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Loading... The War of the Worlds (1898)by H. G. Wells
Got it in a book sale one summer when I was quite young -- nine or so, I think -- and scared myself silly with it. Never quite got up the courage to revisit, since then. I remember liking it a lot, but I also remember the nightmares about alien invasions. (  ) shanaqui | Apr 9, 2013 |  Reading another H.G. Wells novel I first read decades ago was like reading it for the first time. All the film versions, the Orson Welles radio theater, and the derivatives, do not detract from Wells's story. He manages the trick of describing an alien invasion, an event of worldwide importance, from the point of view of an anonymous observer who happens to witness the first landing. The science is out-dated--no radios or computers, for example, but the story left me with a sense Wells himself must have had of the fragility and promise of human life. (  ) nmele | Apr 6, 2013 | I liked this much more than Well's The Time Machine! Interesting that this too has a first person narration in which the narrator is never named. ( ) leslie.98 | Apr 3, 2013 | Give me a Victorian era setting, give me creepy aliens and I'm HOOKED. (no, really, I didn't expect that at all, hence all the bad reviews I've seen) I especially loved one scene were a man envisioned human life and resistence after the earth's takeover by the aliens (I wonder why any of the Young Adult authors haven't made a dystopian novel out of that yet) He depicts an "upstairs" human class fattened and sometimes even petted by the aliens and a rebellious "downstairs" class living underground in hiding. "'Well, it's like this,' he said. 'What have we to do? We have to invent a sort of life where men can live and breed, and be sufficiently secure to bring the children up. Yes-- wait a bit, and I'll make it clearer what I think ought to be done. The tame ones will go like all tame beastes; in a few generations they'll be big, beautiful, rich-blooded, stupid-- rubbish! The risk is that we who keep wild will go savage-- degenarate into a sort of big, savage rat.... You see, how I mean to live is underground. I've been thinking about the drains. Of course those who don't know drains think horrible things; but under this London are miles and miles-- hundreds of miles-- and a few days'rain and London empty will leave them sweet and clean. The main drains are big enough and airy enough for anyone. Then there's cellars, vaults, stores, from which bolting passages may be made to the drains. And the railway tunnels and subways. Eh? You begin to see? And we form a band-able-bodied, clean-minded men.'" (  ) RaphusCucullatus | Apr 3, 2013 | Note that Cindy has created a Google map of this book, which is laudably loony. I am SO impressed with that. Wells just doesn't strike out for me: every one of the four books I've read of his so far has its own feel and succeeds in its own way. Here the story is much smaller than I'd thought it would be - okay fine, I saw that lame Tom Cruise movie a while back - which is a good choice. Wells focuses mainly - almost obsessively - on the reactions of various humans to an invasion that's generally only seen from a distance, and rarely understood by anyone. Some tropes that are now familiar make what might be their first appearance here: the blase attitude of complacent humanity, a la Shawn of the Dead. Wicked good stuff. ( ) AlCracka | Apr 2, 2013 |
 Mr. Wells's dramatic power is of the strongest, and through "The War of the Worlds" deals with death, destruction, and ruin, he has known how to manage a terrible topic in a clever and ingenuous way. Is contained inThe War of the Worlds & A Dream of Armageddon & The Land Ironclads. Heron Collected Works of Wells by H. G. Wells The time machine ; The war of the worlds ; The island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds & The Time Machine by H. G. Wells The Collector's Book of Science Fiction by H. G. Wells by H. G. Wells Complete Science Fiction Treasury of H. G. Wells by H. G. Wells The Time Machine / The Island of Dr Moreau / The Invisible Man / The First Men in the Moon / The Food of the Gods / In the Days of the Comet / The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells The war of the worlds, The time machine, and selected short stories by H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds / The Time Machine / The Invisible Man / The Island of Dr. Moreau / The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells HG Wells Classic Collection: v. I by H. G. Wells Complete WOTW by Brian Holmsten The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells The Time Machine / The Island of Dr Moreau / The Invisible Man / The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (indirect) The Ultimate Science Fiction Collection: Volume 1 to 3 (80 Books) by Greatest Hits Series The Works of H. G. Wells: The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, The First Man In The Moon, The Food of The Gods, The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells The Ultimate Science Fiction Collection: Volume Three (20 Books) by Greatest Hits Series A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / The War of the Worlds by Jules Verne Is retold inThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 2 by Alan Moore Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds by Manly Wade Wellman Has the (non-series) sequelScarlet Traces by Ian Edginton The Japanese Devil Fish Girl and Other Unnatural Attractions by Robert Rankin Has the adaptationH. G. Wells' The War Of The Worlds by Ian Edginton The War of the Worlds [adapted - Stepping Stone] by Mary Ann Evans Classics Illustrated: The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells War of the Worlds [film - 2005] by Steven Spielberg "The War of the Worlds": Level 5 by H. G. Wells War of the Worlds: The Shooting Script by Josh Friedman Classics Illustrated Notes: The War of the Worlds by Henry Miller The War of the Worlds [adapted - Graphic Revolve] by H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds (Classic Radio Sci-Fi) by H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds (Campfire Graphic Novels) by H. G. Wells Is abridged inThe War of the Worlds [adapted - Great Illustrated Classics] by Malvina G. Vogel The War of the Worlds [abridged - Classic Starts] by H. G. Wells Is parodied inIs replied to inInspiredWar of the Worlds: Global Dispatches by Kevin Anderson The Tripods Attack! (The Young Chesterton Chronicles) by John McNichol Has as a reference guide/companionHas as a supplement
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Things then progress from a series of seemingly mundane reports about odd atmospheric disturbances taking place on Mars to the arrival of Martians just outside of London. At first the Martians seem laughable, hardly able to move in Earth's comparatively heavy gravity even enough to raise themselves out of the pit created when their spaceship landed. But soon the Martians reveal their true nature as death machines 100-feet tall rise up from the pit and begin laying waste to the surrounding land. Wells quickly moves the story from the countryside to the evacuation of London itself and the loss of all hope as England's military suffers defeat after defeat. With horror his narrator describes how the Martians suck the blood from living humans for sustenance, and how it's clear that man is not being conquered so much a corralled. --Craig E. Engler
(retrieved from Amazon Sun, 12 Sep 2010 22:01:51 -0400)
H.G. Wells' original masterpiece now includes a newly established text, a full biographical essay on the author, a list of further reading, and detailed notes. Famous for the mistaken panic that ensued from Orson Welles' 1938 radio dramatization, "The War of the Worlds" remains one of the most influential of all science fiction works.… (more)
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Editions: 0141441038, 0451530659, 0141045418, 0141199040
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