This audiobook is another prequel in the Stainless Steel Rat series. The story takes place prior to the original "Stainless Steel Rat" book.

I liked it less than the other books in the series. Primarily that is due to storyline consistencies. Our protagonist, the stainless steel rat Jim DeGrease is caught trying to rob the intergalactic mint. In order to avoid the immediate death sentence required from Mint World the league intervenes so that the planetary authorities think they have killed Jim and in place of his death he is given a 30 day position where he has to complete a mission for the league.

This is inconsistent with the first book which acts as though Jim is barely even familiar with the existence of the league, let alone had worked for them previously.

Other than that it is standard intergalactic fun, he recruits a number of military musicians to pose as the galaxy's newest pop hit group so that they quickly become internationally famous so that when they eventually are brought up on intergalactic drug smuggling charges they can be well loved when they arrive the prison planet, and then the search for the all important alien artifact really begin. Complete with cult leaders, gender separated societies, super intelligent robot dogs, and a brief love affiar with his guitarist. ( )

We are a fan. Harrison is non-stop action from the first page and with a sense of humor to boot. Makes reading his books tremendous fun - he makes it seem so effortless. It's effortless reading too. ( )

I really enjoyed the original Stainless Steel Rat novels from the 70's and 80's. The Rat is sort of a James Bond of space, having all sorts of adventures all over the galaxy and getting out of tight spots, though in that respect he's more like Indiana Jones. Fun stuff. ( )

This is book 3 according to the chronological order of the 11 book Stainless Steel Rat series. This sci-fi series is a humor series whose main character (Jim) is a master thief with a heart of gold. In this particular book, Jim is blackmailed into leading a team down to a prison planet in order to retrieve an alien artifact which was accidentally lost during transport. The team will be going in under cover, disguised as a band who was sentenced to the planet.

This series is definitely not one that everyone would enjoy, as the author's sense of humor doesn't appeal to all. I have generally enjoyed the books though. This one fits in well enough with the rest of the series, and takes place before the (chronologically) later books in which Jim is married and has children. To me, this is a good thing, since I've enjoyed the stories I've read more without the additional characters. As with most of these books, there is some type of twist on things, and this one works pretty well, leaving the book with a satisfying ending.

However, for some reason, this was probably one of my least favorite books in the series. I suspect that some of this is due to the fact that this is the 8th book in the series published, and the author style has shifted someone since the earlier books. I think I'm more fond of the earlier stuff. Still, if you are interested in humor sci-fi, this is worth taking a look at.

3.5 / 5 stars ( )

The underlying premise of this book is weak (a criminal forced into a band in order to find a stolen item), but like I've said in the past the Stainless Steel Rat books are fun, and not really intended to make you a better person. This one is along those lines too -- its an enjoyable light read, with a much better plot twist than the other Stainless Steel Rat books I've read. I liked it, even with the weak premise.

http://www.stillhq.com/book/Harry_Harrison/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat_Sings_The_Blu... ( )