Reviews - The First Men in the Moon

295 reviews for:

The First Men in the Moon

H.G. Wells

3.42 AVERAGE

mchester24's review

3.5

adventurous mysterious 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: Yes

The last of my reads in the box set I got of the best from HG Wells, and this indeed was a fun one to end on. I could very well have seen this being considered as culturally pervasive as the Time Machine or War of the Worlds if, perhaps, the science hadn’t ended up so incredibly dated. It’s absolutely fun to read fiction imagining how we might space travel, what the surface and atmosphere of the moon might be, and how life managed to evolve there, and it allows getting into the head of those dreamers from before modern science made that exploration possible. But to the reader of today, it makes suspension of disbelief harder when we already know the reality of the moon. But that doesn’t mean it’s not still great science fiction!

I really enjoyed the two main characters Wells built here, their disfunction and unlikely cooperation created a fun story driver, while the competing words they each wrote down called reliability of the narrative into question when it came into the minutiae. And the ‘end’ of the book then being supplemented with a fuller description from Cavor still alive on the moon and transmitting words back? That part became the most hard to put down.

A really fun and imaginative take on what could be happening on the moon and what life would have to be to thrive there, and using that as a tool for some classic sci fi philosophizing is always a treat. That last part really hammered home as the Moon Denison’s tried to understand human experiences with war, class, democracy, and more. And the one that got a chuckle out of me given this was written 70 years before the Astronauts landed on the moon but still rings true today: what does it say about a species that they put all these efforts to invade another planet before fully diving downward and understanding their own?

iazyn's review

3.0

sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

plankpot's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous medium-paced

anotherbibliophilereads's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

sayyadina773's review

5.0

Forget The Invisible Man and The Time Machine, this should be considered a timeless classic by Wells! The science is outdated and fantastical, but it has all the wonder and intrigue of science fiction. It is an eccentric blend of tongue in cheek humor, swashbuckling adventure, and chilling despair. It is one of the most entertaining science fiction books I've read, and this is from a major Isaac Asimov fan! I particularly love the imaginative and visually rich world that Wells has created! It is stunning, exotic, and wonderfully foreign, frightening, and bizarre. I won't say anything of what Cavor and Bedford find on the Moon, because it is best experienced first hand, but I wish the Moon was really like that!

So, if you want to give Wells a try, go for this one! It is excellent!