The War of the Worlds

It's a wonder to me that Wells wrote this book 130 years ago now, and that it's survived that time without aging as much as some books do in 30 years. Wells created an entire genre of literature that would otherwise not exist today in its same form.

Wells questions what he sees as the future of humanity in its technology and morality. He uses the martians as a future version of ourselves, one where our morality has continued to wither in the face of our increasing intellect, and our technology gives us full power to dispense our will on those living beings that share a planet with us. He questions the path that he sees our species heading towards, and warns that our ignorance in these matters will lead to our own destruction, as well as the destruction of all that we value.

The prose itself can sometimes leave you wanting for more. Wells writes in a stately and sometimes antiquated manner, that occasionally reads as a news broadcast rather than a personal account of genocide. That being said, Wells also finds moments of true humanity as he describes vivid and horrid scenes of human nativity and suffering. I found the depictions of hopeless mob mentality and the stoic silences that are left behind after destruction of the martians to be quite moving. His characters are rather flat and monotone, unfortunately, which may have set the stage for genre as a whole.

Though not without its flaws, I think that War of the Worlds feels more or less timeless in a sense. A piece of literature that is as much a time capsule of the moment, as well as something that will continue to be relevant in the present for a long time.