The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge (1997) - Plot & Excerpts
James Bolivar DiGriz (aka the Stainless Steel Rat) is my newest literary comfort food. After reading this, I even created a “comfort food” bookshelf because I found it such a mood-enhancing piece of toe-tapping terrific. Granted, there are a lot of morally casual rogue types surfing the SF space ways, but Harry Harrison has made Slippery Jim something very warm and cuddly. He is a cup of hot chocolate and a pair of UGG slippers wrapped in a soft blanket in front of a fire on a chilly evening. He is FEEL GOODNESS itself. Why? A number of reasons but two I found most important. First is the gliding, easy breezy style of Harry Harrison’s writing that he infuses with real quality (a tough balance). This is light-hearted fun with depth. Second, and related to the first, is the intelligence and detail that Harrison brings to the plot. Despite being designed as a smiling-inducing space adventure, Harrison provides enough explanation for DiGriz’s larger than life accomplishments to preserve the disbelief suspension so that the reader never feels like their smarts are being given the finger. Harrison makes you feel “taken care of” by his stories. That is something I found really special. A little background on the Rat For those new to the series, James DiGriz was the galaxy’s most accomplished, most sarcastic thief and most wanted thief. Smart, suave and skilled in the art of disguise and wholesale dishonesty, he's also a master at breaking and entering and numerous forms of hand to hand combat. He is saucy sack of SCOUNDRELific. Things got real interesting when Slippery Jim was “out-conned” into joining the Special Core, an elite police force and spy agency made up of former criminals. The Special Core is headed by Harold P. Inskipp (aka Inskipp the Uncatchable) who was the most famous thief in the galaxy in his day. The Special Core's mandate is to hunt down the most violent criminals and run certain covert ops for the government when their particular skill sets are needed.Plot Summary Jim and Angelina, his pregnant wife and former criminal mastermind, are off honeymooning and doing a little bank-robbing for shits and giggles (they maybe Special Core, but they are still roguishly roguey). Of course, Jim would say he is just giving the police force a bit of excitement in their otherwise dreary lives. Anyway, Jim and Angelina's escapades are cut short and Jim is sent on a spy mission to the Planet Cliaand. Turns out Cliaand has been successfully invading nearby worlds, something that until now has never been feasible given the logistical problems and the enormous cost and resources necessary to forcefully invade another planet. [Quick Note: I thought this concept of invading a planet being next to impossible was very well thought out and an interesting aspect of the story.] Well Cliaand has found a way to do it successfully and are beginning to expand at a dangerous rate. DiGriz is sent to find out how they are doing it and discover a way to stop them. The details of his mission and how he gets around the INTENSE security of the police state like Cliaand government is simply barrels of monkey fun. I had such a good time with this story that I feel like I want to go back and read the first one because I only gave it 3 stars and that feels a bit criminal at the moment. This is the kind of story that you can pick up time and time again and just enjoy. DiGriz is the perfect rogue with mad skills and a heart of gold. Think Han Solo with spy craft and sans wookie (though Angelina is ONE SERIOUSLY TOUGH HOMBRE). I plan to slowly read through the rest of the stories as well as Harrison’s other work as he has really impressed me with his story-telling so far. If you are looking for a light-hearted, but smartly written and well plotted feel good story, this certainly fits the bill. 5.0 stars. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!!
Originally posted on SpecFic Junkie.This series is honestly my favorite skiffy series of all time. Our intrepid hero, Slippery Jim diGriz is at it again. He's hooked up with the beautiful Angelina who is due for twins and will stop at nothing to entwine him in nuptials. Unfortunately, said nuptials put him back on the grid and the Special Forces have a new assignment for him.There's a lot I'd hate in this book if it weren't written by Harry Harrison. But he's never taking himself seriously, so attitudes in the book never feel like they're his, even when they'd make sense for the era.The Special Forces have taken note of a planet that has started taking over other planets in the galaxy. Which doesn't make sense at all because everyone knows interstellar warfare just isn't feasible. It takes too many resources to make it profitable. So they throw the Stainless Steel Rat in undercover, to figure out how the Cliaandians are making the impossible possible.Stripped of all of his usual tools in order to get through the most detailed customs inspection he's ever faced, he has only his wits to rely on while trying to work his way through this grim, militaristic world. Naturally, he uncovers a conspiracy, a conspiracy he's not able to foil. But he is able to stop the Cliaandians... even if he isn't able to topple the whole problem.While Jim is undercover, he finds that the next planet for conquest is a resort planet that's ruled by women. Men are considered the "inferior" gender on this planet, and so treated. Normally, this trope really gets under my skin, but when it's done in a humor way, rather than a "look no really this is the way women are treated so let's make this an issue" way, which pretty much always fails, it's not nearly as troubling. And besides, it gives room for Angelina to throw even more barbs at her dear husband.I really do love this series. Are they the best writing in the world? No, but if they were, it'd take away part of the charm. Are they clever? Hell yes. Self-aware and funny to the extreme. Moments like finding out the military HQ is named "The Octagon" ... because it has eight sides are just the tip of the iceberg. With authors like Douglas Adams, it's easy to take a few quotes out of context, but with Harry Harrison, it's the entire thing, the plot, the execution, the humor... (Not to say that Douglas Adam's books aren't the whole thing either. It's just harder to take Harrison out of context.)Unfortunately, most of these books are out of print. But... you can sometimes find the compiled versions of the books more easily, used copies are available at many bookstores and on Amazon, and while it's a struggle for me to find all of them at my library (especially the CYOA one, which I want desperately), if you put in the work, they are there.
What do You think about The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge (1997)?
The second book published in this series, "The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge", was not nearly as good as its predecessor. What seemed to previously be witty dialog and clever asides start to feel hackneyed. The plot of the story -- the Special Corps try to find out how a planetary power is managing to conquer other worlds and stop them -- is mildly interesting in its execution, but not really all that great. Harrison has failed to deliver a second book that is a worthy successor to the entertaining novel "The Stainless Steel Rat".
—John
Harry Harrison, 'the Monty Python of the spaceways' declares the Daily Telegraph on the back cover of this Stainless Steel Rat sequel. Well, that's somewhat wide of the mark, but they are ripping yarns.This one's a particularly strong episode in the series, I think, with our hero pitted against a genuinely formidable and sinister foe. And I don't mean his new wife, Angelina.Harrison walks a fine tightrope, managing to grant Jim wedded bliss while avoiding fully domesticating his Rat. In a similar way, he has his cake and eats it with Angelina's rehabilitation - she's no longer a murderess, but somehow retains much of her murderous edge. They make a good team, enjoying a crime-spree honeymoon at the outset, but luckily Jim DiGriz still gets to operate as a lone agent as he's sent after some militaristic powermongers who are conquering planet after planet against the odds.The action zips along as niftily as ever and this time the seasoning has a little bit of grit to it, with some interesting reflection on how mortality and the absence of an afterlife affects Jim's morality, as well as the general impossibility of interplanetary conquest. (Not something the likes of Independence Day would ever pause to consider, but it is right at the core of the central mystery here - although once again it throws up continuity questions from the prequels, but - again - not this book's fault.) As DiGriz comes face to face with the real enemy, the 'Gray Men' who are using another planet's invasion force as their puppets, there's also a surprisingly brutal moment that almost seems to belong in a much darker thriller.But it wakes us up to the seriousness of the threat and ramps up the stakes very effectively.It's let down a little at the end, with everything a touch too easily resolved by a gadget and there's an odd hokey-cokey segment in the middle where Jim breaks into a military base, breaks back out the same day only to then break back in almost immediately. And, of course, when Angelina does turn up on the scene, Jim has someone who can conveniently bail him out when all other plans fail.But never mind. It's the usual entertaining mix with a sprinkling of some actual bona fide thought-provoking ideas and that chilling slap in the face that confirms the Gray Men as more than your average menace. And their origins are left intriguingly unrevealed, so the story ends with the promise for their possible return.Whether they do or don't, all in all it's a cracking sequel, with every indication that Slippery Jim has the potential to run and run.
—Simon Forward
Clearly the second installment of what turns out to be a rather longwinded series, this lacked some of the captivating pace of the first title.'Thanks for saving my life.' 'Not at all, sir. I always believe that it is the little extra services that count. Now--may I show you your room?'Despite this, the witty banter of our hero Jim is on par excellence, and we leave the title expecting to see more of the "grey men".'I don't wish to bother you dearest,' says Jim to his wife busy with their twin sons, 'But the man in the plum jacketcoming up behind me is an assassin. Do you think you could do anythingabout it - and keep him alive if possible?'Dry humour all the way and promise for the future of Jim's larcenous offspring makes Revenge a useful link in the stainless steel saga.
—Sean Randall
