WAR OF THE WORLDS; written by H.G. Wells, 1898

Book Review

H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds is one of the most influential science fiction novels of all time and one of the great pieces of literature in the history of writing. Made into two Hollywood movies, several made for TV shows and a popular musical, trying their very best to dilute Wells’s vision, the original novel still holds up as an eerie, atmospheric, spine tingling sci-fi chiller.

At the beginning, shooting stars are seen firing across the night sky of London and the next day a strange cylinder is found in the area of Horsell Common and curious locals attempt to find out what it is and where it came from. Armed with the white flags of surrender, they are quickly fired at by a powerful heat ray that evaporates them into dust.

This reaction from the aliens immediately tells the reader that these invaders are not friendly ET types but ruthless predators who view us as merely a nuisance in their mission to take over the earth. At the time of the novel this was almost unheard of in science fiction stories. The aliens were normally portrayed as inquisitive beings who were more interested in studying human nature than destroying it. Wells blasts this notion out of the water at the start of War of the Worlds. These intruders are here for the destruction of the human race, not to study us.

The tale is told to us by a narrator who has, so far, managed to avoid being made into human toast. We follow him on his trail of escape and hear about the many harrowing sights he witnesses. The aliens of the story are tentacled, oily skinned beings and are viewed by the narrator as they begin to build weapons of mass destruction in their attempt to wipe out the population of our planet.

Hiding out in rundown buildings that the Martians have not levelled to the ground, the narrator spies on alien activity in the area. He also meets two men in these hideouts but finds it hard to relate to both of them even though they are in the same situation. They seem deranged by the whole invasion scenario but are happy to just stay where they are. Our narrator wants to move on and help in the fight against the aliens. In a creepy scene dripping with a sense of foreboding and dread, he has to silence one of the men from fear of detection by the aliens.

Joining the exodus from London, the narrator mulls over what the future could possibly hold for him and the rest of humanity. Humans could be made into alien slaves to help build more Martian machines or just be completely eradicated to make way for a new species. To take one’s own life by walking into a Martian death ray seems a viable option at this stage. However, an unforeseen occurrence somewhat changes the overall scheme of things and we are left to ponder what might have been.

War of the Worlds could be seen as a metaphor for the English invasions of Africa and Asia where the indigenous population were swept aside in the pursuit of riches. This might have been Wells’s intention but the novel works best by showing just how vulnerable we humans really can be. The intruders view us like we view ants; something to just stand on and crush or to be completely ignored as a non-threat in the first place. Even though we are the dominant force on our planet at the moment, Wells seems to be warning us that there could be something bigger, stronger and more efficient than us in the universe. Being a former biology teacher, Wells was all too aware of human vulnerabilities and he takes many pot-shots at our pompous notions of being the most powerful species in the universe.

This novel is a must read for science fiction fans and classic literature aficionados. Cloaked in a heavy, claustrophobic and ominous atmosphere of death and decay, the novel throws the reader into the catastrophe of the invasion and doesn’t let us breathe until the end. The writing style flows with immense skill and every sentence seems important. Characters are made to feel useless under the Martians’ microscope and the reader feels the same.

Forget the movie and musical adaptations of War of the Worlds and read the original story instead. If there is one science fiction novel that could be given an award for the most influence on the genre, it would surely be this one.