Free Download
The Sleeper Awakes
The Sleeper Awakes
A Revised Edition of When the Sleeper Wakes
The story of a man who sleeps for two hundred and three years and wakes up in a completely transformed London. Because of compound interest on his bank accounts, this man has become the richest individual in the world. A fanatic socialist and author of prophetic writings, the main character awakes to see his dreams realized, and the future revealed to him in all its dystopian horror.
Book Excerpt
ter took up the portfolio, opened it, put it down, hesitated, seemed about to speak. "Perhaps," he whispered doubtfully. Presently he glanced at the door and back to the figure. Then he stole on tiptoe out of the room, glancing at his companion after each elaborate pace.
He closed the door noiselessly. The house door was standing open, and he went out beyond the porch, and stood where the monkshood rose at the corner of the garden bed. From this point he could see the stranger through the open window, still and dim, sitting head on hand. He had not moved.
A number of children going along the road stopped and regarded the artist curiously. A boatman exchanged civilities with him. He felt that possibly his circumspect attitude and position looked peculiar and unaccountable. Smoking, perhaps, might seem more natural. He drew pipe and pouch from his pocket, filled the pipe slowly.
"I wonder," ... he said, with a scarcely perceptible loss of complacency. "At any rate one must give him a chance
Editor's choice
(view all)
Popular books in Fiction and Literature, Science Fiction
More books by H. G. Wells
(view all)
Readers reviews
3.3
LoginSign up
Great story and amazing characters. Ending is pretty epic :)
- Upvote (0)
- Downvote (0)
Good Read. I agree with the earlier reviewer however. Some sections are very good, others kind of drag. I did like seeing what they though the future would be like 100 years ago, that alone makes the book worth a look.
01/21/2010
This book swings between gripping and dreary.
It's at its best during dialogue and key events in the story, but his descriptions of future architecture tend to be both numerous and overly verbose for my taste.
That said, there are a few places where his comments on the trends of future society are remarkably prescient.
If you take the time to read the forward written by H.G. Wells himself, you'll see he readily admits to it not being one of his greatest works. Compared to his other novels, he has a point. But as a book in its own right, it's definitely worth a read.
It's at its best during dialogue and key events in the story, but his descriptions of future architecture tend to be both numerous and overly verbose for my taste.
That said, there are a few places where his comments on the trends of future society are remarkably prescient.
If you take the time to read the forward written by H.G. Wells himself, you'll see he readily admits to it not being one of his greatest works. Compared to his other novels, he has a point. But as a book in its own right, it's definitely worth a read.
01/04/2010