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sachasme's review against another edition
2.0
2,5 ⭐
"Se aprendemos alguma coisa com essa guerra, decerto foi a piedade - piedade pelas almas ingênuas que sofrem nosso domínio."
Eu estava com vontade de ler Fundação, mas não tenho muito costume com esse tipo de ficção científica e decidi procurar um outro clássico considerado bom para iniciantes para me habituar. Acabei escolhendo Guerra dos Mundos, já que eu tinha certa familiaridade com a história (nunca vi o filme mas já vi trechos) e não era um livro muito longo. Infelizmente, esse livro não é pra mim.
A história não é ruim, mas ela é basicamente focada na invasão marciana na Terra. A maioria dos personagens não tem nome e nem são carismáticos ou tem objetivos bem definidos, estão ali simplesmente como um sujeito para vermos o ponto de vista. Isso é muito evidente no personagem principal, por boa parte do livro ele fica apenas vagando de um ponto a outro e narrando o que está vendo. Não há conflitos pessoais relevantes, por exemplo, ou uma história da qual ele faz parte, há apenas um expectador dos acontecimentos.
De certa forma comparei bastante A Guerra dos Mundos com O Homem do Castelo Alto, que também me pareceu mais sobre a história do que sobre os personagens, mas esse segundo me causou várias reflexões, os personagens tinham mais objetivos e carisma, e a sociedade por si só era quase um personagem. Guerra dos Mundos faltou algo a mais, um algo que prendesse o leitor - as únicas partes que realmente me deixaram interessada foram a fuga do irmão do protagonista com as duas mulheres, as tensões entre o protagonita e o padre quando ficaram soterrados, e o reencontro dele com o artilheiro (principalmente pela visão de futuro dele).
Considerando a época que foi escrito, achei fantástica as ideias do autor sobre uma raça alienígena mais avançada, contra a qual a humanidade não tem nenhuma chance, e que somente foi derrotada pela "falta de anticorpos". Eu entendo porque é um clássico, mas como entretenimento realmente não é o meu tipo de livro.
"Se aprendemos alguma coisa com essa guerra, decerto foi a piedade - piedade pelas almas ingênuas que sofrem nosso domínio."
Eu estava com vontade de ler Fundação, mas não tenho muito costume com esse tipo de ficção científica e decidi procurar um outro clássico considerado bom para iniciantes para me habituar. Acabei escolhendo Guerra dos Mundos, já que eu tinha certa familiaridade com a história (nunca vi o filme mas já vi trechos) e não era um livro muito longo. Infelizmente, esse livro não é pra mim.
A história não é ruim, mas ela é basicamente focada na invasão marciana na Terra. A maioria dos personagens não tem nome e nem são carismáticos ou tem objetivos bem definidos, estão ali simplesmente como um sujeito para vermos o ponto de vista. Isso é muito evidente no personagem principal, por boa parte do livro ele fica apenas vagando de um ponto a outro e narrando o que está vendo. Não há conflitos pessoais relevantes, por exemplo, ou uma história da qual ele faz parte, há apenas um expectador dos acontecimentos.
De certa forma comparei bastante A Guerra dos Mundos com O Homem do Castelo Alto, que também me pareceu mais sobre a história do que sobre os personagens, mas esse segundo me causou várias reflexões, os personagens tinham mais objetivos e carisma, e a sociedade por si só era quase um personagem. Guerra dos Mundos faltou algo a mais, um algo que prendesse o leitor - as únicas partes que realmente me deixaram interessada foram a fuga do irmão do protagonista com as duas mulheres, as tensões entre o protagonita e o padre quando ficaram soterrados, e o reencontro dele com o artilheiro (principalmente pela visão de futuro dele).
Considerando a época que foi escrito, achei fantástica as ideias do autor sobre uma raça alienígena mais avançada, contra a qual a humanidade não tem nenhuma chance, e que somente foi derrotada pela "falta de anticorpos". Eu entendo porque é um clássico, mas como entretenimento realmente não é o meu tipo de livro.
sophia_med's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
jackthelad93's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
emmacspoor's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
smateer73's review against another edition
3.0
This book was interesting and well written, but it is my least favorite of the HG Wells novels I have read so far, simply because alien invasions are not that interesting to me. But with that being said, it was still challenging and thought provoking, exploring themes of survival and our own role as dominant species. I did enjoy it, but I liked Invisible Man and Time Machine better.
wolfgold's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
brakebills42's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
grahamclements's review against another edition
5.0
I read War of the Worlds after seeing it on a list of subversive novels. It is a novel that attempted to get its readers to question the British invasion of countries and the way it treated their indigenous populations. Wells wrote it in part as a response to how the British slaughtered Aborigines in Tasmania. The War of the Worlds is an allegory of the conquest of a primitive society by technologically sophisticated colonists with no respect for the indigenous culture.
The novel is narrated by a philosopher and amateur astronomer. He is one of the first to notice that something is happening on Mars, and then the first alien spacecraft lands not far from his house in an English common. He goes to investigate. At first the spacecraft, which just looks like a huge cylinder, gives nothing away of what it might contain or its purpose. People gather to gawk at it and contemplate what it might be. It then opens, and the war for humanity’s survival gradually begins.
The novel contains a lot of extended war and action scenes, with small sections of contemplation of what the Martians are up to and why. Humanity attempts to fight back but, like the inhabitants of many countries the English invaded, are totally outgunned by the Martian technology. The narrator spends much of his time fighting despair as he sees human resistance to the Martians fail. He is on the run for much of the story.
The POV character changes for a few chapters to the narrator’s brother who is, along with thousands of Londoners, trying to find somewhere safe to flee. Only then do some slightly useful female characters appear. Their main role in the novel is basically to be placed somewhere safe and out of the way, or to scream. They are not deemed likely of doing anything productive to defeat the Martians. One memorable line, “He was as lacking in restraint as a silly woman”, emphasises the role Wells thinks women would play in such a war. His writing is a product on its time, 1895.
The novel also takes a swipe at religion, where people hopelessly pray to be saved, rather than try to do some productive to save themselves. The narrator gets trapped with a curate (a vicar or priest) for a few days. His religious rants do none of them any benefit.
The novel is written in the style of someone telling you what they experienced after the event. Wells curiously breaks the fourth wall every now and then by referring directly to the “reader”. If you were not aware of the outcome of the novel, this would tell you that the narrator survived.
Overall, with its anti-imperialism sentiment, the novel appears to be subversive for its time when Royal Britannia wanted to rule the world, no matter what the cost. I very much enjoyed reading the novel and it deserves to be the renowned classic of science fiction and literature it is. I will be reading more of Wells’ novels.
The novel is narrated by a philosopher and amateur astronomer. He is one of the first to notice that something is happening on Mars, and then the first alien spacecraft lands not far from his house in an English common. He goes to investigate. At first the spacecraft, which just looks like a huge cylinder, gives nothing away of what it might contain or its purpose. People gather to gawk at it and contemplate what it might be. It then opens, and the war for humanity’s survival gradually begins.
The novel contains a lot of extended war and action scenes, with small sections of contemplation of what the Martians are up to and why. Humanity attempts to fight back but, like the inhabitants of many countries the English invaded, are totally outgunned by the Martian technology. The narrator spends much of his time fighting despair as he sees human resistance to the Martians fail. He is on the run for much of the story.
The POV character changes for a few chapters to the narrator’s brother who is, along with thousands of Londoners, trying to find somewhere safe to flee. Only then do some slightly useful female characters appear. Their main role in the novel is basically to be placed somewhere safe and out of the way, or to scream. They are not deemed likely of doing anything productive to defeat the Martians. One memorable line, “He was as lacking in restraint as a silly woman”, emphasises the role Wells thinks women would play in such a war. His writing is a product on its time, 1895.
The novel also takes a swipe at religion, where people hopelessly pray to be saved, rather than try to do some productive to save themselves. The narrator gets trapped with a curate (a vicar or priest) for a few days. His religious rants do none of them any benefit.
The novel is written in the style of someone telling you what they experienced after the event. Wells curiously breaks the fourth wall every now and then by referring directly to the “reader”. If you were not aware of the outcome of the novel, this would tell you that the narrator survived.
Overall, with its anti-imperialism sentiment, the novel appears to be subversive for its time when Royal Britannia wanted to rule the world, no matter what the cost. I very much enjoyed reading the novel and it deserves to be the renowned classic of science fiction and literature it is. I will be reading more of Wells’ novels.
feralwraith's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0