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. This Penguin Classics edition includes a full biographical essay on Wells, a further reading list and detailed notes. The introduction, by Brian Aldiss, considers the novel's view of religion and society.   

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

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.

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.

Monotonous reading of a classic masterpiece

The novel is a classic, we all know the story... more or less. The original is interestingly different from the many adaptations as movies, radio drama etc. Too bad the narrator is awfully monotonous in his reading.

A compelling read

I have read this book several times but I enjoyed it anew thanks to David Harewood. I disagree with those reviewers who say his performance is "monotonous". I think David's reading builds the suspense at the heart of this novel, which isn't something I fully appreciated in my previous readings of it. One of the best things I've listened to on Audible.

Epic

What an epic book I’ve listened to this book at least 5 times now and hear new thing every time
Just love it

A breathless monotone

Such a shame this was not better narrated. It is too quiet (except in a few places where the narrator bellows) and it is delivered throughout in a breathless monotone. And place names mis-pronounced - very irritating...Really wished I'd read it in hard copy instead!

brilliant classic

a well know brilliant classic, but my god someone needs to invent a time machine and give HG wells a thesaurus i am sick of the word tumultuous.

Great!

Great story, format and reader. Liked it a lot. A lot. A lot. A lot

Brilliant!

A cult classic, brilliantly narrated by David Harewood! I would definitely recommend it to friends.

just what I expected

I have been wanting to read this ever since I listened to Jeff Wayne's musical version way back. this book obviously goes into greater detail and I enjoyed it throughout

Middling Performance

David Harewood’s performance felt staccato like to me. The cadence off putting at times. Towards the end, when he read the dialogue of the Artilleryman, he injected some character and life into it. But for the most part, it’s a very level, monotone, stop start performance.

The book itself is of course a classic. The story very much the precursor to many modern alien invasion stories. My only gripe here is the use of the words “tumultuous” and “multitudes”. Almost everything in this novel is described as tumultuous, and more often than not, are multitudinous too.

Brilliance announced

This story that I thought I knew through film and song has just woken me with profound storytelling abilities. An honour to listen to.