Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Harrison's original _The Stainless Steel Rat_ was a minor classic, and a long time favorite. I wish he'd stopped there. But Harrison (or his publisher, or both) decided there was series material there, and more Rat books appeared. The last couple I read read like Harry had essentially copied and pasted chunks of story from earlier books into later manuscripts, changing bits here and there.
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Dennis
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Really? I think the first three (I think of them as "the slim ones") are all very good, and maybe
A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born as well.
The first one introduces Slippery Jim and Angela as well as the Corps and is a fun, mile-a-minute adventure.
In
The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge the twist is that he is actually married to Angela! This is a peek at what happens after the "happily ever after" that you rarely got to see (although this device is more common now). It is also the first appearance of the grey men and they are suitably chilling.
For
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World we meet "He" (loosely based on She/Ayesha one assumes) and have the first appearance of time travel. The social commentary gets a bit more pointed as Jim actually travels back to the Earth of our time. And the part when Jim tries to kill "He" with a bomb that will burn him with flame, burn him with acid, coagulate his proteins and so on is described hilariously in the book.
It is only after this that the series can start to become repetitive (ie: more time trips, ever more super-secret Corps, return of the grey men and so on).