The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The War of the Worlds

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes #3

by Manly Wade Wellman, Wade Wellman

In 1897, the world changed forever when our planet came under attack from Martian invaders. The world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, along with his friend Professor Challenger embark on one of their most dangerous adventures to date... to discover the nature and intent of their extra-terrestrial attackers.

Genres: Mystery, Science Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Crime, Fantasy, Classics

226 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1975

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much for Holmes to do in this one

Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: War of the Worlds (Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Paperback)) (Kindle Edition)

I admire Manly Wade Wellman's stories of John the Balladeer aka Silver John (these can be found in the e-book version of MOUNTAIN MAGIC. The hard copy has different stories). However this Sherlock Holmes story just doesn't work. Perhaps the Wellmans were too constrained by the H. G. Wells story upon which it is based. Essentially, Holmes and Professor Challenger don't do much of anything except survive and think. They contribute virtually nothing to the war with the aliens. Watson is away for most of the book and was sorely missed by this reader. The Wellmans do introduce a surprising love interest for Holmes. This review is from the kindle edition sold by Amazon Digital Services.

[Andrew✌️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book almost by chance and it has been a pleasant surprise.
The novel tell the events described in the book "The War of the Worlds" by HG Wells, experienced by two of the most famous characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger. It's interesting to see how these men, followers of logic and science, face a similar threat, although I'm convinced that Holmes's fans might turn up their noses. Indeed, there are some aspects in the personality of Holmes, but not only, that don't meet properly the original style. See, for example, the relationship between Holmes and Mrs. Hudson . Professor Challenger, in contrast, is portrayed in all its arrogance, competence and lack of humility, as always. Many funny scenes in this story resulted from comparing the personalities of these two men. Apart from that, it's an enjoyable book that lets to examine, from an interesting point of view, the novel of Wells and where the author is described so unflattering. Note that in the book appears, though in one scene, another character of Doyle, Lord John Roxton .

[Stephen Robert Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

First writen way back in 1968 & published in 1975 this American classic over 50ys ago sees Holmes not with Watson but with Professor Challenger from Doyle's lost world. They give great discretion of him.
But this lacks the sprit of Holmes as we have no mystery nore do we have any Watson .
H.G Well's is talked about but that is it. What gets me most is that Holmes is not right he wouldn't have not told Watson he would have told Challenger to except him too.
I find that this book has dated too as we now no lot more about Mars than in 1968 when Patrick Troughton's Ice Warriors were the Martian warriors
Then comes the final straw that brakes the camel's back that makes this utterly wrong Holmes .Mrs Hutson & Holmes have being having a steamy sex affair for over 25 years but she is still Married to Mr. Hutson !
I have seen movie years ago with Rodger Moore as Holmes (he was nealy as bad as Tom Baker or Charleston Hestston ) were had two children by Irena Adler!
Mrs Hutson comes across as older so did that make Holmes a Toy boy?
I find the rest of it OK, as it has the song Forever Autumn when your not here , in my head from musical War of the World's. My song with my late wife always makes me sad thinking of her.
You need to know the song , it's special like Bright eyes.
Shame the book isn't
The next part deals with Challenger 's Martian story which is also useless if have not read the Lost World .I always thought Challenger was to good to be true & not Doyle's best at all , bit silly.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly surprised, was a pretty interesting read.
3.5 stars maybe 4.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really hoping for more from Holmes story but it didn't quite work for me. Holmes doesn't have a whole lot to do in this and Watson comes across as a little too dumb for my liking. Plus, I don't feel like I know nearly enough about Arthur Conan Doyle's other classic character, Professor Challenger, to really get this. I would like to read more about him in the future though.

[Ignacio Senao f · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volvemos a saber lo sucedido en el libro “La guerra de los mundos” pero desde otros puntos de vista. En este caso Holmes y Challenger se unen para investigar y combatir esta invasión.

Un gran entretenimiento este libro, no falta de nada, hasta buenas ilustraciones le acompañan. Realmente es como escrito por Conan Doyle juntos a Wells, sus personajes no pierden la personalidad tan características que muestran en sus novelas originales, y tiene el punto de fantástico de Wells.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manly Wade Wellman y su hijo Wade Wellman nos ofrecen un pastiche holmesiano mezclado con la genial obra de H.G. Wells ‘La guerra de los mundos’. Más que una continuación, se trata de una revisión de la invasión marciana desde diferentes puntos de vista, los de unos personajes muy especiales: Sherlock Holmes, el profesor Challenger y el doctor Watson. A esto hay que añadir el suplemento de un par de obras de Wells, el relato ‘El huevo de cristal’, que sirve de prólogo a la invasión, y el ensayo ‘Los habitantes de Marte’. Personalmente, la novela me ha parecido interesante y poco más.

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

With his recent surge in local popular culture, Sherlock Holmes is bound to need some new challenges in his storied detective career. In The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: War of the Worlds, Manly and Wade Wellman take Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s popular character (as well as his Professor Challenger from The Lost World) into a battle for survival while E.T. reigns down destruction in London. The story follows a parallel story line to H.G. Wells’ classic novel but makes clear and distinctive turns in it’s plot that allow a new perspective on the classic invasion tale as well as taking shots at Mr. Wells throughout the novel for his sensationalism of the invasion as well as the ignoring of Sherlock Holmes‘ involvement. In the novel we get looks at former characters out of the original Holmes’ stories as well as new characters that fit right in with Holmes and Watson with really no noticeable issues. The biggest issue I have with the novel is the dumbing down of Watson as well as the authors’ shaping Holmes a bit more “normal” than Doyle has him painted in his novels. We must keep in mind that Holmes is a genius and an eccentric one at that but this book has him a more centered then I’m used to seeing as well as giving him a James Bond quality of magnetism over Mrs. Hudson doesn’t fit the character profile. I am not familiar with Professor Challenger but from what I’ve read, most agree that he has lost his hard edge in this book as well. Still a very enjoyable read especially when the invasion picks up about a third of the way through the book and moves briskly thought the last plot twist is shoe horned in to make one more tie to the original mythology. The book is a part of a series of novels from Titan books that has different writers taking Sherlock Holmes and pitting him against a variety of Victorian-Era nemesis. Overall: a nice light book but look elsewhere if you’re a Holmes purist.

[Q. · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Gintautas Ivanickas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kilo tūlam Wade Wellman geniali idėja – sukryžminti Herberto George‘o Wellso ir Arthuro Conan Doyle kūrinius. Atėjo jis pas savo tėtį, rašytoją Manly Wade Wellmaną ir sako – darom! Na, jie ir padarė. Iš pradžių tai buvo keli atskiri apsakymai, publikuoti žurnale. Vėliau Wellmanai, darbuodamiesi savo šeimyninės rangos metodu, viską apjungė, sutvarkė ir išleido atskira knygele.
Siužeto griaučiai – H. G. Wellso „Pasaulių karas“, o štai veikėjus Wellmanai pasiskolino iš Conan Doyle. Įvykių centre – Sherlocko Holmes‘o ir profesoriaus Challengerio figūros. Dalį pasakojimo mums dėsto profesoriaus palydovas įvairiausiuose jo nuotykiuose – Edwardas Malone, na, o kitą dalį (matyt, nenustebinsiu) – daktaras Watsonas. Šmėkšteli ir kiti abiejų Conan Doyle ciklų personažai. Lordas Roxtonas visai epizodiškai, užtat ponia Hadosn... Kaip čia jums švelniau tą naujieną pranešus? Žodžiu, atsisėskit, jei rankose turit puodelį karšto gėrimo, pastatykit kur atokiau – Sherlockas plėšia romaną su ponia Hadson ir slepia tai nuo Watsono, kuris, kaip ir dera bukokam genialaus seklio palydovui, nemato to, kas vyksta panosėje.
Bet grįžkim prie siužeto – Sherlockas netyčiom įsigyja krištolinį kiaušinį, kuris pasirodo besąs savotiškas vaizdo transliatorius, susietas su Marsu. Išvydęs tame kiaušinyje keistas būtybes, varo pasikonsultuot pas profesorių Challengerį. Na, o toliau – viskas, kaip kanone: žybsniai Marse, marsiečių nusileidimas, trikojai, mirties spinduliai ir t.t.
Holmes‘as ir Challengeris stebi ateivius ir rezga planus, kaip juos reikės nugalėti. Nuolat pabrėžiama, kad jei ne tiedu galingi protai... Pala, pala. Nusispjaut, ką jie ten rezga – marsiečius, kaip ir pas Wellsą, pribaigia mūsų mikrobai, bakterijos ar ten virusai. Kur čia tų „protų“ nuopelnas? Pasirodo, tame, kad jie „nujautė“, kad taip gali būti.
Sherlockas nuolat pabrėžia, kad mes neturime jokių duomenų, kuriais galėtume remtis, darydami kažkokias išvadas. Kad tai būtų kvaila. Ir nuolat daro išvadas. Aišku, teisingas. No shit, Sherlock!
Žodžiu, Wellmanų Sherlockas – ne kažką. Challengeris – kiek įtikinamiau atkartotas. O štai Wellso kvapelis visai pagautas. Bet tą pačią idėją – Sherlockas vs marsiečiai – H. L. Oldie realizavo kur kas geriau.
Trys iš penkių. Bet labai labai skysti trys.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of the enjoyment in this novel is based on the idea of bringing Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger together in the same volume to deal with a crisis—in this case, H. G. Wells’ famous War of the Worlds. We get a little added joy when we see other characters from the two series (John Watson, Edward Malone, and Sir John Roxton) make appearances, although Malone’s is only as an author. It’s quite possible that a couple of the other characters were people I should have (but didn’t) recognize as well.

The novel opens with Holmes coming into possession of an unusual crystal which shows images of somewhere else. He brings it to Challenger and the two study it together, ultimately deducing that it shows Mars. They discover the life on Mars and are still watching when the invasion of earth is launched. The two then split into their own stories—both men taking it on themselves to observe the invaders to gain precious knowledge for the defense of the planet, before eventually teaming up again toward the end of the book.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel, although I didn’t feel like Sherlock Holmes quoting Keats seemed to be in character. (Perhaps I’m misremembering, it’s been a while since I’ve read original Holmes stories.) I also didn’t think that Holmes and Mrs. Hudson being longtime lovers was a plausible addition. I always thought of Doyle’s Holmes as pretty much asexual, but I guess reasonable people could come to a different conclusion.

If you like the idea of mixing Holmes, Challenger, and Martians, you should definitely give this book a try.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Simone Cicali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una bella operazione, molto Farmer, divertente :)

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo vecchio Urania propone un pastiche Holmsiano interessante, per diversi motivi.
Il primo è che coniuga efficacemente un paio di opere di H.G.Wells con il canone di A.C.Doyle.
Il secondo è che integra il Professor Challenger de Il Mondo Perduto e ne fa un interessante co-protagonista.

La storia rimonta 5 racconti usciti in inghilterra qualche anno prima, e prende l'avvio là dove termina il racconto "L'Uovo di Cristallo"The Crystal Egg con Holmes che mette le mani sull'artefatto e lo porta a Challenger. I due già si conoscono e insieme lo studiano, apprendendo della comparsa dei marziani su Marte.
Poi abbiamo l'ivasione, identificata dagli autori come avvenuta nel 1902 (quindi prima che Challenger scoprisse Il mondo perduto) che si svolge, nei fatti come nella dinamica, ne più ne meno come nel romanzo di Wells.
In questi fatti gli autori inseriscono rimandi ad alcune indagini di Holmes, nonché cosa hanno fatto Holmes, Challenger, Watson e altri personaggi Holmsiani.
Scopriamo anche che Holmes e Mrs. Hudson sono innamorati l'uno con l'altro fin dalla gioventù e che da questo punto di vista Watson non ha mai compreso nulla, a differenza di Challenger.
Il finale, decisamente Holmsiano, si ricollega all'uso dell'uovo di cristallo. Tramite esso Challenger scopre che i marziani, che come già aveva intuito non venivano da Marte ma usavano il pianeta come roccaforte, stanno lasciando il sistema solare in seguito alla sconfitta avvenuta sulla Terra ed alla impossibilità di occupare Venere. Holmes risolve ancora un caso, e tutti proseguirono con le loro vite.

Ben scritto in generale, questa rilettura è stata veloce anche perché era difficile interrompere l'avventura. Questo nonostante l'azione, soprattutto nel primo ed ultimo capitolo, sia scarsa. Ma prende bene come storia. Nonostante tutto ci sono alcune ingenuità, come quella finale. Perché mai i marziani avrebbero dovuto inviare i piani del loro raggio termico ai terrestri fino a poco prima loro nemici?
Come mai Watson non si è mai reso conto della tresca tra Holmes e la Hudson? In fondo quel pomposo di Challenger se ne accorge molto in fretta, e dopo 25 anni di frequentazione Watson non ha mai colto nulla?

Comunque le 4 stelle il romanzo le merita tutte, anche mezza in più.

[Joel Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tale puts Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes smack dab in the middle of HG Well's Martian invasion of the War of the Worlds--except Holmes determines that these aliens didn't actually originate on Mars, but rather Mars was a waystation for them.

If that wasn't enough, Wellman also brings in characters from Conan Doyle's Lost World story, notably the prodigious Professor Challenger whose estimation of himself can never be high enough. Challenger always brings a note of levity to the proceedings as he continuously gives Holmes backhanded compliments, telling Holmes that his mind is almost as accomplished as the Professor's. Challenger also likes to run down Dr. Watson by telling him how difficult it will be for Dr. Watson's unaccomplished mind to understand the things that he and Holmes have unraveled.

That Holmes and Watson never lash out at self-absorbed Challenger shows remarkable restraint.

Anyhow, this story is great fun. Holmes purists may not like it because Holmes' landlady is described as an attractive blonde and we discover that they have a secret romance. To be fair, I don't believe Conan Doyle ever described how Mrs. Hudson looked, though the romance appears to be an invention of Wellman's.

My only hangup with the novel is the afterward, which seems to be taking unnecessary potshots at the deceased and defenseless HG Wells, listing supposed inaccuracies in the War of the Worlds that Holmes and Challenger discovered.

[Fen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the late '80s, I heard about this book from my friend, Jonathan... he was rather surprised by how good it was, considering the premise, and so when I found a copy a few years back, I immediately bought it. And it has been sitting on a shelf in our library ever since. However, the title popped up recently when I was searching for books published in 1975 that I had not yet read and I decided it was definitely time.

This book is much better than it has any right to be, to be honest. It is basically professionally written fanfiction, complete with an unexpected romantic relationship and a crossover with another of Arthur Conan Doyle's characters, Professor Challenger (whose books I have never read, so he was unfamiliar to me), as well as the storyline from H.G. Wells... all set during the turn of the last century (so definitely pulling the Doyle characters into a bit of a new timeline). The writers do an excellent job of catching the language of the era. It was more a dense read than I would have expected, but I really enjoyed it and will likely read it again sometime.

[Prof. Purple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sherlock Holmes, Martian Invaders, and the Perils of Literary Crossbreeding: A Review of Sherlock Holmes and the War of the Worlds

Few fictional figures in the Anglo-American literary canon have achieved the mythic omnipresence of Sherlock Holmes. That singular mind, operating at the precise juncture between Victorian rationalism and the birth of forensic science, has proven as indestructible as it is adaptable.

But there is a danger—one that literary pasticheurs either fail to acknowledge or enthusiastically embrace—in forcing Holmes into cross-genre acrobatics. He has fought Jack the Ripper, Dracula, Cthulhu, Nazi spies, and even time-traveling assassins. That he should eventually confront H.G. Wells’ Martians was, perhaps, an inevitability.

And so, we come to Sherlock Holmes and the War of the Worlds, a novel by Manly W. Wellman and Wade Wellman, which attempts the impossible synthesis of two literary worlds that should, by all logic, remain separate. It is an ambitious, often fascinating, sometimes absurd, and ultimately charmingly doomed effort to merge Doyle’s detective fiction with Wells’ apocalyptic science fiction.

Holmes, one of literature’s most unshakable empiricists, is asked to make sense of the wholly irrational—and that is where the novel both succeeds and struggles.
The Historical Moment: When Holmes Met the Martians

To appreciate what this book attempts, one must understand what it is fusing together—two works that could not be more philosophically and thematically distinct.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes stories (1887–1927) are rationalist fairy tales, in which logic prevails, chaos is contained, and human wickedness—no matter how grotesque—is, in the end, comprehensible.
H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds (1898) is something else entirely—a merciless deconstruction of Victorian hubris, an early work of cosmic horror, and a reminder that science, for all its wonders, is powerless in the face of superior and indifferent forces.

To combine these two literary forces is to take an agent of pure logic and place him in a world where logic is utterly useless.

It is, in short, a paradox.

And yet, paradoxes, when executed properly, can be deeply compelling.
The Art of Adaptation: A Pastiche That Plays It Straight

What makes Sherlock Holmes and the War of the Worlds intriguing is that it does not descend into parody.

The Wellmans do not wink at the audience, nor do they reduce Holmes to a helpless bystander in the face of alien horror.
Instead, they attempt a literary sleight of hand, treating the Martian invasion as one more case—albeit a highly irregular one—in Holmes’ vast portfolio of investigations.
The tone is consistent with Doyle’s original Holmes stories, which lends the novel a certain gravitas even as its premise edges into the ridiculous.

Holmes is, as always, Holmes—unflappable, relentless, coldly analytical. He reacts to tentacled, heat-ray-wielding Martian tripods with the same clinical detachment that he once applied to the seemingly supernatural hound of the Baskervilles.

And yet, the presence of Martians shifts the equation in ways that even Holmes cannot entirely control.
Thematic Clash: When Rationalism Confronts the Cosmic Unknown

The greatest challenge of this novel is that Sherlock Holmes is a character defined by his ability to explain mysteries—but Wells’ Martians are not a mystery to be unraveled; they are an existential event.

And therein lies the structural and philosophical tension at the heart of the book:

Doyle’s Holmes stories are about the triumph of reason over ignorance.
Wells’ The War of the Worlds is about the limits of human knowledge and power.

When these two worldviews collide, the novel enters intellectually unstable territory.

Holmes can deduce Martian behavior, but he cannot defeat them with deduction alone.
He can analyze their weapons, but he cannot reason with an intelligence that sees humanity as insects.
He can, at most, bear witness, applying his scientific rigor to an event that renders all human effort moot.

This means that, for all its pleasures, Sherlock Holmes and the War of the Worlds ultimately struggles with a protagonist who, for once, is not the master of events but their observer.

Which raises the question: Is Holmes still Holmes if he is no longer in control?
Narrative Strengths: What Works?

For all its philosophical difficulties, there are elements of this novel that shine.

Watson’s Voice Is Perfectly Maintained
The book’s greatest achievement is its ability to capture Watson’s narration—that mixture of Victorian stoicism, reverence for Holmes, and occasional exasperation.
The Wellmans understand that Watson is not merely a sidekick, but the emotional core of the Holmes stories, and they give him moments of real poignancy amid the chaos.

The Integration of Historical Figures
Sherlock Holmes and the War of the Worlds cleverly incorporates figures from Wells’ novel and other real-world individuals.
This gives the story a sense of historical weight, as if it exists not just in literary fantasy, but within the plausible alternate history of Victorian England.

The Atmosphere of Dread
The Martian invasion remains as terrifying as ever, and the Wellmans do not shy away from the sheer horror of Wells’ original vision.
Even in a world where Holmes is the great explainer of mysteries, there is no “solving” an alien apocalypse—only survival.

Narrative Weaknesses: What Falters?

The Struggle to Make Holmes “Useful”
The novel bends over backward to give Holmes agency, but the truth is that, in Wells’ story, human agency is irrelevant.
The greatest triumph of Doyle’s Holmes is that he restores order to a disordered world.
But in a world where Martians have already reduced London to ashes, what is left to restore?

The Slight Unease of Genre Fusion
Despite the Wellmans’ best efforts, there are moments when the book strains against its own concept.
There are scenes where one can almost feel the authors wrestling with the narrative, trying to keep Holmes useful even when the logic of the story suggests he should be helpless.

The Martians Are More Interesting Than the Plot
One of the book’s unintended consequences is that it makes the reader wish for a full Holmes story or a full Martian invasion story—rather than this hybrid of both.
The novelty of the premise is its greatest strength and its greatest limitation.

Final Verdict: An Admirable Experiment, A Doomed Fusion

Sherlock Holmes and the War of the Worlds is a noble but ultimately uneasy attempt to force two incompatible literary worlds into a single narrative.

It is brilliantly written, but conceptually unstable.
It captures Holmes’ voice, but places him in a world where his voice cannot alter the outcome.
It is both a love letter to two great literary traditions and proof that some stories should remain separate.

Still, for those who love pastiches, literary what-ifs, and the strange intersections of rationalism and cosmic horror, it remains an intriguing, if imperfect, experiment.

Because some mysteries can be solved.

But some—like the cold, unfeeling gaze of an alien invader—defy all deduction.

As well they should.

[Amy H. Sturgis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book traces the events described in H.G. Wells's brilliant The War of the Worlds and the related "The Crystal Egg" (both 1897) from the perspective (and involvement) of characters from Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger universes.

It unfolds as a series of stories told either by Edward Dunn Malone (the reporter for the London newspaper The Daily Globe who features in and sometimes narrates the Professor Challenger tales) or Dr. John H. Watson, Holmes's friend and biographer. These include 1: The Adventure of the Crystal Egg (by Malone), 2: Sherlock Holmes Verses Mars (by Malone), 3: George E. Challenger Verses Mars (by Malone), 4. The Adventure of the Martian Client (by Watson), 5: Venus, Mars, and Baker Street (by Watson), and perhaps the most entertaining of them all, the Appendix, which is Watson's strongly-worded letter pressing H.G. Wells to revise his erroneous account of the Martian invasion.

As a response to The War of the Worlds, this is a satisfying novel. The Wellmans know the original text well and fit their narrative into it seamlessly -- except when challenging Wells's account, which they do with cleverness.

The Wellmans clearly know their Holmesian canon, too; they offer new theories about the origins of Mrs. Hudson that fit into Doyle's chronology, solve the problem of Mr. Hudson, and fold a new generation of the Moran family into Wells's narrative. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the novel is the depiction of a long-standing and discreet romance between Holmes and Mrs. Hudson, a relationship to which Watson remains completely oblivious.

Holmes and Challenger both approach the subject of the crystal egg and the invasion it foretells with the scientific rigor and intellectual curiosity one would expect. The drawback to this tale is the centrality of Challenger's character. He never rises above an annoying, cartoonish, single-note figure here, a grating contrast to the rest of the work, and I couldn't help but wish the mystery of the Martians had been left to Holmes and Watson alone. Overall, this represents a fun premise achieved with skill, but I had hoped to enjoy it more than I did.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The War of the Worlds, Manly W. Wellman and Wade Wellman have taken the Sherlock Holmes we all know and love and joined him up with Doyle's other brilliant character, Professor Challenger. These two analytical men investigate and try to come up with a response to the alien invasion previously chronicled in H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds. There are several startling revelations...one in particular about Holmes and a few that "set the record straight" (as Watson would put it) about the events In London during the attack.

Overall, the Wellmans do an adequate job of telling their story and incorporating the worlds of Doyle and Wells. It is a bit disjointed in places...evidence that the novel was originally published as several "articles" which were meant to tell the "truth" about the Martian invasion. I think the portions which focus on the Professor's and Watson's point of view work best. Some of the writing from Holmes' point of view don't ring quite as true. I definitely enjoyed the interactions between Holmes and Challenger, and I am now eager to read the works that feature the egotistical professor.


***Spoiler Alert***
My major quibble with the story is the supposed romance between Holmes and Mrs. Hudson. There is no way that anyone will get me to believe that Watson, dull as he is sometimes portrayed, would have missed that relationship's reality. AND, given the good doctor's inclination to describe and have great sympathy for the beautiful women who employ Holmes as clients, you can't tell me that he wouldn't have mentioned that Mrs. Hudson was a youngish (30-ish), blonde, blue-eyed, statuesque, beauty. If there's anything the doctor notices, it's a pretty face.

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

IN SHORT
What Holmes got up to when the Martians were invading.

THINGS TO LIKE
A better premise for a steampunk novel simply cannot be imagined. Because the world of Sherlock Holmes is so familiar, the reader can experience some of the thrill in its destruction that the original readers of The War of the Worlds must have felt. The lesser known Professor Challenger is also bought into the mix and there is a wonderfully cheeky revelation about Holmes' private life.

THINGS NOT TO LIKE
The authors have taken all this potential and done absolutely nothing with it. Separated and alone, Challenger and Holmes simply wonder around following the exact events described in Wells' book and understand them. That is pretty much it.

The bombastic and arrogant Challenger should be a joy to write for. But, as he is alone he has nobody to be bombastic and arrogant to. Holmes conducts no experiments, makes no deductions. He just understands what is happening because he is so clever. You would at least expect some sparks when the men are finally bought together, but no. It is just mutual appreciation.

Even the cheeky idea about Homes' private life is handled in the most boring way imaginable. The reader is just told what it is near the beginning of the story.

I suspect that the authors were just too timid to add anything, but in places it feels as if they are actually trying to be dull.

THINGS IT IS LIKE

The War of the Worlds by HG Wells
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Edison's Conquest of Mars, by Garrett P. Serviss
War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches by Kevin J Anderson

[Elliott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really disappointed by this book for two textual reasons and a score of stylistic concerns. The first in my edition is on page 41 when Challenger refers to H.G. Wells as having "some rather sketchy scientific background, along with a bizarre imagination." The second is eight pages forward. Watson and Holmes are discussing H.G. Wells when Watson refers to him as "A sensation-mongering hack, suspiciously revolutionary in his notions..." These two instances marked for me the point of no return for this novel. I could reasonably accept (though very grudgingly mind you) the heresy of having Holmes be romantically involved since I feel he works better as the perpetual bachelor married to his job both as a certain barometer of Victorianism and for his own character (though his romance with Irene Adler in the new film versions works very well I will admit), as well I could accept the clunky dialogue. But the comments about Wells I found completely unnecessary to the plot and indeed quite malicious. They did not serve the plot in the least and indeed at least to me really hampered it. Being a big H.G. Wells fan I was completely alienated before page 50, the remaining portion never redeeming itself from these initial jabs.

[Katya · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's so much fun to read a TEOTWAWKI story that isn't focused on terrifying the reader! This is more like- yep, alien invaders are bad, but let's use scientific deduction instead of freaking out.

The events of the original War of the Worlds are divided up into smaller stories in this book. First, "The Adventure of the Crystal Egg" tells how Holmes and Challenger received advanced warning of the invasion. Next, "Sherlock Holmes versus Mars" is about how Sherlock survived the opening attack of the creatures and how he returned to London. Then, "George E. Challenger versus Mars" shares how the professor saw his wife off to safety and returned to the city in search of Holmes. Finally, Watson gets to chip in with "The Adventure of the Martian Client", "Venus, Mars, and Baker Street", and a few short follow-up letters.

I thought it was really entertaining to read a mash-up of these two older stories. Plus, c'mon, who wouldn't want to see Sherlock Holmes mull over creatures from another planet?!

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wellmans combine the worlds of Doyles' two main protagonists, Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger, with the England of H.G.Wells War of the Worlds (adding bits from Wells' short story, "The Crystal Egg"). An entertaining read, with some fun bits, but do not expect any revelations or major changes to the Wells story. Basically, this is an en bloc retelling of the original through the eyes of Doyle's characters. For the picky Holmesian, the Sh.H. depiction is a little weak, but otherwise the story and characters mostly work.

[j_ay · Rating 1 out of 5]

The mash-up idea of Sherlock Holmes and War of the Worlds (not to mention the inclusion of another Doyle character: Professor Challenger), has an immense amount of potential. Sadly the Wellmans achieve nothing even close to interesting, not even coming close to having a grasp of the essential character of Holmes (pairing him off romantically with the Landlady, let alone saying shit like he thinks of himself as a perfectionist kisser (!) is so contrary to the character and just a waster of pages) and merely writing off the Well's characters as idiots...what is the point?
Unreadable.

[Fred Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of deducting but not much action as Holmes and Watson face an invasion of London launched from the planet Mars. Holmes meets his equal in intelligence in Mr Challenger (nice twist on the name) who is the first to tell you how smart he is.

While there is investigation, the results on the invasion rest squarely with the invaders; and Holmes and Watson are merely bystanders.

Throw in H.G. Wells, which the author did, and you get an entertaining read

[Salvatore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good, interesting story. I like that i uses HG Wells War of the Worlds and places Holmes and another Doyle character, Professor Challenger and incorporates them into the story. I like how Watson is upset that Wells has misrepresented the true facts of the invasion and left out key contributions of Challenger and Holmes. This one made me smile.

[Bmj2k · Rating 1 out of 5]

In short, with a premise like Sherlock Holmes and the War of the Worlds this book should have been fun. Instead it was boring and tedius and not at all engaging. A complete and utter disappointment. It soured me on reading any more of this range.

[Kelsey Yost · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utterly boring, Watson is off somewhere else for most of the book, Mr Challenger is annoying and adds nothing, Mrs Hudson is moved from a background character to Holmes' lover (which I find disturbing and frankly gross). Not a fan at all of this story.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sherlock Holmes joins forces with Professor Challenger to help repel a Martian invasion.

The Wellmans' novel has a good starting conceit, but is spread rather thin.
By far the best part of this novel is thrown in almost as an afterthought with their revelations about the enigmatic Mrs Hudson.

[Rafeeq O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Manly W. Wellman and Wade Wellman's 1975 Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds is a fix-up novel of 5 stories and an appendix--some first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction--bootstrapping from H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds and working in Arthur Conan Doyle's famous consulting detective and the author's irascible, arrogant, yet nevertheless entertaining Professor Challenger as well.

"[H]ow," wondered Wellman the Younger, after seeing a film in which Sherlock Holmes goes up against Jack the Ripper, would "Holmes...have reacted to H.G. Wells's Martian invasion"? 'Twas an excellent premise, agreed Wellman the Elder, and this latter, consenting to join the collaboration, "suggest[ed] that another Doyle character, Professor Challenger, be included" as well (1975 Warner paperback, page 5).

The intertwined stories the pair give us are presented as coming from two different fictional writers. "The Adventure of the Crystal Egg," "Sherlock Holmes Versus Mars," and "George E. Challenger Versus Mars" purport to come from Edward Dunn Malone, the first-person narrator of Doyle's The Lost World; here, though, the tales are written in the third person, with Malone himself never appearing as an "I" or explaining how the stories came to him. "The Adventure of the Martian Client" and "Venus, Mars, and Baker Street," along with the appendix of "A Letter from Dr. Watson," are the first-person relatings of Holmes's usual chronicler.

I believe I won't touch the plot at all here, not really, anyway. That is, we're already familiar with the suggestive flashes on the telescopically observed face of distant of Mars, the arrival of the cylinders and the rampaging of their towering tripod war machines, and the invaders' ultimate demise beneath the onslaught of unseen Terran bacteria. What is interesting in this book, then, are the fillings-in of other parts of the plot, in the interplay of the cool Holmes and the blustering but highly intelligent Challenger, and eventually the faithful yet sometimes-befuddled Watson.

And while I won't give specifics, instead leaving the discoveries to the reader, I will comment that even as the Wellmans follow the outlines of their source novel--and also bring in enjoyable casual references to other various Doyle works of Holmes or of Challenger--at the same time they end up working against the canonical Wells to change some basic hypotheses underlying The War of the Worlds. Sometimes this is with the main investigators' observation and reasoning, yet occasionally there is authorial playfulness as well.

Although a minor character, for example, considers H.G. Wells a "distinguished author," Challenger instead sniffs that he "has some rather sketchy scientific background, along with a bizarre imagination" (page 35). The staid Watson explains to Holmes, "with something like asperity," that he is "A sensation-mongering hack, suspiciously revolutionary in his notions" (page 42), a fellow the doctor "dislike[s] for his manifest disapproval of our civilization and our government" (pages 42-43).

The most amusing venting of Watson's spleen, however, occurs in the Appendix, a letter addressed to Wells, accusing him of "vastly exaggerating [his] own experiences, sometimes resorting to pure faking" (page 205), in the supposedly non-fictional The War of the Worlds. The screed begins with the deliciously self-righteous ad hominem of "Your atheism is notorious" (page 205) and then, after a numbered point-by-point dissection of Wells's supposed mistakes and "sheer fabrication" (page 206) in his book, concludes with the threat "If you ignore this letter, I will have it published" (page 208).

Manly W. Wellman and Wade Wellman's Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds is no piece of evocative high literature, but it is an enjoyable retelling of a once-familiar tale, bringing in old friends from different series of another prolific author contemporaneous to Wells, and giving us a 5-star read of apt nods, smiles, and surprises.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are so many things to enjoy about The War of the Worlds. But first let's clarify: I am not speaking of HG Well's original SF classic, though I am certain there is plenty to enjoy there too. Rather this is a different novel with the same title. It is written by Many Wade Wellman and his son Wade Wellman. The senior Wellman was an esteemed pulpmeister from way back, and he penned a series of excellent novels and stories regarding Silver John AKA John the Balladeer. These were true originals featuring what I will call "Backwoods magic" taking place in the Appalachians, and they are fantastic works of fiction. I had no idea Wellman had ever written anything featuring Sherlock Holmes so already this book had a lot going for it before I even cracked the cover. And there's more. In addition this book also features Professor Challenger, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's OTHER series character. Challenger appears in a number of Doyle's tales, most notable of which is The Lost World. The original stories featuring Holmes remain worth reading today, and so too does The Lost World. Challenger is a very different sort of person than Holmes-they never meet in Doyle's fiction but it seems a logical development and it is fun to see them interact. There are also cameos from other supporting Holmes and Challenger characters such as Lord John Roxton, Inspector Stanley Hopkins, and of course Doctor John Watson. The principal idea behind this book should be evident (one might even say elementary.) Holmes' career spans the time of the Martian invasion HG Wells chronicles in his original novel The War of the Worlds. So what happens when Martian technology comes up against the two greatest intellects of the age? Read the book. But before you do there is one more thing I have to mention. It is why this book, despite all its' good points, only rates two stars. Both Wellmans in their respective introductions declare that they are dedicated Sherlockians. So the idea that these two dedicated Sherlockians would concoct a plot in which Holmes is carrying on a torrid love affair with Mrs. Hudson who is actually really hot boggles the mind. I never picked up on this while reading the original Holmes stories. I find it more than a little amusing that I can not bat an eye at Holmes encountering extraterrestrials, but I take great exception to the idea that he is shagging the housekeeper. Even more ridiculous: Watson is completely oblivious to this affair. The Wellmans have fallen into the old trap a lot of people who write these Holmes pastiches do: they assume John Watson is a dolt and he is not. And that's why this book barely gets three stars.