Monday, April 25, 2011

Puppet Masters



      Seeing as how I have not done a book review I have decided to start again with an instant classic that is still thought of as a modern book. This was one of the first books to incorporate aliens that landed on Earth and attempted to rule our society. While other books shape the aliens as creatures of our wildest imaginations Heinlein decided on a form that actually made sense. He shaped the aliens into gelatinous blobs that could control what ever animal it comes in contact with.
     
    The Puppet Masters takes place in a futuristic where not much has changed in the world except for a higher level of technology like lasers and flying tank...car...vehicle....things. There was a supposed UFO sighting in Utah and its up to 2 field operatives to investigate. As they investigate the scene they learn that the blob-like life forms had already infected all of Utah and was quickly spreading.

     The blobs would crawl onto a persons back and hide under their clothes making them out to be only a simple humpback. The aliens, named Titans, infest the entire eastern coast before the agents are able to investigate and are quickly able to spread by infesting any human they wish to join their cause. The humans are at a loss for what to do because the Titans are rapidly spreading and they cant think of a way to tell who has a Titan. Indecisive on how to tell who has a Titan and sure they are starting to influence the government they implement a law that makes everyone not wear a shirt. After, they need more info on the Titans so the government sends out an operative into the field who is captured by the Titans. Now, when a person is being controlled by a Titan they are aware of what they do in a 3rd person kind of view. The government quickly decides to take back the agent and detain him to retrieve more information about the Titans. The scientists deduce that they are a form of parasite that bounce from planet to planet living off of their inhabitants.

     As the Titans start to spread the government receives more and more pressure to simply nuke the infected area before it spreads to far. The government decides to instead launch a military assault on the areas and drop several squadrons of troops whom secure each area little by little.

     This is but a minuscule summary of Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein. The book is the father of all alien based sci-fi books, movies, video games, etc. Robert A. Heinlein is also the father of modern science fiction and is still praised today for his great works and classic science fiction novels. So i hope you all check out this book and good luck in warding off the titans!  ;)