The War of the Worlds

Herbert George Wells

Jan 1898 · B. Tauchnitz

About this ebook

H.G. Wells's hugely influential book tracks the exploits of a writer who struggles to survive an alien invasion of Victorian England. After seeing the monstrous Martians firsthand, the narrator attempts to evade their destructive mechanized vehicles and must stay on the run to avoid detection. As he meets other desperate humans, he becomes increasingly pessimistic about any chance of survival. The novel stands as a major milestone in science-fiction literature, inspiring legions of subsequent writers and an endless array of hostile-alien scenarios.

Ratings and reviews

There was a lot that I really enjoyed about the book. Better understanding of what the martians were up to, the descriptions of their anatomy, the machines. But I found it difficult to fully understand much of the imagery. H.G. Wells refers to a lot of British known facts, which makes sense, further he describes things using common day experiences for the late 1800s. Of course this is all to be expected given the publication date. My fix for was this was a lot of skimming, especially when he describes the various cities and landmarks that I have never seen nor intend to look up on wikipedia, suffice it to say the looked strange and miss placed in the path of the martians.

None of the many dramatic presentations of Wells' book capture the true essence: the protagonist, suddenly and violently thrust into the shocking fight for his very existence, having all his usual cool, intellectual detachment torn from him. The American readers might have a bit of trouble relating to the local references and the formalized British English, but patience will be rewarded.

I think it is funny how much people have modernized this story over the years. The movies and the famous Orson Wells recording made me want to read the original book. I laughed when I realized that everything I had been exposed to that was connected to this book was very modern in comparison to the actual novel. Still, I like it. I started reading this on iBooks before finishing it up on Google. The iBook version has less mistakes in the text, but overall I really enjoyed reading this book.

About the author

A key figure in the development of science-fiction literature, Herbert George Wells was a prolific British writer. After a stint as a schoolteacher, Wells crafted a series of inventive novels during the 1890s, including The Time Machine and The Invisible Man, depicting technological advancements and their dramatic ramifications. Shortly after his dark, dystopian 1898 novel, The War of the Worlds, Wells shifted to less fantastical fare, but his sci-fi tales represent his ongoing legacy.