Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

5 reviews

pholcidae's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

A very slow story with an anticlimactic conclusion but some ‘fun’ niches to appeal to the reader (at the time of writing, mind!). 

Wells clearly did his work in familiarising himself with the suburbs of London to create a sense of familiarity with the intended audience when he wrote this. I only recognised a few places since I am not familiar with the city and its surroundings, but I certainly got my own tour of them all in this story(!)

I did enjoy the pseudoscientific approach to the narrator’s telling of his story - if only the science wasn’t outdated by this time it might’ve been more convincing. 

Whilst I enjoyed the use of language and literary devices, I found it hard to feel immersed in the story by way of it feeling like listening to someone who is overly fond of their own voice ranting at me about aliens and society. 

The plot was so diluted by Wells’ insistence on dictating directions around the general geography of London, that by the end I felt the climax was not all too climactic. Also, character development was non-existence so there’s not much to comment there. 

Overall, an unfortunate low scoring for a book I was very excited to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, War, and Animal death

Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny

bearystarry's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This felt very… meandering? Feels like 80% of the book was just descriptions of people running away and/or travelling to other places and how starving or mean or “silly” they are. Pretty sexist and racist; making reference to indigenous american people when talking about violent invading aliens was certainly A Choice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, War, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Violence, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

lorraine19's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The pace kinda goes back and forth between fast and slow paced, but the imagery and descriptions in some of the scenes is really good. You have to keep in mind how old this book is when reading some of the more "scientific" parts. Wells did try to incorporate some actual science explanations which unfortunately are a bit outdated. So if that is something that really bothers you this book might not be for you. But if you don't mind more fiction in your scifi, it's a classic for a reason. 



<SPOILERS> I did find the ending to be disappointing but this is more of a personal preference. It just felt like it didn't match the tone of the rest of the book with it being all "oh everything turned out okay". I really wish he kept the tone dark or even left it more open ended. <SPOILERS>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, War, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Blood, Animal death, and Gore

Minor: Torture, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Starvation, survival, cannibalism

bookishchef's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Probably very impressive for its time, but nothing special now. The story meanders and sometimes manages to be boring (which is almost an achievement for a book so short). Over all, I thought it was okay although the blatant sexism did take me out of the story many times over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Genocide, Body horror, Blood, War, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, and Gore

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Confinement, Cannibalism, Child death, and Misogyny

greyreadseverything's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Antisemitism, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Alcoholism