I read it many years ago for the first time and a couple times since. While I might agree it may require some amount of patience before it manages to engage the reader -- what with the Olde English prose and all -- I think it's well worth the effort. I found Well's vivid description of the underground world, its inhabitants (the Morlocks), and how they came to be chilling. In sum, it was very horrific and thought-provoking story that's right up there with Shelley's Frankenstein.