Battlefield Earth

Battlefield Earth takes place in a dark, distant future where our Earth has been conquered by powerful aliens, the Psychlos. These Psychlos want the natural resources of planet Earth, and have taken over all human society in order to get that. Many humans are dead, but some people have survived, though, living in small, backwards communities.

The main protagonist, Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, leads a rebellion against the oppressive Psychlos, seeking to overthrow their rule and reclaim Earth for humans.  So, in the story of the human hero, Goodboy, against the evil alien Psychlos, well, it can get a bit heavy-handed, in that pulpy scifi way. You do have to be in the right mood for massive evil aliens and a handsome scrappy hero. There’s an epic feel with hugely high stakes. The theme of a small group of smart, dedicated  human allies, led by the charistmatic young Jonnie,  fighting unmitigated evil makes for retro scifi adventure.

This is a scifi adventure on a grand scale, introducing a dystopian future, and then showing the kind of human ingenuity and strength needed to defeat it.  There’s a theme of human resilience, as our characters have no training and no resources, and are pretty much fighting for survival from the beginning. Johnny’s determination to resist the Psychlos’ rule is encouraging and appealing.  Battlefield Earth has some warm vibes, too, as Jonnie and his scrappy human allies team up to work together.

Overall, this is a wild scifi adventure, with many twists and turns. I read this as an ebook, and kept thinking the story must be almost over, and then there would be another discovery and another twist. I saw this quote and it sums up my feelings on this pulpy, dramatic scifi adventure:

“Over 1,000 pages of thrills, spills, vicious aliens and noble humans. I found Battlefield Earth un-put-downable.” —Neil Gaiman