The War of the Worlds

Penguin Classics

By: H. G. Wells

Narrated by: David Harewood

Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Shortlisted for the Best Solo Narration Award at the New York Festival Radio Awards 2020.

This Penguin Classic is performed by the critically acclaimed actor David Harewood, one of the stars of the television series Homeland. Harewood is also known for his roles in award-winning productions The Night Manager and Blood Diamond. This definitive recording includes an Introduction by Brian Aldiss' read by Roy McMillan.

The night after a shooting star is seen streaking through the sky from Mars, a cylinder is discovered on Horsell Common in London. At first, naïve locals approach the cylinder armed just with a white flag - only to be quickly killed by an all-destroying heat-ray, as terrifying tentacled invaders emerge. Soon the whole of human civilisation is under threat, as powerful Martians build gigantic killing machines, destroy all in their path with black gas and burning rays, and feast on the warm blood of trapped, still-living human prey. The forces of the Earth, however, may prove harder to beat than they at first appear.

The War of the Worlds has been the subject of countless adaptations, including an Orson Welles radio drama which caused mass panic when it was broadcast, with listeners confusing it for a news broadcast heralding alien invasion; a musical version by Jeff Wayne; and, most recently, Steven Spielberg's 2005 film version, starring Tom Cruise.

H.G. Wells (1866-1946) was a professional writer and journalist. Among his most popular works are The Time Machine (1895); The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), filmed with Bela Lugosi in 1932, and again in 1996 with Marlon Brando; The Invisible Man (1897); The War of the Worlds (1898); and The First Men in the Moon (1901), which predicted the first lunar landings.

Public Domain (P)2019 Penguin Audio

A Sci-Fi Classics and Staple

I have seen the movies, the parodies, and references to this famous novel, but I have never read the book before. I pick this up, and I can see why it is so important and beloved. It was still able to surprise me and made me ask questions. If you want to read an early sci-fi story and see where these tropes came from, this book is for you.

Great book but weak narration.

War of the Worlds is considered an SF classic and deservedly so. It was groundbreaking when it was first published and still holds up to this day. The hopeless fight against the invaders, the dark days of alien occupation, ending with humanities "surprise" salvation still affect me after reading the book several times since my first exposure in my childhood.

Unfortunately, the narration is not as good as the source material. I found the narrators breathy delivery and his habit of pausing at odd points in the text distracting, and it tended to pull me out of the story at times.