Customer Reviews

The War Of The Worlds: Fresh Perspectives On The H. G. Wells Classic (Smart Pop series)

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I happen to be a huge fan of H.G. Wells many books but the one that I enjoy the most is The War of the Worlds. So I bought this book up the second I found out about its existence. Being a fan of such authors as Stephen Baxter, Fred Saberhagen and Mercedes Lackey I couldn't put it down once I had it in my greedy little hands. With articles about Mars, how the novel effected sci-fi (and history in general), and even just fun sections on how smart the Martians REALLY were, this is a treasure. Also, many of the authors, in passing, mention other books and movies that have also taken the alien invasion theme from Wells and carried it onwards (many of which I have and many of which I don't have) - spin offs and such. This makes it a great source for finding sci-fi novels and movies that you might not have yet.
A must for any fan, young or old.

Although this book contains the entire text of the novel, having previously read the Wells novel, the best part of this book for me was the essays by various sci-fi writers. Just over half the book is devoted to the essays. There are about a dozen interesting pieces here on different topics, but the one I enjoyed the most was by David Gerrold, so I thought I would just briefly discuss that. But the other essays are worthwhile also and I found they enhanced my enjoyment and appreciation of the book.

In his article Gerrold discusses an obscure but interesting sequel to the Wells book, "Edison's Invasion of Mars," which had an interesting premise. The main character was none other than Thomas Alva Edison, the famous inventor, who headed up a punitive expedition to seek revenge for the Martians' invasion. Written by Garrett P. Serviss, who obtained Edison's approval before writing the book, the novel, although virtually unknown today, had several important firsts. It describes the first space suits, the first battle in space, and the first death ray. The story was published only 6 weeks after the serialized version of Wells's novel ended in the newspaper, and as it was immediately recognized as an attempt to capitalize on the Wells novel, it quickly sank into obscurity.

At first I thought envisioning the great inventor as the head of a military expedition was a little odd; but on the other hand, one could picture Edison bringing some good ol' American ingenuity and know-how to the task of visiting some interplanetary whuppass on the evil Martians. Anyway, it would have been interesting to read the book to see what kind of commander Edison was and how he was able to beat the Martians.

Oddly enough, over the years there have been one or two attempts to revive it, one time by a small press that printed 1500 copies (it was in fact their only book, before the operation folded), but it was never a success. So although completely forgotten today, the story is of interest for the several firsts I mentioned, and I enjoyed reading Gerrold's piece about this now forgotten but historically important story.

Based on the glowing praise from other reviewers, I was expecting something wonderful when I ordered this book. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver.

To be fair, there are two or three essays that give interesting historical or biographical insights into Wells' work. But these little gems hardly make up for all the self-indulgent, aimless, fuzzy writing that fills most of the book. Where was the editor?

Advice: Check this out of a library, or browse through it at a bookstore. It's not worth paying for...

Robert Silverberg, Robert Charles Wilson, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Pamela Sargent, Stephen Baxter, Jack Williamson, David Gerrold, Mercedes Lackey, Fred Saberhagen, George Zebrowski, David Zindell, Mike Resnick, Ian Watson, Connie Willis... plus H.G. Wells of course!