The Massacre of Mankind
by Stephen Baxter
science fiction, fansonly
copyright 2017
read in July 2020
rated 5/10: readable but only if there's nothing else
Take an idea which was exciting -- though not new -- in the 1890s. Pretend it's a sequel -- to War of the Worlds -- though it's really a ramped-up rewrite... a "re-imagining". Throw in enough tedious description to make even the original author yawn. You could end up writing this book.
Look! the Martians are marching on London! Look! the Martians are marching on New York! Look! the Martians are... well, name a few well known cities, have the Martians destroy a few well known buildings... Have the destruction witnessed and described by people that we have not met before and who we never meet again... Repetitive. Boring.
There is reference to the deus ex machina ending of the real book. This book is worse. Oh, and there is -- apparently -- a natural progression of outer planets invading inner planets. Yet only Mars follows this pattern. What happened to Saturn, Uranus and Neptune? And what kept the Jovians at home?
Meanwhile, back on Earth... There's a character left over from the original book. He explains -- with no contradiction -- why he will be safe in a cave. The Martians, it seems, have never heard of caves. This is just a chapter after the narrator is almost killed by a Martian in a tunnelling machine. Oh, and we eventually find that the Martians live in underground cities... yet they don't understand humans hiding in holes in the ground?
With half as many words this book could be fun. Silly but fun. "Hard" science fiction? Certainly hard to read.
Just in case... I added the "fansonly" category. If you are a fan of tedious hard science fiction, try this. If you are a fan of H.G.Wells you may enjoy it. The references to book characters and real people and real events as they could have been after Martian War One, are interesting. If you are a fan of Wells or of history.
For the rest of us -- especially those who read for enjoyment -- look for another book.
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"Please do not feed the fears" … graffiti on a toilet wall
===Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)
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