This is the first book in a series of sequels to Harrison’s bitingly satirical Bill, the Galactic Hero. The first volume was written in 1965 as an anti-war statement, where humanity’s glorious (ahem) “starship troopers” battle the might of the evil Chinger empire. As it turns out, the Chingers only want peace, but the human’s political machinations keep the war going: “it’s good for morale”. All of this becomes apparent to Bill in the closing chapters of the first volume, but he’s a good soldier so he simply shrugs and keeps firing. This second volume doesn’t contain half the anger that Harrison feels about the army and which was so prominent in the book’s predecessor, but that’s probably a good thing - Harry’s made his point and this time he uses Bill to take a good, hard look at the SF world in general. For this Harry Harrison dons his verbal hobnailed boots, and treads - nay, jumps - on many a writer’s tender toes. He takes the piss out of the fashionable Cyberpunk, Burroughs’ Martian stories, Azimov’s robots and for good measure tackles Camelot and the land of Oz. The book is highly entertaining, and proves to be a subtle reminder to fans of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams that they aren’t the first writers to employ humour in fantasy. The rest of the books in the series will be written by other authors under Harrison’s guidance, so it remains to be seen what they will produce. For now, though, The Planet of the Robot Slaves is a worthwhile addition to any collection. Reviewed by Michael Carroll | 
