The War of The Worlds by H.G. Wells
Pages: 199
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Original published in: 1897
Buy it: BookDepository
Synopsis:
In one night, there is a shooting star streak across the sky from Mars. A cylinder which contains aliens from the Mars is found on Horsell Common near London. Some naive locals approach the cylinder but they are quickly killed by the heat-ray emits by the Martians. After the Martians get used to the gravity of the Earth, the cylinder transforms into a gigantic killing machines. Meanwhile, more and more cylinders are striking onto the Earth. Martians starts a full invasion on Earth.
My thought:
As I’ve said for a lot of times, it’s an alien invasion story. What so special about it? It’s an alien invasion story from 18th century. It was an era when we barely have any technology. It’s a story which can amuse us nowadays, no wonder it’s a ridiculously creative story at the time it was published. I love the idea.
Let’s talk about the story itself, it’s an exciting story. The plot is not a twisting one but it’s quite intense because just like any other alien invasion story, people died. But of course, except the main character. There is only one main character in most of the time, but the book is too short that Wells didn’t invest much words on his characters which is one of few things that bothers me in this book. It is one of those plot-driven book rather than a character-driven book.
This writing is good enough. The description about the alien machines is precise and sufficient. I’ve read a short biography of H.G. Wells in the introduction section of the book. I found that he’s actually majoring in Biology in university, it’s one big advantage as a science fiction writer. When it comes to describing the alien thing in the book, although most of the things are fictional, he managed to present all the ideas in a reasonable which makes the story sounds very convincing, like something that actually happened in the real world.
4/5 stars. It could have been 5/5 stars but I really hate the ending. It could have ended in a better way. The ending feels like he was in a rush to end the story.
Overall, Wells’s stories are legendary, although I’ve only read one. LOL. He’s such an creative writer, most of his books are innovative. I conclude it by scanning all those titles. I definitely looking forwards to read more books from him.
BookNeedLove 