Rating: 
Summary: Save your Money On The Movie and Buy The Book
Review: For those that have seen the movie I apologize for the tragedy that was done to this awsome novel. Not only did the movie only cover about 5% of what actually occurred in the book, It was a lousy movie on top. The Novel was essentially one man (Johnny) in a battle of cunning and wits between Terl. BattleField Earth was extremely thoughough in every aspect and when finished reading the novel, all questions are awnswered to everyones satifisfaction. The Movie changed the plot, addeded and omitted so money characters and sub-plots that there virtually no similarties between the book and movie. Travolta performed a true hatchet-job on his potrayal of Terl. The Book is as awsome as the movie was terrible. get the book and save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous book but very bad movie
Review: If you look at all the reviews written so far, you immediately notice something interesting. You notice that almost all reviews are either very good or very bad. The second interesting observation is the level of intensity found in almost all the reviews. Whatever the book really is in the grand scheme of things it definitely does not create indifference in its readers. I have been reading all my life and my own experience with books is that when they are good they get talked about a lot and when they are bad they are quickly relegated to some bottomless pit. This book is different. It seems to me that the people that loved as well as the people that hated feel equally obligated to express their strong feelings about it. It almost seems like there is a war going on between the two groups. I personally loved the book and I am not going to tell you why because ultimately it does not really matter. That you like it or not depends on so many factors that there is no real way for you to really make up your mind by simply reading these reviews. My suggestion is that you should simply go with the odds. If The majority of reviewers liked it then the odds are very good that you will like it too. Maybe you won't but don't deprive yourself of a potentially great read just because some people did not like the book. I went to see the movie yesterday and I must say that it is probably the worst science fiction movie I have ever seen. They completely missed the point of the book. All the good parts are taken away and some parts were added that did not make any sense at all. I hated the movie as much as I liked the book. If you have seen the movie but not read the book yet please don't judge the book based on the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent plot, but what happened to the characters?
Review: This book was spectacular reading, but some of the characters were very poorly written. Johnny Goodboy Tyler, while being the main character of the story, was very poorly drawn out. During the time I was reading the novel, I realized that the story was a great concept, but it felt like it was written by a twelve-year old. The writing was just so immature! Characters are supposed to be believable, not laughable!
Rating:
Summary: Imagination required!
Review: I read this book in the late 80's or early 90's when I was really into sci-fi and it is the only book other than tech manuals that I have re-read since. The plot and pace of the book are outstanding. It keeps you hooked throughout, heart racing to see what will happen next. Best read without predjudice about L. Ron Hubbard or his beliefs or how YOU think characters should develop. Read it for the sci-fi, not for any inner enlightenment as it's not there. Have no doubt though, you need an almost overactive imagination to visualize all the subleties and especially the technologies. Recommended for sci-fi enthusiasts only!
Rating:
Summary: couldn't put it down
Review: i picked it up because a friend said she wanted to see the movie when it came out. i read it in a weekend all 1000+ pages at a time when i should have been studying for finals. if you like sci-fi you'll love it. the movie leaves a lot to be desired but the book is vivid, entertaining and has wonderful character development.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book. Great movie.
Review: The book goes a little slow from section to section, but overall, an entertaining read. However, I would recomend the movie before the book to those who aren't quite scifi fans enough to have the patience for much of this book. The film not only has awesome effects, but, more importantly, it leaves out some (but not all) of the unimportant details of the book...
Rating: 
Summary: The author should be shot for this crime!
Review: With all the hoopla about the movie coming out, I thought I would read the book and then compare it to the movie once it was released. 1050 pages is a bit daunting, but I once read the entire _Dune_ collection straight through in about a month, so I am no stranger to thick books. Sheeeish! I wish I had not bothered. What a horrible waste of time, on a horrible book. If there were any truth in advertising, "Battlefield Earth" would have been called "BattleTurd Earth" instead. It's so bad that I cannot imagine why anyone would publish it, let alone read it, let alone give it anything other than a "Zero" on a scale from "One to Five." This book is so far to the low end of the ratings scale, it is in another galexy entirely! The United States Department of Health and Safely needs to track down this author and break all ten of his fingers, just so he cannot type up another abomination like this book. (And break all ten toes, just to be sure.) We're talking about an author here who commits gross bodily injury on his victims, and his deadly weapon is a typewriter; this is a felony of a book, and a law should be passed that makes it a crime to use a typewriter in such a crime--- punishable by Prozac and Electro Shock Therapy until the perpetrator agrees to never inflict such damage to his readers or the Sci-Fi genre ever, ever again. To say this book is lousy would be similiar to saying the Nazis were not very nice fellows; similiar to saying the Challenger space shuttle explosion was a mere fender bender. "Lousy" does not even begin to cover the ground that this stinker pollutes. Imagine your first attempt at writing a short story. Say, like in the first grade. If you were very determined, you might have made an entire page of horrible, horrible writing that you would without question be ashamed to admit twenty years later that you wrote it. Now imagine expanding that effort by 1050 pages. You will begin to understand just how bad BattleTurd Earth really is. This book is so insulting, I would like to break those ten fingers and toes myself, but to tell the author just how insulting it is. Maybe pry off the keys on his keyboard as well. Perhaps hold his small child as hostage just so he would never insult us with another such book. All I can say is, the movie cannot possibly be any worse.
Rating:
Summary: Battlefield Earth
Review: I tried to read this book but could not finish it. Like all L. Ron Hubbard books, and those attributed to him by his followers, this one was not very good. Hubbard, and those who write in his name, do not seem to be able to tell a coherent story. They are always filled with absurd silly characters and even worse dialogue. One gets the feeling that Hubbard was one of those people who simply thought too much of his skills. When one becomes a religious icon, it's hard to edit the words they produce. All the words springing from the mind of such an individual are sacred aren't they? In Hubbrd's case, no. All of his works are in great need of editing. Though I must admit, this book in particular would have made an OK comic book. Maybe. Erik
Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: I have read this book over and over again and it always keeps me deeply entertained. Somewhere in my literary education I was imbued with a prejudice against "popular literature," and was taught to "appreciate" the classics - Homer, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Jane Austen, Tolstoy, Balzac, Conrad, Henry James, James Joyce and so on. Style and innovation took precedence over content, and I found myself trapped in a dry professorial library where obscurity and difficulty started looking like qualities. Art became more and more esoteric - the search for great literature became a quest for works which only a very small group of over-educated people could appreciate. And then I found and read Battlefield Earth! Oh, my goodness! I had to rethink my whole education! Here was a book that entertained me, that was fun, that was funny, that was easy to read, that had content and was written by a pulp-fiction writer! Here was a book that defied all my precepts of literature! I was suddenly experiencing the journey of a man, Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, who goes from being a survivor in a primitive village, unable to read and write, to confronting an evil alien race which has dominated this planet for a thousand years. Not content with just saving mankind and this planet, Jonnie goes on to extend his good influence over other universes! What a vision! If ever there was a book about the triumph of the human spirit, it is this one! I loved the scope of the novel. This isn't about petty day-to-day problems, kitchen sink drama, the nagging wife, the abusive husband, not being able to pay the bills, this is about a man taking a stand, and uniting mankind to turn this planet (and others) into a decent place. What a great theme! Jonnie is the ultimate hero. He overcomes insurmountable odds to establish man's freedom. The characters are brilliantly drawn - Terl is deliciously evil, the Psychlos solid and cruel, Ker is funny and endearing , Robert the Fox, the War Chief of Scotland, loyal and able, the Scots are heart-warming in their tenacity and heroism. Brown Limper and his minions are just the sort of politicians we don't want, the Chinese, the Tibetans, the Gauchos, the Russians... the list is endless. And as for all the invading aliens, and their chicanery... The plot twists and turns, always bringing up new surprises, and then, masterfully, melds into a moving finale - every little point neatly and cleverly rounded off. I loved every minute of this book and every detail within it: from man in a primitive state, to the plots and intrigues of Terl and the other Psychlos, to the battle for this planet, the mystery of Psychlo mathmatics, the secrets of teleportation, intergalactic banking and diplomacy, the canabalistic Brigantes, continent hopping with ease, the rebuilding of planet Earth, Jonnie as a husband and father, and so on and so on. This is a big book, with an even bigger scope. It's fun and intelligent, and I highly reccomed it!
Rating: 
Summary: No new ground. Flat characters.
Review: Despite the author's reputation I decided to read this book out of curiosity and a bit of gee-whiz love for pulpy sci-fi. I found Battlefield Earth somewhat fun but with some major problems. Everything is so well investigated by Hubbard except for the psychology of the human characters. Terl is the only interesting character and after the first two hundred pages you start to tire of him. This story would have been so-so as a 400 page novel but is tedious as a 1000 paged one. There is a line in a popular song that says " in a play where the hero's right and no one speaks or expects too much" (or something to that effect). The author of that song must have just read this book. Everything falls right into place for our heroes. Women are nothing more than whores and slaves. Other races are treated as alien as the Psychlos. There is no suspense in this story because you know the good guy will win. Hubbard blabs on in the into about science fiction and it's importance and his role in it and blah blah blah. If you want real science fiction, you know, the kind that makes you think- check out Ursula K. LeGuin or Theodore Sturgeon. These authors offer so much more than this book could ever do.
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