Rating: 
Summary: The Best of L. Ron's books, by far.
Review: When my friend Jon Silva (of Keepsake Diamond Centers in Salinas and Monterey, Caifornia,) recommends a book, I never fail to read it. When Jon recommended this one though, I thought he'd lost his mind. I usually don't like L. Ron Hubbard's work, but I read this book based purely on my confidence in Jon's recommendations. I've got to be fair... I give the book 5 stars. It's definitely a "guy" book, though, not as unisex as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, though the character development is equally good. I put this book right up there with the best efforts of Asimov, Heinlein and Orson Scott Card. I'll probably add it to the short list of books that I reread every few years. I don't plan to see the movie, though. No way can it compare to the book.
Rating:
Summary: Truly a classic.
Review: This book is a classic Science Fiction novel. I'm dismayed by the many bad reviews it has received. Don't pay attention to them. This book is a huge bang-em up adventure. The heart of the story is the fight for survival of the human race as they battle for control of their own planet. The main character, Johnny Goodboy Tyler, is a hero of epic proportions. This book will make you laugh, cry, and shout for joy. It's truly a classic, and YOU shouldn't be without it. If you have even a remote interest in Science Fiction, you must try this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A book only a cult member could love...
Review: Battlefield Earth is, without a doubt, the worst book I have ever managed to finish reading in my life (if it was so bad why did I finish? It's a long story involving a prolonged hospital stay with no access to TV or radio). This book was written with a plot, characterization and storyline that a three year old (and only a three year old) could appreciate - 2 dimensional characters, a fifth rate plot, and third rate writing. Don't waste your time or money - there are so many better things you could be doing.
Rating:
Summary: A waste of two dollars!
Review: Five days ago I went to see the movie (perhaps the worse movie ever made in the history of the universe) and was interested in seeing if the book was any better. I bought a copy at a used book store for two dollars, having found it in the "bargan book bin" where it had sat for years. The store owner seemed very please to finally get rid of it.... ... and I can understand why, now that I'm 464 pages into it. When I first started the book, I knew I was in serious trouble: when the author starts out the book by APOLOGIZING for how bad it is (in the introduction), you know you are in for a dog of a book. This book just ain't a dog; it suggests what dogs generally leave behind when out on a walk. I can not comprehend why the author would tell his readers that the book is poorly written and not even edited, and then expect people to read it, let alone like it. In sooth, there is nothing at all to like about this book. The characters act like cartoon figures; any ten-year-old can guess what is going to happen next. Long, tedious text resides in the book where it is not needed. Seems to me that one could rip out every ten pages for every one left--- and the book would not suffer any in plot and story line. The book starts from no where; goes no where; does nothing along the way; and is so badly written that for someone to actually bother to read it seems like a punishment than what fantasy science fiction should be: a pleasure. Did I mention this book is bad? Let me stress that: THIS BOOK IS BAD. The writing is bad; the plot is not just bad--- it does not exist! The editing is not what one could call "bad" because there wasn't any! An editor could have made this book at least readable, but it is grossly obvious no editor set pen to manuscript with this turkey of a book. If an editor ever comes along willing to take the job, this book could be salavged. Why the author wrote so poorly, and why he had no editor work on it, is a mystery--- the book needs it, badly! I will not rehash what others have already pointed out, flaw-wise. I found the book to be so bad I'm not going to finish it: and that is very rare for me. I love science fiction with a passion; this tripe is so repulsively bad that not even its mother could love it. Save you money. I've wasted two dollars on this book, and I think I spend way too much for it.
Rating:
Summary: Terror in the First Dimension
Review: Ladies and gentlemen, I am perplexed. I can honestly say thatnever in my life have I ever truly loathed a book. .... An exhaustive tome about the opression and triumph ofthe human race, "Battlefield Earth," though grand in its design, falls remarkably short of its praise. Hubbard's writing style is crude, repetative, and horribly unimaginative. His sentences are awkward and sometimes hard to understand - my sixth-grade English teacher would weep. Some say I put too much stock in descriptive writing, but I think good imagery is the cornerstone of any book. Everything in "Battlefield Earth" is mind-numbingly simple - the mountains are tall, the aliens are big, our hero is nice. Everything else is purple. Much like his language, Hubbard's characters are one-dimensional. I suppose I should say two-dimensional, but that's giving them too much credit - flat is more interesting than these people. Good or bad, I don't care at all about anyone in this book. They are all left so undeveloped that even the main character could die and I wouldn't notice. Hubbard is a very biased author. He wants the 'good guys' to win, and you can tell. Though the evil Psychlos are the ruling force of the universe, Hubbard stacks the deck so in favor of the humans that their inevitable victory is painfully obvious. The Psychlos are ridiculously stupid for having had conquered the universe, and the humans are remarkably clever for having been stuck in the Stone Age for 1000 years. It's the reader's job to root for the good guy, not the author's. Don't tell me to like a character, show me why I should like him or her. All in all, I suppose Hubbard deserves one star for the sheer length of the book. After all, I've never published a 1000-page novel. But when that day comes, I'm taking my star back.
Rating:
Summary: Pathetically Bad
Review: This book is written at no better than a 12 year olds level. The plot is unbelievable and as if that weren't enough, the book is boring. Skip this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Readable, but flawed
Review: As a typical Campbellite hero myth, dressed up in a sci-fi cloak, this book is engaging enough. It has enough of a plot and adequate characterization to sustain its length. However, it fails as sci-fi. True science fiction, in my opinion, needs a hook, a concept that justifies its status as speculative fiction. Arthur Clarke has a mysterious spacecraft, Rama; Grege Bear has a physics-defying structure from the future orbiting the earth, and Herbet blends politics and a Messianic religion to create Dune. Battlefied Earth, unfortunately, has none of these. The story could quite easily be transplanted into a mundane setting: make the Psychlos invading Romans, and Johnny and his clan the subjugated Celts of 56 BC, and the story could remain precisely the same. There is no food for thought, no mind-expanding concept. Just typical pulp sci-fi.
Rating:
Summary: Bad, if not Worse...
Review: ...than the movie. The characters are stale, annoying, and spend most of their time being either really stupid or really lucky, or both. For such a long book you'd expect more from it, but it drags and in the end only serves to make the characters even more irritating. I have quite the collection of SF books, and this one was one of the worst that I have read.
Rating:
Summary: The book is awesome. . .the movie royally stinks.
Review: The book was fantastic. There was everything anyone in their right mind would ask for. There was an immensly entertaining plot. There were good characters, and there were completely Satanic evils. And something that I also liked about this book was that L.Ron Hubbard always explained why something was the way it was. For example: Let's say that there was a war about to start; L.Ron Hubbard would explain why there was a conflict. Whereas in poorly-written stories, the author won't really explain why there was a conflict, he'll just say that there was a conflict; obviously just wanting to get to the war, rather than explain why there was a war in the first place. Now I'll indulge you on the movie. I gave the book 5 stars. I'd give the movie 4 stars if I hadn't read the book, but since I was expecting a lot, I'd give the movie about 1 star in terms of translating the book into the movie. First of all, the book is 1050 pages long, and the events in the movie only go up to about page 380. I guess the book just has SO much action and suspense that it's impossible to make it into a movie without it being 12 hours long. Second of all, about the only similarity that the movie had to the book was that there were evil aliens, good men, and lots of gold and uranium. There were specific actions and events in the book that didn't happen at all in the movie. After what I've said, I think that my message is quite clear: The book is absolutely fabulous and is worth every penny you spend on it. The movie is(A very derogatory word that I wouldn't want to use on the computer), and is surely not worth the 5 dollars that it costs to watch it. But I'm not going to bring down the rating of the book just because of the poor job in making the movie. If you want to experience the excitement and glory of BATTLEFIELD EARTH, you're not doing yourself much good to watch the movie.
Rating:
Summary: LOOONNNNGGGG!
Review: I remember reading this book years ago, when I first got into reading Sci-Fi and had no idea about any of R.L. Hubbards "ideals" (I was just looking for a good book). All I remember is that the book was good at first but then kept going and going and going....Halfway through the book I was wondering why it hadn't ended yet, 3/4 of the way through I was wishing I had never started it in the first place and then before I got to the end (after about 800 pages) I didn't even care what happened to the characters...I put it down and walked away. It could have ended great several times throughout the book. Maybe he got paid by the word, like Dickens. Never did finish it. I hope for whoever does manage to get through the 1000+ pages that the ending is worth it.
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