GregHowley.com

The Invaders Plan certainly was a disappointment after the expectations I'd developed from reading Battlefield Earth. It was a boring, predictable, and very long story told from the perspective of a simultaneously conniving and idiotic antagonist in a completely dystopian setting.

I can't imagine how or why this book and its nine sequels made the best-seller list. The characters are amongst the most unconvincing in any story I've read. The viewpoint character, as I mentioned, is a total idiot who has somehow managed to rise to a high rank in what amounts to the mafia wing of the government in this alien society, which on one hand is remarkably similar to Earth and on the other hand looks down at and scoffs Earth as primitive. He's the stereotypical unreliable narrator, only he's not well done. When the Dudley DoRight character suddenly walks in and the lecherous widow suddenly goes all weak in the knees, the evil viewpoint character becomes uncomfortable, thinking that he is the source of her twitterpation. Many such instances occur, in which he'd have to be an idiot not to see what's happening. At one point, he's making such a fool of himself that Dudley DoRight can't keep a straight face, and mister brilliant's take on it is that he's "Having a problem with his mouth", a deduction that he repeats no less than four times in two pages. Yes, we understand that what he's saying isn't the truth. Yes, we understand that this character is evil and cares nothing about anyone but himself. Where other authors approach the Unreliable Narrator with subtlety, L.Ron Hubbard hits you in the face with a sledgehammar, and then hits you a few more times for good measure.

Believe it or not, I actually read all the way through a sex scene without realizing that it was a sex scene until a character was putting on his pants. It doesn't help that the lecherous widow apparently has loud orgasms randomly throughout the day while going about ordinary daily tasks.

The protagonist, who oddly is not the main character, is everything that the viewpoint character is not. He immediately succeeds in any physical or mental task with no apparent effort, making deductions that would put Sherlock Holmes to shame and risking his life for the smallest good deed. Throughout the book, any character that meets him, however dispicable, immediately becomes his friend and turns over a new leaf. With the exception of our main character of course.

For once, I do NOT recommend this book. Spend your time doing something better, like washing dishes.