"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own…" So begins The War of the Worlds, the science fiction classic that first proposed the possibility that intelligent life exists on other planets.
This spellbinding tale describes the Martian invasion of Earth. Following the landing in England of ten huge and indefatigable creatures, complete chaos erupts. Using their fiery heat rays and monstrous strength, the heartless aliens threaten the future existence of all life on Earth.
This classic chiller, when adapted for radio in 1938 by Orson Welles, was realistic enough to cause widespread panic throughout the United States.
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"HG Wells' The War of the Worlds starts out rather slow, but gets very interesting in the second half of the book. Between when I started this book and when I finished it, I did not have a lot of time to read it, so my experience of it is drawn out over a long period of a few months, thereby rendering my opinion of it very difficult to gauge. I never really realized how forward thinking HG Wells was until I finished this book. He wrote The War of the Worlds in 1898 England, when colonialism and imperialism were the popular ideologies of the day, and in a place where class-based social stratification was commonplace. I can imagine how much people scoffed at his ideas and books during his time. HG Wells was truly a man far ahead of his time. However, there is one aspect of The War of the Worlds that I never see present in any other adaptation of the book. This aspect is the Artillery-man's realization of what the Martians were actually trying to do on Earth and what that would mean for humanity, which is a concept that is rarely ever discussed in other works of fiction. In every other adaptation of this book that I've seen, the Martians' end goal always seems to be the eradication of humanity or the absolute dominance over the populace to use as a temporary food source, and never seems to be the utter physical and metaphorical usurpation of humanity's place on Earth. Oh well, you know what they say, "the original book is always better," and I've never seen a version of this better than HG Wells own novel."
— Nick (4 out of 5 stars)
“This is the granddaddy of all alien invasion stories.”
— Amazon.com, editorial review“This archetypal story of alien invasion provided a model for countless cruder imitations.”
— Cambridge Guide to Literature in English“The story…captured popular imagination with its fast-paced narrative.”
— Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature" Interesting how the aliens die "
— Jay, 2/20/2014" The "War of the Worlds" is about Martains that come to Earth[in an area you will have to find out]. People try to fight back, but it does not work. This book was okay, was very suspesful and filled with disturbing images. The way they describe the aliens is grusome, but it is filled so much detail. The only problem about it is that you can predict the outcome of the martians correctly before you reach the end. I say go check it out, it's a good read. "
— Allan, 2/20/2014" Very poor. A classic that doesn't age well. A detailed (as in tiny village by village) account of a guy wandering around an apocolyptic London is not a good read to me. I'm sure if you lived in the local area you may find it fascinating but its as dull as an alien invasion can possibly be. "
— Matt, 2/18/2014" Ead this when I was about 14, and I remember being captivated by it. Great story. "
— K.D., 2/16/2014" made me realize just how fragile humans and their civilization really is.. "
— اویس, 2/15/2014" At first it seemed rather thin(both in character and content), but when you think about it in terms of when it was published, you realise it is and probably was the shit. "
— Jason, 2/14/2014" Probably my favourite "old school" SF novel. "
— Stephen, 2/13/2014" A moderately interesting tale of martian invasion of earth. "
— Ashishg, 2/12/2014" I now completely understand why this is considered a classic. It's a truly marvelous read that should be required reading of students everywhere. If you think the audio recording is cool, pick it up today! Can't wait to read more H.G. Wells - and I only wish that I'd read this earlier. "
— Kristen, 2/9/2014" War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells is a scifi book where the unnamed narrarator reflects on the invasion of martions from Mars. It follows his journey to safety and shows the humans' curiosity of other lifeforms. I really like his diction and think it makes the book a lot more interesting. "
— Alexis, 2/7/2014" Expected a thriller. Fell asleep. "
— Phil, 2/3/2014H. G. Wells (1866–1946), born in Bromley, Kent, England, is known as the father of science fiction. He was also a prolific writer in other genres, including contemporary novels, history, and social commentary.
Christopher Hurt is an accomplished narrator with a lengthy résumé of popular titles for Blackstone. A graduate of George Washington University’s acting program, he currently resides in New York City.