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bimblinghill 's review for:
The War of the Worlds
by H.G. Wells
When it comes to alien invasion novels (a subgenre I'm particularly fond of), this is the original and the best.
For a Victorian novel, it's tightly-plotted and vivid.
Fans' favourite bit is the Thunder Child scene, which is an absolute masterclass in how to write a crisp and engaging action sequence, and holds up against the best modern work.
As an engineer, I also very much appreciate how the technology is portrayed. Wells' descriptions of the Martian capsules plunging through the atmosphere, and the deployment of their weaponry are astonishingly prescient. The
famous heat-ray is a better portrayal of an infrared laser than most, despite being written decades before its invention.
Its been adapted many times but rarely done justice (Good ones include Jeff Wayne's musical, the 1953 movie, a BBC radio adaptation from 2015ish. Stinkers include the Spielberg/Cruise movie & the 2019 BBC TV mini-series. I've always meant to give the legendarily panic-inducing Orson Wells radio play a listen.
For a Victorian novel, it's tightly-plotted and vivid.
Fans' favourite bit is the Thunder Child scene, which is an absolute masterclass in how to write a crisp and engaging action sequence, and holds up against the best modern work.
Spoiler
...The aliens are not as ridiculously overpowered as those elsewhere in fiction, and the humans get in a few strikes, but they overmatch us through tactics, comms & manoeuvrability as much as their battle-tech. Their invasion force would almost certainly have been spanked by a post-WWI military armed with aerial spotting, radio & motorised artillery. Somehow this makes them seem more menacing as they finally roll over London's defences. The deus ex machina deployed to defeat them works well with the plot and themes, and is more satisfying than most of fiction's other examples.As an engineer, I also very much appreciate how the technology is portrayed. Wells' descriptions of the Martian capsules plunging through the atmosphere, and the deployment of their weaponry
Spoiler
...(particularly the gas)famous heat-ray is a better portrayal of an infrared laser than most, despite being written decades before its invention.
Its been adapted many times but rarely done justice (Good ones include Jeff Wayne's musical, the 1953 movie, a BBC radio adaptation from 2015ish. Stinkers include the Spielberg/Cruise movie & the 2019 BBC TV mini-series. I've always meant to give the legendarily panic-inducing Orson Wells radio play a listen.