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Summary: I READ IT OUT OF CURIOSITY, I DIDN'T BELIEVE THAT A BOOK----
Review: ---WRITTEN IN 1898 WOULD HAVE ENOUGH REALISTIC ACTION TO KEEP MY INTEREST.Boy, was I wrong!! I agree with some of the other reviewers, this beats all the movies! This may very well be the best science fiction book of all time. For being over 100 years old, everything is still believable. You won't be disappointed! --George Stancliffe
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Summary: Damn ...that was GOOD!!
Review: Never matched and certainly never exceeded, HG Wells' 'War of the Worlds' remains the ultimate invasion, bye bye mankind extravaganza of the imagination.
And ..somehow, being set in the Victorian era makes it even more irresistable, with people fleeing from the grizzly invaders wearing tweeds and bustles.. what a vision that conjures up in our jaded, new millenium plastic weary imaginations.
My prayer is (having just learned that Tom Cruise is to make a new film version) that he avoids blasphemy against this beloved antique piece of science fiction and does not make an updated whizz-bang, glitzathon Hollywood piece of barbarism! Mr Cruise take note! plenty of bustles, corsets, horses, carts and brass telescopes - thank you sir!
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Summary: Is Mankind Doomed to Extinction?
Review: This is the book which spawned/inspired all subsequent short stories, novels and movies about Alien invasion of Earth and mankind's attempts at resistance. From The Invasion of the Body Snatchers to the X Files, authors and producers owe an inestimable debt to HGW, who practically invented the Sci Fi genre. (Jules Verne earlier had coined the phrase "Scientific Romances" for his own creative tales.) Stylistically there is little dialogue--just long narratives in the first person by an observant, occasionally active, narrator, plus occasional monologues by a secondary character. The role of women is negligible--except as in requiring male assistance. Wells slips in a few satiric barbs at human foibles, but the plot is deadly serious, as the majority of the terified masses react like cattle or idiots. The veneer of civilization is hastily abandoned in the panic of Self Survival. Torn between love for his wife and brother vs a sincere concern for the fate of all humankind on the planet, the Narrator spends two weeks as a prisoner in a bombed-out house. During this time he observes the Martians at his leisure--thus making him the most informed Englishman on the subject of alien anatomy and behavior. Stalking about on tremendous tripod legs, these first literary aliens deal death dispassionately and indiscriminately to hapless victims in their inexorable march to and through London. The red planet has sent 10 mysterious cylinders to Earth--an advance army of scouts for potential colonization as a result of Mars' inevitable demise. Nothing man can devise--weapons increase in sophistication as subsequent version are filmed over the decades--can withstand the superior technology of these ruthless but purposeful invaders. The conquest of Earth is settled within a week and mankind is doomed. For once man is the enslaved race--no longer the masters of their own planet. Is resistance futile--or even possible? Could mere ants (re size and technology) destroy or even survive against a race of giants? A critical and chilling must-read for all sci fi buffs.
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Summary: Dull and boring. Don't waste your time!
Review: This book may be a classic, but it is a chore to read. Very little happens in the way of action or character development. The plot is well known thanks to the famous radio broadcast and movie adaptation. You'd think the book would give you some insight as to the characters or a more involved plot line. Well it doesn't. This book may be one of the first ever Science Fiction novels written, but first does not equal best. Especially in this case. Do yourself a favor and read something a little more current. If you are looking for a good Science Fiction classic, check out "Dune" or "John Carter of Mars".
Rating: 
Summary: Where's Will Smith?
Review: Personally, I enjoy this book less than The Time Machine because there is less of a journey. The story basically consists of the citizens of Earth pitting their wits agains an invasion army from Mars and getting their collective butts kicked. Yet it an important novel - being the first to capture the terror of conflict with alien life - and it is a cornerstone of science fiction.
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Summary: Not enough action
Review: I personally thought this book was horrible. It was very boring and not once was I on the edge of my seat. I was never excited to keep on reading. The only thing that I liked about this book was how H.G. Wells described the Martians. I think he did a very good job at that but besides that the book needs a lot more action that will keep you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what happens next.
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Summary: Science Fiction At It's Very Best
Review: This is the book that got me interested in Science-Fiction in the first place, and i've never really read anything else that has drawn me in in quite the same way. It is along with two other H.G. Wells books (The Invisible Man, The Time Machine) quite possibly the blueprints for everything else that followed. For me the only apocolyptic books that came even come close to War Of The Worlds, are The Stand and The Day Of The Triffids. It works on a number of levels. You can read it as a novel about a Martian Invasion and it works, or you can reads it as a political commentary on the British empire and it still works. It also gives you a pretty good account of life and attitudes in England a century ago. Quite simply in my humble opinion it is the best piece of literature written in the last 150 years. Now if only Hollywood would make a proper adaption of it. One set in England in the 1890's and with proper tripod fighting machines.
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Summary: Boring
Review: I had to read this book over the summer for school. Since I love fantasy, I chose books that were fantasy or science fiction. I adored The Hobbit which was fantasy, but found The War of the Worlds to be too much science fiction for me. Even though it was a short book, I found myself constantly counting how many pages I had left to read. It was extremely boring. Normally I find reading fun and invigorating, but reading this book was like a chore. It had a good plot, but had too many events leading up to the climax and too many leading to the resolution.
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Summary: Almost Perfect!
Review: This book was great! I would absolutley recommend this book to you. I couldn't stop reading it! It was really cool the way the martians came in capsules. H.G. Wells did an excellent job writing this book. It really made me think. It was action-packed the whole way through. However, there were quite a few hard words. It is a good book, but not the best. Sci-fi fans, you'll definately want to check this one out.
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Summary: Why do people want to mess with the classics?
Review: Why is it that every movie/radio/TV adaptation of this story has been SO different from the original story? This story is so much more gripping, thrilling and horrifying than anything seen in any of those half-baked exploitations, I don't know why they bothered. There are scenes where the alien death machines systematically exterminate the populace of London that are truly horrifying, even sickening. There's another scene where a death machine fights a one-on-one duel with a naval destroyer that is as cool as anything you'll see in the CGI-painted fantasies on the screen. And the section that details the evacuation of London that rings so true, you can smell the dust and panic. For a 19th Century British author, Wells had a style that was more cinematic and moving than anything you'll see at the local multiplex nowadays. Forget what you think you know about "The War of the Worlds". Forget the adaptations, forget the Cliff's Notes, forget what your teachers tell you about it. Read the book as if you were watching a movie, a really great movie, and it will amaze you. Classics last for a reason.
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