Another good one from H.G. Wells.  Published in 1898, it may not be the first book to ever exploit the idea of interplanetary travel or the now cliche alien invasion.  But it is easily the most well known and the many themes set forth in War can be seen throughout the last and current century.  Taking for example Independance Day or The Day the Earth Stood Still.  Both movies, separated from each other by almost 50 years, show humanity as helpless against the alien force as ants are against us.  I use the analogy specifically because Wells refers to it time and again in this novel.  But unlike these later stories, Wells maintains the ineffectual ability of man to truly rule his destiny.  Instead, the saving grace of man are the least of all organisms on the planet, bacteria.  Which makes us take another look at the title and realize what Wells truly meant.

This idea has the most impact as we take the story in context of the setting War was written in.  A time when the popular novels were those depicting invasions of Britain, but not by some unearthly force, but of fellow man.  Wells seemed to have jumped on the band wagon, but did so with a far different goal in mind.  Not to show the aggressive nature of humanity, or to comment on the political turmoil of the time, but to show how feeble these other stories were in relaying the true mettle of man.  This seems to me to be the major theme taken from the book.  Wells weaves a tail of suspense, desperation and above all, destruction that takes up 138 of the 145 pages of his novel.  With so much focus on the destruction of man, one would be hard pressed to say he wasn’t commenting on all our pride and creation, and how it would count for naught against even our weakest nightmares.

Through the perspective of one man and his brother, H.G. Wells depicts the utter rout of Great Britain, which at the time of publication was considered a superpower and London possibly the “greatest city on earth,” by Martians who fell out of the sky in cylinders shot from planet Mars.  Within this tapestry, the author weaves various other themes, most of which are seen in his other SF works as well.  The evolution and biology of the Martians are examined in contrast to our own, and even natural selection is brought up throughout the narrative, which in its own right was still a new concept.  As this was the end of the expansionist era for most of the super powers, it is no surprise we find Wells critiquing his own country.  Social, religious and scientific motifs are present as well.

Compared to The Time Machine, which was written only a few years earlier, they are similar in writing style.  Both are narrated and the main character is never named.  In fact, few names were given in War of the Worlds at all.  War was a bit more pragmatic in its treatment of the language of which it was written in (less flowery than Machine) as well as its description of the surroundings.  This fits, because it was as though the man who experienced it all was the author, and was put down in word to be an informative piece for those who were mostly ignorant of the true nature and events of the invasion.

With everything already being said, it was a wonderful book.  I found myself despising any distraction and taking all opportunities to read, if only for a single page.  So wonderful a time I had reading it, I have been inspired to return to the movie creations of it, and the other books I have read, to provide a contrast between the films and novels.  Look forward to that.