Reviews

Wow! It had been so long since I read this book that I remembered nothing of what happened in it. I was especially interested in the curate, who was a pretty miserable character. Did he represent an indictment of religion? And then there was the artilleryman, who talked about a future which was very much like what Well's wrote about in "The Time Machine", published three years earlier. I was very moved (ie I wept and wept) by the reuniting of the main character with his wife.

jthyme's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

rainjrop's review against another edition

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5.0

I enjoyed this! I love the old school innocence of the Londoners who think the arrival of the Martians is a great picnic opportunity, as well as the different ways the lack of modern technology and communication affects the invasion. Needless to say, the book is completely different and much better than the movie. Tom Cruise can stuff it. "War" of the worlds is perhaps a misnomer, one Wells comments on in the novel; it's more of an extermination. This is used as a springboard to examine human behavior and society, which is something I enjoy. Wells's way with words and the overwhelmingly grim turn of events is an enjoyable read. This is my favorite Wells work to date.

frances_the_red's review against another edition

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4.0

Gut gealtert!
'Der Krieg der Welten' hat gleichermaßen spannende, gesellschaftskritische und philosophische Stellen und war rundherum exzellentes Entertainment. Nicht nur aus der Sicht der erdachten Technologie und dem futuristischen Design, dass Wells mitgeprägt hat, sondern auch durch die Beschreibung der zusammenbrechenden Menschheit. Das Ende war etwas Deus Ex Machina, hatte aber einen schönen ironischen, modernen Unterton.

Spoiler

Die Marsianer werden von einem Krankheitserreger zu Tode geweiht... Mein Lese-Timing könnte nicht perfekter sein, oder?

Für Sci-Fi von 1898 kann dieser Klassiker noch immer mit seinen modernen Brüdern mithalten.

pholcidae's review against another edition

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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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