hello

I just finished reading the book Battlefield Earth. and it turned out to be better than expected. though some parts did drag, all in all it was a very good book.

what did you guys think of it?

-- joey

I read it, about ten years ago, I think. Any book that's close to 900 pages is going to drag at times .
Overall, I didn't think it was that bad--very pulp-y, old timey 'action/scifi.' Definitely not for everyone, but the type of book the blurbs usually call something like 'swashbuckling.'
Now, you want a long read, try his Mission Earth series....10 books--until the Left Behind thing, it was the 'biggest science fiction dekalogy ever.' I actually, somehow, made it through the entire series...
Have you read anything else by Hubbard? Somehow, even the stuff that was more recent, has an old, 'golden age' feel to it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
I actually have Battlefield Earth on my 'to-read-again' shelf....sometime ; )

nope, actually Battlefield Earth is my first Hubbard book, and I'm kind of curious what to read next. The Mission Earth series looks daunting, but maybe i'll pick up the first book

Final Blackout looks interesting. Looks like Heinlein liked it very much.

Would you know when Hubbard wrote Battlefield Earth?

I did like Final Blackout. Even though it was a 'war novel', it seemed focused more on the characters personalities and interpersonal dynamics.
Battlefield Earth was published in 1982, but I think it was written a while before then. My copy is in a closet buried behind a bunch of stuff, hard to get to, so I can't get to it to read the introduction where it talks about that. I'll see if I can dig it out.
I don't recommend 'Ole Doc Methuselah,' or 'Slaves of Sleep/Masters of Sleep.' SoS/MoS was better than ODM, but there are much better LRon books out there. SoS/MoS is very cliched, making it a quick read; and ODM had a major plot point which was definitely non-PC, and somewhat offensive [I am not PC, but this plot point really bugged me, as hypocritical.]

Battlefield Earth really wasn't as bad as the movie may have made it seem. It was entertaining enough, the second part more than the first in my opinion. Mission Earth is something else. It has been a very long time since I've read it, from my recollections I'd give it a 6 on a 1-10 scale. Nothing fabulous.

Don't even compare the movie with the book, John Travolta must have just read the back of the dustcover, and written the movie based on that.
I thoroughly enjoy the book, and I have read it about 10-15 times... I have read the Mission Earth series, and it was enjoyable, although parts were clunky. I have a few more of his books, but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

Correction to my above post: I believe BE was written as a 'thank you' from LRon to his fans for supporting him during 50 years of writing, so it may have actually been completed around '82.
I never saw BE the movie, I did dearly want it not to suck, because the story itself is enjoyable.
LF: Agreed, some of ME was clunky, and it wasn't up to the level of, say, The Past Through Tomorrow [Heinlein, or in fact almost any of his works] or the Bio of a Space Tyrant series [Anthony], but I think it gains points just for the sheer magnitude of the work. But I'd agree with both of your opinions, 6/10 or 'enjoyable.'

ya, my book also said 1982, and so that's why I was verifying because it seemed to have been written so late in his career but now it makes sense.

My understanding is that a lot of the M.E. "dekology" was written after Elron died.

Make of this what you will!