Rating: 
Summary: War of the Worlds falls flat
Review: It pains me to do it, but I can only give this novel three stars. It is ironic that a radio presentation of this tale led to widespread panic among unwary listeners; a reading of the novel itself is a slow, languid journey met with little excitement at all. It is almost a chore to get through the middle sections of the book. Wells is a fantastic writer, but here he seems to wallow in his own descriptive prowess. The story starts off promisingly with astronomers spotting strange emissions from Mars on ten successive nights. Soon, "meteors" radiating a green trail through the skies begin to land in the English countryside. The narrator, Ogilvy, is one of the first men to discover the impact site of the first "meteor." As hundreds of curious people gravitate around the pit, they discover a rounded cylinder, the mysterious contents of which begin making strange sounds. In time, a portion of the cylinder begins slowly unscrewing itself, and what emerges from the cylinder is an inhuman mass of tissue sporting a great number of tentacles. As the people pull back in terror, the creature sets to work building a device that unleashes death and destruction on all those nearby. No man can withstand the utter destruction unleashed by the creature's heat ray. In the days that follow, more and more cylinders land in the area. Soon, the Martians emerge from their pits, riding huge mechanical contraptions towering over the trees. They unleash Black Death, a poisonous gas, throughout the countryside, and they burn villages remorselessly with their devastating heat rays. Now the story comes down to a description of the narrator's flight through the countryside and of the panic that spreads from town to town as unbelieving men and women come to realize that the Martians are here and cannot be stopped. Page after page is devoted to descriptions of man's flight, and the author names towns and roads repetitiously. Not content with his own overdescription, the narrator shifts midway to a description of his brother's flight from London. This shift did great damage to the novel, in my opinion, as it needlessly interrupted the flow of the story, a flow which was already greatly harmed by the author's endless orgies of overdescription. As the story draws toward a welcome conclusion, the narrator's personal travails again serve to draw the reader back into the story, but even this renewal of interest is hampered by the fact that the narrator has long ago removed any ounce of suspense by making statements that easily inform the reader that he survives and the Martians do not; he even all but explains how the end of the Martians will come. While the protagonist faces some harrowing situations throughout the story, the reader feels little tension or excitement about them because Wells has given away the ending early on. There is no climax, only a welcome relief that the long foreseen end of the story has finally come. The story's premise is wonderful, Wells' description of the Martians is unique and interesting, but the novel strikes me as a dud, defused by the author's own good intentions. Having read several other novels and a good number of short stories by the author, I greatly admire Wells and enjoy his writing. War of the Worlds, though, is largely, for want of a better word, boring. I would warn potential readers not to expect a thrilling ride such as that provided by the Orson Welles radio broadcast; in the novel, there is of course no such thing as radio yet, and news of the invasion and the resulting panic spread very slowly.
Rating: 
Summary: how cool... NOT!!!!!
Review: My 6th grade "advanced" class read this. EVERY SINGLE PERSON HATED IT!! do not read it. in some parts, it is soooo long because of unnesscery details, and then he doesn't gives enough detail in other parts. the book was like a very long sentence. hg wells may be one of the best writers in history, but not in my book! martians invade, martians take over, somehow, the martians are not defeated by fighting, they are defeated by a bacteria! HEY! DING DONG THE MARTIANS ARE DEAD! THEY'VE GONE WHERE THE GOBLINS GO! BELOW! BELOW! BELOW! NOT! do not read this book. maybe the martians could have beamed down here and taken hg wells!!
Rating: 
Summary: Under attack
Review: A Review by Trevor
This is a story of a reporter named Ogilvey. He shows up at a site were an alien aircraft landed on earth. The rest of the story is him trying to find his wife, while the aliens are trying to take over the earth. This story revolves around a radio broadcast. I would give this book a two star rating. The book just needs more to it! I fell asleep reading it once, because it was so boring. The characters were real sounding, but they didn't do anything exciting. I usually like science fiction books; I guess it was just to old for me. H.G. Wells used words you usually don't hear in our society anymore. You can see what is to come so easily in this book. It was hard to tell when the climax was because there weren't any real exciting parts. This book seems to drag on because you know what is coming. I would not suggest buying this book. If you really want to read it is your choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping
Review: Unknown to the inhabitants of Earth, the planet Mars is aging and nearing its exhaustion. The Martians, not even perceiving humans to be anything other than animals, decide that it is time to seize this lush, young planet. Landing in several locations in southeastern England they begin their conquest of the planet. Can man, with his most advanced technology hope to stop the Martians with their much more advanced technology? You've seen the 1953 movie, War of the Worlds, and want to read it in book form? Well, then don't look here. Herbert George Wells wrote this book in 1898, a mere one year after The Invisible Man, and two years after The Island of Doctor Moreau. The moviemakers of the 1950s made a wonderful movie, but one that, alas, bears very little resemblance to the original! This book is one of the crowning examples of nineteenth century fantastic fiction. It is a gripping story that masterfully combines horror and suspense, keeping you at the edge of your seat until the final page. I am lucky enough to possess the 2001, Books of Wonder edition that contains fourteen wonderful, full-color, full-page illustrations plus the two-page illustrations on the front and back, all done by the masterful Tom Kidd. It is very well made, and would make an excellent addition to any library.
Rating:
Summary: Great Series, Not-so-great segment
Review: This audiobook by Winifred Phillips left me disappointed. My enthusiasm for "The Masque of the Read Death" left me hoping for far more of "War of the Worlds". I'd recommend purchasing the musical version of "War of the Worlds" instead.
Rating: 
Summary: The Future of Earth is Coming to an end by Addie Roberts
Review: This action packed book is exciting to all ages. Martians envade our Earth killing all kinds of plant and animal life. This book tells how Martians kill most of human life. It is a very good book and I think you should read it. This is a very good book if you like action.
Rating:
Summary: Its Great!!
Review: This book is an excellent masterpeice and a definent must read for any sci fi fan. I picked this book for my ludic book as an 8th grader in reading and loved it!
Rating:
Summary: Why I think The War of the Worlds is a Mediocre Book
Review: The War of the Worlds is a very confusing book. The author confused me with all the different terminology. After the begining of the book H.G. Wells goes into to much detail. The plot is good, but the climax is extremly predictable. If you like a cornucopia of details, you will love this book, but if you don't you will dispise it.
Rating:
Summary: If you have seen the movie, you will love this book
Review: They don't write' em like this anymore. Why is that??? If you seen the movie that was made in the 50's, you will love this book even more. It's much more interesting. Too bad Hollywood ruined this great story with the version that came out in 2000. Now that was a bomb!
Rating:
Summary: A great tale
Review: When I was in the Air Force, many trips to foreign lands ensued. Long hours spent in the back of various cargo planes ensured that everyone had a decent stockpile of books for the entire trip. And so in the early portions of my "I want to read all the Classics" phase I picked this book up at the store and began. It is a wonderful story, one that grabs your attention from the first sentence. Having seen the old movie on TV (one of my favorites from that era), I halfway knew what would happen, but I didn't realize the full scope of it beforehand. I waited with anticipation as the first cylinder opened and the Martian machines loomed overhead, beginning thier march to conquest of the Earth. As I read I thought to myself, "Can anything stop these things?" several times, and then as if in answer a lucky shot from a British artillery piece cracks the faceplate of one Martian war machine and fells it into a river where it's destroyed. The other passengers on the plane gave me strange looks after they heard my howl of glee, let me tell you. But as the Martians adapted to Earth-style warfare, they once again became unstoppable. So finally as the whole situation was becoming unbearable and I was beginning to get desperate to jump in the book and do something myself, two of these things wade into the Thames and begin blasting passenger and cargo ships filled with refugees trying to escape. This was too much! So you'll imagine that the desire for retribution against the Martians I felt was expertly preceeded by Wells introduction of the HMS Thunderchild, a warship (the most advanced weaponry at the time of his writing) which simply rammed the first Martian, toppling it into the river, is cut in half by the second Martian's heat ray, but still carries through in it's death throes to successfully ram the second one as well. And with much noise of approval I once again got strange looks from my co-passengers. And this book will really do that to you. I highly recommend it to anyone who really just enjoys a good, solid story. The Time Machine was equally as good, but since this was my first taste of HG Wells it'll most likely always be my favorite.
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