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A review by adamdavidcollings
The First H.G. Wells Omnibus: The Invisible Man/War of the Worlds/The Island of Dr Moreau by H.G. Wells
4.0
An absolute classic of science fiction. We take alien invasion stories for granted these days, but when people read The War of the Worlds for the first time, they were experiencing something absolutely new. It is impressive to think that this book was written in the nineteenth century.
There is a lot of action in this book, and the description gave me vivid pictures in my head. I really did enjoy the clash of alien technology in Victorian England. I'd actually like to see a movie adaptation that keeps the story in its original setting.
The big weakness I found in this book was the characters. All the characters in this book, including the protagonist, were blobs. Only the most insignificant characters even had names. We would care much more deeply about the plight of these people if we knew more about them.
The ending might be described as deus ex machina (in a very literal sense) but it was well foreshadowed so I didn't have a problem with it. Actually I really enjoyed the end of the book.
The edition I read included an introduction by Orson Scott Card, which really opened my eyes to the themes of the book, and made me think as I read the novel.
All in all a great sci-fi story that deserves its place as a classic and forefather of all alien invasion stories.
There is a lot of action in this book, and the description gave me vivid pictures in my head. I really did enjoy the clash of alien technology in Victorian England. I'd actually like to see a movie adaptation that keeps the story in its original setting.
The big weakness I found in this book was the characters. All the characters in this book, including the protagonist, were blobs. Only the most insignificant characters even had names. We would care much more deeply about the plight of these people if we knew more about them.
The ending might be described as deus ex machina (in a very literal sense) but it was well foreshadowed so I didn't have a problem with it. Actually I really enjoyed the end of the book.
The edition I read included an introduction by Orson Scott Card, which really opened my eyes to the themes of the book, and made me think as I read the novel.
All in all a great sci-fi story that deserves its place as a classic and forefather of all alien invasion stories.