Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books

20 All Time Classic Sci Fi Novels - The War of the Worlds

Reviews
 

I actually discovered The War of the Worlds through Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds when I was a nipper. I heard it once and was utterly transfixed. I then sought out H G's original text and I'm so glad I did. Ever since first reading it at about 13 years old I have re-read it every couple of years or so without fail. It is truly a timeless classic.
R. Glenn

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'The War of the Worlds' is the flower of Wells' most creative period, that astounding five-year stretch that began in 1895 with 'The Time Machine' and included his finest 'scientific romances'. The late 1890's Wells was the best of all possible Wells: Wells the story-teller, (not later Wells who kept going on about the World State).
'The War of the Worlds' is set in the then near future and describes Earth's subjugation by aggressive Martians armed with mechanical transport, energy weapons and poison gases. The narrative starts slowly, with astronomers puzzling at odd gas eruptions on the red planet, but swiftly moves to depicting humanity ground down by an enemy without scruples. Throughout, Wells juggles viewpoints and voices so the book reads like frontline reporting from the strangest of wars. (The scenes where terrified civilians flee London eerily anticipate the world wars Wells lived to experience and hugely influenced later SF.)
'The War of the Worlds' had specific morals for Wells' contemporaries, as Wells uses Martian invasion to bring home to his Victorian readers what wars of extermination might feel like for the victims. Wells' narrator compares Martian treatment of humans with British treatment of Tasmanian aborigines, and the Martians' Heat Ray and Black Smoke do duty for British use of Maxim guns and rockets in Africa. Although not just satirising Empire, Wells definitely wanted to dent rampant Imperial self-satisfaction in the wake of Queen Victoria's 1897 Diamond Jubilee
This Penguin edition comes with tons of editorial material about Wells in general and the making of the book in particular, but is especially recommended for Brian Aldiss' wry and helpful introduction. Check out too Wells' 1897 book of essays, 'Certain Personal Matters', wherein he speculates on evolutionary possibilities that reflect the fears behind 'The War of the Worlds'.
Brian Flange

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The first perhaps quarter of the book, when the martians land in Woking isn't as exciting as I think it should have been. The aliens are treated with almost ambivalence by the local residents. It isn't really how I imagine something like a meteor landing in a field in your town, and turning out to be an alien space craft, to be dealt with. Granted, the story is set 100 years in the past... but still felt it to be a bit unbelievable.

When the martians actually "get going", there's a bit more description involved. More info on the aliens themselves, and their "fighting-machines". But at this point I was still struggling to enjoy it.

The next quarter of the book (the second half of the first book, I guess!) also leaves you a bit wanting. It's slightly boring, if I'm honest. It's basically the story of Wells brother going around Surrey and Kent ticking off places on a town map whilst avoiding martians. It has its moments, but again at this point I was thinking that I was reading what is a very overrated book.

Then I started "book 2".

It really comes into its own from here. It stops with the unnecessary level of detail, and is much more about the main character and him trying to survive. The types of people encountered and the desperation involved is really portrayed very well.

I started to appreciate the first book a bit more when I was halfway through the second. It's like the first book was there to get all the high level of attention to detail out of the way, so that you can have a proper story in the second book.



!!SPOILERS IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM(s)/READ THE BOOK BEFORE!!
The ending to the book is also well known, but it doesn't just end with the martians dying from illness. The film just left it at that, but didn't tie up any loose ends. Particularly "will the aliens invade again??", where as the book covers this base.



Overall, it's a pretty good book. But the first half can feel like a bit of a slog at times.
Mr. Owen T. Hughes

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When I first read this book at the tender age of 15 I found it hard to understand and didn't bother to finish, then I re-discovered it and found it to be totally original, HG Wells predicted evacuation and refugees on a massive scale.
The sense of despair after HMS Thundechild is described and captured in brilliant Victorian articulation.

After several attempts by Hollywood to make this better have failed, some quite miserably (Tom Cruise) its a joy to come back to the original time and again, I've read this book 10 times and always find something knew

T.

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The granddaddy of all SF novels, The War of the Worlds still, I beleive, continues to merit its place in literary history as the greatest SF novel ever written. The innocuous beginnings and high drama, the spectacle, the matchless pace, the atmosphere of mystery and impending catastrophe, the originality, the constant surprises and consciousness of the war not being confined to London but worldwide, all contribute to make this a compulsive page-turner until the end of the book.

The War of the Worlds actually merits more than one reading, as subsequent readings reveal more to the discerning mind, which can be drawn towards inferences not made explicit on the page. An example is the description of the Martian machines, which is actually somewhat vague and allows the reader's imagination to be indulged. Wells only tells us that they are mounted on an enormous tripod and have a "hood" surmounting this containing the controlling Martian. No wonder artists and film-makers have been able throughout the years since to re-interpret this form in a number of imaginative ways!

Also, if one reads Wells extensively, one realises that the novel is much more than a simple story of invasion: for surely the Martians are what Wells envisages humanity will evolve into, given enough time and continuing in our present course. So the War of the Worlds is also a story of humanity in the future, predating works like Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men.

I do not beleive that the novel's place in the annals of SF will be superseded in the forseeable future. It retains its place as Wells' other works like the Shape of Things to Come and First Men in the Moon have lapsed into relative obscurity, eclipsed by the efforts of later writers working in a similar vein. Of Wells' "scientific romances", only The Time Machine continues to occupy anything like such a place in the public's affections.

Does the book have any weaknesses? The most glaring of such is the clumsy dramatic device of having half of the story told in a narrative within narrative, by the narrator's brother. This is a somewhat irritating device which injures the continuity of the work: however, one should not cavil too much as it fails to sufficiently mar the work as a whole.

The War of the Worlds is able to be re-invented and updated to accommodate any time and place, which is one of the reasons for its enduring popularity. It is hard to imagine a reader of any age being disappointed, as it is action all the way through for younger readers, and provides a philosophical discourse which rewards a later reading by the more mature. An unforgettable work.



mark chapman

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