Reviews for The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge (Stainless Steel Rat Series #2)

The average rating for The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge (Stainless Steel Rat Series #2) based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-03-27 00:00:00 Patrick Wilson 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!!!

Review # 2 was written on 2020-10-02 00:00:00 Billy Mcconnaughey Another entertaining slice of the life of our painfully flawed protagonist Slippery Jim DiGriz. He may have found himself in a long-term relationship but he is anything but settled as he is soon dragged into a mission to thwart a seemingly impossible interstellar invasion. Full of hi-jinks and laugh-out-loud moments, this one was a blast. It does suffer a bit from Return of the King syndrome, though, as it ends four or five times.