When an army of invading Martians lands in England, panic and terror seize the population. As the aliens traverse the country in huge three-legged machines, incinerating all in their path with a heat ray and spreading noxious toxic gases, the people of the Earth must come to terms with the prospect of the end of human civilization and the beginning of Martian rule.
Inspiring films, radio dramas, comic-book adaptations, television series and sequels,The War of the Worlds is a prototypical work of science fiction which has influenced every alien story that has come since, and is unsurpassed in its ability to thrill, well over a century since it was first published.
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Audiobook edition published by Tantor Audiobook Classics, July 2009. Narrated by Simon Vance. Run time is 5 hours and 56 mins. Originally published in 1898.
The iconic granddaddy alien invasion story! Finally I sat down and read it. Well, listened to the audiobook. And it was…….. alright.
It starts off really great… You get to see when the aliens first land and start causing havoc. The mass panic and alien destruction is epic. After an hour or two in, the book really slows down. The aliens are way, WAY in the background, and we focus on the main character just running away. I’m not saying it has to be huge action packed thing like the movies, but it just felt like a lot of filler watching this guy go farther away from everything. I understand that it is about an everyday joe just trying to survive in the face of something literally out of this world happening. It just felt like it could have been trimmed a little in the middle. Just some of the dialogue at this point is what felt like filler.
Then we get to “book two”. Now things really start to happen. We get more updates about the aliens, we meet some other people who are rightfully freaking out and eventually we get to the conclusion with the aliens. Book two had much more going on and I really enjoyed this part of the story. I do feel like the ending was a little anti-climatic. Not in how the invasion is defeated, but that it just feels like it was a rush to end it at a certain word number or something. I don’t know… we just had hours of nothing and then when we get to see what happened to the aliens it is over so quick? *Shrug*
While it felt a little too slow for me personally, I LOVED the descriptions of the aliens and their tech. Super fun. Such unique and creative creature design. Their is no denying that Wells was way ahead of his time and a true visionary.
Creature From The Book Lagoon 