The War of the Worlds

By: H. G. Wells

Narrated by: Simon Vance

First published by H. G. Wells in 1898, The War of the Worlds is the granddaddy of all alien invasion stories. The novel begins ominously, as the lone voice of a narrator intones, "No one would have believed in the last years of the 19th century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's."

Things then progress from a series of seemingly mundane reports about odd atmospheric disturbances taking place on Mars to the arrival of Martians just outside of London. At first, the Martians seem laughable, hardly able to move in Earth's comparatively heavy gravity, even enough to raise themselves out of the pit created when their spaceship landed. But soon the Martians reveal their true nature as death machines 100 feet tall rise up from the pit and begin laying waste to the surrounding land. Wells quickly moves the story from the countryside to the evacuation of London itself and the loss of all hope as England's military suffers defeat after defeat.

With horror, the narrator describes how the Martians suck the blood from living humans for sustenance and how it's clear that man is not being conquered so much as corralled.

Public Domain (P)2009 Tantor

So Much More Than The Movie(s)

The full story is so much more better than the movies or any other media have presented. A great presentation.

Super fun sci fi

The writing is very engaging, and the reader makes it come alive. I believed that he went through everything in this story.

great listen

loved the alien noises the reader makes thought this was a great telling of a classic

Martians before Wright brothers

Seems crazy that he wrote this book about aliens before the wright brothers flew at kittyhawk. But it was a different time back then.

Sci Fi that Remakes Over and Over

I've always thought Steven Spielberg's version of War of the Worlds was a bad remake from the original in 1953. The remake was just awful and I had no interest at reading the book until now. I have always pass up H. G. Wells "The War of the Worlds", because why read the book when every few years, they remake some version of the martian, alien, doomsday story, over and over.

I'm one of those naysayer that favors the novel over the movie. In "The War of the Worlds", the book is a million times better than the movies, tv shows, and even the infamous radio drama. I can't put my big toe on it, but H. G. Wells wrote this book over a century ago and the book has this ageless science fiction that could had been written just yesterday or in the future.

We always had this fascination of extra terrestrial landing on Earth and probing us in our butts, or aliens, invading the world and somehow with the help from a genius from scientist and out military, they save the day. Whatever is in the script, the story always remain the same from some adaptation of H. G. Wells.

I would like to take this review a step further. "The War of the Worlds" has always been the premise of all comic books, action hero movies and certainly all science fiction. Before you think that my review is lame, just think about this. In most superheroes, some kind of foreign enemy comes down from the sky, causing mayhem to all. Magically, a superhero appear from the dust and all becomes well and the aliens either dies or go back to their planet and "until next time..."

The analogy is always the same from Wells' book. Martians comes from Mars and the Narrator somehow figures out that the Martians are starting to die from a disease that humans are immune to. This is no different from any movie portraying the hero defending the universe.

bad

Horrible. Had to read for school. Anything related to school is horrible. Including the people.

Intense action. Performance lacked excitement

Don't read this book if you're into subtlety. DO read this book if you're BORED of subtlety and want to read one of the coolest works of science fiction ever. The martians give a sense of looming doom and their fear-inducing weapons defy visual depiction. Only H.G. Wells' imaginative, descriptive writing could do justice to their awe-inspiring power. That being said, the narrator's performance is a little stunted when compared to the thrilling action he's describing.

Classic

I have always wanted to read this book and I am glad I did. So amazing when you think about when it was published, before the start of the 20th century, before aviation and so many other technologies we don’t think twice about now. Think of all the crappy alien movies and tv series that have been thrust upon us in the last four decades (my life time), and this came out almost 50 years before Roswell!

Titanic

Masterfully written, and now that I've experienced it I see the sprawling extent of its influence all over the scifi genre. It truly is a war of two worlds. Simon Vance has a voice that lends the perfect tragic, elegant air to this...memoir, I guess. If you enjoy any scifi, you owe it to yourself to read this.

Completely enthralling!

This book was amazing and is super accurate to how I think humans would react to such a horrible calamity. HG Wells is a great author and does an incredible job of making you feel inside this world. Simon Vance is also an awesome narrator.