Reviews

The First Men In The Moon by H.G. Wells

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rancidslopshop's review against another edition

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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 against another edition

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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!

midici's review against another edition

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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.