Great book

Throughly enjoyable follow on from the H G Wells novels. Brings new and interesting insights into the concept of the Martians.

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1 person found this helpful

War of the worlds part 2

I'm a big fan of war of the worlds I love the original so I'm always a little bit sceptical when a book comes along continuing the story.

but I had nothing to fear from this one is a brilliant and believable continuation of the story as a faces off against the Martian menace again.

They are free audio books in this series and I listen to each one back to back and they are more coming I can highly recommend them

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Very interesting!

There were a few things that I really enjoyed about this book, the original concept is well known, but I think this gave us a few more things to think on, and enjoy. :)

The ideas to fight the Martians were pretty cool, and the journey from 'believing they're coming back' to them actually doing just that is exciting. The characters are well developed. Although the death of a loved one really can make you choose a different life path I was glad that the story evolved as it did.

I've listened to a few of Ray's books now, and this was a very refreshing change to the other style of Sci fi, more realistic and enjoyable. (the martians POV was just great, to listen to and to think on, would they really think of us so badly... I guess so. I also think this was truly a good performance because of that, lots of different characters for Ray to dialogue, and they were great to listen to and easy to distinguish.

Totally worth the credit, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you to both writer and narrator.

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7 people found this helpful

Keep moving and try to find cover.

Any additional comments?

An intriguing alternative history, set at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Following an initial, failed invasion by Martians in England some seven years before, President Roosevelt aims to prepare America for a future attack. But despite new ideas and inventions, when it comes, the country is still taken by surprise and the invaders seem unstoppable.
The story follows Andrew Comstock's progression from cadet, then up through the officer ranks as he becomes personally acquainted with the ordanace under construction then with the Martians, themselves. But the greater intelligence of the book is that it is also interspersed with a vision of the war from the Martian perspective, their own hopes and struggle shown.
Understandably, the pacing throughout is brisk and this is emulated by the narrator, whose fast presentation is, however, also given with understanding and sentiment. His voicings of the various protagonists is fine, though limited in range. Overall, a good performance by Ray Greenley.

My thanks to the rights holder, who gifted me a complementary copy of The Great Martian War, via Audiobook Boom. It was a clever concept with a feel of authenticity. Interesting to consider what might have been had such an invasion actually occured then and how would the peoples of earth sought to defend themselves?

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This is a western with some silly Martian voices

This is a tedious western with some silly Martian voices every now and again. If you're after a sequel to The War of the World's, buy The Massacre of Mankind by Steven Baxter instead, also on Audible. It is much more enjoyable.

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Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory

A great idea, continue the War of the Worlds epic from where it left off, and as a bonus, tell it from the Martian's view as well. it could've been so good but for the terrible writing which was in the style of a middle ability teenage English student, and the terrible narration. If you enjoyed the HG Wells classic, give this a miss.

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Not great

The sorry has an interesting premise; setting War of the Worlds a decade later in pre WW1 America. I think the author has tried to capture a kind of 1920’s/1930’s Pulp story vibe, maybe a pre Lovecraft era sci-fi?
Where it fails is the terrible writing style. The way the characters talk to each other is incredibly basic, almost always bluntly expositional, and laden with terrible catchphrases for the more famous characters that have been squeezed into the story.
Another problem is the famous people that have been squeezed into the story. Name dropping doesn’t substitute for storytelling. And if you do feel the need to write Teddy Roosevelt into your story, don’t have him shout “Bully!” like a bad Robin-Williams-Night-At-The-Museum impersonator.
Also, just to break the 4th wall for a moment; don’t give your aliens names. The War of the Worlds aliens are a nameless, faceless menace, representing the late Victorian English invasion fears and Germanophobia. I don’t need to know a Martian tripod driver is called “gzerbo”, or “juupaal” or somesuch.
The other main problem with this audiobook is the actual narrator. Coupled with the weak writing, listening to this story is like listening to a teenager reading a book excerpt in a classroom.
Overall, interesting premise, bad writing, disastrous narration. Still managed to get through it though, which is more than can be said for some books.

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