War of the Worlds : Global Dispatches

Rating:
Summary: Great concept, barely average execution.
Review: Spreading H.G. Wells's "War of the Worlds" around the Earth and having famous people encounter the Martians was a wonderful idea. Too bad that for the most part the original PLOT was also spread around the world as well, with comparatively little to differentiate the famous people from anyone else. Other than to note that I was seriously surprised that Robert Silverberg did not do better in his entry (featuring Henry James), I will refer to the stories by star rather than author. The best ones were the ones featuring the Dowager Empress of China (which was rightly included in the Year's Best), Edgar Rice Burroughs and John Carter (which nevertheless could have been developed MUCH more than it was), Jack London, Joseph Conrad, and H.P. Lovecraft. The James, Picasso, Texas Rangers, Pulitzer, Tolstoy, Twain, and to a lesser extent Kipling and Churchill were basically retellings of the same plot over and over and over. The Roosevelt was distinctive but too restricted by its format, the Lowell distinctive but restricted by its pre-invasion tone. The Einstein suffered from vagueness (all of the sudden time inside the Martian war machine is relative, no explanation for the implications of that), the Verne was ridiculous, and the Dickinson...well, it obviously wasn't serious and so didn't fit in with the rest of the book. All in all, I'd say this was reasonably entertaining reading, but not NEARLY as marvelous as it could have---SHOULD have been.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: The idea for this colection is such an intriguing one, but the majority of the stories are poorly conceived - the Henry James entry is almost a point by point recounting of the original work except for the "surprise" ending (and begins with one of the longest sentences I've ever read). I had to force myself to finish the majority of them. A few, however, are quite enjoyable; for example, the Lovecraft story, in which his style is exaggerated to the point of hilarity. This book is really just something to pass the time - light entertainment, nothing more.

Rating:
Summary: War of the Worlds on a global scale!
Review: What if the Martian Invasion had happened all over the world? And what happens if it's witnessed by all the great authors, such as Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Albert Einstein and Teddy Roosevelt? From China to Cuba, from Paris to New Orleans, from Africa to Canada follow the reports of the alien invasion. Most of the stories are very good but some are old, like 'Night of the Cooters' which is a cool story about Martians against Texas Rangers, and some don't seem to fit with the rest of the stories, like 'Paris Conquers All' in which the aliens and the machines are NOT the same used in the other stories.

Rating:
Summary: War of the Worlds on a global scale!
Review: What if the Martian Invasion had happened all over the world? And what happens if it's witnessed by all the great authors, such as Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Albert Einstein and Teddy Roosevelt? From China to Cuba, from Paris to New Orleans, from Africa to Canada follow the reports of the alien invasion. Most of the stories are very good but some are old, like 'Night of the Cooters' which is a cool story about Martians against Texas Rangers, and some don't seem to fit with the rest of the stories, like 'Paris Conquers All' in which the aliens and the machines are NOT the same used in the other stories.