Sunday, October 18, 2009

Book Review: The War of the Worlds

H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds slowed my down with it's slow pace, but amazed me with its unique and original idea.
Even though H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds was published in 1898 the speed of the story telling can become slow and encumbered. These times of slow progression could be blamed on the now unfamiliar language used and slang of the time. The unfamiliar language is not helped with a lack of footnotes, which helped me immensely when reading The Time Machine. However, there were times when the story progressed in great pace to what I am typically used to reading. Thinking of locations in relation to others and general directions can be very difficult if the reader does not live in the general area of London or does not know the towns and cities nearby. Luckily, most of the locations do not have a great impact when following the main ideas of the story. Towards the end of the book, H.G. Wells conveys the narrators feelings in an incredible and easy way. My chest swelled with the very same feelings of the narrator when his words were used and I had a very real feeling of recognition for all the small things of our world.
The most unique characteristic of The War of the Worlds is the plot behind the whole book. Very similar to The Time Machine, the ideas in The War of the Worlds are very unique in just the thought of how H.G. Wells could have imagined this up, especially during his time. Just the concept of how the martians looked and how they were described blew me away. Also, I can scarcely imagine how H.G. Wells could have thought up the process in which the martian war machines were built as the narrator of the story watches from a nearly destroyed building.
H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is probably one of the best sci-fi books I've read thus far in my life, even with the sometimes crawling pace of the story. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about unique alien technology, martians, or sci-fi in general.

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