Bill the Galactic Hero: The Planet of the Robot Slaves

Seriously. Read those two first. Then this one. If Starship Troopers, and The Forever War hold any place in your heart, this one will too. In a nutshell, The Forever War is a dark satire of Starship Troopers, and Bill, the Galactic Hero, is a parody of both. Not much more need be said.

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.

Bill does not like danger, although he is supposed to really get a kick out of it, him being a Space Trooper and all. But no matter what he does -mainly trying to get danger as far as possible away from him or vice versa- heroism keeps following Bill without mercy. That is why he is still alive and kicking. That is, because of an earlier accident: kicking with his two right arms -there weren't any spare left ones- and his chicken leg -there weren't any human legs left. When his camp is attacked by gigantic metal dragons he volunteers not to be made member of the revenge mission, and that is exactly what his commander officer decides not to do...Harry Harrison has a talent for the absurd. With seemingly no effort he paradises the whole science fiction genre and gets away with it. If you would want to compare him with to writers, you are bound to think of him as Terry Pratchett being genetically cloned in the neighborhood of Douglas Adams. Although Harrison never reaches the level of absurdness of Adams and is only a few times as funny as Pratchett, he still has created a quite enjoyable character in the hero of Bill. What makes this story special is its continuous anti-war message. Although most of the characters crave for some kind of unending battle, it is clear to the reader that the absurdness of the wars described in this book is certainly not far from what is happening in our world. It is certainly quite surprising and refreshing to see such theme appear in this kind of book.

If you enjoy mindless sex and overindulgence in every aspect of life, this book is for you! It all starts out when the garbage tug Bill is on crashes onto an unknown planet called Usa (manufacturer of fine products the galaxy over). As the small little band of soldiers and drunkards are taken on a journey, things get a bit out of hand. If you don't mind the occasional typo and off-color humor, this book is great. I would give just about anything for this book. Verily, even my flabby buttocks!