The War of the Worlds

Truely the best book to which I have had the pleasure of laying my eyes down upon. As 15 year old I have never had the time to indulge in reading si-fi novels. This probably being one of my first. I have always, since early boyhood loved "The War Of The Worlds" story and message it displays, the idea of man spending their time figuring out how to dispose of the simplest yet common bacterial organism that greatly in the end, after every weapon we could throw at the invaders...defeats the unprepared and the arrogance and eventually the invaders. This is something i think humans should take into consideration as we known next to nothing about this planet we so abruptly claimed and call ours.

This is an amazing and imaginative story, especially when you consider when it was written. Highly recommended, even if you have seen any of the movies. The book is far superior.

There is a love of hg wells that comes with reading this book.i respect it.

A great book from a great writer. Wells more than any other author invented science fiction. I first read this book in high school and then several times as an adult. I recommend it to all. Do not let the Tom Cruse film ruin your appreciation of this masterwork. There is no comparison of the genuine article and the film.
I must again express my appreciation to ManyBooks for bringing these classics to us at no cost.

A very good, entertaining read, which holds the reader's interest throughout, despite being (necessarily) somewhat depressing for long sections.

There are several drawbacks, which for me, spoiled the credibility of the idea somewhat, chief of which is that all the Martians landed within only a few miles of each other on this whole planet, even though they were fired here from some kind of large gun, at daily intervals. Surely an improbability, if not an impossibility? I'm not sure such an advanced species would be entirely ignorant of bacteria, that red weed would flourish and die so suddenly, or that the Martian sentinel would be unable to seek out the narrator when he was hiding in a coal cellar, by use of thermal vision or some such gadgetry, even with the Curate shouting.

That said, I found the book infinitely preferable to any of the movie versions. I was also amused by parallels in the Artilleryman's vision of the future - two types of people, one above ground, one underground - and those in The Time Machine. Wells must've strongly believed in this outcome for future generations? Strange...

i saw the 2005 movie adaption, not very impressed, yet i know that adaptions nowadays tend to lose the better parts of whatever they adapt. boy i am not mistaken in that! definitely more fun from the read than from the view, strongly recommended to anyone who likes the intense, gruesome, despair and many other things in a story!

A fantastic book, surpassing its many adaptations and still very readable.

I haven't seen the 2005 movie, but have seen the older one. What I can say about the book is that there is plenty of action and it is quite gruesome and suspenseful...perhaps too much for any movie.

Like Mark Twain, more people have seen HG Wells, not read him. And you've missed the best part of the stories, and this one especially.

One of my favourite books, it tells a completely convincing story of alien invasion and the plight of humans caught up in it. I don't think I've ever read a science fiction book that has caught my imagination quite like this one, it's a masterpiece of storytelling that you're sure to love.