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Mission Earth #2
Black Genesis
The fantastic Mission Earth saga continues with Black Genesis, as the aliens implement their insidious plan to infiltrate Earth society. Every volume of the Mission Earth series has been a New York Times bestseller and a Literary Guild Alternate Selection. Get in on the profits b y cashing in on Mission Earth-Mania!
431 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
67 people are currently reading
728 people want to read
About the author
L. Ron Hubbard
1,929 books650 followersL. Ron Hubbard is universally acclaimed as the single most influential author and humanitarian of this modern age. His definitive works on the mind and spirit—comprising over 350 million copies in circulation and more than 40 international bestsellers—have resulted in a legacy benefiting millions and a movement spanning all cultures.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
March 5, 2012
Two stars again for the second book! But the author added some action scenes on this one. The Aliens already landed on our planet and that's on Turkey. The main Extraterrestrial character was still familiarizing about the do's and don'ts of our planet Earth and he can easily adapt to it. But I like the flow of this book compared to the previous one. And I also agree about the real causes of drugs in every country/society, which L. Ron Hubbard explained on this book... That other countries use drugs in order to manipulate and control the government and citizens of other targeted countries.
May 6, 2018
Overtly long and badly written
25 May 2012
Well it seems that there are not many positive reviews of this book, or this series in fact, though Wikipedia does attempt to be neutral in its discussion of it, though when it refers to the reviews of the critics then it is really difficult to find somebody who is positive. The suggestion is that the characters are one dimensional and shallow, there is nothing really all that original in the story, and that the book is overtly long with no reason for it to be so. Further, it can be very difficult and painful to read, particularly with some of the graphic details that appear. Further, people have even attempted to get this book banned, though for a book to appear on the banned list it has to be a lot more than just badly written.
In this book Jethro and Soltan arrive on Earth and land in a secret base in Turkey. The base is located in a mountain that has an illusion covering it, though one must suspect that nobody actually climbs the mountain because one would suspect that if they do so then the illusion will be uncovered. They then go out on their respective missions, Jethro to save Earth and Soltan to prevent Jethro from doing so.
Hubbard has a big problem with psychology and psychiatry, considering them to be the reason why things on Earth are so bad. In his idealistic world, we would get rid of these professions, and in turn get rid of drugs, since drugs are a part of a government conspiracy to undermine the governments and populations of enemy nations. I probably would agree that drugs are destructive, but America has been scourged by drugs for decades and it still stands strong. However, a further argument could be that drugs are used to keep the underclass suppressed so that they don't rise up and overthrow the powers that be.
I want to finish off with a quick mention of psychology (and its medical cousin psychiatry). Now, first of all they are very inexact sciences, and as one has suggested, that the science is still medieval. However, I would not necessarily consider them bad, only the practitioners. Psychology for instance is really designed to assist in behavioural abnormalities. Now most people who go and see psychs tend to be too embarrassed to tell anybody, but to be honest with you that is the case for all medical problems. However, as a quick matter to finish off, Psychology is not necessarily about control and submission, but about assisting people to think well, to develop their self-confidence, and to become a productive member of society. I suspect that certain elements don't like psychology as it encourages people to think for themselves and to feel good about themselves, whereas these groups would much prefer us to feel ashamed of ourselves and to hand ourselves and our will over to them so that they may control us (and I am not necessarily speaking about Scientology here, I am pointing the finger at a lot of organised religious institutions). As George Bernard Shaw once said, 'beware of the man whose God is in the sky'.
25 May 2012
Well it seems that there are not many positive reviews of this book, or this series in fact, though Wikipedia does attempt to be neutral in its discussion of it, though when it refers to the reviews of the critics then it is really difficult to find somebody who is positive. The suggestion is that the characters are one dimensional and shallow, there is nothing really all that original in the story, and that the book is overtly long with no reason for it to be so. Further, it can be very difficult and painful to read, particularly with some of the graphic details that appear. Further, people have even attempted to get this book banned, though for a book to appear on the banned list it has to be a lot more than just badly written.
In this book Jethro and Soltan arrive on Earth and land in a secret base in Turkey. The base is located in a mountain that has an illusion covering it, though one must suspect that nobody actually climbs the mountain because one would suspect that if they do so then the illusion will be uncovered. They then go out on their respective missions, Jethro to save Earth and Soltan to prevent Jethro from doing so.
Hubbard has a big problem with psychology and psychiatry, considering them to be the reason why things on Earth are so bad. In his idealistic world, we would get rid of these professions, and in turn get rid of drugs, since drugs are a part of a government conspiracy to undermine the governments and populations of enemy nations. I probably would agree that drugs are destructive, but America has been scourged by drugs for decades and it still stands strong. However, a further argument could be that drugs are used to keep the underclass suppressed so that they don't rise up and overthrow the powers that be.
I want to finish off with a quick mention of psychology (and its medical cousin psychiatry). Now, first of all they are very inexact sciences, and as one has suggested, that the science is still medieval. However, I would not necessarily consider them bad, only the practitioners. Psychology for instance is really designed to assist in behavioural abnormalities. Now most people who go and see psychs tend to be too embarrassed to tell anybody, but to be honest with you that is the case for all medical problems. However, as a quick matter to finish off, Psychology is not necessarily about control and submission, but about assisting people to think well, to develop their self-confidence, and to become a productive member of society. I suspect that certain elements don't like psychology as it encourages people to think for themselves and to feel good about themselves, whereas these groups would much prefer us to feel ashamed of ourselves and to hand ourselves and our will over to them so that they may control us (and I am not necessarily speaking about Scientology here, I am pointing the finger at a lot of organised religious institutions). As George Bernard Shaw once said, 'beware of the man whose God is in the sky'.
July 15, 2024
Overly simplistic, laughable two dimensional characters lacking and redeemable development. entertaining when viewed through a lens of humored parody. I laughed many times at the middle school jokes packed into this ridiculous action scifi comedy.
If it wasn't so dumb it would be trash.
If it wasn't so dumb it would be trash.
April 24, 2023
Hubbard’s weirdness and foibles come through in this book and he is writing to settle grievances against the world, and today it’s easy to get that from this book. Hubbard doesn’t belong on the list of great sci-fi (with only one exception), but for me I enjoy re-visiting the irrelevance of bad social commentary through today’s eyes. I compare this book to Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfires of the Vanities”, at the time one would have thought it was a masterpiece but today one realizes the social commentary that was intended is offensive. Also, for example, when I reread Grisham, today I cringe for similar reasons. The novels from the 1980s sometimes don’t stand the test of time.
Read this today, but realize that it mostly can appeal to only curmudgeons, or the naïve.
Read this today, but realize that it mostly can appeal to only curmudgeons, or the naïve.
September 9, 2023
I know this is a 10 book series and therefore the plot is going to be dragged out but it still felt like this installment was mostly distractions and side quests
December 3, 2019
In this second book of a ten book series, the author corrects some of his errors in the previous book, but a few still remain. The biggest mistake was to make Soltan Gris too likable and Jettero Heller despised. L.Ron Hubbard sets out to drive the point home that Soltan Gris is the bad guy by having him kick kids and act like a dick to everyone else. At the end of the first book, I was really routing for the bad guy.
Making Jettero Heller more likable was a greater challenge. Jettero makes Superman look human. He still does things no mortal man (or alien) could. For example, he can sniff the air and precisely calculate the percentage of contaminants in the air. He can also flip through and entire textbook in a minute and understand everything. I'm surprised he doesn't just absorb the knowledge by holding it. Anyway, putting Jettero Heller's ridiculous abilities aside, I did become fascinated with his plans to save the Earth. About halfway through, the book finally became engaging.
To sum up, L. Ron Hubbard can be verbose and I found myself flailing in the weeds here and there. If you can get past that, some of the story is interesting. As for myself, I will continue reading (the next book is The Enemy Within). The Mission Earth series is more of a quest than it is an engaging series.
Making Jettero Heller more likable was a greater challenge. Jettero makes Superman look human. He still does things no mortal man (or alien) could. For example, he can sniff the air and precisely calculate the percentage of contaminants in the air. He can also flip through and entire textbook in a minute and understand everything. I'm surprised he doesn't just absorb the knowledge by holding it. Anyway, putting Jettero Heller's ridiculous abilities aside, I did become fascinated with his plans to save the Earth. About halfway through, the book finally became engaging.
To sum up, L. Ron Hubbard can be verbose and I found myself flailing in the weeds here and there. If you can get past that, some of the story is interesting. As for myself, I will continue reading (the next book is The Enemy Within). The Mission Earth series is more of a quest than it is an engaging series.
May 4, 2015
The Mission Earth series is a big, bloated, fun and funny dekalogy* of pulp and satire and non-stop action. It's not a serious work, nor was it intended to be; I believe Hubbard wrote it simply out of fondness for the field, the way it was when he was beginning his career. He surely didn't need the money. It lampoons everything from economics to law enforcement to crime to space opera to science and all stops in between. It's not a particularly well-written work of literature, but is engaging and interesting and, despite the length, fairly fast-paced throughout. It was de rigueur in the publications of the field when it first appeared to vilify it entirely, I suspect both because of who Hubbard was and the old-fashioned themes and tropes of the work... not to mention the ubiquitous advertising campaign that surrounded the publication with the ever-present asterisk definition that I just couldn't resist reproducing here. However, I decided to see what all the fuss had been about and gave it a shot, thought it was fun, and read the whole thing straight through one summer. It was fun; I liked it.
*A series of ten books.
*A series of ten books.
February 21, 2015
Take all ten of these books and boil 'em down all night... no, leave it on the burner for a whole week. Reduce it too a thick dense sticky sauce. And still, this will have very little flavour.
There was the seed of a decent parody in there within the first two books then the joke was over. The joke became, "...let's make it ten books, just so we could call it a "dekalogy".
There was the seed of a decent parody in there within the first two books then the joke was over. The joke became, "...let's make it ten books, just so we could call it a "dekalogy".
February 14, 2008
Great series very funny
June 6, 2012
sci-fi
June 13, 2013
I really enjoyed the humor in this book. I don't get why so many people didn't like it.
November 5, 2021
I read this when it came out in 1986 and when it was considered to be a bit radical to read Hubbard's work. I'd wanted to re-read the whole Mission Earth series, but considering I read volume 1 in 2018 and volume 2 in 2021, it's going to take me the best part of quarter of a century to finish the series. That said, some of the books are noticeably sorter.
So, the book. It's a relatively straightforward read. Jet Heller gets himself ingratiated with the Coreleone family and so he has various mafioso characters supporting him. At the same time there is the sinister Miss Simmons who takes a dislike to Heller, his privilege and influence and who gives him an impossible semester of work with the sole intention of failing him (an early influence for Hermione Granger taking too many classes?) but whose nature appreciation class focuses on her critique of the United Nations and capitalism. But then, this is a satire. And the narrative flows along without requiring too much thought from the reader.
It's a fun yarn, although, despite being the narrator, Soltan Gris takes a back seat and it's his observations of Heller's day-to-day activities that leads the narrative. (And having read the series once before, the narratorial voice is handled in a very interesting way). Some of the satire is more subtle than other occasions, and, despite being science-fiction, a lot of the narrative hasn't stood well up to the test of time. I'll continue reading the series, but I'll more than likely read the (rather cliched titled) "The Enemy Within" in less than three years' time!
So, the book. It's a relatively straightforward read. Jet Heller gets himself ingratiated with the Coreleone family and so he has various mafioso characters supporting him. At the same time there is the sinister Miss Simmons who takes a dislike to Heller, his privilege and influence and who gives him an impossible semester of work with the sole intention of failing him (an early influence for Hermione Granger taking too many classes?) but whose nature appreciation class focuses on her critique of the United Nations and capitalism. But then, this is a satire. And the narrative flows along without requiring too much thought from the reader.
It's a fun yarn, although, despite being the narrator, Soltan Gris takes a back seat and it's his observations of Heller's day-to-day activities that leads the narrative. (And having read the series once before, the narratorial voice is handled in a very interesting way). Some of the satire is more subtle than other occasions, and, despite being science-fiction, a lot of the narrative hasn't stood well up to the test of time. I'll continue reading the series, but I'll more than likely read the (rather cliched titled) "The Enemy Within" in less than three years' time!
November 29, 2021
Az előző kötetben megismert Soltannak nyoma sincs. Mint a földi parancsnokság teljhatalmú ura, egyszerűen kivetkőzött magából és átalakult egy szadista vezetővé, aki nem csak a beosztottjait sanyargatta, hanem a kisajátított bírtok személyzetét is.
L. Ron Hubbard egy elég érdekes módját választotta a történetmesélésnek. Azzal, hogy Jettero Heller szemén és fülén keresztül, mégis Soltan által követhetjük nyomon az eseményeket, igencsak furcsa egyvelegét adja a történetnek. Ennek egyik oka, hogy nem tudjuk mit gondol a főhősünk, vagy éppen hogyan érzi magát egy-egy szituációban. Szeretnénk a fejébe látni és megismerni a kialakult helyzettel kapcsolatos gondolatait. A beilleszkedése az emberi társadalomba sem zökkenőmentes, hiszen 17 éves fiúnak néz ki, aki nem érti a szlenget és az árnyalt utalásokat.
A regényfolyam második kötete egy igazán izgalmas, szórakoztató kalandregény, vagy mondhatnánk azt is, hogy kémregény, hiszen Jettero úgy csöppen egyik kalamajkából a másikba, és úgy vágja ki magát mindegyikből, mint egy szuper-képzett titkos-ügynök, akiben ott szunnyad egy voltári MacGyver. Kiképzésének és az alacsonyabb földi gravitációnak köszöngetően erősebb, gyorsabb és pontosan átlátja a harci helyzetet. Azt viszont nem tudjuk, hogy mennyire van tudatában annak, hogy tetteinek köszönhetően nem egy karitatív szervezet, hanem maga a maffia emeli keblére és veszi a szárnyai alá.
A szatirikus vonalat itt inkább a társadalomból kiábrándult írói csalódottság veszi át. Az állami apparátus és a szervezetbűnözés egymás konkurenciái, sőt, egyes maffiacsaládok tisztességesebbek is mint pl. a DEA, CIA vagy az FBI, ugyanis ők nem akarnak részt venni a drogterjesztésben, és éppen ezért más családok, az állami szervekkel karöltve, igyekeznek átvenni a területüket.
A kötet lapjain egy kis bepillantást nyerhetünk a ’80-as évek környezetpusztító iparába is. A szennyezett folyók, melyekben már nincs semmilyen élőlény, a szmogos városok, és a többsávos tranzitutak, melyeken levegőt sem lehet venni.
Kíváncsian várom a harmadik kötet eseményeit, ugyanis A sötét kezdet olyan függővéggel fejeződött be, ami érdekesen befolyásolhatja Jettero történetét.
Bővebben: http://www.letya.hu/2021/11/l-ron-hub...
L. Ron Hubbard egy elég érdekes módját választotta a történetmesélésnek. Azzal, hogy Jettero Heller szemén és fülén keresztül, mégis Soltan által követhetjük nyomon az eseményeket, igencsak furcsa egyvelegét adja a történetnek. Ennek egyik oka, hogy nem tudjuk mit gondol a főhősünk, vagy éppen hogyan érzi magát egy-egy szituációban. Szeretnénk a fejébe látni és megismerni a kialakult helyzettel kapcsolatos gondolatait. A beilleszkedése az emberi társadalomba sem zökkenőmentes, hiszen 17 éves fiúnak néz ki, aki nem érti a szlenget és az árnyalt utalásokat.
A regényfolyam második kötete egy igazán izgalmas, szórakoztató kalandregény, vagy mondhatnánk azt is, hogy kémregény, hiszen Jettero úgy csöppen egyik kalamajkából a másikba, és úgy vágja ki magát mindegyikből, mint egy szuper-képzett titkos-ügynök, akiben ott szunnyad egy voltári MacGyver. Kiképzésének és az alacsonyabb földi gravitációnak köszöngetően erősebb, gyorsabb és pontosan átlátja a harci helyzetet. Azt viszont nem tudjuk, hogy mennyire van tudatában annak, hogy tetteinek köszönhetően nem egy karitatív szervezet, hanem maga a maffia emeli keblére és veszi a szárnyai alá.
A szatirikus vonalat itt inkább a társadalomból kiábrándult írói csalódottság veszi át. Az állami apparátus és a szervezetbűnözés egymás konkurenciái, sőt, egyes maffiacsaládok tisztességesebbek is mint pl. a DEA, CIA vagy az FBI, ugyanis ők nem akarnak részt venni a drogterjesztésben, és éppen ezért más családok, az állami szervekkel karöltve, igyekeznek átvenni a területüket.
A kötet lapjain egy kis bepillantást nyerhetünk a ’80-as évek környezetpusztító iparába is. A szennyezett folyók, melyekben már nincs semmilyen élőlény, a szmogos városok, és a többsávos tranzitutak, melyeken levegőt sem lehet venni.
Kíváncsian várom a harmadik kötet eseményeit, ugyanis A sötét kezdet olyan függővéggel fejeződött be, ami érdekesen befolyásolhatja Jettero történetét.
Bővebben: http://www.letya.hu/2021/11/l-ron-hub...
May 5, 2019
In my review of the first book in L. Ron Hubbard's "Mission Earth" decology ("Mission Earth, Book 01: Invaders Plan"), I said that I wouldn't be reading the rest of the series. But, I ran out of things to read, saw that the library had the 1986 sequel, "Mission Earth, Book 02: Black Genesis," available, and picked it up. I'm glad I did. In this volume, Hubbard picks the pace up a bit, so that negates my biggest problem with the first book. The constant hyperbole and satire regarding the villain's behavior, though, still exists as in that first book and, once again, it's wearing. But, now that the plot seems to be progressing, I'm more forgiving of that. So, I'm officially rating this book at 4 stars out of 5 (though, if I could, I'd drop it down a half star to a Pretty Good 3-1/2 stars).
Read
November 11, 2020This 2nd book is only for those who want to know what's happenning to the hero and the villain once they are on Earth. Those who are curious...
Earth, you know? Yes, our planet.
Seen through the eyes of both guys.
And then, we are starting to see where Hubbard is driving.
You know the way it is, with satire: if you are part of a group (or more) that is being "satirized" heavily, well, two things can happen: either your sense of humor is strong enough to even read the rest of the series and see how far it goes, or .... (fill in the dots, anyone?)
In addition to the satire, we also have quite some highly technical hints: space travel and some super gadgets which could be more than fiction if anyone would have a go at them.
Earth, you know? Yes, our planet.
Seen through the eyes of both guys.
And then, we are starting to see where Hubbard is driving.
You know the way it is, with satire: if you are part of a group (or more) that is being "satirized" heavily, well, two things can happen: either your sense of humor is strong enough to even read the rest of the series and see how far it goes, or .... (fill in the dots, anyone?)
In addition to the satire, we also have quite some highly technical hints: space travel and some super gadgets which could be more than fiction if anyone would have a go at them.
October 16, 2020
Excellent and fast-paced adventures following on from Book 1. The Voltarians have arrived on Earth to carry out their mission but not all is as it seems and some faction has already been rather busy living among humans for some time to carry out their personal plan for greed and success. The story continues to be narrated by the antagonist, Soltan Gris, despicable and murderous agent of the Coordinated Information Apparatus (Voltar CIA) which makes this satire absolutely hilarious. Soltan Gris' view of decent people is so twisted that you can't help but laugh out loud throughout the book! A really good read!
March 24, 2019
Wow! I read it 4 times now. Just amazing. It has everything. Aliens, the CIA, FBO, Rockefeller, the Illuminati, Mafia, Nazis, KGB, finances, the stock market, Wal street, PR, press, fake news, media, Homosexuality, sex, politics, intergalactic warfare -- earth in its fullest picture. YOU NAME IT. It is there!
The hero is awesome, and his girl is a bombshell (but you better do not mess with her).
It is all there - everything you would ever want from such an Epic! A 1.1 million words series -- 996 characters in 10 volumes! Wow! Fantastic! I lost a lot of sleep! It is that good!
The hero is awesome, and his girl is a bombshell (but you better do not mess with her).
It is all there - everything you would ever want from such an Epic! A 1.1 million words series -- 996 characters in 10 volumes! Wow! Fantastic! I lost a lot of sleep! It is that good!
October 29, 2020
The action picks up when Jet arrives on Earth for the first time and runs straight into all its weirdness. And that is really the whole point of the series I think -- to set the competent, good intentioned, Jettero Heller up against a society bent on self destruction and let the satire roll. On top of which it all told from the viewpoint of a villain who is revealing in the insanity and frustrated by Jettero's every good deed.
September 16, 2025
Vol 2 Mission Earth
While this is sci-fi and also satire , these books have so much truth about what our country and the world are going through right now. And the way the main character , Jet, deals with problems and his integrity and his philosophy or outlook on life is in itself a great way of teaching . I laugh a lot throughout this book but I also learn how to be a better human . I can't wait to start my third volume now!
While this is sci-fi and also satire , these books have so much truth about what our country and the world are going through right now. And the way the main character , Jet, deals with problems and his integrity and his philosophy or outlook on life is in itself a great way of teaching . I laugh a lot throughout this book but I also learn how to be a better human . I can't wait to start my third volume now!
April 8, 2019
This book is even a little worse than the last. Still a 3 star, but not by much. It’s chief advantage is that it is shorter. Beyond that, it has even less direction, repeats the same formula as the previous book, and throws in a new tinfoil hat angle that irrelevantly occupies much of the book. The only thing saving it at all is that it’s at least mildly entertaining.
January 4, 2020
This series is an absolute blast.
Our preposterous villain/presumed author never fails to entertain with his endless lapses of logic, and the hero, while too good to be true, runs into enough trouble to make you wonder how things are going to turn out.
But the best part is of course the sarcastic analysis of our society and culture. At first glance, it seems greatly exaggerated, but the closer you look at it, the more you realize how much truth there is to it.
Our preposterous villain/presumed author never fails to entertain with his endless lapses of logic, and the hero, while too good to be true, runs into enough trouble to make you wonder how things are going to turn out.
But the best part is of course the sarcastic analysis of our society and culture. At first glance, it seems greatly exaggerated, but the closer you look at it, the more you realize how much truth there is to it.
June 11, 2019
Classic!!!!
This is definitely the greatest science fiction series of all time. If one has to be stuck on a deserted desert island and could have only ten books this series would be those ten.
This is definitely the greatest science fiction series of all time. If one has to be stuck on a deserted desert island and could have only ten books this series would be those ten.
October 15, 2020
I found that the fact that it is written from the villain’s point of view particularly fascinating. The satire is very pertinent to today’s climate (both political, economical and geographical)! A really enjoyable read.
May 15, 2021
I remember the first one being better (read 4 years ago). This was only ok; I was annoyed most of the time with Soltan’s constant desire to sabotage Heller. There was some humor in this book but now I don’t find myself much interested in finishing the series
March 30, 2022
This is my second go around with this series. I did not get the second book finished many years ago and I am thinking that there is something I must have missed. I am starting to get into it and so far, it's not bad. Not bad at all.
August 21, 2018
This story was just a directionless mess with a whole bunch of southern stereotypes. Over the top violence didn't help to redeem the story either.
February 12, 2020
Read it years ago..
September 4, 2020
The same joke. For 477 pages. Over and over and over and over.
January 13, 2021
Enjoyed this book, now onto the next
July 6, 2021
Loved it and can’t wait to start the next
I couldn’t put this down. Love the humor and action. I’m starting the next one now. Have recommended this to all of my friends.
I couldn’t put this down. Love the humor and action. I’m starting the next one now. Have recommended this to all of my friends.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews