Review: War of the Worlds & The Time Machine

War of the Worlds and the Time Machine are two contrasting books. 

War of the Worlds is set in around 1890's and tells the story of alien invaders from Mars. The story is told through a journal written by an unknown author, how he survives attacks, how he manages to stay alive and how the aliens died through his eyes. What is amazing about this story is that he isn't a hero, he is only a survivor yet the story is action packed and captivating.

The Time Machine is a story about a scientists' journey into the future, how he accidentally goes too far and ends up in the year 802701. While many would think that so far into the future technology would have had vast improvements and life would be much better but what if it wasn't like that?

I read these two books back to back because it felt good to do so. I had never previously read any of HG Wells' books except to watch the movie 'The Time Machine' which I thought had a very good first half and a terrible second half.

After reading War of the Worlds I thought about how a contemporary movie of it just wouldn't work and now refuse to see Spielberg's version of the movie.

After reading The Time Machine I thought why wasn't the movie like the book? It was short and fantastic. Instead they absolutely butchered the book and the original meaning of the book.

What does this all tell you? That War of the Worlds and The Time Machine are both fantastic books. They are so imaginative and were so far ahead of their time. I knew that HG Wells was an old school author but it shocked me when these two stories were written over a 100 years ago. Truly HG Wells is one of the fathers of Science Fiction (along with Jules Verne).

Anybody who wants a glimpse of how science fiction was born should pick up either of these books. They are not hard reads nor are they long reads and should be books that are readily accessible to all.