So long ago I read a sci fi novel and I've been trying to track down what book it was and who wrote it.
The setting was a post-alien-invasion world. The aliens are unbeatable in a physical sense, their weapons are just too powerful. As are they; the aliens are humanoid, but much taller and much stronger than humans.
The protagonist is an extremely gifted linguist, and the only human who manages to learn the language of the aliens - he's a servant in one of their compounds so he has a lot of contact with them.
I'm fuzzy on the details, but he assumes a mysterious identity - dressing in hooded robes and performing minor acts of rebellion. The hooded rebel persona gains a big following, because generally rebels are quickly caught and executed.
Eventually the rebellion adopt him as their mascot/official leader - kind of a Katniss in the Hunger Games deal, the face of the rebellion.
Interestingly, the way they defeat the invaders is not by armed rebellion, because armed rebellion is impossible given the aforesaid alien invincibility. At one point it's said that a suit of alien armour can protect the wearer from a nuclear blast, whilst one of their hand weapons could turn the ground to lava in every direction - and these weapons are antique family heirlooms, centuries behind their real military tech. (Interestingly at one point it's stated that these aliens occupied Earth as part of a gradual retreat across the galaxy, running from a far superior foe.)
But these aliens have a very strict code of behaviour, which the protagonist also learns from listening to their language. He realises that their code doesn't allow genocide, and so he convinces the whole of humanity to take a stand against them, not fighting but rather just telling them that they would rather die on mass than continue to be occupied. Faced with a statement of "leave us alone or murder us all, as of now those are your only choices," the aliens simply leave. And that's how it ends.
I read this book maybe 35 years ago, and clearly it stuck with me. I'd like to re-read it. Anybody have any clue what it might be?
The setting was a post-alien-invasion world. The aliens are unbeatable in a physical sense, their weapons are just too powerful. As are they; the aliens are humanoid, but much taller and much stronger than humans.
The protagonist is an extremely gifted linguist, and the only human who manages to learn the language of the aliens - he's a servant in one of their compounds so he has a lot of contact with them.
I'm fuzzy on the details, but he assumes a mysterious identity - dressing in hooded robes and performing minor acts of rebellion. The hooded rebel persona gains a big following, because generally rebels are quickly caught and executed.
Eventually the rebellion adopt him as their mascot/official leader - kind of a Katniss in the Hunger Games deal, the face of the rebellion.
Interestingly, the way they defeat the invaders is not by armed rebellion, because armed rebellion is impossible given the aforesaid alien invincibility. At one point it's said that a suit of alien armour can protect the wearer from a nuclear blast, whilst one of their hand weapons could turn the ground to lava in every direction - and these weapons are antique family heirlooms, centuries behind their real military tech. (Interestingly at one point it's stated that these aliens occupied Earth as part of a gradual retreat across the galaxy, running from a far superior foe.)
But these aliens have a very strict code of behaviour, which the protagonist also learns from listening to their language. He realises that their code doesn't allow genocide, and so he convinces the whole of humanity to take a stand against them, not fighting but rather just telling them that they would rather die on mass than continue to be occupied. Faced with a statement of "leave us alone or murder us all, as of now those are your only choices," the aliens simply leave. And that's how it ends.
I read this book maybe 35 years ago, and clearly it stuck with me. I'd like to re-read it. Anybody have any clue what it might be?
via International Skeptics Forum http://bit.ly/2UvYM4y
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