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abomine's review
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is definitely a spiritual successor to War of the Worlds, and while I didn't enjoy it as much as that book, I'm still glad I read this.
There's a lot of dry humor in this book, as well as some snide observations about humanity (and British culture in particular), which slowly gives way to brooding horror and despair as the alien invasion chips away at our narrator's calm British mentality. And when I mean slowly, I mean really slowly. It's certainly realistic in the way that this invasion sneakily unfolds, and how post-war Britain and its allies react to it (lots of political side-stepping and cover-ups, with nothing being done until it's just about too late, and of course with America trying to bomb the crap out of the aliens), but the shit doesn't really hit the fan until about halfway through the book.
I think I would have enjoyed this more if the aforementioned shit-hitting-the-fan happened a little earlier in the story, because it wasn't until that point when our leads, Phyllis and Watson, actually began to feel like three-dimensional characters, rather than stuffy stereotypes.
Still, I'm glad that I read this, and I hear John Wyndam has written some pretty great scifi, so I'll be keeping a look out for more of his books.
There's a lot of dry humor in this book, as well as some snide observations about humanity (and British culture in particular), which slowly gives way to brooding horror and despair as the alien invasion chips away at our narrator's calm British mentality. And when I mean slowly, I mean really slowly. It's certainly realistic in the way that this invasion sneakily unfolds, and how post-war Britain and its allies react to it (lots of political side-stepping and cover-ups, with nothing being done until it's just about too late, and of course with America trying to bomb the crap out of the aliens), but the shit doesn't really hit the fan until about halfway through the book.
I think I would have enjoyed this more if the aforementioned shit-hitting-the-fan happened a little earlier in the story, because it wasn't until that point when our leads, Phyllis and Watson, actually began to feel like three-dimensional characters, rather than stuffy stereotypes.
Still, I'm glad that I read this, and I hear John Wyndam has written some pretty great scifi, so I'll be keeping a look out for more of his books.
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