The War of the Worlds (Modern Library Classics) | H. G. Wells

The War of the Worlds (Modern Library Classics) | H. G. Wells | Excellent abridgement and modernization of a classic story

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The War of the Wor...

	The War of the Worlds (Modern Library Classics) H. G. Wells Modern Library, 2002 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 236 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Why it's still in print a hundred years later...

H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds as a warning to the complacent, world-dominating British citizens of his era to not take the status quo for granted. The arrogance of some British politicians in particular rubbed Wells entirely the wrong way, particularly their sentiment that the British had an 'obligation' to 'civilize' the world (read: colonize) for its own good. Well's book was a rock thrown at that attitude-on-a-pedestal, and although he didn't knock it down, he made his point- and in spectacular fashion. In one way, the Martians *were* the conquering British, with their superior weapons and baffling ways that must have seemed incomprehensible to the natives of Africa and other areas colonized by force. Wells' dark tale was also a warning that even the British- despite their firm belief in their world destiny- could be squashed like so many bugs by an indifferent cosmos that didn't give one whit about the British (or anyone else's) false boast of superiority. In the end, though, it's a hopeful book- just as the Martians died off because they weren't biologically suited to live in this world, Wells also foretells the end of the British Empire because the British (alien) way was not the native way of life in the colonies, suggesting that the British wouldn't survive there long; the natives would eventually prevail. And they did. On top of all that, it's rousing entertainment that can be read just for its drama and suspense.

And that's why it's still in print a hundred years later.

-Mark Wakely, author of An Audience for Einstein

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Excellent abridgement and modernization of a classic story

I consider "The War of the Worlds" to be one of the top five science fiction stories of all time. It has been the model for two excellent movies and the driving force behind one of the greatest unintentional hoaxes of all time. The original story is set in England at around 1900 and that has not been altered in this story.
Evans does an excellent job in altering the language to fit current usage while maintaining the integrity of the original story. The abridgment retains all of the excitement of the story and the presentation is suitable for the target level of reader. The illustrations capture the action; I was particularly struck with the detail of the facial expressions.

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A million to one!

War of the Worlds has come and gone in many different incarnations but I kinda just knew that none of them were really being faithful to HG Wells' original story, especially the mis-judged Spielberg/Cruise flick. So I decided to give the book a shot since it was cheap and this particular printing by The Modern Library looked rather sleek and sexy. I know it's sad, but I like my books to look good.

Wells was actually the first writer to do the 'alien invasion' story and tells it from an everyman's perspective (like in that awful movie Signs, only much, much better). Our unnamed narrator is some sort of writer/journalist who lives in rural England. He is pals with a man named Ogilvy, who works in an observatory and is one of the first people on Earth to notice a series of explosions on Mars and projectiles launched towards our blue planet. When the projectiles (cylinders) arrive, no one is really freaked out but approach them with interest and curiosity.

Our narrator feels the same way but slowly realizes that he should keep his distance. It's interesting to note how people either react with indifference or ignorance in these first few chapters. Before the advent of tabloid media and long, long before those dreadful cell phones were invented, it would be totally believable that major news such as alien landings would spread through the country pretty slowly.

As you know the Martians turn sour and decide to start zapping everyone off the face of the planet with their mysterious heat-rays and tripods. Our narrator reacts with smarter logic than the rest and keeps a cool head while everyone else is a panicking idiot.

I did get a little bit bored in the middle when our nameless narrator tells the story of his unnmamed brother in London (a thin attempt at fleshing out the chaos elsewhere) but it picked up the pace again rather quickly after that. It is a rather short book also and I feel like a total moron at the fact that it took me a month to read it. I did get pretty ill in the middle, which made the boring bit even worse and I put it down for a couple of weeks. I planned to read it in a few days, but I guess fate was against me.

You know the ending already and how the Martians are defeated by germs, which might seem a bit of a cop-out to any young readers but to me, reading it like it was 100 years ago (a world I particularly like, the old english countryside filled with inns, cottages, paperboys, pubs and post offices) , it's rather ingenius. HG Wells must have been a really smart guy to come up with ground-breaking stuff like this.

War of the Worlds IS an undeniable classic and is still far superior to any knock-offs and every-single-one of the movies. Give it a go for sure!

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It's not as scary today

Beware: The War of the Worlds is nothing like the movie with Tom Cruise; it's better. It's interesting to look back at at life 100 years ago and see how they used the little technology they had to fight off the enemy. This book is entertaining if you can put yourself in the era that it was written. It's not easy to understand, however. There is a lot of old English.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

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