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.

Book Review: The Time Machine

      Try to think far into the future, as far as you can. H.G. Wells' The Time Machine teleports you straight into the future thousands of years from now, or according to the book it does. 

     I remember that I was once told that ,”The past is a strange, distant land.”  That might not be exactly what was said, but the general affect is still given.  H.G. Wells published The Time Machine in 1895, which can easily be picked out by the writing style that H.G. Wells uses.  I feel a slight air of dislike for the writing style that H.G. Wells writes in, but I remember that his style was the normal in his time.  Some of the vocabulary can become confusing because many are no longer used in the same way.  Even though the vocabulary may be strange, the words used seem to better get a point across about the mood than I think normal writing would.  An exert from The Time Machine reads, “The Eloi, like the Carlovingian kings, had decayed to a mere beautiful futility.  They still possessed the earth of sufferance...”  If it were not for the footnotes on each page to help me to translate and understand some of the words, there is no doubt that I would have read this passage differently than was intended.

       It must have taken a vast amount of imagination to think up the environments of The Time Machine.  The present day surroundings would not seem that odd to us even in this time.  When the Time Traveler moves through time though, the area opens wide to vibrant and sometimes scary future.  As the Time Traveler traveled, he thought to have seen many amazing advancements, “I saw great and splendid architecture rising about me, more massive than any buildings of our own time, and yet, as it seemed, built of glimmer and mist.”  We are left to our own imagination to think of the advanced buildings.  As the Time Traveler stops moving through time, he finds himself first in a dim world occupied by a single sphinx statue.  This world opens to be what could almost be described as a strange paradise.  However, beneath this paradise is later recognized as a grim situation between fellow man.  The final known setting of The Time Machine is simply barren land.  The description given by H.G. Wells gives the feeling of depression or giving up and letting what will happen happen.

     The Time Machine, I believe, could easily be the definition of Science-Fiction because of its ability to draw imaginatively on scientific knowledge and speculation.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Sci-Fi or who delights in looking deep into a story to pull out different meanings.