould of a Stainless Steel Rat story, but it gets less and less Stainless Steel Rat and more and more generic (for want of a better term) sci-fi adventure. Somewhat of necessity, James is stripped of his usual semi-magical offensive and defensive equipment and, in a bit of a departure from the Stainless Steel universe, the planet on which Jim finds himself is not entirely homogenous in population and purpose! This means that the environment serves almost as another character, there's an element of mystery and discovery as Jim and crew learn more about where we are and what's going on along with us. This isn't something that has been a feature of the series until now, usually preferring to follow along in Jim's spectacular wake, marveling at his escapades. diGriz is still very much the focus of this story, but he's not the only focus of the story and it makes for a very different, and not unwelcome read.
The story itself isn't groundbreaking and, in my jaded state (don't read all of these books consecutively) I found myself not enjoying the story. However, after planetfall the story actually changed tack and, with a few twisty turns toward the end, it was if not actively enjoyable, at very least a welcome and interesting change.
The grating bits were Mr Harrison's usual ham-handed:
- digs against "male chauvinist pigs": quotes like "Are these weirdos what the psych books call male chauvinist pigs?" just don't ring true and don't fit the prequel timeline very well at all;
- digs against the military: who get a(nother) thorough sarcastic bashing;
- rants on the joys of libertarianism: although less in-your-face than the social commentary of [b:The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted|710706|The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (Stainless Steel Rat, #2)|Harry Harrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328049909l/710706._SY75_.jpg|929350], there's no shortage of it here. There's also a weird obsession with the book [b:Iron John: A Book About Men|122600|Iron John A Book About Men|Robert Bly|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348052112l/122600._SX50_.jpg|604566], and a need to (I think) disabuse people of its veracity? This might just fall into the same category as the virtue-signaling anti-male-chauvinist-pig stance from above perhaps?
That's my major gripe list, although there were a couple of other things that also didn't help: For barely sane reasons, Jim is teamed up with a band for this little escapade and this, unfortunately, leads to a number of songs being written and sung throughout the story, they're horrific.
Overall, not a terrible book, not a great book. It's somewhere between 2 and 3 stars, not something one should go out of one's way to read. There are the usual deus ex machina (for what would the Stainless Steel Rat be without them!) and a lot of Jim's usual escapology and luck as he battles the various dastardly denizens in an effort to discover the secrets he's been blackmailed into uncovering.
TL: The story starts out in the expected fashion with the "young" James diGriz engaged in a suitably far-fetched larcenous activity : robbing the Mint planet (mint as in money, not mint as in delicious flavour). As might be expected, things don't go entirely to plan and young, multi-talented Jim ends up in charge of a strange little search party sentenced to a rather difficult search 'n retrieval project on the prison planet Liokukae.
The first third of this book is very much in the mould of a Stainless Steel Rat story, but it gets less and less Stainless Steel Rat and more and more generic (for want of a better term) sci-fi adventure. Somewhat of necessity, James is stripped of his usual semi-magical offensive and defensive equipment and, in a bit of a departure from the Stainless Steel universe, the planet on which Jim finds himself is not entirely homogenous in population and purpose! This means that the environment serves almost as another character, there's an element of mystery and discovery as Jim and crew learn more about where we are and what's going on along with us. This isn't something that has been a feature of the series until now, usually preferring to follow along in Jim's spectacular wake, marveling at his escapades. diGriz is still very much the focus of this story, but he's not the only focus of the story and it makes for a very different, and not unwelcome read.
The story itself isn't groundbreaking and, in my jaded state (don't read all of these books consecutively) I found myself not enjoying the story. However, after planetfall the story actually changed tack and, with a few twisty turns toward the end, it was if not actively enjoyable, at very least a welcome and interesting change.
The grating bits were Mr Harrison's usual ham-handed:
- digs against "male chauvinist pigs": quotes like "Are these weirdos what the psych books call male chauvinist pigs?" just don't ring true and don't fit the prequel timeline very well at all;
- digs against the military: who get a(nother) thorough sarcastic bashing;
- rants on the joys of libertarianism: although less in-your-face than the social commentary of [b:The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted|710706|The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (Stainless Steel Rat, #2)|Harry Harrison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328049909l/710706._SY75_.jpg|929350], there's no shortage of it here. There's also a weird obsession with the book [b:Iron John: A Book About Men|122600|Iron John A Book About Men|Robert Bly|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348052112l/122600._SX50_.jpg|604566], and a need to (I think) disabuse people of its veracity? This might just fall into the same category as the virtue-signaling anti-male-chauvinist-pig stance from above perhaps?
That's my major gripe list, although there were a couple of other things that also didn't help: For barely sane reasons, Jim is teamed up with a band for this little escapade and this, unfortunately, leads to a number of songs being written and sung throughout the story, they're horrific.
Overall, not a terrible book, not a great book. It's somewhere between 2 and 3 stars, not something one should go out of one's way to read. There are the usual deus ex machina (for what would the Stainless Steel Rat be without them!) and a lot of Jim's usual escapology and luck as he battles the various dastardly denizens in an effort to discover the secrets he's been blackmailed into uncovering.
moonblink39's review against another edition
Read as part of [b:A Stainless Steel Trio|172486|A Stainless Steel Trio (Stainless Steel Rat, #1-3)|Harry Harrison|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388629202s/172486.jpg|62525]
thomcat's review against another edition
1.0
This is the third prequel to the original book, and was quite disappointing. The good points are the setup (Jim DiGriz forms a musical group to infiltrate a prison planet) and how quick it is to read.
The prison planet itself contains a multitude of societies, each less believable than the one before. One of these is clearly Harrison's clumsy commentary on Robert Bly's [b:Iron John: A Book About Men|122600|Iron John A Book About Men|Robert Bly|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1348052112s/122600.jpg|604566].
Having now read all three sequels, I would recommend stopping after the first one.
The prison planet itself contains a multitude of societies, each less believable than the one before. One of these is clearly Harrison's clumsy commentary on Robert Bly's [b:Iron John: A Book About Men|122600|Iron John A Book About Men|Robert Bly|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1348052112s/122600.jpg|604566].
Having now read all three sequels, I would recommend stopping after the first one.
ianbanks's review against another edition
3.0
A very average entry in the series: it starts shakily and gets better but remains very much a picaresque adventure in which Slippery Jim has to recover an artefact before the poison in his system kills him. There's a fair amount of weak satire and commentary on the issues of the day but a bit too much reliance on coincidence and surprise unveilings of cast members. Still quite readable and fun, though, once the story gets going.
kbeddes's review against another edition
4.0
Genre: sci-fi, bureaucracy-bashing, militarism
Summary: After a failed heist, Jim diGriz is unwilling drafted to volunteer for a reconnaissance mission for a lost artifact on a top-secret prison planet. The powers in charge have their own agenda which they don't let Jim on until the end, so when he gets his revenge, it is quite sweet.
Response: I do wish there was some form of authority that is trustworthy in this alternate world of Jimmy diGriz. I understand the whole "man on a mission" and "lone wolf" concept but still, I'd like to think that not all forms of authority are automatically bad and worthy of suspicion. Except, that is exactly what happens to Jim. He is a criminal by career choice, so he already works outside of the establishment. And the more we read of his encounters with the League, the more he seems in the right and the less trustworthy they are. Except for a few chosen bureaucrats, most forms of authority are portrayed as power-hungry, bully-ish, moronic, or sadistic. Jim is basically a saint compared to the people in charge. 'Tis a pity, but I guess that is where most of the adventure and sympathy for the character comes from. Because he is the anti-hero, he must be everything upstanding and moral (even though he is pretty fast and loose with which morals he actually abides by) that the govt. is not. Regardless of the portrayal of authority, I still enjoyed the story very much. It's interesting the kinds of situations the author dreams up in a world without traditional forms of authority.
On to the next adventure!
Summary: After a failed heist, Jim diGriz is unwilling drafted to volunteer for a reconnaissance mission for a lost artifact on a top-secret prison planet. The powers in charge have their own agenda which they don't let Jim on until the end, so when he gets his revenge, it is quite sweet.
Response: I do wish there was some form of authority that is trustworthy in this alternate world of Jimmy diGriz. I understand the whole "man on a mission" and "lone wolf" concept but still, I'd like to think that not all forms of authority are automatically bad and worthy of suspicion. Except, that is exactly what happens to Jim. He is a criminal by career choice, so he already works outside of the establishment. And the more we read of his encounters with the League, the more he seems in the right and the less trustworthy they are. Except for a few chosen bureaucrats, most forms of authority are portrayed as power-hungry, bully-ish, moronic, or sadistic. Jim is basically a saint compared to the people in charge. 'Tis a pity, but I guess that is where most of the adventure and sympathy for the character comes from. Because he is the anti-hero, he must be everything upstanding and moral (even though he is pretty fast and loose with which morals he actually abides by) that the govt. is not. Regardless of the portrayal of authority, I still enjoyed the story very much. It's interesting the kinds of situations the author dreams up in a world without traditional forms of authority.
On to the next adventure!
chrissyzic's review against another edition
Eh, popcorn sci-fi. Was a fun, fast read.
sirchutney's review
2.0
This is the eighth Stainless Steel Rat book and the third 'prequel' to the original book. Sadly, while I’m a big fan of Harrison’s work and have found “The Rat” hugely enjoyable over the years this sequel to a sequel to a prequel suffers from a number of issues which doesn't make it an awesome read.
The Stainless Steel Rat books are never meant to be taken too seriously; they are a distraction, pure entertainment, nothing else. They've always been fun affairs which favour escapades and exploits over deep philosophical musings. However, unlike my two favourite books in the series: The Stainless Steel Rat and A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born this book seems to be all about DiGriz and his shallow two-dimensional team making a series of mistakes to keep everyone (including himself) in a perpetual state of jeopardy. By doing so the reader is subjected to a rather predictable level of routine action with only a second glance to ensure plot consistency (important in Rat books as these tales are all about the plot), a coherent story line (which veers widely and tries to cover too many different topics including a bizarre analysis of Robert Bly's "Iron John") and a series of hugely implausible events which wouldn’t withstand even fleeting scrutiny. Additionally, the story, such as it is, is a straight copy of "Escape from New York" and the attempt at writing lyrics for the rock band involved is very poor.
Throughout the book the reader has to plough through infodumps of boring social commentary sermons which do nothing but help to impinge on DiGriz’s adventures. Sure there are some nice ideas such as macho Machmen, troglodytes, Feminist Separatists, goat-herding religious-maniac Fundamentaloids and murderous Survivalists, but this is probably the weakest in The Rat series; it’s not awful but I felt that this addition to the series does nothing at all to enhance the reputation of DiGriz.
The Stainless Steel Rat books are never meant to be taken too seriously; they are a distraction, pure entertainment, nothing else. They've always been fun affairs which favour escapades and exploits over deep philosophical musings. However, unlike my two favourite books in the series: The Stainless Steel Rat and A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born this book seems to be all about DiGriz and his shallow two-dimensional team making a series of mistakes to keep everyone (including himself) in a perpetual state of jeopardy. By doing so the reader is subjected to a rather predictable level of routine action with only a second glance to ensure plot consistency (important in Rat books as these tales are all about the plot), a coherent story line (which veers widely and tries to cover too many different topics including a bizarre analysis of Robert Bly's "Iron John") and a series of hugely implausible events which wouldn’t withstand even fleeting scrutiny. Additionally, the story, such as it is, is a straight copy of "Escape from New York" and the attempt at writing lyrics for the rock band involved is very poor.
Throughout the book the reader has to plough through infodumps of boring social commentary sermons which do nothing but help to impinge on DiGriz’s adventures. Sure there are some nice ideas such as macho Machmen, troglodytes, Feminist Separatists, goat-herding religious-maniac Fundamentaloids and murderous Survivalists, but this is probably the weakest in The Rat series; it’s not awful but I felt that this addition to the series does nothing at all to enhance the reputation of DiGriz.
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