The War of the Worlds

By Herbert George Wells, 1898

Their world is far gone in its cooling, and this world is still crowded with life, but crowded only with what they regard as inferior animals 

So as to escape from their dying world, the inhabitants of Mars “carry warfare sunward”, thus triggering a brutal invasion of Britain...

---

I am simply astonished by how H.G. Wells predicts the future. This Martian invasion is somewhat as dreadful as the two great wars that follow. If the plot had been a little more dynamics, it would be a great favorite of mine. What a pity!

1. This novel is really precise when it comes to technology and war strategy and moral. Using the Heat-Ray and Black Smoke, the Martian surgical strikes and their search for terror made me think of a WW2 Blitzkrieg. Moreover as in the two world conflicts, the Law of war is being trampled. All of this makes the novel somewhat ahead of its time. Well done!
   

2. However, the story had not been enough dynamics since the main character ran away from the invaders. I mean that the author focused on a single story, rather than being extensive. I did not really enjoy that choice :(
   

3. The structure of the novel reminded me fantastic stories like “The Call of Cthulhu”(1928). Both catastrophies are due to the limit of science : against the Martians or against some old divinities. But Lovercraft gives no chance to humanity against transcendant entities, whereas Wells' creatures are finally “slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth”. Some glimmer of hope in this book...

Medicis