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The Massacre of Mankind

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The Massacre of Mankind

By: Stephen Baxter
Narrated by: Nathalie Buscombe
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About this listen

It has been 14 years since the Martians invaded England. The world has moved on, always watching the skies but content that we know how to defeat the Martian menace.

Machinery looted from the abandoned capsules and war machines has led to technological leaps forward. The Martians are vulnerable to earth germs. The army is prepared. So when the signs of launches on Mars are seen, there seems little reason to worry. Unless you listen to one man, Walter Jenkins, the narrator of Wells' book. He is sure that the Martians have learned, adapted, understood their defeat. He is right.

Thrust into the chaos of a new invasion, a journalist - sister-in-law to Walter Jenkins - must survive, escape and report on the war. The Massacre of Mankind has begun.

Read by Nathalie Buscombe.

©2017 Stephen Baxter (P)2017 Orion Publishing Group First Contact Science Fiction Steampunk Fiction Solar System Mars War

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All stars
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A fantastic opening to a genuine classic of the sci-fi genre. Whether you read it in the original or listened to Richard Burton's spine-tingling narration in the Jeff Wayne version it's a line and a story that has probably stayed with you ever since. So you have to wonder quite what was going through the minds of Stephen Baxter and Nathalie Buscombe when they took on the challenge of writing and narrating an officially sanctioned follow-up to H G Wells' "War of the Worlds".

In the case of Baxter he clearly saw it as the serious challenge it really is and he has produced a story that is stylistically and structurally sympathetic to the original. That's not surprising as he previously wrote "The Time Ships" which was also officially endorsed by the Wells estate as the sequel to "The Time Machine". This one reads like a book of its time but it is a very different version of the 1920s to the one that we know of. The Martian War of course altered history meaning that Britain never fought Germany in World War One leaving France to fall alone. The Kaiser has been appeased and it's a very sombre and darker Britain that we are introduced to.

Baxter weaves his story using many of the previous characters into his new reality. I was a little surprised to see a female narrator chosen but it certainly makes perfect sense as Baxter employs Julie Elphinstone from the original book to be his lead. Nathalie Buscombe does a really fine job of relaying the story which has a big cast to breathe life into.

Between them they have produced something that fits organically with the original story and characters. Baxter takes good care of them. This isn't modern sci-fi with huge sophistication, rather this is classic sci-fi and charmingly you still pick up some of the relative naiveté of the period it is set in. I would say that if you would genuinely enjoy reading or re-reading the original you'll also love this. If you are looking for a contemporary version of War of the Worlds it might not quite meet your needs so well.

For me nothing will ever quite match up to that chilling moment in a darkened bedroom when I first heard Burton utter that immortal opening line but this is a genuinely fine attempt to carry this classic story forwards.

No one would have believed . . .

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I was struggling to get through this one. I found it very difficult to focus on it and found it a bit heavy going. I was interested in the story and made it to the end to see where it went.

The story itself was interesting, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the Wells classic. That said it was good to see the fighting machines back again.

Couldn't get into it

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A superb sequel to the War of the Worlds...I can't recommend this book highly enough. So much detail and research in to the life and times of the prescribed dateline, truly brings this book alive. Stephen Baxter I salute you!

A Masterpiece!

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bit slow to start and then some parts were hard to follow what was going on

but slow

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The story is well crafted, and (as explained at the end) very much in HG Well's style and age. Decent pace, and I liked the heroine's character development. It is well narrated, with good voices - sometimes a bit plummy but that fits the times.
A good mix of plot and character description, and strong enough story to keep the listener engaged.
Recommended.

Good story, following well on the original.

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Is there anything you would change about this book?

The book is Basically good, but the narrator is completely wrong. In her normal voice she is ok, but....she tries to do the voices of the characters which are her downfall. The combination of the clipped voice, and too fast a speed when doing the accents makes it quite a hard listen. It couldn't be further away from Richard Burton's narration on the war of the worlds.

What didn’t you like about Nathalie Buscombe’s performance?

Unfortunately, most of it. Her normal reading voice is acceptable, but then she tries to do the characters. Fail !

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Yes probably.

Good book badly narrated

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well read great stories first wo.an reader and I liked it will listen again soon

great

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Well written and narrated, if a bit slow in places. When the story spread around the world in the latter 3rd of the book, it did feel a distraction.
The final outcome is a bit quick to occur and not fully understood why it worked. The adventure after this point, opens up more problems which would need a 3rd book to answer.
Near communication with the Martians in the end did not occur or how the Jovians will play their part. which was a little frustrating.

Good, if untidy & quick answer, a book 3 maybe?

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Rips along at a cracking pace with a solid story and great characters. Love the narration, lots of characters given their own voice.

Big dumb fun.

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It's obvious that the author has a great deal of love for the original story and author. He has thoroughly researched all aspects of the story and embellished and expanded when needed. The problem for me was his style. He spends a lot of time exploring technologies that we know today but in a early 20th century way. It comes across as spoon feeding and a little condescending. The trench stories are good and the combination of world war one v war of the worlds does work well. However I'm not so sure about the ending, it's a very big leap to make! The reader tries her best to make a stab at all of the accents needed but as with other reviews, she just can't do a male voice. This sometimes detracts from the story, perhaps a duo would have been better? All in all good, could have been better but a good, faithful story none the less. 3.5 stars.

Interesting Story

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