King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: The War of the Worlds

author: H. G. Wells


pages: 240

genre: science fiction

published: 1898

Never before in the history of the world had such a mass of human beings moved and suffered together.


rated: 4 out of 5






The last science fiction novel I read was Stephenie Meyer's The Host. And I've been meaning to grab a good sci-fi novel, but nothing really grabbed my attention. Then I remembered the sci-fi classic, The War of the Worlds.



Taking place in London, The War of the Worlds, is about Martians invading Earth and the mayhem that results. The way Wells writes the story, it's almost like you are reading non-fiction. I liked his style of writing, the storyline was fun and i'm glad I read this one.


He explains there is life on Mars:

The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader, revolves about the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world. It must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course. The fact that it is scarcely one seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling to the temperature at which life could begin. It has air and water and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence.

Next he goes on to explain how the Martians can no longer live on Mars, the climate is drying out. And they know Earth is nearby, they can invade.

And we men, the creatures who inhabit this earth, must be to them at least as alien and lowly as are the monkeys and lemurs to us.

The narrator goes on to tell how he has seen lights through a telescope at night, he knows these are caused by Martians invading Earth. He and an astronomer, Ogilvy, began to watch the sky for signs of an invasion. The narrator insists its Martians firing missiles, but Ogilvy says the flashes they have been seeing at night are just meteorites. By this time, the local newspapers are reporting about the strange meteorites.




Until one day, there is a 'falling star'. Thinking its another meteorite, Ogilvy
goes to check it out and sees a huge hole in the ground, with what looks like a spaceship inside. A crowd soon gathers at the site and before you know it, things start to come out of the spaceship...things with tentacles.

A big greyish rounded bulk, the size, perhaps, of a bear, was rising slowly and painfully out of the cylinder. As it bulged up and caught the light, it glistened like wet leather.


Two large dark-coloured eyes were regarding me steadfastly. The mass that framed them, the head of the thing, was rounded, and had, one might say, a face. There was a mouth under the eyes, the lipless brim of which quivered and panted, and dropped saliva. The whole creature heaved and pulsated convulsively. A lank tentacular appendage gripped the edge of the cylinder, another swayed in the air.

Before you know it, more spaceships land, more Martians emerge and begin using Heat Rays to destroy everything in their paths. The Martians eventually begin to spread poisonous black vapour as well. Red vegetation begins to sprout and cover everything. So basically, all Hell breaks loose. People begin to make a run for it, many are trampled trying to get onto trains, in cars, trying to find any way out of town. The narrator takes his wife to Leatherhead to stay with relatives until it is safe again. But things go from bad to worse. When he gets to see the Martians up close, he sees them feed. They are blood suckers.

They did not eat, much less digest. Instead, they took the fresh, living blood of other creatures, and injected it into their own veins.

He is forced into hiding for a while, being that he is trapped inside a damaged building near one of the Martian's landing sites. Several days later, he is finally able to re-emerge and walk the streets, he sees death and destruction caused by the Martians.

The dusky houses about me stood faint and tall and dim; the trees towards the park were growing black. All about me the red weed clambered among the ruins, writhing to get above me in the dimness. Night, the mother of fear and mystery, was coming upon me. But while that voice sounded the solitude, the desolation, had been endurable; by virtue of it London had still seemed alive, and the sense of life about me had upheld me. Then suddenly a change, the passing of something--I knew not what--and then a stillness that could be felt. Nothing but this gaunt quiet.

I am very glad I read The War of the Worlds. It was entertaining and well written and above all, it's a classic. If you want to read great science fiction, pick this one up. Or better yet, read it for free from Daily Lit.
I liked this passage:

And before we judge of them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?

What happens to the Martians? Do humans survive the invasion? You have to read The War of the Worlds to find out!

For neither do men live nor die in vain.

Interesting tidbit:

A 23 feet high sculpture of the a Tripod fighting machine, entitled 'The Martian' based on the description in The War of the Worlds, stands in Crown Passage, close to the local railway station, in Woking.


How cool is that?








about the author:

Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best remembered today for the science fiction novels he published between 1895 and 1901: The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, The Sleeper Awakes, and The First Men in the Moon. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction".


He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist; his later works becoming increasingly political and didactic. His later novels were more realistic; they covered lower middle class life (The History of Mr Polly) and the 'New Woman' and the Suffragettes (Ann Veronica). He was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, and produced works in many genres, including contemporary novels, history, and social commentary.

quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells

I was reading The War of the Worlds a little bit every day courtesy of a great site called Daily Lit













This book is part of the Sci-Fi Experience challenge.