The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I didn't love this but I wanted to read it because it is such a classic work of science fiction, first published in 1898! And finding the version narrated by David Tennant certainly helped! And while I didn't love the pacing, I'm glad I read it because Wells' book really did inspire an entire genre of science fiction stories!

Fun facts I learned as I was looking into works inspired by this book:

1. The octopus-like aliens of the Space Invaders game (1978) were inspired by Wells' Martians, because game designer Tomohiro Nishikado was a fan of the novel.

 
2. The 1996 film, "Independence Day" has a computer virus stop the aliens, (instead of a human virus/bacteria).

3. The 1938 radio drama that allegedly caused public panic, thinking there were actually Martians invading -inspired a Doctor Who story, "Invaders from Mars" (an audio drama released in 2002) depicting Wells' broadcast as taking place during an actual attempted alien invasion! lol

4. War of the Worlds was the first comic story in the Tales from the TARDIS series. Narrated by the Fourth Doctor, it was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel of the same name.
[Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...]

Favorite quotes:

Hey look, theology!:
“Be a man!... What good is religion if it collapses under calamity? Think of what earthquakes and floods, wars and volcanoes, have done before to men! Did you think that God had exempted [us]? He is not an insurance agent.”

I also appreciate the condemnation of imperialism/colonization:
“We must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its own inferior races. The Tasmanians . . . were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space if fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?”


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