Grim. That's the tone of this book, as mankind sets about getting annihilated by superior invaders from Mars. You really sense the urgency of the nightmarish situation through the eyes of the narrator, as the Martians exert their dominance to the South-West of London. Reading through it, trying to imagine what it would be like if I were caught up in such a situation was quite terrible. Imagine a world where man was treated just as we treat animals and vegetables. How horrid!
I found this to be infinitely better than Wells' first work that I read (The Time Traveller). You can see his writing skill progressing with each story, and I would say that this one does deserve the mantle of 'classic'. It's astounding the imagination that Wells possessed - it would be interesting to harness it today with all our modern inventions and see what he could dream up.
But this book wasn't all grim for me. That's because I am biased to finding rare mentions of my town and even district in print, especially so when I am living on another continent. So it was very pleasing for me to read briefly about Southend, and I will include the mentions below as testament to the glory of Southend-on-Sea.
For after the sailors could no longer come up the Thames, they came onto the Essex coast, to Harwich and Walton and Clacton, and afterwards to Foulness and Shoebury.
Some of the passengers were of the opinion that this firing came from Shoeburyness.
...and the low Essex coast was growing blue and hazy, when a Martian appeared, small and faint in the remote distance, advancing along the muddy coast from the direction of Foulness.
I also enjoyed how Wells would illustrate local accents, the best of which was a man from the East-End asking "This'll tike us rahnd Edgware?"
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