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A review by ianbanks
The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus by Harry Harrison
4.0
Harrison’s prose does leave a little to be desired in places in this penultimate novel of the series but it cruises along at a steady pace. The bad, first. There’s quite a lot of poorly executed exposition in the early stages of the novel which took me out of the action for a big chunk. Also, the danger level has mysteriously levelled up that it requires the entire di Griz family and their myriad levels of expertise to solve the problem rather than just Jim and/ or Angelina to get things done: I like James and Bolivar but the Rat novels I enjoy most feature Jim working largely on his own or with the aid of his wife. And speaking of the fair Angelina, she does spend a big chunk of this novel in need of rescuing which is most unlike her... although a villain that can apprehend and hold Angelina does instantly become a lot more imposing as a villain. But she is a missing presence here for a large part of the proceedings: as are female characters in general, to be perfectly honest: after the previous couple of novels in which we met several very competent female characters, the absence here feels jarring. The ending does climax nicely but the conclusion does involve a lot of explanations and wrappings-up of plots and storylines which makes it feel a lot more rushed than usual. The only thing I really can’t forgive is that Mr Harrison commits the sin of adding some contemporary computer specs into a story that takes place forty-something thousand years into the future that already feels a little clunky two decades after publication (he did a similar thing in the first novel when Jim adjusts a space liner ticket with a hole punch).
But there is a lot to enjoy here, as well. The Rat maintains his usual entertaining interior monologue as he goes along so that we learn a lot of things when he does and process things with him. The story does trot along at a steady pace with incident piled onto incident which is never boring and always adds to the stakes. He also finds inventive ways of getting out of scrapes that often scupper his normally excellent plans: he is often the first to admit when a scheme has gone belly-up, which is often half the fun of these books.
In all, this is a fun read with a breezy plot which I found very easy to get through in one sitting.
But there is a lot to enjoy here, as well. The Rat maintains his usual entertaining interior monologue as he goes along so that we learn a lot of things when he does and process things with him. The story does trot along at a steady pace with incident piled onto incident which is never boring and always adds to the stakes. He also finds inventive ways of getting out of scrapes that often scupper his normally excellent plans: he is often the first to admit when a scheme has gone belly-up, which is often half the fun of these books.
In all, this is a fun read with a breezy plot which I found very easy to get through in one sitting.