War of the Worlds (Unabridged‪)‬

“No one would have believed in the last years of the 19th century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own.” Thus begins one of the most terrifying and morally prescient science fiction novels ever penned.

Beginning with a series of strange flashes in the distant night sky, the Martian attack initially causes little concern on Earth. Then the destruction erupts—ten massive aliens roam England and destroy with heat rays everything in their path. Very soon mankind finds itself on the brink of extinction. The War of the Worlds is one of those rare books that both introduces a concept and nails it so firmly that everything that came after has been little more than variations on what Wells laid down. The idea of Great Britain, then the greatest military power on Earth, confronting an invasion force from a more advanced civilization and being utterly routed was both frightening and fascinating. Wells raises questions of mortality, man’s place in nature, and the evil lurking in the technological future—questions that remain urgently relevant in the 21st century.