Book #13.5 - The War of the Worlds

Title: War of The Worlds

Author: H.G. Wells

Publication Year: 1898

Plot Summary: Martians invade the earth destroying everything in their path but eventually succum to a simple Earth disease.

Thoughts: I was more comfortable reading this book then most other works published in the same time period. I think this is because Wells wrote like SF authors still do today. Or more correctly almost every SF author that followed emulated his style in some form.

The book was well thought out and the only signs that it is set in 19th centuary England is the lack of cars and the occasional mention of horses and telegraphs. It is unfair to say it was planned as such. I believe it is simply that if the kind of destruction that took place in the book really did take place then mankind would be reduced to pretty much te same level reguardless.

The only thing I didn't like was how Englo-Centric (ouuu a new word?) it was. All ten of the Martian cylinders land in close proximity to London. Had this book been writen today they would have landed scattered across the globe. For Aliens to aim their "gun" at a tiny island across millions of miles and ignore the rest of the planet is just a little odd. Not to say that todays works arn't equally Ameri-centric but still, logically it didn't make a lot of sense.

Other then that? It was amazing.

Rating (0-10): 9.5

recommendations: Read it and understand today's SF with much more clairity.

(The spell check isn't working so forgive my rather grevious mistakes)