War of the Worlds: Retaliation

by John J. Rust, Mark Gardner

1898: Martian tripods lay waste to Earth’s cities. The world’s armies are unable to stem the tide of destruction. When all hope appears lost, common bacteria kills the alien invaders. From the ashes, the human race uses the technology left behind by the Martians to build new, advanced weapons.

1924: Armed with their own spaceships, tripods, and jet fighters, the nations of the world are ready to take the fight to Mars. George Patton, Erwin Rommel, Charles de Gaulle, and Georgy Zhukov lead their troops in battle across the red planet to end the alien menace once and for all. But the Martians have one last, desperate plan to try, and if successful, it could mean the end for all humanity.

Genres: Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction, Alternate History

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2017

About the author

Born in Hamilton Township, NJ, Rust graduated from Nottingham High School before obtaining degrees in communications from Mercer County College (NJ) and the College of Mt. St. Vincent (NY). He worked as a reporter for New Jersey 101.5 FM before moving to Arizona, where he became the sports director/sportscaster for KYCA-AM. Rust published the military sci-fi novel "Dark Wings," the baseball-related books "Arizona All-Time Baseball Team" and "The Best Phillies Team Ever," the cryptozoological thriller "Sea Raptor," and several short stories, including "The Art of Fear" starring the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe, which appears in the anthology "Halloween Dances with the Dead."

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this is not the War of the Worlds book that I was expecting! It definitely has a twist as Earth takes the war to Mars. The book begins with the Martians invading Earth in the year 1898 and coming close to destroying it by war. In the 1920's Earth is ready to retaliate and takes the war to Mars. Weapons that were made from the knowledge left behind advanced earth's weaponry so they ready including advanced space travel. Many battles ensue (too many battles to hold my interest). The book has another twist that makes it interesting in that the earth's leaders are early versions of WWII heroes from all sides. Their personalities are what we know from history such as Patton and Rommel...and even Stalin. Interesting sci-fi.
Thanks to NetGalley for this book in exchange for honest review.

[Jiří Budinský · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nečekal jsem od toho moc, ale dostal jsem ještě míň. Já chápu, že subžánr military sci-fi je poměrně spefický a nejsem jeho primární cílovka, nicméně tahle knížka je prostě neuvěřitelně promrhaná příležitost, ale postupně:

Pozitivní věci:
Lidstvo v takovém to světovém měřítku je tady popsáno zajímavě, rozhodně je osvěžující, že mimozemská invaze neunifikovala všechny národy do jednoho svorného bratrství, ale pořád existují stejně debilní důvody se nemít rádi a vést války jako před invazí z Marsu. Pravda, je to depresivní, ale vlastně asi docela realistické a zajímavé.
Celý ten nápad, kdy lidstvo vyráží na vesmírnou válečnou výpravu s diesel-punkovou technikou a válečnou doktrínou z první světové války mi přijde vlastně náramně vděčný a hned několik pasáží v knize popisující válečnou doktrínu lidských spojených sil jsem si užil.
Rusové, Stalin a komunisti - rozhodně asi nejlepší příběhová linka sleduje kapitána Zhukova a jeho vyrovnávání se s komunisticky řízenou rudou armádou a tím pozitiva více-méně končí.
Negativa:
Nebudu řešit uvěřitelnost technického pokroku a fyziku vesmírných lodí (to ostatně neřeší ani kniha), ale přejdu k tomu, co mi vadí naprosto nejvíc a pro mě tu knížku vysloveně ničí. To je polidštění Marťanů. Zatímco v původní knize jsme o nich věděli úplné minimum (a to málo, co jsme o nich věděli z popisu H.G. Wellse je v téhle knize kompletně kontradikováno a ještě je původnímu Autorovi v jedné z mnoha více-či méně násilných vložek s historickými postavami vysloveně plivnuto do ksichtu), tady najednou jsou to více-méně komiksově jednorozměrně zlí záporaci, kteří mají běžné lidské emoce, komunikují spolu prakticky normálně, i přesto, že jsou nezměrně vyspělejší než lidstvo, používají v podstatě ekvivalentní taktiku jak z první světové a prakticky úplně se z nich vytratilo veškeré tajemno a hrozivost. Je to prostě "nepřátelská armáda", která má špatně vyslovitelné názvosloví a hotovo. Jejich po celou knihu tajené velké plány jsou neskutečným způsobem neinventivní, okoukané a nudné. Kdyby se autor nebál využít naprosto odlišné nátury mimozemšťanů a střet postavil více na vzájemném nepochopení kultur, mohli jsme dostat mnohem zajímavější román.
Což mě přivádí i k tomu, o co vlastně v knize jde. Člověk by si řekl, moderní pojetí příběhu... Jistě ze začátku půjde o tupou vyhlazovací misi lidí na Marsu, ale časem se dozvíme trochu více a třeba dostaneme trochu té ambivalence. A ono ne. Prostě to je tupá vyhlazovací válka na Marsu. Z mého pohledu bylo lidstvo pomalu v pozici záporné válkychtivé rasy (na druhou stranu tohle vyznění mohl být nakonec autorův záměr), která skutečně provede naprostou genocidu jiné rasy - pochopitelně my se přece jen bráníme, protože Marťani by to provedli nám, ale tak nějak si říkám, že bych od literatury očekával malinko větší přesah než oko za oko.

Pak je tady spousta maličkostí typu strašně na sílu vklíněné historické postavy (ostatně i ten fakt, že všechny hlavní postavy jsou reálné historické osobnosti a zásadně se o nich v knize referuje poznatelným přijmením je trošku tlačení na pilu, ale budiž), mluvím však spíše o menších rolích, ať už je to opravdu trapné cameo Hitlera, Nikoly Tesly a spousty dalších. Chápu do nějaké míry záměr, ale zpracování je mimořádně neohrabané. Osobně mi drobný úsměv na rtech vykouzlila akorát relativně ne až tak násilná zmínka jistého pilota červeného Fokkeru...
Celý ten příběh vlastně od nikud nikam nevede. Máme tady invazi, ta je nějak odrážená poměrně nekompetentními Marťany, jediné překážky hrdinům buďto klade zastaralá válečná doktrína, nebo neinvenční běžné válečné ztráty -prostě nuda - žádné zvraty se prostě nekonají, žádné zpochybňování statutu quo (pokud se tím nepočítá to, že pozemská armáda nemá tanky a Patton s Romellem za každou cenu chtějí vyvinout tanky). Úplný závěr knížky s "hrdinským" momentem působí jako přílepek na poslední chvíli tak, aby nějak obhájil všechna ta zvěrstva páchaná lidmi na obyvatelích Marsu.
Mám za to, že fikce má za úkol reálné charaktery stavit do nereálných situacích v zájmu explorace lidské povahy a možná nakonec najít něco lepšího v nás všech, ale tahle knížka prostě o lidech říká prakticky jen to nejhorší bez jakékoli naděje na to, že bychom se nějak mohli zlepšit. (snad jen, že teda Patton s Romellem si SPOILER - ty tanky nakonec prosadí a to je asi tak jediný vývoj, který se v knize odehraje)
Škoda

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

** I received this book free via Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.**
All spoilers will be tagged.

This was a little gem. I love H.G Welle's War of the Worlds so when I read the description of this title, I was naturally excited to read it; and it was exactly what I hoped for.

The story utilises real historical personalities to drive the plot. This alternate history take made for a really enjoyable read. I also loved the re-imagining of military technology based off martian reverse engineering.
The book was action packed, never letting up on the war for an instant. Because of the pacing, i flew through this book.

If i were to briefly critisise it for anything, it would be that it felt rushed. I wouldn't have minded a longer, drawn out story. Especially nearing the end. It felt a little too abrupt.
The second "final plan" would have made for a great few chapters as humanity struggle to deal with seemingly impending doom. It felt like it was introduced and snuffed out almost within the same paragraph.
The story also jumped instantly away from Mars and into the future the second the final battle was complete. I would have liked to have seen what happened to Mars afterwords. Do humans colonise it? Destroy it? Take the new technology and develop monsterous new machines?

All in all it was a fun read and a decent tribute to the original, never stepping on any of Welle's work.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Building a suitable defense against an alien invasion takes time. Twenty-six years after the Martians invaded Earth, the Earth is ready to take the fight to the Martians in War of the Worlds: Retaliation by Mark Gardner and John J. Rust.

To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.

In the aftermath of the Martian's invasion in 1898, the people of Earth were able to use the technology of a Martian tripod left on Earth to build new devices to defend against another possible attack from the Martians. Working together, the world's military forces have been able to learn from the previous attack and the technology the Martians possess and adapt better techniques to prevent another Martian invasion. With an optimal opportunity of getting to Mars approaching, the forces of Earth, led by men such as Rommel, Patton, de Gaulle, and Zhukov, head for Mars to proactively remove the Martian threat; but the plan that the Martians have under way might just threaten humanity's survival.

Incorporating historical figures, this imaginative narrative creates an alternate history for Earth through its envisioning of mankind's unified technological progress after the initial Martian invasion presented in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. It was intriguing to get the Martian's perspective of events but as a whole there wasn't a lot of character development taking place for either humans or Martians; instead there was a heavy focus on the strategy and details of the battles, which while well thought out and folding in advances in the way that science fiction stories are written and perceived by readers, it made it difficult to become completely invested in the story.

Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Paul Francois · Rating 5 out of 5]

These two authors have collaborated on military SciFi with a distinctive twist. This is not your H.G. Wells storyline, it’s been improved! With the world’s leading military minds, what could go wrong…plenty. You need to see how endure on an alien planet surrounded by a savage race!

This novel is a must read!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting in 1898 with the final throws of the Martian invasion, humanity is at a breaking point. However, the human bacteria prove deadly to the Martians and on mass, they die, leaving their advanced technology for the humans to scavenge. Skipping ahead to 1924, the world leaders have decided it’s time to take the fight to Mars and a massive invasion is launched.

I’m a fan of HG Wells’s works, including the original War of the Worlds. So of course I was thrilled to dive into a novel that told a story of what humans did afterwards. How does a failed Martian invasion change the course of humanity’s history? Gardner and Rust give a decent answer to that question.

I think this book would have extra interest to those who have studied WWI. There’s plenty of European and North American names to recognize in this novel such as Charles de Gaulle, Rommel, George Patton, and so on. You don’t have to be particularly knowledgeable about any of these historical figures to enjoy their characters in this tale. I was a bit surprised that the Asian countries weren’t represented at all. Also, since it was a world wide Martian invasion in 1898, I was initially hopeful to see how that great leap in tech affected many of the countries in Africa and South America. Alas, those continents are barely mentioned.

There’s plenty of great tech in this tale. First, I really enjoyed that some tested and true war machines of WWI were in this book, like the Fokker airplanes. There’s also some brand new vehicles made especially for the Martian invasion. However, I did notice that the physics of Mars was skimmed over when it came to actual battles.

Now, let me get out my little polished soap box. There is exactly 1 female character (Nurse Hill) in this entire book and she doesn’t appear until the last hour of the story and she isn’t plot relevant at all. There’s a few other ladies mentioned as wives or mothers. This pains me. Here we are in this fascinating science fiction novel that’s essentially about the survival of the species, and the women aren’t present. Sigh…

OK, so moving on. I loved that we got a look into Martian society through the Martian characters. Their society is suffering from stagnation and the inability for their leaders to admit that there’s a real threat coming from Earth. I really enjoyed watching the various Martians struggle with this.

The pacing of the story is good with strategy, reflection, and action all well intermingled. I never suffered from battle fatigue nor did I feel that the story bogged down here or there. As an aside, I liked that Hitler was receiving psychiatric help and was an exceptionally minor character in this book.

I received a free copy of this book via The Audiobook Worm.

The Narration: Samuel Hoke was a very good fit for this story. He performed several different accents as needed and was consistent with them throughout the story. Each character was distinct.

[Michael Whateley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very dubious when I am reading a book that is set in the storyverse of a famous author. They often fall short of the original. This, I am happy to say, is the exception.

I will avoid giving out too much information and spoiling the story. It is set decades after the original, and deals with man kinds response to the original invasion. It features real characters from history, and the occasional villain. The historical people behave and speak as you imagine them. It also incorporates a few modern conspiracy theories. How our technology is based on captured alien spacecraft. All of this is woven into a compelling story line. I loved it, and I am a fan of the original War of the Worlds.

Well researched. Well planned. Well executed. My one suggestion to the Authors is; hurry and get your next book out. I can't wait to read it.

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

( Format : audiobook )
"That fool with a stupid moustache.""
This story concept is simply delicious, being based on an alternate history following a famous, but fictional, invasion: that of the Martians in Wells' War of the Worlds. As such, it not only turns history on it's head and includes famous named historical figures - Stalin Lloyd George, Charles de Gaulle, Rommel, Kaiser Wilhelm II and President Maginot, amongst others - but also allows for numerous delightful little vignettes, such as Rommel, on his way to board the spaceship as part of earth's attacking fleet, is held up by a group of men in brown shirts led by a man with a toothbrush moustache who rages on about the Martians only being puppets of Jews, the real threat to humanity. Rommel promptly has his men arrest this unknown madman, Hitler, and carries on to board hi spaceship, annoyed that the encounter made his arrival twenty minutes late.

This is a straightforward tale of retaliation against st the Mars invasion which, 26 years prior to the commencement had slaughtered millions of earth people and was only stopped by the Martians falling ill and overcome by viruses in the atmosphere to which they had no resistance. Technologically vastly superior to the eathmen at the end of the 1800s, the Martians left their war machines behind as they died, equipment that was reverse engineered, thus thrusting the Earth into space travel capability in the early 20th century and even drawing together a loose, if uneasy alliance of most of the world's nations in a determination to wipe out the home world of their attackers, Mars.
The real joy of the book, in addition to the battle scenarios, is the personalities, rivalries and intrigues of the named leaders - Baria, the soviet commander, is given an especially bad press. The narrator, Samuel Hoke III, gives fine voice to all of the nuances of conflict, both of physical fighting and the dispositions of the characters. His rich, deep reading might seem a little hesitant at first but soon proves perfect for the time setting.

A most enjoyable book. My thanks to the rights holder who gifted me my copy, via Audio book Boom. It was a great idea, exciting, humorous at times, and well executed with an immediate feeling of reality. A book I am happy to recommend

[Leo McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is a good bit of fun. The War of the Worlds by HG Wells is a fantastic book - and ripe with possibility to develop in other tales. Here, Gardner and Rust imagine what comes next. After all, if the invasion had happened, humanity would have to figure out how to deal with the danger lurking on that distant Red Planet, right? The survivors of that first war retool the remnants of the tripods left behind by the invaders, re-engineer the technology and lo, behold, Earth is ready to invade Mars in return.

The really nice thing that the authors do here is to use real-world individuals for their story. So Tesla has been at the heart of inventing the ways to use this new technology, while the invasion force is spearheaded by the likes of Patton and De Gaulle, while Rommel becomes the fox of another desert entirely as the battle rages on the surface of Mars as time ticks on humanity as the Martians consider their own final solution.

It's a fun ride - though at times lacking a little in specifics, we get casualty lists but sometimes lack a bit of detail of how much of the Earth force that is, so it can be a little hard to gauge how much of a hammer blow it is to the forces of humanity. It's very much a military sci-fi, there's more action than rest, more chance to marvel at the tactics of taking on Martians on their home turf than to explore who our protagonists are. Sometimes too one sympathises with the Martians - there's no room for mercy in this war.

These are minor gripes, though, it's a smashing exploration of what could have been after the end of Wells' novel. There's bravery, there's loss, and the chances of success at times seem like a million to one...

I enjoyed this alternative history - and a look at how the paths of nations would have changed in the wake of the Martian invasion.

[John Purvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“War of the Worlds: Retaliation” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Mark Gardner and John J. Rust (https://www.facebook.com/JohnJRustAut...). Mr. Gardner has published about 10 novels and Mr. Rust six.

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Language. The story is set on Mars. This is a sequel to George Orwell’s War of the Worlds. The Martian attack took place in 1898.

It is now 1924 and Earth is ready to launch an attack. To Retaliate. Earth history, as we know it, was changed by the Martian attack. World War I never happened. Now the military forces of the world, including George Patton from the US, Erwin Rommel from Germany, Charles de Gaulle from France and Georgy Zhukov from Russia all lead troops in the invasion of Mars by Earth.

I enjoyed the 5 hours I spent reading this 302 page Alternate History Science Fiction novel. I liked how the characters we know from our World War II knew each other in this tale and worked together to conquer the Martians. Space fleets from Mars and Earth battle one another, then the surviving troops are landed and it becomes a land battle. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Gardner and John Rust have written a surprisingly believable account of a world where earth has been attacked by squid-like Martians. Earth’s military forces have struggled for years to recover and now band together to deliver payback to the unsuspecting enemy forces on Mars.

In alternate-world style, names of real people of the early 20th century appear as they play key roles in the campaign against Mars. Political situations, conditions on earth, and state-of-the-art weapons described in the book are close enough to our known world to seem familiar but the authors also introduce imaginative new weapons and scientific capabilities that add a whole new dimension to the story.

The book is full of non-stop action with plenty of visual details that leave the reader feeling as if they are watching an exciting movie. (I’m sure that will make for a very engaging audiobook version, as well!) While action is the focus of the book, character development is not ignored; there is just enough information about main characters to make me care about them without slowing down the plot. I loved the surprise twist at the end and the way it is resolved to wrap up the story on a satisfying note.

(I voluntarily read an Advance Reader Copy of this book.)

[Andy Simmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I backed this book on Kickstarter and I'm glad I did. It is a sequel to H. G. Wells' excellent War of the Worlds and it tells of mankind's retaliation against the Martian aggressors and their own invasion of Mars 26 years later. Mankind has adopted the Martian technology and used it to travel to Mars and fight the enemy. It includes an international plethora of historical characters such as Erwin Rommel (whose call sign, appropriately, is Fox One), Patton and others. I did like the section at the end which gave a quick "real" bio of the historical characters.

All in all, a fun alternative history romp.

[Polly Krize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As a relatively new author for me, Mark Gardner is impressive for his imaginative writing. This is a great example of fantastic writing, and I especially enjoyed the presence of George Patton and Erwin Rommel in the battle against the aliens first featured in The War of the Worlds, but with Mr. Gardner's talented twist on the whole thing. Excellent read.

[Elena Alvarez Dosil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review originally published at: http://www.lomeraniel.com/audiobookre...

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Samuel E. Hoke III. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

In 1898 the Martian tripods arrive to Earth destroying everything they find. Luckily after some time common bacteria kills them all, but human will never forget the wave of destruction by the Martians. Twenty six years later, mankind is ready to retaliate, using the technology left behind by the Martians during the invasion.

I read 'War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells (I can't help it but that makes me think of Warehouse 13) ages ago, I remember I liked it but it felt a bit outdated. Somehow I had a similar feeling with this one too. I had lots of troubles to connect to the characters and I struggled to keep my attention to follow the story. The Martians were referred by almost everybody as 'squids', and the lack of depth in Humans and Martians made this book a bit difficult for me.

There are real characters in this story, like Hitler, or Charles de Gaulle. I found it somehow weird for them to be included in a science-fiction story, since I think we can all agree that using that advanced technology to fly to Mars in 1924 seems a bit far fetched.

I think the narration was part of the reason why I did not enjoy the book. Samuel E. Hoke III has a raspy voice and I found his narration quite monotone and with pauses in weird places. He did not make differences for the characters, which made the book a bit difficult to follow at times. He used different accents, but for the rest, the character's tones and styles sounded the same.About the audio production, the voice sounded very processed, like Hoke tried to remove some noise floor, even though there was still a bit of noise present on the final product.

I think it was an interesting concept, but its execution was not something I enjoyed. Maybe with a different narration the book could have shone a bit more.

[Brian's Book Blog · Rating 3 out of 5]

See this review and others like it at Brian's Book Blog

A Hit or Miss Sci-Fi Action Novel

I picked this book up and set it down a few times before being able to get through it.  I love science fiction and don't even mind that it's a sequel -- but there was something about the way this book was written that just didn't sit well with me.  That being said, I did finish it (which I don't alway do).

What this book helped me realize is that alternate history books can be awesome when some of the research is done correctly.  Even if it's meant to be a crazy different timeline there are still things that make more sense now than they would back then. Retaliation had some of this and while other parts felt just right.

The action of this book was really well written. I can tell a lot of time went into crafting the perfect action scenes and making them flow from one to another. The ability to keep a book packed with this much action without making it feel overdone surprised me.

A slightly 'cinematic' narration -- War of the Worlds Retaliation both hit and missed marks throughout.  I don't know if it's because it's been a long time since I've read the original War of the Worlds or what, but the intro/first few chapters felt really hard to get into for me.  Sure there was action almost right away but I wasn't 100% sure why things were happening the way they were.

The narration for War of the Worlds Retaliation was done by Samuel E. Hoke III who does a really nice job.  Professionally recorded with lots of stuff going on, Hoke allows this book to flow nicely.

I received a free copy of this book. It has not affected my review of my opinion.

[Chris Gillies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um, I'm not sure what to say about this book. I guess the closest I can get is if Dan Brown wrote a book about a revenge invasion of Mars this would be that book. It is well edited and written, but the writing style is just.......Dan Brownish. The character names are bandied about like a name-dropper at a posh party, it felt almost gratuitous that all the major military leaders of WW2 made an appearance and had a check-in at some point, Rommel, Patton, De Gaulle, Zhukov, Beria, Stalin, even Hitler. Yet oddly enough other major players had little in there - Italy, UK, Japan. Although that's probably good, because there were so many plot lines going on the flicking back and forth became quite distracting. They all seemed to live up to national stereotypes though, with the stiff upper lipped English admiral leading the invasion, the bullish American who saves the day, the engineering-minded German and the psychotic wannabe dictator German, the working-man Russian and the psycho-Commie Russian. Perhaps another reason I'm unsure of the book is that it does highlight the lack of world depth in the Wells original in many ways, and perhaps it goes out of its way to include the world but exclude the UK (yes I know that the leader is a British admiral, but again that seems token.)

I think what galled me most was at the end of the book when the Americans and Germans "invented" the tank but called it a panzer- almost like the author threw that in there just to have one last eradication of the UK in history.

In summary, a Dan Brownish rip off belittling the great players of history in a book glorifying the genocide of another race.

[Allen McDonnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a quick read

Some parts of this story were logical and make great sense, other parts not so much. In real history German high command smuggled Lenin, Stalin and other radical communists into the Russian Empire to disrupt their war effort. This was successful but stuck the world with the USSR for seventy years. In this story there is no world war one so there is no reason to believe the radical wing of the communist party could have managed to gain control of the Russian Empire. The humorous alternate names for technologies like computers and so on were fun but kind of distracting. Most of the historical characters are portrayed acting like their historical namesakes despite very different life circumstances. Up to a point this is fine but taken to extremes it make willing suspension of disbelief much more difficult.

[Olof · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are no characters you get to know properly - the few descriptions are flat and so very clichéd - so me as a reader really don't care much in the battles. And they are not very detailed either. And not very different from each other. And most of the book is just different battles stacked on top of each other. And I don't care.
Towards the end it gets quite good for a short while! ...and then lose it again. Still two stars.

[Dave Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining and an interesting follow-on to the classic sci-fi novel, but Rust spends too much time focusing on the intricacies of battle, battle logistics and not anywhere near enough time on character development and on the *story* of what happened between the two books. Feels like a freshman effort by an author that has some great stories in him down the road, though, and fun to read.

[Lonnie Armenta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be a movie!!!
It was cool seeing the aliens side of the war. Great space battles down to the last minute.
It's time for payback.

[Dave Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite entertaining

[Pete Schoerr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but defies credibility. Martians destroy most of the worlds cities in 1898. 26 years later we're sending an interplanetary armada to Mars. Mind you we're still fighting with WW1 tactics.
The notion that in 1900 we could reverse engineer alien technology and build a fleet (whilst still squabbling with neighbors) isn't remotely realistic.
Back in this reality nearly 100 years later we're nowhere near a Mars mission yet these guys just flit off to Mars and co-ordinate an attack just as easily as if they were invading a neighboring country.
Put your mind in neutral and it's a good gung-ho read with plucky Earthlings and stupid aliens.