Book Bearings
The War of the Worlds
- 206 pages · about 3 hours
- First published 1897
- 457 editions
- Free to read
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1 About this book
At the end of the nineteenth century, a metal cylinder from Mars falls on a common in Surrey, south-west of London, and others follow. The Martians who come out of them have far greater intelligence and far better weapons than their human opponents. They advance on London, sweeping the army aside, and the population flees. The story is told by an unnamed man who is separated from his wife and makes his way through the devastated countryside, with chapters on his brother's escape from the panicking capital. H. G. Wells's novel, serialized in 1897 and published as a book in 1898, is one of the earliest stories of a war between humankind and beings from another world.
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Classics
- Science fiction
- Romance Ingles
- Fantasy
- Imaginary wars and battles
- Space warfare
- Diseases
2 What to expect
The original alien invasion novel: Martians land in the English countryside and advance on London, and one man describes what he saw. It is told like an eyewitness report, in real towns and streets, and is less about fighting back than about panic, flight and survival as society collapses. Short and grim, it also turns the British Empire's habit of conquest back on the conquerors.
Good for readers who want: classic science fiction, an alien invasion, and a short, tense read.
3 Read it free, right here
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Read it on the Internet Archive4 About H. G. Wells
Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
5 More by H. G. Wells
6 Similar books
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- Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
- Eragon by Christopher Paolini