This story is a time-honored classic written by one of the fathers of science fiction, H.G. Wells. It was recently sent to me by a longtime friend who shares my love for sci-fi — thank you, Killyn!
The War of the Worlds was the first major publication to center around an alien invasion. It came out in 1897, and to fully appreciate it, you’ve really got to put yourself in the mindset of someone living in that era. I originally got to know this story through the Tom Cruise movie adaptation — I looked it up again after reading the book, and it’s part of the 30-movie rotation here at the prison jobler (what we call the TV schedule).
The story is told from the perspective of an unnamed male narrator, a writer who lives just outside of London. He recounts his experiences as though they really happened to him, starting with strange flashes of light observed on Mars — which people described as “muzzle flashes” in the sky, showing up night after night.
Eventually, a mysterious cylinder crashes near the narrator’s home, drawing crowds of curious onlookers. Scientists initially reassure the public that Martians wouldn’t be able to survive Earth’s stronger gravity — but they were wrong. After hours of working inside their buried cylinder, the Martians reveal massive spider-like tripod machines armed with heat rays. These machines immediately begin destroying everything and everyone in their path.
Most of London was slow to react. News traveled slowly without electronics, and many dismissed early reports as exaggerated. But it didn’t take long before the truth became impossible to ignore. The military was virtually useless — despite their best efforts, they only managed to destroy one machine. Meanwhile, each night brought more cylinders crashing to Earth, each carrying more Martians.
(Spoiler alert — though I think 130 years is a fair spoiler window!) In the end, the Martians are defeated not by weapons, but by Earth’s bacteria — something humans had evolved to live with, but the aliens had no immunity to. It’s a brilliant twist and one that has stood the test of time.
The book is narrated by someone living near the crash site and offers a detailed account of the chaos, including his efforts to get his wife to safety, then return to find more survivors. There are also a couple of chapters told from his brother’s point of view, giving a look into what was happening in and around London.
As promised, I’d like to compare the book to the movie — not just because it’s fun, but because I think the filmmakers did a great job of adapting the story to modern times while paying homage to the original.
The movie takes place in 2005, in New York instead of London (which made sense since London was the world’s epicenter in 1897, and New York sort of fills that role today). Obviously, there were no cars or electronics in 1897, so the film compensates by having the aliens use EMPs (electromagnetic pulses) when they arrive, frying all electronics and modern tech. This brings humanity back to a state where people are once again fleeing on foot or horseback, trying to escape the chaos — just like in the book.
Some other big differences:
- The aliens in the book are from Mars. At the time, telescopes were just getting good enough for people to imagine life there. There were even stories about canals and ice caps, which made people think intelligent life could exist on the planet.
- In the movie, the aliens aren’t Martians, and their machines were buried underground long ago, activated only when they arrived.
- In the book, the aliens were shot here through a kind of massive space cannon — because guns were one of the most advanced technologies of the time. Planes and space travel were still far-off ideas, so the space cannon made sense to readers back then.
- In both versions, the goal of the story is survival — and both the book and the movie focus more on what the narrator sees and feels than any epic battle.
One final fun note: in 1938, Orson Welles did a live radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds. He didn’t announce that it was a dramatic reading — just jumped right into it like it was breaking news. A lot of people listening thought it was real and panicked, fleeing their homes. That just shows how believable and powerful this story has always been.
This book was a fantastic read, and I’d recommend it to everyone — especially sci-fi fans. It sparked the beginning of an entire genre, and it’s amazing how much of it still holds up today.
Thanks again, Killyn, for sending it my way.
5 out 5 stars!
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