The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

 

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the first science fiction movies I remember seeing was the original 1953 version of this story as a kid in the 70s. That was also my introduction to this story. Although I was fascinated by the story I was a bit hesitant on reading the book as it was written in the late 1800s and how readable this would this be. I was pleasantly surprised though when I started reading this one.

For a story written in the 1890s, it reads amazingly well. Also, I tended to forget this was long before modern technology. No cars, television, or radio as we know it and in this light, it still has aged very well.

The story is narrated by an unnamed Englishman who is apparently of scientific background and is at an astronomical observatory when explosions, which seem to signal the eventual invasion, are observed on Mars. This eventually coincides with objects falling around England. These objects are just carriers for the martian invaders and their war machines which they erect shortly after they arrive. The Martians are hampered by the Earth's stronger gravity and stay inside their machines. Their war machines have long spindly legs that tower above the tallest buildings and have long mechanical tentacles that shoot deadly heat rays(imagine hearing this term in the 1890s, it's long before Star Trek and Star Wars) and they emit black smoke (foreshadowing the gas attacks in WWI just a 20 years later) which are lethal upon inhaling. The military of the day puts up a valiant effort, and even knocks out a machine or two with artillery, but is woefully outmatched.

At this point, there is panic and fleeing before the mighty martian machines. The narrator along with a curate( no name given) and while foraging for food is buried in the rubble of another Martian cylinder that has crashed where they are trapped for about two weeks with an already dwindling food and water supply. The curate eventually loses his mind and is found by Martians and taken away. The Narrator narrowly escapes into a devastated London with death and a strange red weed growing everywhere. He reunites with an artilleryman he had met earlier in the conflict. The artilleryman has thought a lot about how humans can survive under the Martians in a type of resistance that does seem quite elaborate. It is eventually noticed the Martian machines aren't moving and have gone quiet. It is then realized the Martians are dead(or dying). It is said they are dying from Earthly pathogens from which they have no immunity from. In the aftermath of the invasion, he recovers enough to eventually make it back home where he reunites with his wife.

I really enjoyed this book more than I anticipated. It had an easy-to-read flow and is relatively short in length. I found it easy to get engrossed in the story and not realize that he was describing a world in 1890s England before most of the modern conveniences we take for granted. I wonder what the 1897 reader thought trying to imagine what a "heat ray" was. Science fiction indeed.

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