- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz (19 Oct 1989)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575046155
- ISBN-13: 978-0575046153
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,856,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A sequel to the author's "Bill, the Galactic Hero", published over 20 years ago, this book is the first of a new series of novels featuring Bill. With two right arms, an artificial foot, and a set of surgically-implanted tusks, Bill sets out to find the source of Chinger-controlled metal dragons.
About the Author
Harry Harrison (1925 -) Harry Harrison was born Henry Maxwell Dempsey in Connecticut, in 1925. He is the author of a number of much-loved series including the Stainless Steel Rat and Bill the Galactic Hero sequences and the Deathworld Trilogy. He is known as a passionate advocate of Esperanto, the most popular of the constructed international languages, which appears in many of his novels. He has been publishing novels for over half a century and is perhaps best known for his seminal novel of overpopulation, Make Room! Make Room!, which was adapted into the cult film Soylent Green. Harry Harrison lives in the Republic of Ireland.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
THE first Bill novel was originally published in 1965, so imagine the surprise when in 1989 a sequel appeared. This (first) sequel was Bill, the Galactic Hero ... On the Planet of Robot Slaves, again expertly written by classic SF author Harry Harrison. This book whilst being an excellent follow-up, is perhaps not quite as good as the original; it is certainly hard to believe that the two books were written about 24 years apart. Harrison recaptures the style and humour of the original perfectly and introduces some fine comedy-SF concepts along the way. This tale begins on the planet Grundgy, a barren and worthless world with only two seasons: frigid winter and tropical summer; the perfect planet on which to site a military base. Having persuaded some new recruits that it'd be in their best interest to part with a little money, Bill is able to afford to have the second of a pair of tusks bequeathed to him by Deathwish Drang surgically implanted, and so visits mad Doctor Mel Praktis. Following this short and painful operation, Bill urges the Doctor to do something about his foot. For some reason he is unhappy with the giant mutant chicken claw that presently passes as his right foot. Before Bill can argue any more the roof of the hospital is blown off as the base is attacked by giant flying dragons, which, as Bill and Praktis soon learn, are of the metal, Chinger-controlled variety. Bill, Praktis and a somewhat motley crew are dispatched into space aboard the only available ship: a garbage tug, commanded by the permanently stoned Captain Bly. Their mission is to trace the planet that is the source of the Chinger-controlled dragons. When one of the crew, an electronic technician known as Cy Berpunk gets to tell his story it marks the start of a tradition that continues throughout the Bill novels, that is the parodying of other SF concepts and styles (guess which genre of SF is parodied here). Fans of the original book will be pleased to find out that it's not too long before Bill meets up with a certain Chinger spy. This is the delightfully named Bgr, who is to become a regular character in the Bill series of books.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Pretty Good Barthroom Humor
16 Mar 2004
Format:Paperback
Harry Harrison's Bill the Galactic Hero (BtGH) series is the sci-fi equivalent of Robert Aspirin's "Myth" fantasy books: pun-based humor is paramount and the more improbable the plotline the better.
This time around BtGH and company find themselves on the Planet of Usa after a nasty Chinger attack on their military base. Robotic lifeforms are the indigenous species on the planet, with two factions endlessly at war with each other. The Chingers have allied themselves with one of the factions (the one with the robot slaves), leaving the humans to ally themselves with the other. Residing on the planet are several humanoid groups, also endlessly at war with each other.
If you've picked up on the theme of endless war then this book might not be too subtle for you (if the theme escaped you, you might consider a position as a cadet with the Space Troopers). The machinations of war are severely criticized - and parodied - in the novel. In this respect the book is similar to Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (in much the same way that microwaveable pork rinds are akin to a Honeybaked ham), but because so little of the storyline can be taken seriously Harrison's commentary is easily dismissed if you happen to disagree with it.
The first BtGH book was divided into three major sections. Here the story takes place in half a dozen or so set pieces, each having very little to do with each other (beyond taking place on the Planet of the Robot Slaves). Some of them are funny (The Roman Legion vs. King Arthur), some of them are not (the PLDP).
Take away the comedy and there's not a lot to recommend this book. I happen to find character names like Cy BerPunk (computer technician) and Mel Praktis (doctor) mildly amusing - plus my father, brother and a nephew are each named Bill (only the nephew has true Galactic Hero potential), so it's fun to tweak them about their namesake. If these things don't hold true for you, you might want to consider reading a different book.
The third in the Starship Troopers, Forever War trilogy
4 Feb 2010
Format:Hardcover
This review was supposed to be for the FIRST BTGH book. Sorry for clicking the wrong title.
Please see Bill The Galactic Hero
Please see Bill The Galactic Hero
Like all of the best parodies, it can be difficult for some people to read and appreciate
26 Oct 2009
Format:Paperback
The puns in this book whiz by at a rapid and frequent pace, it takes an agile mind to catch and appreciate them all. It is a science fiction story that is a parody of science fiction stories, the human propensity for war and the military mindset that propagates it. Bill is a reluctant soldier, he was drafted into the military yet has no stomach for the arts of war; he would rather spend his time in chemically induced bliss.
Through a sequence of foul-ups, Bill finds himself marooned on a planet with a few other misfits, one of which is called Cy BerPunk. None of them could ever be mistaken for a person with courage and they find themselves riding dragons, fighting with and against mechanical war machines and in the territory of Barthroom, where a southern gentleman named Jonkarta rules with his fiancee Princess Dejah Vue. King Arthur, Merlin, a parody of the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz and many other references to the pulp side of science fiction make an appearance.
To completely appreciate this book it is necessary to know something about the history of science fiction where science is not paramount. For example, the reference to Barthroom has a double meaning, the more obvious one to "bathroom" and the more complex one to the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs. With parodies piled on parodies, this book is fun to read as long as you take not a single word of it seriously.
Through a sequence of foul-ups, Bill finds himself marooned on a planet with a few other misfits, one of which is called Cy BerPunk. None of them could ever be mistaken for a person with courage and they find themselves riding dragons, fighting with and against mechanical war machines and in the territory of Barthroom, where a southern gentleman named Jonkarta rules with his fiancee Princess Dejah Vue. King Arthur, Merlin, a parody of the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz and many other references to the pulp side of science fiction make an appearance.
To completely appreciate this book it is necessary to know something about the history of science fiction where science is not paramount. For example, the reference to Barthroom has a double meaning, the more obvious one to "bathroom" and the more complex one to the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs. With parodies piled on parodies, this book is fun to read as long as you take not a single word of it seriously.
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