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Stainless Steel Rat #6
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
Someone was tampering with time, altering the past to eliminate the present, fading people out of existence into a timeless limbo. One of the victims was Angelina, the wife of James de Griz, better known as the Stainless Steel Rat. That put Slippery Jim on the trail of the villains, a trail that went back to 1984 and an ancient nation called the United States of America.
The Stainless Steel Rat was determined to rescue his wife. And before he was through he'd thrown dozens of centuries through time in both directions. But then he didn't have much choice: to save Angelina he had to save the world. Again.
The Stainless Steel Rat was determined to rescue his wife. And before he was through he'd thrown dozens of centuries through time in both directions. But then he didn't have much choice: to save Angelina he had to save the world. Again.
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1971
53 people are currently reading
1082 people want to read
About the author
Harry Harrison
1,261 books1,040 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
December 3, 2011
Within the pantheon of endearing, morally-deficient scamps and scoundrels, James “Slippery Jim” Bolivar DiGriz (aka the Stainless Steel Rat) is up there with Bugs Bunny…except not quite so nasty.
Jim is one of those characters you just want to hang out with and he's always good for a few laughs and an elevated level of happy. This series is your basic literary pick me up.
For those unfamiliar with the world of the Stainless Steel Rat series, allow me to brazenly pimp out my previous review of book one: Steve’s blatant vote whoring link to his earlier review. Go on, take your time and check it out...the rest of us can pass the time looking at a couple of random funny pics until you get back...
...
…
…great, we’re all caught up now.
PLOT SUMMARY:
In his latest escapade, Jim is called upon to pretty much save the universe from a group of time traveling criminal butt stains who’ve traveled into Earth’s distant past (the 1970’s) to wipe out the Special Core as a prelude to taking over the future (circa. 36,970…give or take century). The Special Core is the elite police force and spy agency of the 350th Century, made up mostly of former criminals like Jim.
Before the last of the Special Core goes poofing out of existence, they arrange to toss Jim back to 1975 where he can undue the damage down to the time stream. Before you go too far down the rabbit hole, let me warn you that if you try to form a straight line of the brain-pretzeling logic behind the various time jumps in the story, you risk nervous exhaustion and possibly even an aneurysm. I advise you to just go with it.
The main bad guy is He-Who-Will-Take-Over the Universeor simply “He” (no relation Haggard’s She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed). He (i.e., He) is a whacked out nutbag with a short temper and a several large handfuls of surly. He’s also 9 feet tall and red as a fire truck.
The rest of the story is Jim popping from 1975 to 1805 then 20,000 A.D, etc. all in an effort to thwart the criminal shenanigans of He and his gang.
THOUGHTS:
To Harrison’s credit, he makes it pretty easy to roll with the whole time travel/paradox/fate vs. free will/cause-effect conundrum loop and I thought he did an admirable job not allowing it to overly distract from the story.
This is certainly the wackiest of the Stainless Steel Rats’ adventures I have read so far and it was also my least favorite. I still thoroughly, and I really do mean thoroughly, enjoyed it, but not quite to the same torrent of joy-gush that the first two books inspired in me. I think the muted enthusiasm is attributable to two primary aspects of the book.
First, I listened to the audio version which is, for the most part, excellent. However, one of my gripes was the annoying Jersey/Scottish accent and jargon used when Jim was in 1975. This may not be much of a detractor for those reading the print version but it was forks on a chalkboard to me listening to it. Luckily, it didn’t last more than about 20 pages.
Second, I am just not a big fan of time-travel stories that go beyond a simple one jump plot device. I’m fine with man/woman from future visits past or vice-versa, but once you start getting all time paradoxy on me, I usually find myself feeling confused like a child who accidentally walks in on their parents for the first time while they’re “cuddling”…….. (whoa….major traumatic childhood memory flashback).
Still, the Stainless Steel Rat series is an absolute gem and even this weaker installment is worth reading. If you haven’t sampled any of them before, start with the first two books (duh) and I am pretty sure you will find a full dose of cozy, mood-enhancing comfort food to lift your spirits. These are great stories when you are having one of “those” days.
3.0 stars. Recommended!!
Jim is one of those characters you just want to hang out with and he's always good for a few laughs and an elevated level of happy. This series is your basic literary pick me up.
For those unfamiliar with the world of the Stainless Steel Rat series, allow me to brazenly pimp out my previous review of book one: Steve’s blatant vote whoring link to his earlier review. Go on, take your time and check it out...the rest of us can pass the time looking at a couple of random funny pics until you get back...
...
…
…great, we’re all caught up now.
PLOT SUMMARY:
In his latest escapade, Jim is called upon to pretty much save the universe from a group of time traveling criminal butt stains who’ve traveled into Earth’s distant past (the 1970’s) to wipe out the Special Core as a prelude to taking over the future (circa. 36,970…give or take century). The Special Core is the elite police force and spy agency of the 350th Century, made up mostly of former criminals like Jim.
Before the last of the Special Core goes poofing out of existence, they arrange to toss Jim back to 1975 where he can undue the damage down to the time stream. Before you go too far down the rabbit hole, let me warn you that if you try to form a straight line of the brain-pretzeling logic behind the various time jumps in the story, you risk nervous exhaustion and possibly even an aneurysm. I advise you to just go with it.
The main bad guy is He-Who-Will-Take-Over the Universeor simply “He” (no relation Haggard’s She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed). He (i.e., He) is a whacked out nutbag with a short temper and a several large handfuls of surly. He’s also 9 feet tall and red as a fire truck.
The rest of the story is Jim popping from 1975 to 1805 then 20,000 A.D, etc. all in an effort to thwart the criminal shenanigans of He and his gang.
THOUGHTS:
To Harrison’s credit, he makes it pretty easy to roll with the whole time travel/paradox/fate vs. free will/cause-effect conundrum loop and I thought he did an admirable job not allowing it to overly distract from the story.
This is certainly the wackiest of the Stainless Steel Rats’ adventures I have read so far and it was also my least favorite. I still thoroughly, and I really do mean thoroughly, enjoyed it, but not quite to the same torrent of joy-gush that the first two books inspired in me. I think the muted enthusiasm is attributable to two primary aspects of the book.
First, I listened to the audio version which is, for the most part, excellent. However, one of my gripes was the annoying Jersey/Scottish accent and jargon used when Jim was in 1975. This may not be much of a detractor for those reading the print version but it was forks on a chalkboard to me listening to it. Luckily, it didn’t last more than about 20 pages.
Second, I am just not a big fan of time-travel stories that go beyond a simple one jump plot device. I’m fine with man/woman from future visits past or vice-versa, but once you start getting all time paradoxy on me, I usually find myself feeling confused like a child who accidentally walks in on their parents for the first time while they’re “cuddling”…….. (whoa….major traumatic childhood memory flashback).
Still, the Stainless Steel Rat series is an absolute gem and even this weaker installment is worth reading. If you haven’t sampled any of them before, start with the first two books (duh) and I am pretty sure you will find a full dose of cozy, mood-enhancing comfort food to lift your spirits. These are great stories when you are having one of “those” days.
3.0 stars. Recommended!!
March 11, 2021
Ah, a little time travel absurdity, a dash of master thievery, and a sprinkling of megalomaniac revenge turn this otherwise light and humorous SF snarkfest into a history-diving train wreck that visits the mid '70s, late Napoleonic, and the twilight years of Earth.
It's almost like a Doctor who without the competence. Or a planet of the apes without the commentary. But at least it has tons of guns, futuristic grenades, and sleeping gas to go with a much brighter woman to keep her special idiot alive.
I won't say this is the best SF ever, but it tickles my snark fancy and I love the chaos.
It's almost like a Doctor who without the competence. Or a planet of the apes without the commentary. But at least it has tons of guns, futuristic grenades, and sleeping gas to go with a much brighter woman to keep her special idiot alive.
I won't say this is the best SF ever, but it tickles my snark fancy and I love the chaos.
October 6, 2020
When an attack from the distant past wipes out his present (our future) Slippery Jim DiGriz finds himself catapulted back over 30,000 years into the past to 1975 (coincidentally the year I was born) so he can try to find who the responsible party is and stop them, thereby restoring his future. Simple, eh?
This had the potential to be one of the better SSR books but it was let down badly by two things:
Firstly, there is an over-reliance on deus ex machina to get Jim out of scrapes. Sometimes this is played for laughs but that doesn't completely excuse it, in my opinion.
Secondly, there are SO MANY continuity errors! The first was when Jim claimed never to have heard of the planet Earth when in the last book he not only mentioned Earth but even referenced Scotland... and it was more of the same from there on out. A shame.
This had the potential to be one of the better SSR books but it was let down badly by two things:
Firstly, there is an over-reliance on deus ex machina to get Jim out of scrapes. Sometimes this is played for laughs but that doesn't completely excuse it, in my opinion.
Secondly, there are SO MANY continuity errors! The first was when Jim claimed never to have heard of the planet Earth when in the last book he not only mentioned Earth but even referenced Scotland... and it was more of the same from there on out. A shame.
May 20, 2020
This time travel story plays far more loose with the rules - and makes much less sense - than the author's other Technicolor Time Machine. But despite that, it's still good fun.
November 12, 2015
Slippery Jim diGriz is getting told off by his boss, Inskipp, for stealing while on a previous mission for the Special Corps. Although, staffing a secret inter-galactic space police force with hardened ex-criminals is never going to be plain sailing I'd have thought. While he's being told off two things happen – firstly Jim surreptitiously helps himself to a number of Inskipp's expensive cigars, and secondly Inskipp suddenly disappears. He isn't the first either, a number of people are disappearing from Special Corps headquarters. In true Back to the Future style, somebody is changing the past (present) and causing people to disappear from the present (future). Luckily, there are just enough people left to fire up the time machine, that we didn't know about in any of the previous novels, and fling Slippery Jim, the Stainless Steel Rat, into the past to fight He and return time to its normal course.
What we have here is a Time War. Instead of Time Lords and Daleks it's between Slippery Jim diGriz, and his family and friends, and He, and his nefarious forces. The "He" name gets a little cliched at times. Both our hero and He himself seem to adopt the name without any real agreement. But, it does give Harrison an excuse to play games with He as a name and a pronoun in various forms. It did feel like he was still enjoying it more than me by the end of the book though.
The ending gets a little silly, with lots of people crossing lots of time-lines and creating all sorts of paradoxes left, right and centre. But it's important to remember that this isn't supposed to be a serious work of science-fiction where the time paradoxes are resolved in a way that actually makes sense. Instead this is supposed to be a humorous boys-own adventure, a bill it more than lives up to. Most of the humour is provided as Slippery Jim tries to adjust to life in the 'past' of 1975 on the strange planet of Dirt, or Earth, or whatever it's called (another joke that Harrison doesn't tire of). His attempts to describe everyday things, like TV adverts, are all the usual fun of the 'traveller out of time' trope.
What we have here is a Time War. Instead of Time Lords and Daleks it's between Slippery Jim diGriz, and his family and friends, and He, and his nefarious forces. The "He" name gets a little cliched at times. Both our hero and He himself seem to adopt the name without any real agreement. But, it does give Harrison an excuse to play games with He as a name and a pronoun in various forms. It did feel like he was still enjoying it more than me by the end of the book though.
The ending gets a little silly, with lots of people crossing lots of time-lines and creating all sorts of paradoxes left, right and centre. But it's important to remember that this isn't supposed to be a serious work of science-fiction where the time paradoxes are resolved in a way that actually makes sense. Instead this is supposed to be a humorous boys-own adventure, a bill it more than lives up to. Most of the humour is provided as Slippery Jim tries to adjust to life in the 'past' of 1975 on the strange planet of Dirt, or Earth, or whatever it's called (another joke that Harrison doesn't tire of). His attempts to describe everyday things, like TV adverts, are all the usual fun of the 'traveller out of time' trope.
January 12, 2015
Synopsis:
"Someone was tampering with time, altering the past to eliminate the present, fading people out of existence into a timeless limbo. One of the victims was Angelina, the wife of James de Griz, better known as the Stainless Steel Rat."
My thoughts:
Another adventure of one of my favourite sociopaths. Well before there was Dexter, there was Slippery Jim DiGriz. He is completely incapable of being straight forward, even with his beloved Angelina, the reformed psychopath.
As per usual, Jim & Angelina are just barely sticking to the path set out for them by the governmental body which recruited and "reformed" them. (They go off the rails frequently, but always get welcomed back because they are the best at solving criminal cases--who would understand criminals better than other criminals do?) While attending yet another disciplinary meeting, Jim's boss suddenly goes transparent, then disappears. While using the opportunity to help himself to expensive cigars, Jim also determines that some criminal mastermind has relocated to the past in order to change the present and Jim's world is disintegrating as a result.
Now Slippery Jim is very fond of his life, so he allows the company scientist to fling him back in time 20,000 years to the ancient date of 1975, to a place called Dirt or Earth or something. There is a certainly amount of amusement to be gained from his interpretations of what was contemporary life when the book was written.
These books are rather formulaic--and I know that I have whined about that with regard to the Elric series--but somehow, Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat manages to remain charming, perhaps because there is a strong dose of humour injected into every adventure. I also enjoy Angelina, who saves Jim on a regular basis and obviously tolerates his chauvinism for reasons of her own.
"Someone was tampering with time, altering the past to eliminate the present, fading people out of existence into a timeless limbo. One of the victims was Angelina, the wife of James de Griz, better known as the Stainless Steel Rat."
My thoughts:
Another adventure of one of my favourite sociopaths. Well before there was Dexter, there was Slippery Jim DiGriz. He is completely incapable of being straight forward, even with his beloved Angelina, the reformed psychopath.
As per usual, Jim & Angelina are just barely sticking to the path set out for them by the governmental body which recruited and "reformed" them. (They go off the rails frequently, but always get welcomed back because they are the best at solving criminal cases--who would understand criminals better than other criminals do?) While attending yet another disciplinary meeting, Jim's boss suddenly goes transparent, then disappears. While using the opportunity to help himself to expensive cigars, Jim also determines that some criminal mastermind has relocated to the past in order to change the present and Jim's world is disintegrating as a result.
Now Slippery Jim is very fond of his life, so he allows the company scientist to fling him back in time 20,000 years to the ancient date of 1975, to a place called Dirt or Earth or something. There is a certainly amount of amusement to be gained from his interpretations of what was contemporary life when the book was written.
These books are rather formulaic--and I know that I have whined about that with regard to the Elric series--but somehow, Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat manages to remain charming, perhaps because there is a strong dose of humour injected into every adventure. I also enjoy Angelina, who saves Jim on a regular basis and obviously tolerates his chauvinism for reasons of her own.
December 18, 2024
Wild story with well written female lead! 🎉The bar’s pretty low with people like Asimov setting the expectations in sci-fi. 🤦It was a great time, very 70’s. Weighs in on many of the issues of the time like the cold war, quartz crisis, space race, and psychedelics. Definitely redeems the decent-but-lackluster book 2. I’d be totally fine stopping the series right here, end it while it’s still good! Who knows. 😹
December 18, 2010
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
Slippery Jim DiGriz is back. Back in time, that is. The evil villain who calls himself “He” has been using time travel to try to rid the world of the Special Corp (including Jim and Angelina) by eliminating them before they were even born. As his world is quickly fading in front of his eyes, Jim jumps back to a planet called “Dirt” (that’s Earth) in their year 1975 so he can kill He before He can work His evil plan. Before the adventure is over, Jim ends up fighting He-possessed Napoleon Bonaparte who has occupied London (the history is a little different in He’s time warp).
Don’t worry about the mind-boggling impossibilities and plot holes here — just go along for the ride and, if you can, do it in audio. I don’t know how the Stainless Steel Rat books come across in print, but in audio format, with their quick pace (less than 5 hours) and Phil Gigante’s wonderful voices, they’re immensely entertaining. In this installment, Mr. Gigante gets to show off a few more of his brilliant accents. This time it’s British, French, and Gangsta. Even when the plot gets a little slow for a few minutes, Gigante carries it along with his fabulous narration.
Slippery Jim DiGriz is back. Back in time, that is. The evil villain who calls himself “He” has been using time travel to try to rid the world of the Special Corp (including Jim and Angelina) by eliminating them before they were even born. As his world is quickly fading in front of his eyes, Jim jumps back to a planet called “Dirt” (that’s Earth) in their year 1975 so he can kill He before He can work His evil plan. Before the adventure is over, Jim ends up fighting He-possessed Napoleon Bonaparte who has occupied London (the history is a little different in He’s time warp).
Don’t worry about the mind-boggling impossibilities and plot holes here — just go along for the ride and, if you can, do it in audio. I don’t know how the Stainless Steel Rat books come across in print, but in audio format, with their quick pace (less than 5 hours) and Phil Gigante’s wonderful voices, they’re immensely entertaining. In this installment, Mr. Gigante gets to show off a few more of his brilliant accents. This time it’s British, French, and Gangsta. Even when the plot gets a little slow for a few minutes, Gigante carries it along with his fabulous narration.
July 15, 2020
Like 'Revenge' this is a book which starts really strong and hits all the right buttons as to moves to its conclusion. As with my previous review I like the writing style, the brevity, the characters and the pace so why 1 star less?
The ending was not the best. It felt like the author got slightly wrapped up in the whole time Travel paradox thing and I thought the ending a little anti-climactic and confused. It may be my fault perhaps I was not paying enough attention but almost like some Stephen King books I have read the last 10% here did not live up to the promise of the first 90%.
The ending was not the best. It felt like the author got slightly wrapped up in the whole time Travel paradox thing and I thought the ending a little anti-climactic and confused. It may be my fault perhaps I was not paying enough attention but almost like some Stephen King books I have read the last 10% here did not live up to the promise of the first 90%.
September 13, 2015
I gave this 5 stars because when I was reading it and realized it was a time travel book I groaned. I HATE time travel, because it's tedious and messes up the past and I only decided to finish it because I didn't have any more new audio books on my MP3 player and was stuck at work for 8 hours. (I do data entry and listen to books while I work to keep my sanity) I really enjoyed this book. It was fun, interesting, humorous, and dealt with the entire issue I have with time travel.
February 1, 2019
Another in the stainless steel rat books. They are all quick reads with alot of humor in them. The stories remain fresh and new. Very recommended, especially to teen readers or someone new to SiFi
July 21, 2022
Somebody has launched a time attack on the Special Corps by eliminating them before they are born and as a last ditch effort Professor Coypu (look it up!) sends Slippery Jim diGriz back using the time helix to 1975 to eliminate the culprit. Finding the monstrous creature He responsible for the time attack, Jim is captured and barely escapes but thwarts He, forcing it to move to 1807 where He has set up a time bubble as a trap. Landing in England Jim finds that Napoleon’s forces have taken over under the direction of He and he finds and uses an anti-French underground to assist him. Once more both plans go awry and He leaps 20,000 years ahead and Angelica surprisingly rescues Jim just before the time bubble collapses. In the far future Earth (still the past for Jim) there is a last ditch attempt to kill He, who has mined Earth with enough nukes to destroy it. Harry Harrison’s tale is non-stop action and thrills even with the knowledge that the Rat will win out. My favourite Rat book, you will enjoy it.
July 2, 2020
I enjoyed this novel enormously, Harry Harrison’s Stainless Steel Rat adventures are always entertaining but throw in time travel as he does here, and you have an ambitiously bonkers tale that ranks up there with Michael Moorcock at his best.
All the token Stainless Steel Rat humour is there, and as usual there are lots of undercurrents running through the story to get you thinking. It was written on the mid 1970’s and seems way ahead of its time with themes of global devastation and climate change on Earth. I like how Harrison uses the fish out of water scenario of a time travelling Jim diGriz to focus a microscope on ourselves, and the alternative history where Napoleon has conquered England is a great plot development.
Sure it all gets a bit confusing (not even our favourite anti hero seems to know what’s going on at times, seeking solace in drinking alcohol) as these things tend to do, but this is definitely the best Stainless Steel Rat story I have read so far.
All the token Stainless Steel Rat humour is there, and as usual there are lots of undercurrents running through the story to get you thinking. It was written on the mid 1970’s and seems way ahead of its time with themes of global devastation and climate change on Earth. I like how Harrison uses the fish out of water scenario of a time travelling Jim diGriz to focus a microscope on ourselves, and the alternative history where Napoleon has conquered England is a great plot development.
Sure it all gets a bit confusing (not even our favourite anti hero seems to know what’s going on at times, seeking solace in drinking alcohol) as these things tend to do, but this is definitely the best Stainless Steel Rat story I have read so far.
Read
April 7, 2020Pretty sure I read this one, way back when....
I did come across this quote:
"Just as a vampire bat can be a perfect vampire bat or a black widow spider
> can be a perfect black widow spider, the Major was a perfect freewheeling
> bastard."
>
> (Harry Harrison, _The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World._)
-- which I compared to astronomer Fritz Zwicky's "spherical bastard"
formula. Zwicky notoriously didn't tolerate fools, where fool = any astronomer who wasn't Zwicky!
I did come across this quote:
"Just as a vampire bat can be a perfect vampire bat or a black widow spider
> can be a perfect black widow spider, the Major was a perfect freewheeling
> bastard."
>
> (Harry Harrison, _The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World._)
-- which I compared to astronomer Fritz Zwicky's "spherical bastard"
formula. Zwicky notoriously didn't tolerate fools, where fool = any astronomer who wasn't Zwicky!
September 22, 2020
2nd time around - and now 30 years older, this book was a bit disappointing. I always love the tone and pace of the Stainless Steel Rat books, but this one felt like there were lots of conveniences and moments that didn't quite make sense; like Jim being an expert on a country when he wasn't even sure what the planet was called....so yeah, being aware of the holes in the narrative tainted my experience this time.
January 18, 2025
Rollicking good fun continues. This has to have inspired some later time travel plots, surely.
March 17, 2019
Leído en 2003.
7/10. Media de los 17 libros que he leído del autor : 7/10.
A Harrison le recuerdo sobre todo por su serie paródica de los héroes de la CF : "Bill, héroe galáctico". Que tiene otras novelas que me han gustado más, pero esas novelas gamberras me resultaron muy divertidas. Burdas si se quiere, pero divertidas.
Aquí tenemos tres aventuras de la Patrulla del Tiempo que impide los desaguisados temporales que alteran la Historia. En efecto, en efecto, como la trama de serie española El Ministerio del Tiempo pero escrita allá por el 71.
7/10. Media de los 17 libros que he leído del autor : 7/10.
A Harrison le recuerdo sobre todo por su serie paródica de los héroes de la CF : "Bill, héroe galáctico". Que tiene otras novelas que me han gustado más, pero esas novelas gamberras me resultaron muy divertidas. Burdas si se quiere, pero divertidas.
Aquí tenemos tres aventuras de la Patrulla del Tiempo que impide los desaguisados temporales que alteran la Historia. En efecto, en efecto, como la trama de serie española El Ministerio del Tiempo pero escrita allá por el 71.
July 5, 2015
Originally posted on SpecFic Junkie.
After frustration with other time travel books (think Blackout/All Clear) I'm reminded that time travel stories can be fun. Granted, The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World is pointing out how ridiculous time travel stories can be half the time... so maybe it's not the best example.
Time travel is being used as a weapon, and the Special Corps are being wiped out. It's up to Slippery Jim to save the day (and of course, save Angelina). However, he quickly finds out that time travel is complicated and after he goes back to one spot (on the fabled Earth, of course) he has to go to another spot because that spot was a trap and they knew because time travel.
Things go on like this for a bit, but eventually our intrepid hero ain't getting out of this one. Of course, it helps that he has a wife as skilled at crime as she is beautiful. Angelina shows up to save her husband (with their twin six-year-olds). Naturally, it takes some work, but they eventually get it done.
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World had never been one of my favorite Stainless Steel Rat books, and looking back, I think I can sort of see why. Right now, it's a refresher after reading too many time travel stories, but when I read it as a kid, I either wasn't fed up with them (likely) or wasn't reading as many of them (also likely).
I certainly had a good enough handle of scifi at that point to understand a lot of the parody, but I don't think most of it hit home. Especially for this book.
I still think this is definitely one of the weaker books in the series, but still absolutely worth every moment. (It's short, so that probably helps.)
Annoying side-note:
So, like I've stated before, pretty much all of these books are out of print. You can get compilation versions: The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat and A Stainless Steel Rat Trio, which are the first three books and the first prequel books respectively. However. There are four books that are not covered in these two compilations, not counting The Stainless Steel Rat Returns, which isn't out of print yet, I don't think, or the CYOA book.
So do check your libraries and used book stores. They do pop up, and they've lovely.
After frustration with other time travel books (think Blackout/All Clear) I'm reminded that time travel stories can be fun. Granted, The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World is pointing out how ridiculous time travel stories can be half the time... so maybe it's not the best example.
Time travel is being used as a weapon, and the Special Corps are being wiped out. It's up to Slippery Jim to save the day (and of course, save Angelina). However, he quickly finds out that time travel is complicated and after he goes back to one spot (on the fabled Earth, of course) he has to go to another spot because that spot was a trap and they knew because time travel.
Things go on like this for a bit, but eventually our intrepid hero ain't getting out of this one. Of course, it helps that he has a wife as skilled at crime as she is beautiful. Angelina shows up to save her husband (with their twin six-year-olds). Naturally, it takes some work, but they eventually get it done.
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World had never been one of my favorite Stainless Steel Rat books, and looking back, I think I can sort of see why. Right now, it's a refresher after reading too many time travel stories, but when I read it as a kid, I either wasn't fed up with them (likely) or wasn't reading as many of them (also likely).
I certainly had a good enough handle of scifi at that point to understand a lot of the parody, but I don't think most of it hit home. Especially for this book.
I still think this is definitely one of the weaker books in the series, but still absolutely worth every moment. (It's short, so that probably helps.)
Annoying side-note:
So, like I've stated before, pretty much all of these books are out of print. You can get compilation versions: The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat and A Stainless Steel Rat Trio, which are the first three books and the first prequel books respectively. However. There are four books that are not covered in these two compilations, not counting The Stainless Steel Rat Returns, which isn't out of print yet, I don't think, or the CYOA book.
So do check your libraries and used book stores. They do pop up, and they've lovely.
May 15, 2017
While I can see how this series has some lasting appeal, this particular book isn't that great.
It's a mildly inventive time travel story, with a hero that shifts so violently between progressive and regressive (a 40-year-old sci-fi book with some issues about women? Shocking!) attitudes that he'll end up giving himself whiplash and who, while supposedly from a wildly advanced technology, solves 90% of his problems with “sleep gas grenades” and seems to generally not be all that advanced, from neither a tech nor personality perspective. So, it's a 60s/70s bit of sci-fi, basically.
Picture an odd mixture of 60s Batman, James Bond and Doctor Who with all the charm and subtlety of a rampaging rhino, and you're about there. Which, admittedly, is amusing in small doses, but this will never be more than a curio when read at this point in time. In all fairness, the author does have a degree of awareness of his own hero's shortcoming, and there are broad attempts at satire here, but sometimes it's not played for laughs. The character is often deliberately made to be a bit of a bumbling fool, but then at times he just is one, because 60s sci-fi author attitudes, and it's all a bit rubbish.
The writing is decent, sometimes quite good but at other times a bit of a disaster. When just applying his neutral voice to the main character everything is fine as far as narration goes, but when, for example, the main character time travels back to the 1970s and has to engage with a “criminal socio-economic group” and the slang starts pouring out, your eyes will begin to roll.
There are some clever lines on occasion, and it's a fun enough read, so as a product of a time and genre, it's not a slog to get through. Also, you'll get to enjoy a bunch of slightly flubbed lines that just don't sound quite right, like: “...I said, gun in hand and a clip of explosive cartridges in the butt.” Yes, he has clearly loaded his gun with explosive rounds, but come on. Phrasing.
It's a mildly inventive time travel story, with a hero that shifts so violently between progressive and regressive (a 40-year-old sci-fi book with some issues about women? Shocking!) attitudes that he'll end up giving himself whiplash and who, while supposedly from a wildly advanced technology, solves 90% of his problems with “sleep gas grenades” and seems to generally not be all that advanced, from neither a tech nor personality perspective. So, it's a 60s/70s bit of sci-fi, basically.
Picture an odd mixture of 60s Batman, James Bond and Doctor Who with all the charm and subtlety of a rampaging rhino, and you're about there. Which, admittedly, is amusing in small doses, but this will never be more than a curio when read at this point in time. In all fairness, the author does have a degree of awareness of his own hero's shortcoming, and there are broad attempts at satire here, but sometimes it's not played for laughs. The character is often deliberately made to be a bit of a bumbling fool, but then at times he just is one, because 60s sci-fi author attitudes, and it's all a bit rubbish.
The writing is decent, sometimes quite good but at other times a bit of a disaster. When just applying his neutral voice to the main character everything is fine as far as narration goes, but when, for example, the main character time travels back to the 1970s and has to engage with a “criminal socio-economic group” and the slang starts pouring out, your eyes will begin to roll.
There are some clever lines on occasion, and it's a fun enough read, so as a product of a time and genre, it's not a slog to get through. Also, you'll get to enjoy a bunch of slightly flubbed lines that just don't sound quite right, like: “...I said, gun in hand and a clip of explosive cartridges in the butt.” Yes, he has clearly loaded his gun with explosive rounds, but come on. Phrasing.
June 5, 2017
I’ve been aware of the Stainless Steel Rat series for a long time, but I was never really motivated to try it. My motivation for trying this one was driven partly by it being a cheap used copy, and partly by recently reading and liking Make Room! Make Room!. This is the third installment of the life and times of Slippery Jim diGriz, a master thief in the far-flung future who is recruited by Special Corps, an intergalactic law enforcement agency that recruits criminals like him. In this episode, someone has gone back in time to erase the Special Corps from existence, and diGriz must go back 32,000 years to the planet Dirt (or Earth, or something) circa 1975 to stop them. The story is textbook romp as diGriz adapts to mid-70s Earth society, hunts down the culprits, and encounters one obstacle after another as his plans don’t exactly pan out. It sounds like fun, and it’s meant to be, but I confess didn't get much out of it. The time travel bits are clunky, the villain speaks comic-book dialogue, and diGriz himself is a bit too flip about the whole thing – or maybe not flip enough. I realize none of this is meant to be taken seriously, but I just felt Harrison wasn’t having as much fun with this as he could be – or at least not as much fun as I’d hoped. Which is my problem, of course, not his. And I don’t know how it compares to other books in the series – maybe this wasn’t a good one to start out with. I’d like to try more Harrison, but I’ll skip the other SSR books for now.
July 11, 2019
Overall this is probably the weakest of the Stainless Steel Rat books that I've read so far (I'm reading in release order but with a diversion to read the prequel book), it suffers because for most of the book our protagonist only has a pretty vague idea of their goal and thus we are subjected to them stumbling from one situation to the next which is not as engaging to read as the planned heists and thefts of the prior books.
However this is all utterly saved in my eyes by the absolutely fantastic scenes which bookend the start and end of the book. The frenetic panicked action of the opening was a joy to read whilst the hilarious revelations/resolutions of the books final chapter elevate the books rush from one scene to the next into a setup for a very amusing punchline.
They alone were good enough to elevate the book from 3 to 4 stars for me.
However this is all utterly saved in my eyes by the absolutely fantastic scenes which bookend the start and end of the book. The frenetic panicked action of the opening was a joy to read whilst the hilarious revelations/resolutions of the books final chapter elevate the books rush from one scene to the next into a setup for a very amusing punchline.
They alone were good enough to elevate the book from 3 to 4 stars for me.
December 27, 2010
Slippery Jim is back, and this time he saves the world from a time traveller named "He". After Special Corps employees begin rapidly disappearing, Jim is sent back to 1975 earth, translated "dirt", to stop "He" from conceiving his evil plan to destroy Jim's planet. Jim is thus sent on a wild goose chase, full of time loopholes and paradoxes, to track "He" through time - eventually catching "He" in Napoleanic France, in time to prevent Napolean (which is actually "He") from winning the war against the British. As all the Stainless Steel Rat books, this is witty, satrical and a whole lot of fun to read.
April 25, 2009
And so ends yet another adventure for slippery Jim. This time, he goes back to old earth and generally trots around in time, rather than space. all quite paradoxical and ludicrous, but quite unsurprising. We don't know much about Jim's early life yet, so his blase assurances that this is the first time he's felt the true hand of fear and so forth may be a wee bit hollow. Still, with the kids added into the mix the adventures are surely to increase in sarcastic banter, if nothing else.
September 2, 2012
Two of my favorite genres - time travel and the Stainless Steel Rat. No explanation of why characters just "fade out" at the beginning of the story, and clearly no "parallel dimensions" hypothesis, but good fun regardless. As an aside, some good clean fun poked at 1970s Earth, the US in particular.
January 2, 2020
I think that my enjoyment of the book was hampered by the time travel story. In fact, I was very much annoyed with the "resolution" of the story, which pretty much confirmed my worst fears about why I often dislike time travel SF stories.
Also, unlike the earlier books in this series, the main character didn't really display all that much intelligence or skill. Instead, he is repeatedly rescued, either by other characters or by the nature of the time travel story.
That said, other than the so-called resolution to the story, it was at least fun to read, and a reasonable "final story" for this oddball series. If you've never read the books in this series, they're sort of an SF take on the old "It Takes a Thief" TV series, in that a professional thief becomes a top espionage and adventure agent in the distant future. In this book, he gets sent back in time to the 20th century and even earlier, although weirdly, the cover blurb gets the year wrong. That was a little odd.
Jim diGriz and his deadly wife, Angelina, got a few good scenes, but too much of her time in the story consisted of being disappointed at not getting to kill some random bad guy. That gets tired after a while, which may have been part of why this was the end of the series.
Also, unlike the earlier books in this series, the main character didn't really display all that much intelligence or skill. Instead, he is repeatedly rescued, either by other characters or by the nature of the time travel story.
That said, other than the so-called resolution to the story, it was at least fun to read, and a reasonable "final story" for this oddball series. If you've never read the books in this series, they're sort of an SF take on the old "It Takes a Thief" TV series, in that a professional thief becomes a top espionage and adventure agent in the distant future. In this book, he gets sent back in time to the 20th century and even earlier, although weirdly, the cover blurb gets the year wrong. That was a little odd.
Jim diGriz and his deadly wife, Angelina, got a few good scenes, but too much of her time in the story consisted of being disappointed at not getting to kill some random bad guy. That gets tired after a while, which may have been part of why this was the end of the series.
August 20, 2021
(Note: This is actually the third book, not the sixth. I'll read this in order of publication, not some retroactive nonsense.)
Ah, the obligatory time-travel episode. Somewhat excusable because this was written in an era when that trope was being established. It's kind of what you expect - more Slippery Jim, but this time he travels to our past (among other times) to save the world.
What you get is pretty much what you expect from the combination of "Stainless Steel Rat" and "Time Travel". The usual spay/crook shenanigans, this time in the past, and with higher stakes. Time travel stories are incredibly difficult to pull off, and there are very few good ones. While "Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World" doesn't reach the quality of Heinlein's short story "By His Bootstraps", it works well enough, especially since the Stainless Steel Rat is very soft, even pulp, sci-fi. And it does get some bonus points for a reasonable attempt at trying to rationalize the time travel aspects of the plot.
There's really not much more to say without going into spoiler territory. If you enjoyed the prior adventures of James Bolivar diGriz, you'll like this book. Another solid 3/5 ("I liked it", according to Goodreads' definition). I'm looking forward to the fourth book in the series.
Ah, the obligatory time-travel episode. Somewhat excusable because this was written in an era when that trope was being established. It's kind of what you expect - more Slippery Jim, but this time he travels to our past (among other times) to save the world.
What you get is pretty much what you expect from the combination of "Stainless Steel Rat" and "Time Travel". The usual spay/crook shenanigans, this time in the past, and with higher stakes. Time travel stories are incredibly difficult to pull off, and there are very few good ones. While "Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World" doesn't reach the quality of Heinlein's short story "By His Bootstraps", it works well enough, especially since the Stainless Steel Rat is very soft, even pulp, sci-fi. And it does get some bonus points for a reasonable attempt at trying to rationalize the time travel aspects of the plot.
There's really not much more to say without going into spoiler territory. If you enjoyed the prior adventures of James Bolivar diGriz, you'll like this book. Another solid 3/5 ("I liked it", according to Goodreads' definition). I'm looking forward to the fourth book in the series.
February 15, 2021
(same write-up exactly as I did for the first book in the series)
I could understand someone giving a 5 rating for this and I could understand a 1 rating too. It's not a deep book in any way but it neither wants to be nor does it pretend to be. It's a great comedy sci-fi romp, completely intended to make you giggle your way through a summer holiday on the beach. Its real selling point (to me) is that I think it's a pretty unique writing style and I don't know whether it was intended for a teen audience in the 60s but I think that's the likely audience now. You're unlikely to remember the story a couple of years from now but you'll enjoy reading it and have fond memories of having read it too.
As a book with Time Travel is it's major theme, it's interesting that he has an in-joke with himself about going "Back to the Future" - I have to wonder if that's where the film title originated, given that this book pre-dated the film by 13 years.
I could understand someone giving a 5 rating for this and I could understand a 1 rating too. It's not a deep book in any way but it neither wants to be nor does it pretend to be. It's a great comedy sci-fi romp, completely intended to make you giggle your way through a summer holiday on the beach. Its real selling point (to me) is that I think it's a pretty unique writing style and I don't know whether it was intended for a teen audience in the 60s but I think that's the likely audience now. You're unlikely to remember the story a couple of years from now but you'll enjoy reading it and have fond memories of having read it too.
As a book with Time Travel is it's major theme, it's interesting that he has an in-joke with himself about going "Back to the Future" - I have to wonder if that's where the film title originated, given that this book pre-dated the film by 13 years.
February 9, 2022
A book which kicks off as an entertaining time travel adventure - it's always useful to have your futuristic hero travel back in time to the very year in which you're writing the story. The rat does this, but then has to jump back and forth through time as he pursues a megalomaniac with a time machine.
And another book which disappoints. It's all action, our hero fights, robs banks, fights, gets captured, escapes ... it's all fairly predictable stuff. And somewhere in this boys' own comic, Harrison fails to really develop the bad guy's character or to tighten up the plot and make it an exciting romp.
Clearly, this was never going to be Dostoevsky or Hemingway, but Harrison sells himself short. It's pulp fiction ... and it deserves a far better ending, which is very much a "with one bound he was free" anti-climax.
And another book which disappoints. It's all action, our hero fights, robs banks, fights, gets captured, escapes ... it's all fairly predictable stuff. And somewhere in this boys' own comic, Harrison fails to really develop the bad guy's character or to tighten up the plot and make it an exciting romp.
Clearly, this was never going to be Dostoevsky or Hemingway, but Harrison sells himself short. It's pulp fiction ... and it deserves a far better ending, which is very much a "with one bound he was free" anti-climax.
July 14, 2023
The Stainless Steel Rat returns after over a decade, though only a few weeks passed in the world of Special Corps in which he works – which makes sense, as the central theme in Saves the World (1972) is time travel and the danger of messing up the historical continuum. Eleven years (and many non-SSRat books) later, Harrison had not lost his touch. The series continues to be one of the most humorous – to the point of laugh out loud while reading – yet serious, classic-level sci-fi writing out there. These books are such a joy to read, pure adventure but with tongue fully in cheek. I could not recommend these more, and look forward to reading at least some of the later adventures (there are seven more books in the Stainless series, the last one written in 1999). Maybe someday I will dig into some of Harrison’s many other sci-fi works.
October 5, 2024
Four is a high rating but wow, what a fun little book this turned out to be. The story doesn't let up as it follows one man's journey through time, again and again, in hot pursuit of an immortals red creature who wants nothing but revenge and destruction of the universe. He passes over 10s of thousands of years into the year 1975. Engaging in bank robberies and chased by police in New York city. Finding a hidden base filled with vicious occupants how quickly grab hold of him. This is where James confronts the evil red being named He. From here, they travel to the early years of the nineteenth century, England. Although things here are not what they should be.
The writing is quite fast faced and paints a definite picture of each time period.
James encounters a robot Napoleon before thwarting He's plans again, at the very last minute.
The writing is quite fast faced and paints a definite picture of each time period.
James encounters a robot Napoleon before thwarting He's plans again, at the very last minute.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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