The War of the Worlds
Complete textA strange object lands near a quiet English community, attracting curious spectators before its occupants reveal a terrifying technological advantage. An unnamed narrator tries to survive and understand a Martian invasion that turns familiar roads, institutions and assumptions about human power into sources of uncertainty.
Continue readingAbout The War of the Worlds
The account repeatedly changes scale, moving from close observation to mass movement and speculation about another intelligence. The narrator's scientific comparisons offer temporary explanations without restoring control. Ordinary domestic concerns persist through catastrophe, while the invaders' treatment of people raises questions about the comfortable hierarchies humanity previously took for granted.
Reading focus
Compare the narrator's scientific analogies with what people can actually know and control during the invasion.
This reading edition contains 59,985 words in 27 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.
Author: HG Wells. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.
Opening excerpt
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources…
Contents
All sections- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — I. THE EVE OF THE WAR.11 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — II. THE FALLING STAR.7 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — III. ON HORSELL COMMON.5 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — IV. THE CYLINDER OPENS.6 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — V. THE HEAT-RAY.7 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — VI. THE HEAT-RAY IN THE CHOBHAM ROAD.4 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — VII. HOW I REACHED HOME.6 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — VIII. FRIDAY NIGHT.5 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — IX. THE FIGHTING BEGINS.10 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — X. IN THE STORM.11 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — XI. AT THE WINDOW.10 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — XII. WHAT I SAW OF THE DESTRUCTION OF WEYBRIDGE AND SHEPPERTON.18 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — XIII. HOW I FELL IN WITH THE CURATE.9 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — XIV. IN LONDON.17 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — XV. WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN SURREY.13 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — XVI. THE EXODUS FROM LONDON.20 min
- BOOK ONE THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS — XVII. THE “THUNDER CHILD”.15 min
- BOOK TWO THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS. — I. UNDER FOOT.12 min
- BOOK TWO THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS. — II. WHAT WE SAW FROM THE RUINED HOUSE.15 min
- BOOK TWO THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS. — III. THE DAYS OF IMPRISONMENT.9 min
- BOOK TWO THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS. — IV. THE DEATH OF THE CURATE.8 min
- BOOK TWO THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS. — V. THE STILLNESS.5 min
- BOOK TWO THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS. — VI. THE WORK OF FIFTEEN DAYS.6 min
- BOOK TWO THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS. — VII. THE MAN ON PUTNEY HILL.26 min
- BOOK TWO THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS. — VIII. DEAD LONDON.15 min
- BOOK TWO THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS. — IX. WRECKAGE.9 min
- BOOK TWO THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS. — X. THE EPILOGUE.7 min
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Is this the complete The War of the Worlds?
This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 27 sections and 59,985 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.
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