War of the Worlds is one of H. G. Wells’ most well known novels and one of the earliest books featuring a conflict between humans and aliens. In the book we follow the unnamed main character’s struggle during a Martian invasion of Earth from a first-person perspective. In some chapters the events are seen from his brother’s point of view instead according to the Wikipedia article about the book.

 

It all begins with the Martians arriving in a number of cylinders in Great Britain. At first they do not seem to be a threat, but after building giant tripods, they begin to wage war against mankind. The protagonist then, obviously, flees from the alien invaders and hides. A while later, he helps his wife run away from the Martians and, not as obvious as previous action, returns to the warzone between the Martians and the British military.

 

At the moment the aliens are wrecking the British army and when the narrator realizes the lethality of the situation he is in, he runs to safety yet again, but this time to his own house. There he finds a hiding soldier, with whom he later travels with for a while until they lose each other in another battle with the Martians. While on the run he finds a new companion to travel with, but these two men synergize poorly.

 

At this stage of the book, the perspective shifts to that of the protagonist’s brother, who is in London. When the Londoners hear that the Martians are marching against the capital they evacuate the city. While fleeing the city, the brother joins two women who he escapes with. Together they manage to get to the coast and get on a boat about to leave for Belgium. However, the aliens attack the boat while it is shipping out, but the British navy then manages to take two of them down.

 

The perspective now shifts back to the protagonist again, who at the moment is trapped in a house with his travel companion. They remain there for a few days and the hate between the two men grows stronger and stronger. During these days the narrator observes the Martians and gather a lot of information about them, for example the fact that they live off blood. The aliens later manage to catch the man, who was knocked out by the main character when they were fighting. After some days, when the Martians have left the area, the narrator leaves his hiding place. He then finds that the world has changed a lot. Vast areas of the Earth are now destroyed and there is a red Martian weed that covers a large portion of the terrain he traverses.

 

While travelling, he reunites with the soldier from earlier and they chat for a bit and discuss an idea the soldier has had. The soldier thinks that they should start living underground and every now and then pop up to kill some Martians. The narrator thinks this is a great idea but his newly lost-and-found friend is not as eager to make it reality, as he is to talk about it. The protagonist then leaves the soldier and heads for London.

 

When he reaches the capital, he finds it in a state of disorder. After some time he finds out that all the aliens are dead. They appear to have died due to some bacteria, virus or disease that has no effect on humans. In the end he finds his wife and thinks about how the Martian invaders have made people reconsider what they really know.

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