Scan barcode
A review by tashalostinbooks
Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 by L. Ron Hubbard
2.0
I received this book free from Goodreads' giveaways.
I finally finished! This book feels like three separate books; it should have been a trilogy. If I were only rating the first third of this book I would have given it four stars; five if I had read it as a teen. It started out great. The psychological tension. The battle of wits. Terl learning about humans; Jonnie learning about Psychlos. Terl trying to manipulate Jonnie; Jonnie trying to outsmart Terl. Terl beginning to fracture. Jonnie piecing together Earth's past. Both of them making intricate plans, and amending them and moving forward when they go awry. It was fascinating.
Then somewhere between page 350 and 400 the book changed. It started to meander. It got repetitive. It got boring. It got repetitive. By the midway point I was actively rooting against humanity. If they got wiped out the book would at least end. More and more characters were added. Too many. All with their own plans. Things got stupidly convoluted for no apparent reason. Then just when I thought the book was done it went on for another 100 or so pages. I chewed countless saucepans of kerbango just to get through it.
The book does helpfully tell you what to think about government, psychology, medicine, lawyers, bankers, economics, taxes, and even architecture.
My edition contains an interview with L. Ron Hubbard at the end. It was interesting.
I finally finished! This book feels like three separate books; it should have been a trilogy. If I were only rating the first third of this book I would have given it four stars; five if I had read it as a teen. It started out great. The psychological tension. The battle of wits. Terl learning about humans; Jonnie learning about Psychlos. Terl trying to manipulate Jonnie; Jonnie trying to outsmart Terl. Terl beginning to fracture. Jonnie piecing together Earth's past. Both of them making intricate plans, and amending them and moving forward when they go awry. It was fascinating.
Then somewhere between page 350 and 400 the book changed. It started to meander. It got repetitive. It got boring. It got repetitive. By the midway point I was actively rooting against humanity. If they got wiped out the book would at least end. More and more characters were added. Too many. All with their own plans. Things got stupidly convoluted for no apparent reason. Then just when I thought the book was done it went on for another 100 or so pages. I chewed countless saucepans of kerbango just to get through it.
The book does helpfully tell you what to think about government, psychology, medicine, lawyers, bankers, economics, taxes, and even architecture.
My edition contains an interview with L. Ron Hubbard at the end. It was interesting.