STAINLESS STEEL RAT IS BORN, A

Rating:
Summary: Adequate SciFi Adventure
Review: A STAINLESS STEEL RAT IS BORN is my first Harry Harrison novel. I would be willing to try another, but this novel did not send me rushing to the nearest bookstore for the next installment.

A STAINLESS STEEL RAT IS BORN tells you how Jim DiGriz embarked on a life of crime. DiGriz is 17, and the novel does do a good job of giving him a believable smug, smart voice. I would have liked this novel a lot if I had read it when I was about 15, I think.

Jim grew up on a planet called Bit O'Heaven. The fat, tame, insular, unimaginative adults that live on this "piggy planet" are most notable for their expertise at producing incredibly fattening fast food. Jim actually camps in an automated fast-food drive-though at one point. All of this lands as commentary on Americans, but there's no unpleasant bite to it. This is one of the funniest bits of the novel.

Our ambitious young hero decides that to become a Master Criminal, he needs a mentor. Master Criminals are hard to come by on Bit O'Heaven, but he does finally locate one. First, he has to notice that Master Criminlas would be the ones who don't get caught, and then figure out a way to connect. Once he does, he gets off planet. He is off on his first adventure, and things should heat up, but instead they slow down, as if Harrison had lost interest.

Overall, A STAINLESS STEEL RAT IS BORN comes across as lacking energy and inspiration. Probably the novels written earlier had more of that. I am willing to give the series another try, but I will find a fan and make sure I pick a really good one before I spend any more time on it.

Rating:
Summary: Beginnings of a rat
Review: How did the Stainless Steel Rat gets its start? This is the book to find out. Reads like a great autobiography. A must for any rat fan.

Rating:
Summary: Slippery Jim is what Mitnick wanted to be
Review: I've read tons of Sci-Fi but somehow missed the Stainless Steel Rat series. Only read this one so far. It was a lot of fun. Made a guy want to take up a life of crime for fun and frolic! Bit 'O Heaven sure reminded me of Wisconsin or Iowa, complete with McSwiney's and big ornery farm critters to chase you around.

When he lands in that godforsaken warlord land, it made me wonder if Harry had ever been to Chechnya, Dagestan or Afghanistan. Except that if he had, I'd guess he'd have made the characters intervening with the warlords much less idealistic and a lot more clueless and idiotically bureacratic, as only the CIA can manage. In real life, nobody has a clue except the field ops guys and they can't make a decision.

I've met characters along the lines of Jimmy Digriz. They are alive and stealing millions from the World Bank in the Balkans and other places like that, arranging to have themselves kidnapped in the Caucasus, etcetera. Can't say as I like them - they do terrible damage, but Jimmy Digriz certainly makes it seem like the way to go.

Maybe ... :-)

Rating:
Summary: A So-So So-n-So
Review: Not a great book, and not the best of the Rat pack. Harrison has a lot of fun making fun of modern foibles in the future, but the story is overly episodic, the technology of the future seems less advanced than our own (but for space travel), and the author's ideas about authority and responsibility come across as identical to those of a thirteen-year-old slacker. But the story is rapid, the cliffhangers well constructed, and the Bishop is a joy of a character.

Rating:
Summary: Not A Bad Book, But Not Terribly Great Either
Review: There is some information in this review which may be considered Spoiler information. You stand warned.

The book started off well, and I think that Harry Harrison had a good premise...for a short story. Attempting to turn this plot into a whole novel, let alone a series of them, is somewhat foolish. The material just isn' t there for a whole series of books about Slippery Jim. The first book alone seemed to stretch over one hundred pages past where it should have. I can't, offhand, think of any particular place that it should have stopped, but after Jim met the Bishop and he got turned down, or after the Bishop was captured and freed, or even after they left Bit O' Heaven would all have been good stopping places with a slight rewrite to give a conclusion. Even at the end of the book the way it is, though, there is relatively little conclusion, and the reader is left dissatisfied.

Not a bad book, but probably not one you should pay full price for, either.
Harkius

Rating:
Summary: "A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born" is a thought provoking book
Review: This book is one of the most thought provoking books I have ever read. As soon as I started reading it, the character of Jim Di Griz sprang to life in my mind. As the book progressed, I began to realize that Jim Di Griz is really the part of us all that likes to defy authority, break rules on purpose, and create anarchy.

The book made me reconsider my views on the authority and law breakers. Which is the greater evil? I couldn't put the book down until I had finshed it and started to read again.

Rating:
Summary: Very good and throught-provoking
Review: This book is one you won't be able to put down. If you know Jimmy diGriz, you won't be disappointed. Rising from the crowd to stand out, with the help of a very good criminal, the Bishop, he is the same Slippery Jim as in all other books. From the junk food shop, where he was in hiding, to Spiovente, where he had to fight for his life and the life of his tutor, you won't forget him. The situations he's in will make you smile, but at the same time will make you reconsider all your attitudes. If you're looking for a good book, this is it

Rating:
Summary: This book is awsome
Review: This book takes place in the futuristic point of view of the author, Harry Harrison. Young Jimmy DiGritz is a very intelligent boy who feels the only way to survive is to turn to a life of crime. The book shows how he learns all of his tricks of the trade

Rating:
Summary: If you need to relax and have a few laughs, look no further!
Review: This is the first book in Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series, although it was one of the last to be written. Being a great humorist, Harry Harrison bring a small philosophy of his own in a funny and convinient format everyone would enjoy. The main hero, Jim DiGriz is a kid from the futuristic world who is a lot diffirent from others. Being rased on a boring, in his opinion, and unexciting world he seeks risk and adventure, and finds it in crime. This book is more than just easy reading, it will make you look around in a way you never had before, see it with the eyes of a smart 16-year old living in a country of dumb adults. Definitely the thing to read - and laugh on for hours.

Rating:
Summary: Fun and more fun! Anti-hero from tomorrow for today!
Review: What an amusing and entertaining read! If you've read the Stainless Steel novels, you allready now of Sleepery Jeem and his inter-galactic adventures.. But this insight into his character and background is a triumph to the sci-fi serial heros. Harrison is one of the funniest sci-fi authors of the past 30 years, probably best known for his novel, "Make Room! Make Room!" for which the movie Soylent Green was based upon. Harrison writes like a mutated Arthur Douglas/Larry Niven/Rex Stout mixture, and the reader will double over at the funny circumstances, the hilarious dialogues, and the quick but dry-witted narration of Slippery Jim DeGriz. The Stainless Steel hero is the future day Anti-hero, the hero who is actually the smartest crook to ever live! Read this book and then read the other Stainless Steel novels. You will have a new favorite sci-fi character!!!!