The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
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Average rating4.4
Of all of Harry Harrison's many great books and series, the Stainless Steel Rat series with Slippery Jim DiGriz stands apart. In this book, Jim is out for revenge against Captain Garth - neither the rank nor the name are real - who is responsible for the death of Jim's mentor, The Bishop. Nothing is ever simple, a pretty straightforward desire to throttle Garth gets morphed into Jim joining - albeit through a back door - the army of Garth's home world, a rapid rise and fall of rank of the self promoting type, and ends with Jim fighting against the army to save a pacifist planet and people whom Garth would enslave and kill without mercy. Plenty of action and the reader isn't ever bored.
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11 primary books12 released booksStainless Steel Rat
Stainless Steel Rat is a 12-book series with 11 primary works first released in 1961 with contributions by Harry Harrison.
Series
11 primary books12 released booksStainless Steel Rat (Publication Order)
Stainless Steel Rat (Publication Order) is a 12-book series with 11 primary works first released in 1961 with contributions by Harry Harrison.
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ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
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.
