Rating: Summary: Classic Sci Fi Review: Battlefield Earth is, to my mind, one of the classics of its genre. I have read this book more times than I can count, actually wearing out my first copy! The pulp background of Hubbard is very evident. There is no doubt who is good/evil, who will win in the end, etc. Even with these limitations though, this is just a great book! That being said, don't expect the same qualities from L. Ron Hubbard's other sci-fi titles. His Mission Earth series was terrible. Actually, I can only speak of the first four books, I could not force myself to read any more of them. In closing, I would recommended this book to anyone who likes science fiction. I am an avid reader and this ranks as one of my favorites.
Rating: Summary: A Masterpiece of Science Fiction! Review: L. Ron Hubbard wrote a complete masterpiece with this book. I could not put it down. I kept me wrapped up in it for days. I could hardly find time for anything else when I read this incredible tale. I had so many plot twists and turns, and Hubbard has an incredible vocabulary, I can see how the novice reader might get lost. Hubbard really has a command of the roaring adventure tale like few in literature in modern times. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and it made me a Hubbard fan! I think if you actually read the book you will enjoy it. It seems by some of the reviews that many people attacking Hubbard never really read the book, but have some sort of psychotic vendetta against the man personally. This man wrote an incredible book of Science fiction adventure far superior to many contemporaries of his day. Perhaps these people are jealous of his skill? It would not be the first profession I have seen attacked for being great. Anyway, I enjoyed the book. It was one hell of a ride. You should read it to. Thank you Mr. Hubbard for the wonderful story.
Rating: Summary: So-so sci-fi Review: Battlefield Earth is fairly good most of the way through, starting with Jonnie Tyler's travails as a backward stone-age human captured by aliens who have conquered earth long ago. Jonnie's struggle to escape slavery and lead a revolt against the aliens is the best part of the book, covering the first half to 2/3rd's of the book, where the book reaches an action packed climax. However, the last part of the book gets very tedious and complicated, with lots of financial intrigue that gets rather boring. I hope the movie version sticks to the action and leaves out the last part of the book.
Rating: Summary: Not worth the time. Review: The only reason I gave this book one star is because there is no lower rating available. I would have to suspect that Scientologists have been enlisted to give this book favorable ratings in order to put the book in a good light. Hubbard's halting disjointed writing style may be tolerable for a 4th grader but not for anyone of any intelligence. Not only that but he just keeps going on and on and on with this horrible plot and shoddy character development. If you want to read something by a Sci-Fi writer of some note check out "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. This awful narrative would have been better suited to a 6 or 7 page short story in a magazine with very low circulation.
Rating: Summary: PAGE TURNER Review: Awesome sci-fi! Over a thousand pages in 5 days. I couldn't put it down
Rating: Summary: A Cave Man Conquers The Universe Review: The number one of the top five Sci-Fi's ever written. That's all that really needs to be said.
Rating: Summary: Great Science Fiction Review: A friend recommended this book to me. I was a little reluctant to start reading a thousand pages by an author I had never read before, but it was worth it. The book is fast paced action for almost the entire thousand pages. The setting is close to home but with sprawling potential. The only drawback is that the characters are all under developed. However, on the whole I would definitly say, "read it."
Rating: Summary: Talk about a thrilling ride Review: I'll have to admit the only reason I first picked up this book was to get a background on the movie coming out this summer. After only a few pages, my imagination was captured, and I felt compelled to read all eight billion pages of it. Although it did lack in character value, and there always seemed to be a new twist around the corner, very few sci fi works come close to this immense undertaking. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys sci fi.
Rating: Summary: You don't need to know about Scientology to enjoy this! Review: I read Battlefield Earth many years ago, picking it up a used bookstore for next to nothing. I had no idea about the author, his beliefs or anything. I just found the title intriguing and decided to give it a shot. To my surprise, the book was exciting, full of unbelievable action and had unforgettable characters, especially the villain of the book, an alien from a race called the "Psychlos", conquerors of man, "an endangered species" in the year 3000. No human could be as inhuman as that alien, Terl, who is absolutely diabolical and self-centered. While there are many plot holes through the book and many inconsistencies in character development, including poor writing in parts, predictability of certain situations, etc. it is nonetheless a great read and absolutely riveting. Many years later, I happened to read about Ron Hubbard and the so called cult of "Scientology", of which I have very little understanding, not enough anyway to offer intelligent criticism. I was shocked to realize that this was the same author whose book I had immensely enjoyed. I did read some of the Mission Earth volumes and found it very badly written, although certain plot themes were interesting and there were some good moments in some of the books. However, I couldn't finish that series as I soon lost interest after the initial few volumes. I am definitely looking forward to the movie and hope it will be as exciting as the book. Give it a chance and it's not necessary to read all the pages, given the extraordinary length of the book. There are large sections which can be skipped altogether and this, however, does not detract the central theme of conflict between the protagonist human hero, Johnny Goodboy Tyler and the arch villain, Terl.
Rating: Summary: GeeWhiz Review: Battlefield Earth is classic science fiction with good characterization by a science fiction master of the Golden Age. The movie should be great fun.
|