The War of the Worlds (The ^AWorld's Classics) - Softcover

Wells, H. G.

3.83

315,143 ratings by Goodreads

9780192828262: The War of the Worlds (The ^AWorld's Classics)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192828266 ISBN 13: 9780192828262

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1995

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

In The War of the Worlds (1898) H.G. Wells invented the myth of invasion from outer space. Martians land near London, conquering all before them and destroying the metropolis: the fate of civilization remains in doubt until the final pages. Disturbingly realistic and peopled with believable characters, the novel exemplifies the mixture of scientific scepticism and vivid imagination that made Wells the father of modern science fiction.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

This is the granddaddy of all alien invasion stories, first published by H.G. Wells in 1898. The novel begins ominously, as the lone voice of a narrator tells readers that "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..."

Things then progress from a series of seemingly mundane reports about odd atmospheric disturbances taking place on Mars to the arrival of Martians just outside of London. At first the Martians seem laughable, hardly able to move in Earth's comparatively heavy gravity even enough to raise themselves out of the pit created when their spaceship landed. But soon the Martians reveal their true nature as death machines 100-feet tall rise up from the pit and begin laying waste to the surrounding land. Wells quickly moves the story from the countryside to the evacuation of London itself and the loss of all hope as England's military suffers defeat after defeat. With horror his narrator describes how the Martians suck the blood from living humans for sustenance, and how it's clear that man is not being conquered so much a corralled. --Craig E. Engler

From the Publisher:

This book is a standard print version using a minimum of 10 point type in a 6 by 9 inch size and perfect bound - a paperback. As with all Quiet Vision print books, it use a high grade, acid free paper for long life.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.