The War of the WorldsThe chilling novel depicting a Martian invasion of London in the nineteenth century—a science fiction classic for all time. In 1898, H.G. Wells published The War of the Worlds, a work that has made the deepest impression on the public consciousness of any science fiction novel. His chilling account of an invasion of Earth from outer space by intelligent, ruthless aliens was made remarkably effective in its exquisitely detailed account of the invaders’ progress through the city of London, the capital of the world’s most powerful nation at the end of the nineteenth century. Many readers could imagine the familiar neighborhoods and landscapes hideously transformed as a result of the Martian invasion, making the impact of the novel even more powerful and immediate. Wells’s keen awareness of the preciousness of life on Earth and the fragility of our place in the universe makes The War of the Worlds just as forceful and relevant today as it was when it was first published more than 100 years ago. |
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artilleryman began black powder Black Smoke blackened body bridge brother Byfleet Chertsey Chobham Chronic Argonauts common crawled creatures crowd curate cylinder darkness dead destruction door earth Edgware escape eyes face faint fear feet fighting-machine fire flame flash going green grew guns hand handling-machine head heap heard Heat-Ray Hill horse Horsell Horsell Common houses huge human hurried lane Leatherhead light London Londonward looked machine man’s Mars Martians Maybury Maybury Hill mind morning narrator night northward o’clock Ogilvy Ottershaw planet Putney Pyrford railway realised red weed Regent’s Park road round ruins running sand pits scarcely science fiction scullery seemed seen Shepperton shouted side silent slowly smashed sound staring station steam stood stopped strange streets struggle suddenly tentacles Thames There’s things thought tians tion trees tumult turned ulla vapour watched Wells’s Weybridge What’s wife window Woking Woking station yards