Novel Reviews - The Four Sequels to The War of the Worlds

Apocryphal

This combined review deals with 4 books - each of which was written as a sequel to The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

The Second Invasion From Mars by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter, 2017, 487pp
The London Pen by Jean-Pierre Guillet, 2018, 195pp
The Second War of the Worlds by George H. Smith, 1976, 174pp

1. The Second Invasion From Mars by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - This is a satire, set perhaps in Greece, or at least all the personal and placenames are Greek. At first, the second invasion from mars seems like little more than a hoax spread by rumour. The Martians themselves are not seen, and the stories that trickle in seem far fetched - that they have quickly taken over the world and the new currency is stomach juice. Our main character, Apollo, a retired astronomy teacher, doesn't believe the rumours and is more concerned with the state of his pension and collecting stamps. At one point, he figures that if the Martians had taken over, the first they they would do is issue new stamps, so he heads to the post office and the lack of Martian stamps seems to confirm his theory. Things get wilder when strange people (are they androids?) show up in strange cars and an insurrection forms, and someone tries to sell the local barkeep blue beer. But who are these strange androids that keep showing up in blue cars, and what's with the blue beer and all this talk about stomach juice then? I gave this one 3 stars. PROS: Funny, clever, satirical. I love the question 'what if they invaded again and nobody noticed'. CONS: Not their best text, and really doesn't bear any resemblance to the original WotW.

2. The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter - This is a serious attempt at a sequel, and by far the longest book. At over 400 pages, it's much longer than the original, and also longer than all of the other 3 sequels combined. Why so long? I honestly couldn't say! I think the bones of the story could have been conveyed much more concisely, and I don't think all that extra fluff added much. The story follows the wife of the narrator from the first book. They are now separated, but still in contact and move in similar circles. The second invasion is expected, and they are looking for signs of it at the next close approach of the planets, a few years after the first. Sure enough they invade. It goes much like the first invasion, but more, and more widespread. When all seems lost, a deus-ex-machina from outer space interferes, and sends us into a not-quite-conclusive conclusion. I also gave this one 3 stars. PROS: The only sequel authorized by the Wells estate, and Baxter is a member of the HG Wells Society, writing style somewhat resembles the original, and there are some quite good passages. CONS: Too long-winded, with too many inconsequential events, and I wasn't convinced by the resolution.

3. The London Pen, by Jean-Pierre Guillet Originally written in French and translated. Guillet is an award-winning Quebec SF writer. The book has an afterword in which he explains his choices, and they all made a lot of sense. Of all of these books, I thought this was the most convincing 'sequel'. It takes place in The London Pen, a place where humans are kept like livestock so the Martians can harvest their blood. We follow the main character Geo (short for George, who it is hinted only once might be descended from royalty) as he goes through his coming of age ritual and is officially accepted as a blood donor. There are interactions in the society of the London Pen between the people, most of whom are collaborators or acceptors. There's no real opposition. But as events unfold, and Geo meets people and even 'befriends' a Martian, and so things take a turn. Settingwise, this was the most interesting novel, and the most convincing. The story was dramatic. I gave it 4 stars. PROS: Cool setting, convincing as a sequel, dramatic, well thought-out. CONS: Sometimes the writing seemed really naive. I think this was intentionally done when it was describing events around the main characters, who themselves were naive. Other passages were quite richly described. The other con is that the book is quite dark in places, and these penned humans don't treat each other well. Nor do the Martians.

4. The Second War of the Worlds by George H. Smith - a Daw pocketbook from 1976, and one of a series set in this imaginary world of Annwn. Because, you see, the Martians don't re-invade Earth directly in this novel - instead, they invade Annwn, a parallel earth in a parallel universe. It's a parallel world that has some connection to ours, and people can pass between these worlds. In fact, a few of the characters in this novel are from Earth, and they've passed into Annwn to help. Annwn, on the other hand, is a place like earth, but not exactly like it. There's magic, for one thing. The continents and placenames are different, but it's mostly (un?)comfortably waspy. Two of the characters are the consulting detective, Dr. W (full name never given, but it's not Dr. Who!) and his very clever companion, Mr. H, who get quite involved in sleuthing things out. (Get it? Yeah.....). I gave this one 3.5 stars. PROS: Concise and pretty well-told adventure, and the writing is really quite good in places. I feel like this novel came closest to capturing Well's actual prose, and I don't think Smith was trying to do that (unlike Baxter, who was, and I think, missed the mark). CONS: A rather dissatisfying resolution, I thought. Especially after one of the characters basically hinted at a much different resolution (i.e. make it so humans don't taste so good) but instead this book went in a different direction that was less convincing.

I think it goes without saying that none of these are as good as the original. The War of the Worlds is a classic, and for good reason because it's a brilliantly written and poignant novel. To expect an homage written by a different author to be as good as the original is to miss the point. These are love letters, carefully crafted and made available for you to read. Enjoy them for what they are. Then re-read the original and enjoy it all the more!