science fictions

"Battlefield: Earth" undoubtably elicits a number of emotions from people. Some regard it as the penultimate work of science fiction ever written. Others think it the outline of a lunatic's religion. Mostly though, people just think of John Travolta and laugh.

The book is helped fantastic storytelling, but suffers from many crippling problems.

The first, major problem is the length. Clocking in at 1050 pages, Hubbard tries to hold your attention throughout years of events. At this, he fails. The story starts off very strong, gripping from the first line. After about 400 to 500 pages, when the story could've been easily finished, it starts to slide. It was dry reading from the start, but for the first half of the book there were at least some exciting events happening. The latter half has little of that. And yes, Hubbard's writing does indeed read like a children's book, but consider that even with his choppy structure it's a long book. Would you rather read a slightly better, but longer version?

Now then. complaint number two: the characters. I found the Psychlos to be far more interesting than the humans. Terl was always cunning and the only thing that kept me reading was to see what he had planned next. Of course, after page 500 he pretty much just sat around on his furry bum. Ker was another good character, albiet cliched, along with Chirk. Numph and Zzt also added good elements too the plot.

As for the humans, I couldn't care less what happened to them. Jonnie Goodboy Tyler was annoyingly confident. Hubbard writes him as if he can do no wrong. I was almost rooting for his rival to get revenge on him. His "girlfriend" Chrissie (yes, Chrissie -- Valley Girl of the Future) and he are in love ... or so we assume. It's never really said nor clear why they like each other.

Overall, it's not a bad book; it's simply overwieldy and dry. Perhaps if it were written as two or three books, it might fare better, but then Mr. Hubbard wouldn't have the "longest SF novel ever written under his belt". Is it worth reading? Yes. Will you have to force yourself through it? Yes. Will you be satisfied? ... you'll have to see. Can John Travolta ever redeem himself? Only if Tarantino does that "Vega Brothers" film.

I love this book. I've read it four or five times now and find it better each time. The only reason I don't give it five stars is that it IS a bit hokey (i.e., simplistic). But, its sheer massiveness and level of fun outweighs that. A science fiction classic that is well worth reading. WARNING: under no circumstances watch the movie -- that thing sucks.

I picked up a used copy of Battlefield Earth at a local bookstore for a few reasons: I had heard good things about the author, L. Ron Hubbard, but never read any of his books; the back cover rightly said the pace was " . . . fast, unrelenting 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' action . . . . a real page turner"; and it was over 1,000 pages long, perfect for my three week trip. However, I unfortunately looked at the first few pages on the way home from the book store and finished in a week and a half, before my trip had even begun!

Once I started it, I simply COULD NOT put it down! The action never let up and the characters, especially Terl, the arch villain, were very real. The Psychlos are the perfect science fiction conquering aliens, complete in every detail down to their unique number system based on 11. After Jonnie, the brave hero in a world that had stagnated by the year 3000, left his village and was captured by Terl after attacking (and nearly beating) a Psychlo assault tank, the plot only got better. I was kept on my toes wondering whether Jonnie and the others, with their machine-given intelligence, would meet the deadline to deliver the gold they had been forced to mine. I thought the book would end with Jonnie and the Scots teleporting the coffins of uranium to Psychlo. However, then came the other aspects, like Brown Limper, the "Mayor" of Jonnie's village, the Tolneps, and - well, I won't spoil the rest.

Don't see the movie of this book, because it is well known to be one of the worst adaptations of a novel ever. Battlefield Earth is an awesome book by itself and every bit as good as other science fiction classics such as Dune, Ender's Game, and the Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov. This is a great book to read again and again.