Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000

Written by L. Ron Hubbard

Narrated by Josh Clark and Stefan Rudnicki

A thousand years in the future, an alien empire has overrun the planet and the human race has become an endangered species. Now all that stands between mankind and total extinction is a courageous young man determined to rally the scattered tribes of his species to take on the technologically advanced oppressors. It's one of the bestselling sci-fi novels of all time — nonstop action, adventure and intergalactic intrigue.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Galaxy Audio
• Release date: Apr 29, 2024
• ISBN: 9781619865129

L. Ron Hubbard

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 350 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most acclaimed and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and '40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard.

Reviews for Battlefield Earth

[lilyroseshadowlyn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Whew this was a long one. I'm sure many are familiar with L Ron Hubbard as the creator of Scientology - I'm not going to let that have any bearing on this review, because really my opinions on the author's beliefs have nothing to do with how I feel about the book itself. I've never seen the movie, but I found the book to be an interesting post-apocalyptic saga of the resilience of mankind. Civilization, if you can call it that, has been thrown back to basics, although some remnants of what the world once was still remain. The big challenge is navigating the aliens that now control Earth as a human, and surviving in a world mankind no longer dominates. Following Johnny on his journey out of his settlement, exploring fallen cities, and trying to survive being captured by aliens was fascinating. The descriptions are vivid, and the thought of the world one-day ending up this way is chilling. A great sci-fi saga that has withstood the test of time.

[pallandavid · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The basic story is good but it is sooooo wordy! Especially the last 100-150 pages. This could do good with a Reader's Digest condensation.

[bookwyrmm_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hubbard is a highly detailed and imaginative writer, but each section would have worked better as a novella in a series rather than all together in a 1K page tome.

[marcuk-502011 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very entertaining read...

[cmc_22 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book is so bad, after I'd read it the first time, and some time had passed, I couldn't believe it could be as bad as I remembered it being. But it was.

[robertday_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up to read because a well-known fan had assured me (and lots of other people) that this was so bad, it was good.It wasn't. It was worse than that.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

L. Ron Hubbard may be better known now as the father of Scientology but he wrote some great classic science fiction. This opus tells the story of the battle for earth in the year 3000.

[bemislibrary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This pulp fiction story has all the basics. Hubbard includes adventure, gritty characters, science fiction environment, and superficial relationships. The familiar alien invasion, good versus evil theme, includes environment devastation along with human genocide. There is a slim chance that the human race will survive or overcome the Psychos invaders, but Jonnie, the hero of the story, sets out to accomplish that goal. At times, the action requires the reader to suspend logical and statistical probabilities. In addition, there is just enough character development to keep the plot moving. It is one of those books, a person has to pick up and decide whether it is worth the time commitment to be able to judge whether it is worth reading.

[linda.bass · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book in exchange for an honest review an was amazed at the foresight of this author! This book is not a fast read, but it goes into detail of what could happen if ruthless aliens decided they wanted the riches of our planet and would stop at nothing to take them! Not even earth's combined military is enough to stop the Psychlos from achieving their mission, but one lone boy/man is captured, treated like an animal until he has the chance to save earth, but Johnnie Tyler wonders how he can achieve the impossible when all of earth's superpowers couldn't? One thing he knows is it is better to die trying than be kept in a cage as an animal......

[jspringbrinkley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Literally could not put this book down. One of my favorites, but I refuse to watch the ridiculous looking John Travolta movie.

[ptbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't a big science fiction fan until I read this book. The characters and plot were so interesting I was annoyed when I had to stop reading the book to go to work. The bad guys are despicable and the good guys are awesome. I highly recommend it, even if you are not a science fiction fan.

[bruce_deming_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the best book I ever read in scope and smooth development of character and plot. Quite epic.

Mr Hubbard entirely escaped my attention when in my retail book selling days and I rather thought he was a fiction as a fiction writer, likely because I wasn't much of a Sci Fi reader and many of his earlier titles were not in print on trade lines. I tended towards historical novels, and the creativeness of the accompanying art of the sci fi genre was not really understood or appreciated by me yet even though we sold a ton of books with Frank Frazetta artwork I was not in the creative groove here.

The main character is nice and bright and caring and simple who has a lot to learn and a lot of problems to solve to prevent the extinction of people, the human race. Pretty dramatic.

The suspense factor of having so many problems introduced that need resolution just kept me on the edge of my seat, or up late late at night, to find out how it would all end.

I'm glad I read this book. Even 7 times or so. I have a tendency to do that with my favorite stories. Did that with Lord of The Rings and some of the Oz books when younger. I guess I marveled at such creativity.

The first time I read Battlefield Earth, I thought the story would be over about midway through after the main intensely suspenseful military segment was concluding and I thought "What more could there be?" but what followed was diplomacy, finance and a peace tome economy to build among other things.

I guess we hear so little of such things in the news that that is why I expected it to end with the military climax....

I expect the upcoming unabridged audiobook to be superb

[jonbee56_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is the reason I joined 'Library Thing'.The book is so bad that I had to read it all to tell people how bad it is. Without reading it, I could not state a warranted opinion. The only good thing about the author was the way he found the tax avoidance loophole by creating the Church of Scientology. You just gotta give credit where it's due

[kimcatalano · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an epic Science Fiction book and a must read. 1,000 pages of pure action. The main character is factually up against all odds to save the last of the human race and he has many aliens and other species he's got to contend with. The ending is incredible and you just need to make sure you clear out your schedule when you start this one!

[juliebooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite all time SF adventures! The audio just released on a playaway -- I definitely recommend it. You will have a hard time putting this one down -- but with playaway, you can bring it with you just about anywhere, Enjoy!

[etimme_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

One dimensional space epic with no complex themes. The internal dialogue is formulaic and clumsy and the good/evil conflicts are too transparent to enjoy. I put the book down after 344 pages at the point that Terl tries to kill Johnny Goodboy after getting his gold and couldn't pick it back up. The message I got from the book is that "things will work out in the end if your quest is righteous."

[06nwingert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy long books, and Battlefield Earth happens to be the world's longest book. Hubbard's writing and storytelling is great, but Hollywood messed it up (not to mention Hubbard is the creator of scientology, which adds another layer of craziness to this tome).

[cameronl_51 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good science fiction? No. But pure pulp. Fun, stupid read. Just check your brain at the door.

[tadad_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Let's see: Cardboard characters...check!Unbelievable plot...check!Bad science...check!Poor writing skills...check!Yep, it's got it all.But, by my own standards, I couldn't give it the ½ star rating it really deserves. I had such a sick fascination with it that I actually skimmed through the middle 700 pages to find out how this gobbler was brought to an end. That would make it a 1½ star book. Impossible!...I'll average it to 1 star.Oh, I forgot to mention the introduction Mr. Hubbard wrote for the book that evidenced an ego the size of California.Do not buy this book!

[gmanrodt · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Horrid. Absolutely horrid. I must first, for honesty's sake, unashamedly admit that gave up on this book at page 511. I figure if you read 500 pages of a book and you still hate it, it is time to quit. The characters the Hubbard portrays are lifeless, cardboard, cliché caricatures. The Psychlos are flat and stupid. To be continually outwitted by a farmboy, using their own technology, was eventually too much to take. Hubbard’s writing style leaves much to be desired. He uses clichés, is very wordy, and repetitive. It is mind-boggling that he is able to fill so many pages, while saying so little. All that being said, however, my biggest complaint was how unrealistic his character dialog’s were. No one talks like this. I have seen B-Movies with better dialog.All in all, I would recommend reading ANYTHING else. I have not read a book this bad in memory.

[jdayrutherford · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I think it is suffcient to say "AWFUL". Just way to long to waste time on.

[kevlarrelic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Man, did I love this book. First of all, I was entranced by the way it all worked out, sometimes in ways that I couldn't imagine, yet still logical. I always love to be surprised.Secondly, I loved to watch a struggling underdog overcome the insurmountable odds against him. After I finished reading this book I wanted to put a poster of the main character, Johnny, on my bedroom wall, that's how cool I think he is.And finally, it's HUGE! And that just means there is more of a good thing.So, if you're like me, kinda into science fiction, and you ( thank god ) haven't had your expectations soiled by the god-awful movie, check this book out!