Rating: 
Summary: Would have made a great short story...
Review: I wanted to be fair and read the book before seeing the movie, and here's fair: the book may be better but it's gonna take up days of your life, and the movie is over in 2 hours.
I have to say, there's a lot of aspects to this book that would have made for a fun and interesting short story, or even a serial in an old time pulp magazine. But as a novel, especially one of such ponderous length, it's sorely lacking in execution. The characters that might have been brisk and entertaining in a 20 page story are too obviously one dimentional, and the sexism, rasicm, and just generally obnoxious treatment of anyone who isn't an Arian (whoops, sorry, 'American') ideal of touch action hero manliness is hard to swallow at this length. Not to mention some of the rather over the top plot premises that are difficult to take when presented as 'hard science fiction'. I have read a few books of similar length, and with a good book you hardly notice. But with a poorly constructed one... oh, the pain.
I've noticed a depressing amount of people saying "I never read science fiction but I like this book" or similar in their reviews, and I beg them: READ other science fiction! Any other!Any one that doesn't involve, say, cavemen with harrier jets.
I'd strongly recommend for people really interested in it to get it as a used copy. Who knows? Maybe this'll be the only science fiction book YOU enjoy. Or maybe you'll find it campy. I'll sell you mine, it hasn't been seeing much action lately.
Rating:
Summary: Read only half, or be bored straight to hell!
Review: Ok, look. I already wrote a review awhile ago, and now that I've finally finished the book (6 months later) I'm ready to give you the rundown on this piece of crap. L. Ron Hubbards books are always a bit to compelling for the average reader. Lots of use of scientific words, political matters etc. This book is no exception. HOWEVER, this book is the best he's ever written. Although there are still many pointless boring long annoying points in the book, its still a great page turner, when your reading exciting area. Up to page 500, you wont want to stop reading. Its just great! filled with action and exciting mystery's.
After page 500 it all turns into crap. page 0-500 is about man-kinds revival from the endangered state, the Psychlos an alien race, set them in. It shows how the stupidity of the otherwise clever psychlos, leads the main character Jonnie (a character who becomes extremelely dull after page 500) to re-take the planet. After lots of action, with the help of a few hundred scots, they do in fact re-take the planet.
page 500-1050 is total crap. For starters the main character becomes really annoying, stupid, pointless, un-needed, injured, and dull. He's no fun to read about any more. Plus, Ron decides to add about 20 other random, pointless and also dull characters into the story, leading the book, into pointlessness. Then you will become interested again as new alien invaders come over for some action. But Hubbard leaves us in suspense for about 20 chapters (which really stinks, as you wait to find out more information) and eventually instead of another war, it just leads into the political stage of the book, which almost made me fall asleep while reading, during the afternoon! Luckily this goes back to action again, but like i said pointless characters and a dull main character lead to pure boredom, even when action hits the scenary. All in all, if I were you i would get the book and read up to page 500 and then stop, no matter how interested you are, you will become disapointed if you read on. If you must, rip page 500+ out of the book. If you know that if you hget it you will have to read it all, then DON'T BUY IT! Its pure crap after page 500! Trust me! Ok, I'm out. I hope you enjoy your life by not reading past page 500.
Rating: 
Summary: This has been one of the best books I have read.
Review: Im not to sure why this book is getting mediocre reviews. I love the book, it is an excellent read. Some may find the book's length an obsticle, but it never seemed slow or drawn out to me at all. Ill give that as far as the pure science fiction goes, it is not what ud call ground breaking, but neither is it so far fetched that it is hard to relate to. The main focus of the story is adventure, and it is an excellent adventure. The book focuses on a young man who lives in a small and primitive community that is slowly dying. He leaves his village to find a better home for his tribe and then encounters the race of miners that have taken Earth as a giant minefield. The young man then begins his quest to regain control of Earth from the Psychlos. Ignore these mediocre reviews, you will enjoy this book if you stick with it. If you liked this book, you might also try The Stand by Stephen King, Dune by Frank Herbert, and Ender's Game by Orsen Scott Card.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Science Fiction Novel
Review: First, there is NO overt (or, I would argue, subtle) Scientology in this book; look to L. Ron Hubbard's other works - such as Dianetics - for that. Second, this is a work of science fiction. As such, an author has the ability and - perhaps more importantly - the literary license to stretch and push the boundaries of his fictional world/scenario (including the science and politics) to accomodate the goals of his story. Third, with regard to previous reviewers' comments concerning Hubbard's treatment of women and minorities (which I did not find to be troubling) look at the context of the story; note when it takes place and the conditions under which most of the characters live. That said, I found Battlefield Earth to be a rather enjoyable read. Looking at the book as two parts (conveniently split at the half-way point), the first half generally deals with Humankind's attempt to retake control of planet Earth following a thousand years of alien domination. The second half continues by demonstrating the Earthling's tremendous effort to repel a new alien invasion. The characters are well developed, the suspense riveting, the action electrifying, and the emotions vivid. I have read the book three times (the first time when it was first released), and found it to be as enjoyable each time. While there may be several long stretches of exposition (read: character development, story unfolding on multiple fronts), I did not find this to be troubling or wasteful. While I cannot recommend the film based upon the novel - I felt it was absolutely horrible and only a shadow of the book, I do recommend the novel. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: So bad it's mystifying
Review: Hubbard's self-agrandizing introduction is much more entertaining than the book itself, so do yourself a favor and stop there. Not only is the story flawed, completely unbelievable, and overly simplistic, it's just written badly. Suspension of disbelief is stretched past the breaking point early on, and it only gets worse. Had this book been a 300-pager, it might have worked because the premise is actually quite intriguing. Alas, apparently El-Ron's editors were complete frauds. No editing of any kind was present here -- and it is sorely missed -- so we have a grim tome whose only redeeming quality is never-realized potential. Please don't take that as any type of endorsement. The potential itself is not enough to warrant any effort at reading this book. And believe me, there's considerable effort called for. You actually have to work at finishing this thing. Don't bother. It's just plain bad.
Rating: 
Summary: Its ok...
Review: Now
I'm not gunna say this is the worst book ever, or that it is great! It certainly isnt either. The book is filled with action, and mystery, and deadly, no escaping situations. It is also filled with a lot of crap. Here is the up side!
1. Lots of action gun-fighting, ship flying, hand to hand stuff.
2. Mysteries and questions to never be answered!
3. Deadly situations, and lots of bloody scenes. Downside :(
1. Uses scientific phrases WAY to much. These people are supposed to be back in cave man type stages why is he talking about molecular transactions?
2. The way he talks about other races and women is justa little off.
3. REALLY LONG! Ok thats it. Just a few more things! BEWARE: This book takes an EXTREMELY long time to read. I've been reading this book for a year and I'm not even half way through! 1052 pages of microscopic typing! It is not an easy thing!
Rating:
Summary: SCIENTOLOGISTS ARE BAD PEOPLE
Review: SCIENTOLIGISTS WANT TO KILL PEOPLE IN THE END. STAY AWAY FROM THIS BOOK. HUBBARD IS THE ANTICHRIST
Rating:
Summary: This could have been far better.
Review: The real shame of this book is that underneath all of the wretched qualities, there could have been a fairly interesting story. This is the only reason I gave it two stars, because by all other accounts this novel deserves the lowest possible rating. The characters are unrealistic, to use the phrase "two-dimensional" would be an insult to a thousand really lovely paintings. Even worse is the author's treatment of women and people of other nationalities than caucasian. The use of archtypical characterizations can be quite good in the hands of an artist, but Hubbard is by no means an artist. His plodding, juvenile prose is mind numbing, to say the least. Every once in a while you come across a section that seems to be vagually more inspired, and you have to wonder if these were parts of the original draft that were then lost in a sea of endless filler in an attempt to write the "biggest SF adventure ever." Hubbard's grasp of science and the workings of the mind could be refuted by nearly any 7th or 8th grader. It leaves you to wonder just what exactly "hard science fiction" was in the mind of Hubbard, as that is what he pathetically tries to claim this book is in the introduction. Then there is the thinly veiled Scientology propaganda that litters the book. Don't believe what the front page review says. Hubbard's paranoia and dillusional beliefs are evident from the very first page. I suppose if one did not know anything about the cult they might not see it, but if you've done any research at all into Scientology, the references are more than obvious. Curiously, the reputation of this book as being something worthwhile lingers. Perhaps it is the premise, which as I hinted at above, is somewhat compelling. Maybe it is just the marketing. The fact remains, no matter how many poor reviews it gets, you'll probably end up reading it if you've arrived at this point. Take my advice, use your local public library. Get the curiosity out of your system and return it. Even buying this book out of a dusty bargain bin for several dollars would be a rip off.
Rating: 
Summary: fun sci-fi book
Review: I would like to recommend Battlefield Earth to all the students that are willing to spend their time reading this big book. It's a preety good sci-fi book that contains the elements and portayal from the Star Wars and Star Trek series. This book is hard to put down because you want to finish this book since it's pretty long, and since it's over 1,000 pages to spend the hours read a book. I thought the story would be like a hero tries saving the world from the evil aliens whom took over the world, but then it has a twist in the middle of the story, so it changed the story a little bit. The story had a great things like: characters' roles, plot, and the attention grabber that makes you wanted to keep going for more things that happen. Jonnie, who is the hero of the story plans to make a journey in a community in the Rocky Mountains. He eventually tries to stop the evil Psycholos from making the world even worse. The cover and title should give the you an idea on when does the story takes place. Battlefield Earth has a unique writing style that, even I can understand what the book says. It's probably the best sci-fi book I ever read because it has a diffrent way of telling the story and has all the high-tech weapons and the future look and other things. This author really did a great job on this book because of this ideas he put for Battlefield Earth they're really great who would think of something from the movies and out of them into this book. L Ron Hubbard tried to make the best sci-fi by using other other peoples' ideas to think up the elements that can be best suited for all readers to read about. The book has action, laughter, and drama to make things more interesting than the typical plot. I thought, some of the names were wacky, but then they were just real humans and alien names. I hoped that all of you readers could read it better than me because I wouldn't want to pick another long book again
Rating:
Summary: My favorite Sci-fi novel
Review: I loved this book! I have been a Science Fiction fan since I was old enough to read and I have read countless sci-fi books and I think I can say I enjoyed this one the best. I noticed on some of the other reviews critism about a "juvenile" writing style: I beg to differ - I find it's refreshing! I am as literate as anyone but when I read a story I like to read a story, not a jumble of often extraneous words or ponderous thoughts. In a terse style, similar to other favorite authors of mine, such as Asimov and Christie, Hubbard keeps you rivited to the end. He paints a very vivid picture of a civilization and alien races. You feel put right into the midst of the action and with sharp insight into the characters (without verbiage). Personally, I like a hero to be a real hero with power and intelligence and you definitely get that in this book!
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