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daja57's review
3.0
The narrator, Mr Bedford, is in Lympne on the south Kent coast where he meets Cavor, an inventor, who makes Cavorite, a material which is opaque to gravity. Together they fashion a sphere which can harness Cavorite to travel to the moon. Bedford, a failed businessman, wants to prospect for minerals and perhaps develop financially viable colonies. Cavor aims at purely scientific exploration. They get to the moon and have adventures among the moon's inhabitants.
The book is carefully structured in four parts. They land on the moon on page 42 , almost exactly at the 25% mark; the turning point in their adventures is at 50% and splashdown is almost precisely at 75%. Presumably, the fact that this book was written to be serialised in the Strand magazine (starting in 1900 and ending in 1901, thus spanning the turn of the century and the change from Victorian to Edwardian Britain) assisted this structuring.
Science fiction books of necessity involve a certain amount of 'world-building', a careful (and hopefully consistent) description of an imaginary world. This short novel has huge amounts of world-building and, while this may be enjoyed by many scifi fans, I found this tedious. Despite the beautifully antagonistic pair of characters (and this is essentially a two-hander, containing only two important characters) I felt the character development which drives most modern novels was seriously lacking. This limited my enjoyment.
In many ways this was a repeat of The Time Machine, which was the novel that gave Wells his early success. An explorer in an alien land meets creatures with a strange social system and has adventures underground. But while TTM was a carefully constructed social commentary, TFMITM relies more on the element of straightforward adventure. In my opinion, this makes the narrative less interesting.
The book is carefully structured in four parts. They land on the moon on page 42 , almost exactly at the 25% mark; the turning point in their adventures is at 50% and splashdown is almost precisely at 75%. Presumably, the fact that this book was written to be serialised in the Strand magazine (starting in 1900 and ending in 1901, thus spanning the turn of the century and the change from Victorian to Edwardian Britain) assisted this structuring.
Science fiction books of necessity involve a certain amount of 'world-building', a careful (and hopefully consistent) description of an imaginary world. This short novel has huge amounts of world-building and, while this may be enjoyed by many scifi fans, I found this tedious. Despite the beautifully antagonistic pair of characters (and this is essentially a two-hander, containing only two important characters) I felt the character development which drives most modern novels was seriously lacking. This limited my enjoyment.
In many ways this was a repeat of The Time Machine, which was the novel that gave Wells his early success. An explorer in an alien land meets creatures with a strange social system and has adventures underground. But while TTM was a carefully constructed social commentary, TFMITM relies more on the element of straightforward adventure. In my opinion, this makes the narrative less interesting.
smateer73's review
3.0
This book was pretty interesting, it wasn’t my favorite or least favorite of the H.G Wells books. The points it brings up are fascinating and it’s cool that a writer could conceive of something like this ~60 years before space travel even happened.
sidharthvardhan's review
2.0
The themes contained in the book have been repeated countless times in sci-fi movies and books.That makes everything in there sounds like cliche.Though Wells was probably first one to hit those themes but now they are common knowledge making it a somewhat dull read.
linneak2002's review
3.0
2023: Read this with the Lit Life Podcast to go along with Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis.
rancidslopshop's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? No
4.0
wildweasel105's review
4.0
This is quite the rollicking adventure, coming from H.G. Wells and his fantastic imagination! Written in 1901, Wells describes the unlikely teaming of a playwright and a scientist whose invention of an anti-gravity coating allows them to create a bathysphere-type device to travel to the moon.
When they succeed in traveling to and surviving on the moon's surface, their adventures are just beginning!
They wind up captured by arthropod/anthropomorphic ant creatures,called Selenites and are brought beneath the moon's surface. There, Wells describes a fantastic society of these creatures, and brings to question the age-old problem of how to communicate with different races, and how to distinguish between peaceable and warlike intentions.
A fun book to read, and although one must suspend a lot of belief (especially in light of what we NOW know of the moon), one cannot entirely dispose of its entertainment value!
When they succeed in traveling to and surviving on the moon's surface, their adventures are just beginning!
They wind up captured by arthropod/anthropomorphic ant creatures,called Selenites and are brought beneath the moon's surface. There, Wells describes a fantastic society of these creatures, and brings to question the age-old problem of how to communicate with different races, and how to distinguish between peaceable and warlike intentions.
A fun book to read, and although one must suspend a lot of belief (especially in light of what we NOW know of the moon), one cannot entirely dispose of its entertainment value!
midici's review
3.0
*Note: did not read this exact version, there were no special introductions to this story in my copy*
Things I enjoyed:
-Beford being a complete scoundrel and being in complete denial of this fact. He's hiding out in a small town to avoid "unreasonable creditors" while he is "temporarily" without funds.
-Carvor is a ridiculous archetype of an old-school scientist who is very smart and has not one single ounce of common sense.
-The daily transition of plants and animals on Mars growing rapidly and then dying just as rapidly due to the extreme temperatures
-Flat Earth theory is OUT and Hollow Moon theory is IN. It's ridiculous and I love it.
Things I disliked:
-Bedford's go-to move while panicking is to murder a bunch of aliens
-Bedford's response to being responsible for the death of a small boy is that if he doesn't admit to it, it's not his fault.
-The extreme caste system that creeped out Carvor VERY MUCH creeped me out as well
-Why would a caste-like system of vaguely insect-like aliens have a king instead of a queen? I'm thinking of how bees and ants usually/often are ruled by queens so it makes no sense it have a king instead.
Solid 3 star old-school sci-fi story.
Things I enjoyed:
-Beford being a complete scoundrel and being in complete denial of this fact. He's hiding out in a small town to avoid "unreasonable creditors" while he is "temporarily" without funds.
-Carvor is a ridiculous archetype of an old-school scientist who is very smart and has not one single ounce of common sense.
-The daily transition of plants and animals on Mars growing rapidly and then dying just as rapidly due to the extreme temperatures
-Flat Earth theory is OUT and Hollow Moon theory is IN. It's ridiculous and I love it.
Things I disliked:
-Bedford's go-to move while panicking is to murder a bunch of aliens
-Bedford's response to being responsible for the death of a small boy is that if he doesn't admit to it, it's not his fault.
-The extreme caste system that creeped out Carvor VERY MUCH creeped me out as well
-Why would a caste-like system of vaguely insect-like aliens have a king instead of a queen? I'm thinking of how bees and ants usually/often are ruled by queens so it makes no sense it have a king instead.
Solid 3 star old-school sci-fi story.
anyajulchen's review
4.0
I adored this one! It has everything I like: twisted characters, changes of narrator, mistery and a really dark, haunting ending.
d_night's review
3.0
I'm happy it's over. Gave it 3 stars because it did have some good quotes and a few compelling moments. But over all kind of mah.
eula's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25