Book reviews

By: Justin Alexander

Books Read

• Book 1: The Time Machine by H.G. Wells• Book 2: The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells• Book 3: The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

Author Info.

• My Author is H.G. Wells. He was born in Bromley, Kent. He was influenced by Thomas Henry Huxley, Plato, Jonathan Swift. He had multiple affairs (which his wife allowed.) He says that he loved many people and this influenced his writing by having a love interest in most of his books. He attended school at Morley’s Commercial Academy.

Setting of Book 1

• In The Time Machine, it is set in the 1880’s and the year 802,701. It is always where his home stands and maybe a two mile radius about it. The book mainly consists of “The Time Traveler” and Weena.

Characters of Book 1

• The Main Character is “The Time Traveler” who, you guessed it, travels through time. He is an English scientist. Another main character is Weena who is one of the Eloi which is an almost primitive species of evolved humans. There are also the Morlocks which are another, sub-terrain, evolution of Man. Thrown in there as somewhat side characters are, The Medicine Man, The Psychologist, Mr. Hillyer (the nararator), and quite a few more unimportant dinner guests.

Protagonists/Antagonists of Book 1

• The protagonist is The Time Traveler. And the antagonists are the Eloi, the Morlocks, and the dinner guests.

• The good are the Eloi; the peaceful, beautiful, but incredibly weak and stupid evolution of the high class. And the bad are the Morlocks; the ruthless, albino, and equally stupid evolution of the working class.

Climax of Book 1

• The height of the action in this book takes place when the Time Traveler sets a forest nearby his machine on fire thereby killing Weena and many Morlocks. He then rushes back to a large sphinx whose doors were previously closed and finds his machine inside, but discovers that it was a trap set by the Morlocks. He manages to use the time machine to go even further into the future to discover that the sun will expand incredibly and super heat the earth.

Authors Style of Book 1

• I don’t like how it is all third person and completely quoted and the narrator of the quotes does not talk very much in his story.

Vocabulary of Book 1

• Verbatim- in essence, quoted.• Intonation- a rise and fall in speaking.• Palpitation- a noticeably agitated heart beat.

Incidents of Book 1• Incident 1- Near the beginning of the book the Time Traveler

is explaining the mechanics of time travel (I find it interesting because of my theoretical physics interest) and is basically telling what scientists have only recently began to really look at: the fourth dimension as time.

• Incident 2- Near the end of the book the Time traveler travels further and further into the future (the sun is now reaching its incredible “red giant” expansion stage) and discovers that the planet is now roamed solely by blobs and giant crabs. He states exactly what I was thinking while reading; the blobs are most likely the furthest evolution of man.

Setting of Book 2

• The book is set in the 1880s in various places in England. About a third in an inn a third in a small town and another third in another small town.

Characters of Book 2

• The main character is The Invisible Man (a.k.a. Griffin). There are quite a few other characters, Marvel, Dr. Kemp and many random on lookers and victims to the hand of The Invisible Man.

Protagonists/Antagonists of Book 2

• The protagonist is The Invisible Man. The antagonists are all of the people that come in contact with the invisible man.

• There is really no good side or bad side in this story. It will randomly fluctuate between the two.

Climax of Book 2

• Griffin is being chased by the police and townsmen. He soon comes in contact with a middle-aged gentleman and is trying to hide, but the man soon learns that Griffin had been fatally injured. And Griffin begins to run again but doesn’t get far before he falls down in the street dying. His invisibility begins to wear off and he becomes completely visible. It is then found out that the invisible man is an albino.

Authors Style of Book 2

• I like the third person how it shows that there is no specific narrator. But I dislike how the main character is simply named The Invisible man for most of the book.

Vocabulary of Book 2

• Gentry- of high social status• Anglo-Saxon- A style of language often

referred to as “Old English”• Vociferous- in essence, very noisy

Incidents of Book 2• Incident 1- While in an inn, there is a man that wishes to speak

to, at this time, the Visitor. He enters the room, the door closes, there is the sound of talking, then a thud, and then the man ran out white as a ghost. The next chapter it describes what happened in the parlor room. The soon to be known “invisible man” reveals his identity and the man reels and freaks out and runs away.

• Incident 2- Griffin is being pursued by police, he finds himself back at the inn at the beginning of the book. In his attempt to get by a blockade on the stairs he moves forward and is stabbed, unbeknownst to the man who stabbed him, by a fire poker this leads to his death in the street at the end of the book.

Setting of Book 3

• This book takes place in the 1880s in various places in England.

Characters of Book 3

• The main character is the narrator and there are the Martians, also The Curate, and the artillery man. The other characters are minor and mentioned very little.

Protagonists/Antagonists of Book 3

• The Protagonist is the narrator and the antagonists are the curate, the artillery man, and the Martians.

• The good is the narrator, the curate, and the Artillery man. The bad is the Martians.

Climax of Book 3

• From what I an tell, there was no climax. The closest thing to a climax is when the narrator begins his journey home and discovers that all of the Martians are dead due to a disease which we humans have grown immune to.

Authors Style of Book 3

• I like how the book is in first person but the narrator is, again (getting tired of this) unnamed.

Vocabulary of Book 3

• Assiduously- with care and persistence• Rampart- a defensive wall or barrier• Vicar- a clergyman

Incidents of Book 3

• Incident 1- Near the beginning after the first pod lands, it brings out a heat ray and begins to fire at people randomly. The bodies aren't really fried so much as disintegrated. This introduces one of the weapons most used by the Martians.

• Incident 2- The narrator witnesses a Martian feeding and discovers that they do not have mouths so the basically absorb it (book says inject but I like absorb better.)