The War of the Worlds is a classic science fiction novel published by English writer H. G. Wells in 1898.
It is the first person narrative of an unnamed protagonist's odyssey in Surrey and London as Earth is invaded and devastated by aliens from Mars. Written in 1895–1897, the book is one of the earliest realistic stories that details a conflict between mankind and a more advanced and hostile extraterrestrial race.
At the time of publication it was classified as a scientific romance. The War of the Worlds has been both popular (having never gone out of print) and influential, spawning half a dozen feature films, radio dramas, a record album, various comic book adaptations, a television series, and sequels or parallel stories by other authors. It is one of the first works of fiction known to depict alien mecha.
