Battlefield Earth (Book)
Hello all! It's TheAnderson5! Today, I will be talking about Battlefield Earth! I finished reading this masterpiece a little while ago, and it kept me engaged the entire time! It is a 1000+ page book, so that is kind of impressive. I mean, that book is just a page-turner the entire time through. So, now I'll tell you more about it.
The story is set in the far, far future. Aliens have conquered and settled earth, and have been mining it for gold. There are humans left, but have been forced to settle in areas that have large amounts of uranium in the area, as it makes the gas that the aliens breathe explode. So they are alive, but they have to deal with the issues that living next to uranium brings. The plot begins to unfold when one of the aliens hatches a plot to get off of Planet Earth, which he was assigned years ago to by the vast, inter-universal (No joke) mining company he works in. He find a huge vein of gold, but there is uranium near the vein of gold, so he can't go and mine it. He learns that humans still live on the planet, and starts exploring to find humans to train them to mine the gold.
At the same time, there is a human living in one of the small colonies left. He wonders why no one will go to settle in areas that have more food, building materials, etc. and always gets the same answer: Because of the monsters. Not believing in the monsters (The aliens) he starts to explore the surface.
Anyways, I'll leave it there for the description. Now, I'll talk about why I keep saying it's such a good book!
Battlefield Earth is a piece of art. It leaves you wondering what is going to happen next, and completely surprises you at times. Just when you think the story is about to end, a plot twist emerges and opens up dozens of new possible outcomes of the scenario the main characters are in.
(SPOILERS in the next few paragraphs in case you want to skip them. :-])
More than that, it also has appeal for nerds like me. It is loaded with vast, technical explanations of how the technologies in the story works, and lots of math. I mean, not your average, everyday math. There is a base eleven (11!) numerical system in the story!
Another part of the story I enjoyed is where the human is exploring the surface, and finds a ruined city. He begins to explore the ruined buildings, and finds objects, and tries to figure out what they are, and as he's describing it, you realize "Oh! He's looking at a quarter!" or "He's looking at what used to be a lamppost!". It also provides an interesting perspective when he is trying to figure out what something is. It makes you wonder what people a thousand years from now would think something we use everyday today is. Later in the story, he is on the moon, and finds tire tracks and empty wrappers. You wonder what it is, then realize that he is looking at the site of the moon landing.
(SPOILERS ENDING :-])
Battlefield Earth is a great story. I rate it on the same level as the Lord Of The Rings, and I don't say that lightly. (I mean, I have read all of the LOTR series, watched all the movies, read and watched The Hobbit, own a video game based off of the movies, etc.). Since I have finished it, I have descended into the show-hole of books.
Anyways, I just wanted to share this great book with you guys. I hope you are doing well and have a good day!