The War of the Worlds (Collins Classics)

(Paperback)

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For a time I believed that mankind had been swept out of existence, and that I stood there alone, the last man left alive.

When a strange, meteor-like object lands in the heart of England, the inhabitants of Earth find themselves victims of a terrible attack. A ruthless race of Martians, armed with heat rays and poisonous smoke, is intent on destroying everything that stands in its way. As the unnamed hero struggles to find his way across decimated wastelands, the fate of the planet hangs in the balance . . .

H. G. Wells was a pioneer of modern science fiction. First serialised in the UK in 1897, The War of the Worlds is one of the earliest stories to depict conflict with an extraterrestrial race, and has influenced countless adaptations and sequels.

Reviews

groundbreaking a true classic that has pointed the way not just for science-fiction writers, but for how we as a civilisation might think of ourselves Guardian

[Wells work is] astonishingly rich in human and historical interest he foresaw the invention of, among other things, television, tanks, aerial warfare and the atom bomb David Lodge

I personally consider the greatest of English living writers [to be] H. G. Wells Upton Sinclair

Author Bio

Herbert George Wells's (1866-1946) career as an author was fostered by a childhood mishap. He broke his leg and spent his convalescence reading every book he could find. Wells earned a scholarship at the Norman School of Science in London. Wells's "science fiction" (although he never called it such) was influenced by his interest in biology. H. G. Wells gained fame with his first novel, The Time Machine (1895). He followed this with The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War Of The Worlds (1898).