War of the Worlds - First Impressions *no spoilers*

[Brad]

Our obligatory opening thread. If anyone would like to jump in as our official discussion leader you can volunteer here as well.

[Jeff]

I can't remember if I read this book when I was younger, but I feel like I must have. I'm sure I read the "Classics Illustrated" version at some point. I like the way this is written almost as a documentary. It's all very "matter of fact," stylistically, which, in a way, makes it even more terrifying. I like the descriptions. Very realistically, as someone trying to describe things he has never seen using words that don't really fit.

[Mary JL]

I know this is a classic in the field; and we owe much to H. G. Wells. However, I personally do not really enjoy his books. Bad of me, I know.

Nevertheless, as SF readers, we owe him a lot as he started the ball rolling, as it were.

[Kara]

I've never been a discussion leader before. However, I'm taking a science fiction course at my university, and this is one of the books we're discussing. So this is somewhat serendipitous, I suppose, and if no one else wants to be discussion leader, I can probably come up with some good topics.

The War of the Worlds left me with the impression that H.G. Wells is a good storyteller but could use some writing help. There were times when he managed to capture the mood perfectly, to really convey the sense of terror or loneliness that the main character (who was nameless, of course) felt as he tried to evade the Martians in the English countryside. In between those moments, however, the tone was often very clinical and procedural.

Beyond its role as a progenitor of the genre, however, The War of the Worlds really does do justice to the concepts of invasion by the Other. The fact that the Martians invaded Britain, a tiny island nation, doesn't make much sense—except within the cultural context of the story's intended audience. This, and other aspects of the story, repeatedly made me think I was reading some sort of allegory of World War II, even though I knew it was written before the First World War!

[Brad]

I say you are our man, Ben. Go for it.

[Bill]

@Ben The fact that the Martians invaded Britain, a tiny island nation, doesn't make much sense

But it was not a "tiny island nation", in Well's time it was the world's preëminent Empire upon which the Sun never set.

[theduckthief]

I had to keep reminding myself that this was taking place in the 19th century. I was constantly thinking of WWII.

I agree that Wells' writing feels sterile, almost as if he were writing a report, rather than a story.

[Rindis]

I don't get the various references I'm seeing around to invading Britain not making sense. Seems eminently practical: It is a small land mass that the initial force of cylinders should be able to handle (admittedly Ireland might be better from that viewpoint). An entire continent might be a bit much.... Do remember that for all their technology, there's only a limited amount of resources available. Husbanding them must be a priority since there's no back up until some months after the next conjunction of Earth and Mars (note that the 'explosions' happened when Mars is at the closest point in its orbit to Earth).

Also, if their studies did offer some understanding of the organizational structure of Earth, 'beheading' the most powerful political entity can only be a plus.

[Manuel]

In the opening pages Wells clearly states that the Martians have been watching the Earth for quite a long while.

From an observational point of view, they would have seen that this little island has been rapidly changing much faster than the rest of the world.

They would have seen the first evidence of air pollution due to being the earliest nation to go through the industrial revolution. They would have noticed that it was the first nation to establish some sort of metalic network (railroads) to connect its population centers. They would have seen that is was the hub of some sort of transport system due to the large number of ships going to and from its shore.

And most of all they would have certainly noticed the largest and fastest urban concentration on the planet was London and its suburbs.

I think it makes perfect sense to go after what appears to be the center of human activity.

[Libby]

Finally found time to pick this one up and am quite enjoying it. It is written from a matter-of-fact, reporter type perspective but I think that works since its a first-hand account - and isn't the narrator a journalist by trade?

Also, I agree that Britain would be a prime target for world domination during that time period as they were THE world power economically etc.

[Liz]

I think aliens just like Britian. That's where they always invade on Dr. Who. ;)

[Kev]

It was a pleasure to be reading such a well-written book. I loved the clear careful descriptive style - a welcome relief from the choppy imagistic modern SF novel.
I kept having to remind myself about the world of 1898. Isn't it interesting that civilians showed up at the gravel pit long before any official government or military presence? No cars, no radios. It took days for them to bring in artillery. Despite all this, Wells' Martians seemed technologically menacing to me - that black gas was eerie. Not to mention the premeditated and military way in which they established their bridgehead. They didn't just land and start blowing things up. I still got a thrill thinking of the towering tripods with their threatening vantage point and their invincible heat rays. My impression? They don't make them like they used to!

[Cristian]

I'm about 3/4 done, and I don't know, for some reason it's taking me way too long to finish this one... I find that while I'm reading it my attention seems to drift away and I have to make an effort to concentrate on what I'm reading. I often find myself backtracking to see what I've missed while my mind was elsewhere. Maybe it's the style, which is a bit dry, with more descriptions than characterizations... I'm not sure. There are some very entertaining bits, the martians are interesting, and I appreciate the fact that this is one of the granddaddies of science fiction, but still, I can tell it won't be listed among my favorites once I'm done with it.

[Richard]

Just finished re-reading. Once again the thing that struck me most forcibly was the difference in speeds of communication from the Victorian era to the present day. Not only do Martians arrive but they start killing the local welcoming committee and populace, and still days later the people of London, the centre of the greatest Empire of the World, are barely aware of what is going on just down the road. In my mind this demonstrates not only the vast advances made in the past hundred plus years, where a single news event can be in every home across the developed world within hours, but the incredible organisational skill of the British Empire at the time.
I personally enjoyed the style, a rather dry telling of an extraordinary tale by a very British author. The fact that the story is set in Victorian London and told by a Victorian gentleman, as Wells was himself, lends a rightness to it which added to the experience for me.

[Cheryl]

This will be my first time reading it, so I've not read above yet....

[[deleted user]]

I've read quite a bit of Wells's work, including a lot of his obscure writings, and found his style to be tedious for the most part. At the same time, he could create situations that were original and intriguing. His characters were usually well rounded, sometimes too well rounded, and as a particular story developed, it often revealed much about human nature. I consider Wells a genius, but many of his stories seem to wander in search of a story, rambling here and there until Wells could extract a thread from it that he could tie it up with. Once that was done, he seemed to consider it finished, and let it go without going back over it to tighten it up for better pacing. If his publisher employed an editor, either that editor was too intimidated by Wells to edit his work, or perhaps didn't know how, since Science Fiction was yet undeveloped, but a good editor certainly would have helped. That said, a reader can almost always take something away from his stories, even if it required a struggle to finish. I recently read a treatise of his in which he predicts how World War I would play out years before it started, including the effect of air power, and although he missed a few things because they were the unpredictable accidents of the quirks of human behavior, he was very accurate about most of it. I've always believed that if the leaders of the time had read the treatise, they wouldn't have been so eager to let events degenerate into war, and it might have been prevented. He kept up with the technology of his time, along with current events, and knew how to extrapolate from it. The War of the Worlds was an example of it, and showed his awareness of what might be possible.

[Leo]

From the beginning of the book, I was hooked.

"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us."

As opening lines of a science fiction story, that's up there with the very best. At once, the universe is made bigger - and mankind is made smaller, indeed turned infinitesimal, mere bacteria under a microscope. Wells' story was written in a time of achievement, a time of mankind's pride in its progress - something made clear through the story with its talk of great machines and construction by men, yet all of it rendered impotent in the face of the Martian menace.

Faith in the pomp of man's ability rings through the opening sections of the novel. Life, despite the arrival of the Martians, carries on as normal for some time - disrupted only by the passing of military forces towards the location where the first cylinder lands. And then the tripods rise, and the destruction begins, and our central character is forced, like so many others, to take flight.

As the futility becomes clear, the fighting that does take place becomes more important. The battle of the Thunderchild, an ironclad ship taking on Martian tripods, is at the heart of this, incredibly poignant.

As a youngster, this world seemed utterly realistic to me. The mundanity of the everyday was startlingly well depicted, feeling like you could touch it - and so when that started falling apart, there was a really tangible dimension to it.

It isn't without flaw, there's armies of critics over the years who have pointed particularly towards its ending in that regard. And yet, when I pick it up, I'm simultaneously seven years old again and also lost in turn-of-the-century England... waiting... and watching... for a flare in the night sky, coming from Mars. If an author can still do that to me after all these years, then that book is something very special indeed.

[Jen]

Incredible that this story is well over 100 years old, it holds up really well.

[Kaia]

I'm reading this for the 2026 group re-read, and this is my first time reading the book. I found the writing a little stilted at first and had a hard time getting going. Then I suddenly found myself multiple chapters in and needing to make myself put the book down, so I could go to bed. Even though I am familiar with the story through popular culture, references, and movies, it is still compelling. I find the narrator's mix between carrying on as usual and being horrified by what's happening to be very believable.

[Meredith]

I am planning to read this as well. I'm looking forward to reading it for the first time, as I am also familiar from cultural references. Probably I'll pick this up next week from my library.

[CBRetriever]

just started it

[CBRetriever]

and I'm liking it so far. It doesn't feel like it was written that long ago.

[Bonnie]

Here for the group re-read. Have never actually read this before... I tried it on a spring vacation trip in fifth or sixth grade, but was too hard for me then.

It is fun knowing we are experiencing the "progenitor" of one of our favorite premises :) As mentioned above, amazing how H.G. Wells ... "kept up with the technology of his time, along with current events, and knew how to extrapolate from it. The War of the Worlds was an example of it, and showed his awareness of what might be possible."

Recall that a radio play broadcast of this sparked panic in the 1930s; some listeners thought it was really happening!

[CBRetriever]

I totally enjoyed this book but as my version of it also contains a sequel by another author (American) I'm struggling through that one. The Complete War of the Worlds

[April]

I was looking for this group read (reread i guess). I have never read it, but this was that Tom Cruise movie, right? What i have read so far doesnt really seem much like that movie though.

I lucked out and got a collection of Wells stories. I only intended to read The Time Machine and maybe The Invisible Man this year. I have never actually read any of Wells, but hope to check these classics off finally. Decided i may as well add WOW to this too! I am about 20% in i believe. (P.s. i am getting a lot of strangers liking my update. Wondering if it is because of this group/group read? Curious.)

[CBRetriever]

it's a reread for this month. I like Wells books but that Tom Cruise movie was nothing like the book and the main character in the book was no hero, just a witness and a survivor

[Leonie]

I re-read this a couple of years ago, and really enjoyed it. I think the trick to enjoyment is to remember that it was written well over a century ago, and that writing styles were different, technology was different, and that it was set in the UK, which was still a global power at that time.

I have never read it, but this was that Tom Cruise movie, right? What i have read so far doesnt really seem much like that movie though.

There have been multiple movie attempts over the years. Certainly the Tom Cruise one, which I did watch, was…less than satisfactory (in my opinion)… particularly given that the book was set in the UK, and in the late 1800s. It was one of those movies where the source material was more nodded at rather than followed.

I think that opening paragraph that Leo quote was quite astonishing, and potentially a clever foreshadowing.

[April]

I think all of that is important to keep in mind. And then i also just realized that my book print was pretty tiny and the book itself very heavy, so i couldnt hold it close to read easier, and that probably contributed to the less enjoyable reading experience. Although, as for the text itself, it was very hard to stay interested with all of the cities and things being named as someone whos never been to London/UK. I tried the Google Maps at one point, but it wasnt working so good on my device, and i only scratched the surface of places i could locate.

All of that said, i do have to appreciate the story itself. I mean ill trust folks' word that this was a pioneering book on these subjects of aliens from Mars and science and psychology. I enjoy several more contemporary dystopian type stories and have an interest in life beyond our world, but am no expert, and it can be terrifying!

[P.E.N.]

I’m thinking of reading The War of the Worlds this month, partly for the classic factor and partly to see how that documentary style shifts the fear.
Anyone else joining the re-read?