The War of the Worlds Book Review

I’ve read, so far, H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and now his alien invasion story, The War of the Worlds. I actually just discussed this story in my previous post about science fiction “firsts.” This book is the first science fiction story to include an alien invasion involving advanced technology. So I’m excited to get into the review.

H. G. Wells wrote this story between 1895 and 1897 and serialized it in multiple magazines. Published fully in 1898, the story follows an unnamed protagonist who is one of the first people to encounter a strange aircraft that has crashlanded in southern England. It turns out that creatures from the planet Mars have come to conquer Earth and its less advanced life forms. What follows is an account of the protagonist and his brother as they attempt to survive and escape through the English countryside as more of the Martians show up.

I enjoyed doing the research for this book. Learning that it was at least one of the first major stories to include an alien invasion was cool, and I’ve always been a fan of Wells’s works. The Time Machine was one of the first books I read in high school that really got me interested in science fiction. However, I’m a little on the fence with this one. The first few chapters gripped me, since they included the action where the aliens actually invade. But afterwards, the story mostly focused on giving an account of the protagonist wandering through the countryside and not focusing as much on the aliens.

Of course, this book came out in 1898. It had a different interpretation of what “action” is in a book. And on top of that, the description of the aliens and their technology fascinated me. It set up the blueprint for other alien invasion stories to come, and we probably wouldn’t be here without it. I think, comparing this book to The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau, I ultimately didn’t find this one as interesting. Not to say that the book was bad in any way, of course.

Stay tuned this Saturday for another blog post! I look forward to writing more of these reviews, as always. Happy reading!

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