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 our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most, terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment.

Hmmmmm, how fucking amazing is this? Actually, the whole first chapter of this book, titled, "THE EVE OF WAR" is pretty amazing. Very enjoyable. The book loses something when it adopts our MC telling us about his experiences during the invasion, but Wells rescues himself with some breathtaking breakdowns of morality, ethics, war horrors, and survival. Not to mention class differences.

Wells is also, like Faber in Under the Skin, using aliens and science fiction to push a vegan agenda.

"You can't be serious, Carmen. H.G. Wells was not pushing a vegan agenda."

CARMEN: *sips coffee*
*looks at you*

Oh, yes, he absolutely was, and vegans of today who are interested in reading works of fiction which promote vegan lifestyles can enjoy both this book and Faber's book and perhaps incorporate them into a vegan book club. I mean, surely vegans must get tired of what can sometimes be self-righteous and pompous propaganda which exists in vegan non-fiction. Not to mention it is often fucking depressing, especially the books that talk about the suffering of animals in graphic detail. Even if something like veganism was not popular in Wells time and place, you can easily see how this is a vegan book.

The book makes some (what must be at the time: earthshattering) conclusions about humankind. This is a book like The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which, when you read it now, it seems like old hat, but in its day must have just blown people away with its radical concepts.

Imagine humans NOT being the masters of all they survey. Imagine humans encountering beings smarter, stronger, and more ruthless then themselves, which see humans simply as ants, cockroaches, or rabbits - to be exterminated and/or eaten. That's what we are dealing with here, and it cannot be denied that Wells revolutionized and charged the genre of science-fiction much the way Mary Shelley did with her revolutionary, mind-blowing Frankenstein.

A lot of people read FRANKENSTEIN today and are disappointed. It's so old-fashioned. It's nothing like the media trained you to think it was. It's slow, it's old. You might read WAR OF THE WORLDS or DRACULA or DR. JEKYLL and feel the same way. But you have to understand that at the time, these authors were completely slaying people's long-held beliefs and way of thinking. Some of the old sci-fi/horror classics hold up, and some don't. DR. JEKYLL is particularly weak IMO, but DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN hold up very well (IMO). I loved both and think they are still very arresting and relevant today.

So how does WAR OF THE WORLDS hold up? Amazing first chapter that blows you out of the water.

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 intellectual side of man already admits that life is an incessant struggle for existence, and it would seem that this too is the belief of the minds upon Mars. Their world is far gone in its cooling and this world is still crowded with life, but crowded only with what they regard as inferior animals. To carry warfare sunward is, indeed, their only escape from the destruction that, generation after generation, creeps upon them.

And before we judge 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.

Think of everything humanity does to animals, and the genocide, war, and slavery it inflicts on other human beings. Wells keeps bringing this up throughout the novel in a rare show of clear-eyed thinking about humanity, especially for an Englishman in 1898.

Now, the book loses something when we start following our MC around and experiencing the invasion with him. But the book saves itself in a few ways.

One, Wells's writing.

Few people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the dust of the material universe swims.
...
Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance.

He's got a lot of good writing in this book and some great turns of phrase.

Secondly, he decides not only to take down humanity's vanity and confidence, but also seeks to offer commentary on religion, class differences, and morality and ethics especially in the context of war. It's staggering how much he chooses to bite off here, but such takedowns engage the reader throughout the book.

He also doesn't skimp on the horror - not only the horrors and ravages of war, but the horror of the aliens and what they do to humans. It's honestly terrifying and Wells successfully scared me and made me disgusted.

I think he made his MC deliberately a member of the intelligentsia instead of a soldier, because - let me tell you - this book would have been completely different if told from the POV of someone who was a combat veteran. And that's on purpose. As the soldier he meets points out to him, after you've seen some shit then shit isn't as shocking.

"I saw what was up. Most of the people were hard at it, squealing and exciting themselves. But I'm not so fond of squealing. I've been in sight of death once or twice; I'm not an ornamental soldier, and at the best and worst, death - it's just death. And it's the man that keeps on thinking comes through."

The way Wells wraps up the book, the way he brings everything to a close, is also fucking brilliant. It may seem cliched or old hat NOW, but you have to realize it was mindblowing back then. Much like the concept of Jekyll/Hyde.

Now. I'm not saying that just because a book has cultural relevance and significance and is a classic in its genre that it's automatically good. Because I don't believe in that shit. Instead, I found myself actually enjoying and liking this book. That doesn't happen to me with every classic. Not every classic holds up. But classics that I enjoy and hold up for me (P&P, S&S, Frankenstein, Dracula, and Jane Eyre) don't please EVERYONE. I understand that old-fashioned books, language, and plotting can be boring and stupid to modern readers. And there are classics that come off that way to me, as well. So YMMV. I've certainly read classics that I've absolutely hated, and this might be one of those for you as well.

While reading this book it seemed achingly familiar to me. I think I've probably read this before. Maybe a decade ago or so, I don't know. It's also possible that this book is SO entrenched in pop culture that I just thought I'd read it, but I don't think so. But I'm going to list it here as my first reading since I can't specifically remember reading it before.

I like Wells's points here.
- His pushing of a vegan agenda; extraordinary for a man of his time.
- His takedown of religion and interpretation of God and what God entails. Not atheist, but a super interesting viewpoint of his time, cackling that 'God is not an insurance agent' and surmising that it's equally likely that humanity's new Martian masters also pray to God and expect God's protection.
- His portrayal as a curate (clergy) as a weak, spineless, helpless and selfish individual.
- His takedown and analysis of class differences, especially when the MC gets into a discussion with a soldier about humanity's future.
- His discussion of the horrors of war - not only what the enemy is inflicting upon you, but what war's victims end up doing to each other. His analysis of the terrible things people find themselves doing to survive, and if that can be forgiven or not when normality is restored.

Those who have escaped the dark and terrible aspects of life will find my brutality, my flash of rage in our final tragedy, easy enough to blame; for they know what is wrong as well as any, but not what is possible to tortured men. But those who have been under the shadow, who have gone down at last to elemental things, will have a wider charity.

I mean, take your pick, he just slays here with his cultural and social commentary. I find him lacking and tone-deaf on the plight of women, but I can't have everything. At least not from this author. >.< LOL


TL;DR - Hmmmmmmmm. Reading the sci-fi and horror classics can be very illuminating and oftentimes rewarding. That was the case here. Even though I don't think this book is a strong structurally as FRANKENSTEIN or DRACULA (the plot meanders a bit), Wells certainly hammers home not only his revolutionary and life-changing ideas, but puts forth some true literary gems.

Although it isn't perfect, I am still giving it five stars. With some caveats.

Also, I want to restate that this won't be for everyone.

Strange night! Strangest in this, that so soon as dawn had come, I, who had talked with God, crept out of the house like a rat leaving its hiding place - a creature scarcely larger, an inferior animal, a thing that for any passing whim of our masters might be hunted and killed. Perhaps they also prayed confidently to God. Surely, if we have learned nothing else, this war has taught us pity - pity for those witless souls that suffer our dominion.

Read with Non-Crunchy Cool Classic Pantaloonless Buddy Read group, February 2018

I acknowledge that I am one of the few people who actually enjoyed the recent "War of the Worlds" movie. The reason for this has to do more with the original book than Tom Cruise or Steven Speilburg's tendency to wittle everything, including alien attacks, down to simple family problems. In a lot of ways, "War of the Worlds" (2006) was a close to dead-on adaptation of the original Victorian novel.

Just a few words on why you should like, or if you don't like, respect "War of the Worlds" as a movie:

It avoids alien movie cliches:
1. There are no characters (Presidents, generals, etc.) who tell you what is going on on a global scale--all information is through rumors.
2. You do not see a major city destroyed nor any iconic landmarks.
3. Instead of humanity banding together to defeat a common foe, the characters and others they interact with are left increasingly fragmented and isolated.

That being said, Speilburg's "War of the Worlds" adapts much of the plot line and themes from the original novel. Instead of the 1950s version which pits a united front against the aliens (Cold War adapted), the original Victorian novel has a character travel isolated. Wells' narrater, like Tom Cruise, finds himself on a ferry-crossing, holed up with a panicked priest (who conflated with the artillery-man, provides us with a freaky Tim Robbins. Robbins even shares a few lines with the artillery-man). The ending is much the same, a kind of "Now what?" sense pervades. And of course, Morgan Freeman's opening and closings, are practically word by word from the novel.

The movie is also a great window into some of the novel's most important themes. "War of the Worlds," is a very Post-9/11 movie. There is the dust, the annhilation of things we find familiar, clothing floats from the sky in mimic of office paper...There is a pervading fear of complete and nonsensical annhiliation. Whereas the 1950s adaption pits humanity against an enemy, the updated version worries itself with unknown enemies who spring from the ground. And, Speilburg, not one to be subtle, has Dakota Fanning ask Tom Cruise, "Is it the terrorists?"

That being said, the Victorian novel is a catelogue of Victorian anxieties. This is the age of colonialism, afterall, and suddenly England is beset by a much more powerful force, unexpected, and completely foreign. 'Reverse' colonialism? The aliens take England's resources, kill off its people, and even cover the landscape with alien plant-life.

And perhaps the most over-arching anxiety of all: Darwin. Here we have evolution at its cruelest; then consume us (drinking our blood like in Bram Stoker's Dracula). Just when humanity seems at its lowest, nature kicks in and saves the day. The ending seems anti-climatic now, but you have to remember that H.G. Wells did not have a pop-reference that included Will Smith destroying the mother-ship.

So my point is, "War of the Worlds" is an amazing book and good movie, and one can inform the other.

"This is not a war any more than it's a war between men and ants."

Written in 1897, The War of the Worlds is one of the earliest stories about mankind and aliens. Many consider this book to be the inception of the science fiction genre.

This story is relatively straightforward: An unknown man is going about his life in jolly old England when aliens invade, causing chaos and destruction. How will this story end? Will humans overcome the aliens or will they all be captured, killed, or enslaved?

The War of the Worlds starts off smashingly. HG Wells doesn’t need a 100-page warm up. The action starts flowing from the start. Also, there are some very humorous bits. It is quite easy to see how with the humor amplified, this could turn into The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

The War of the Worlds seems so realistic in many ways. In fact, on October 30, 1938, there was a radio broadcast that adapted The War of the Worlds, changing the invasion point from England to New Jersey. People who listened on the radio actually thought that it was real!

Although the story started strongly, I became bored around the halfway point. Some of the sentences and paragraphs were way too long. We can only store so many words in our short-term memory. If you write an extremely long sentence, people will forget the beginning by the time they reach the end. Modern guidance suggests 15-20 words per sentence. It appears based on my Google Search, that around the time of Wells the average sentence averaged 20-30 words. However, Wells has sentences which are greater than 100 words!

This style of writing is difficult to read, and I appreciate how literature has evolved (Philip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, Blake Crouch).

Additionally, Wells gets a little too far off the path with the copious descriptions of the aliens: the organs and the clothing. As Philip Pullman warns, the author must not leave the path. “The reason for this is simple: if you leave the path, the readers put down the book.” With this, I wholeheartedly agree (especially combined with the massive paragraphs).

Overall, I admire HG Wells for his inspiration into future works of science fiction. Of course, the Flesch Reading Ease score had not yet been developed at the time that Wells authored The War of The Worlds.

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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It just occurred to me that the ending is remarkably similar to the one in Disney's The Sword in the Stone. You know, the magic duel between Merlin and Madame Mim - she cheats and turns herself into a dragon, but he then wins by turning himself into a microbe. I wonder if it's a random coincidence, or if H.G. Wells gave them the idea?

Can't believe I never read this before, because I am (or at least thought I was) so familiar with the story. I mean, who isn't? One literally can't not know this story, at least it's basic structure; and along the way I've also thoroughly enjoyed the Spielberg/Cruise update a few years back as well as the excellent Jeff Wayne musical version released way back in...wow, 1978?

So okay...not really a 5-star book, but certainly a 5-star experience in terms of enjoyment, especially the audio version with Sean Barrett's outstanding, Burton-esque narration. And despite my familiarity with the story, there were still a few surprises along the way. For one thing, several critical chapters about the panicked exodus from London and the classic battle against the ironclad Thunderchild are told not from the narrator's POV, but from that of his brother - a minor point, but one that adds to the story's overall believability by reducing what would otherwise be the narrator's Zelig-like omnipresence.

Wells' writing holds up surprisingly well for being 120 years old - or at least when someone reads it aloud. His description about the crowds fleeing London are truly horrific; and sadly, humanity would probably react just the same way today.

My GF friend David has a nice review of the book here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..., in which he does a good job comparing Wells' fictional reaction to the Martians' arrival to how the natives in Africa or America must have felt when the British first "invaded" their shores - I have to confess I was so engrossed in the story (at least that's my excuse) that I totally missed that obvious analogy until he pointed it out.

Still, a little old-timey writing goes a long way, so despite having one of those Barnes & Noble "seven H.G. Wells stories in one volume" books, I'm probably good for a while. However, I recently ordered the double-CD "War of the Worlds - The New Generation" (only $5 new at Amazon), which is a 2012 "reimagining" of Jeff Wayne's original concept album; and I look forward to cranking it up during my morning commute - "ULL-laa" indeed!

Probably everyone knows the basic plot, so there is no need to elaborate -- Martians come, they kick humanity's collective ass. The story is narrated by an average (if well-educated) guy who happens to see the arrival and survive, and is scrambling around trying to find food without getting seen in the process. Contra the movies, he is not heroic or important to the outcome of the invasion, which I thought an intriguing authorial choice.

A couple aspects that were interesting to me:

--The narrator several times mentions that how humans are feeling as the Martians prey upon them must be similar to the helplessness and fear that animals feel when we hunt and kill them. The Martians are abhorrent to us because they are killing us, and also look hideous to us, but that's perspective. From their point of view they are doing nothing wrong. I wonder if their have been any reception studies done on how Wells' contemporaries felt about this position?

--I haven't heard this mentioned, but WoW is in fact an alternate-history novel, or set in a similar parallel universe, because it is mentioned in passing that this invasion occurred in the recent past and now we have all sorts of new technology thanks to remainders of Martian vehicles, and also there is greater global cooperation. Has anyone ever written a follow-up novel in this setting? It seems like such an obvious idea (especially with the end point that the Martians could attack again and Earth needs to prepare) that I cannot believe no author has done it, but I haven't encountered such a book.

p.s. Why is the cover bright pink? Doesn't really suit the tone of the book, and I doubt that was colored by Gorey.

الإنسان لا يحيا و لا يموت هباء
و لكن اتى النهار الذي ستعرف فيه المدينة اي هول كانت ترقد فوقه لالاف السنين
لقد انطلق الرعب في الشوارع في صورة مركبات ثلاثية الارجل ..يوقظها برق فتخرج من باطن الارض
لتحرق و تدهس و تنشر الفناء و تسرق الامان.. و يلاحظ ان ويلز حرص على ان يكون الشر كامنا في باطن ارضنا..بيننا و ليس قادما من كواكب اخرى

و مع انتشار الدمار تنتشر اخلاق الزحام
و ينقسم البشر الى : أكثرية تتصرف بانانية مطلقة و حماقة متناهية
و أقلية : يساعدون و يساعدون لو على حساب انفسهم
و مع توالى الاحداث الكابوسية يصبح البقاء للاذكى و الاوفر حظا

و يقرع ويلز اجراس الخطر