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2.0 out of 5 stars
A sequel to a sequel to a prequel:, April 26 2000
First there was "The Stainless Steel Rat", our introduction to Slippery Jim DiGriz, aka the Stainless Steel Rat, a high-tech, futuristic conman and thief who is caught, after a long and successful career, by the galactic special corps, and recruited to join them because it takes a thief to catch a thief. Then followed four more books in chronoligical order, "The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge", "The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World", "The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You", and "The Stainless Steel Rat For President". Then, apparently growing bored with the direction his stories were taking, Harrison retreated to the beginning, and wrote the prequel, "A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born". Then he followed that with "A Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted", a story following immediately on the heels of the prequel. This story follows that one chronologically.There are dangers to writing prequels, and this book fails to avoid them entirely. In a prequel, it is necessary to make it plausible that a character's experiences could lead to him being the person he is at the beginning of the book the prequel precedes; this is reasonably well accomplished in this book, if not perfectly well. But it is also necessary, in a prequel, that the story be interesting without having anything happen so major and potentially relevent to events in later stories that it seems impossible that the character never referred back to those experiences in chronologically later, but previously written, stories. Here, this book fails miserably; given that DiGriz has experiences in chronologically later books with both time travel and visitors from his time's far future, both of which also come into play in this book, it seems incredible that we've never "heard" him mention the experiences in this book before. But perhaps this is all too stringent a set of complaints to make about a book that, like the rest of the series, is never intended to be taken seriously; like a James Bond story, or an action movie, the "Stainless Steel Rat" stories are all meant as merely fun romps, plot-driven and action-intensive, without worrying about whether those plots will stand close scrutiny for internal consistency. So let's review it on its own terms: yes, it's a fun romp, with plenty of action. As usual in these books, the dialogue is rather stilted and artificial, the characters are two-dimensional, and if it enhances the potential for action and drama in the plot, Harrison doesn't let a little thing like consistency of character stand in his way. (DiGriz is supposed to be brilliant, but makes enough stupid mistakes to keep himself in constant danger, so that the pace of the action can stay high.) This book, like the rest of the books in the series, is fun brain candy, but don't expect careful plotting or a serious story, and don't examine things too carefully for plausibility or internal consistency; it won't stand up to even passing examination.
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