I found this one to be a little long, and like much of Baxter's work just that little bit bleak. After rereading the original I found this to be very much in keeping with Wells.

A fully-authorised follow-up to the War of the Worlds, from the science fiction author who had already written a similarly authorised follow-up to the Time Machine. As with that follow-up, Baxter expands the world in a great way, almost improving on what the first master had done. In turns horrifying and fascinating, a great addition to the canon .

I had hoped this would be a more modern take on War of the Worlds. But Baxter aimed at staying true to Wells in tone. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the speed was ponderous and dry. The characters stayed flat and undeveloped.

Due to the story telling it was pretty clear from the beginning (spoiler! … or not…) that humanity survives and who of the introduced characters. How boring. Great way to kill any budding suspense.

The alternate timeline and the name dropping of known historical figures was mildly intriguing. But that was not enough to alleviate my boredom with the story in general.

DNF at 21%. Sorry!

I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

Those pesky Martians are back in this steampunky sequel to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Though this book was written well over a century after the original story the two blend together wonderfully.

A worthy sequel that, in my opinion, enhances the original work. Recommended.

A very well written book, evoking something between Wells' original story and a steampunk novel. It takes place years after the events in War of the Worlds, as Mars begins a second invasion. Earth has been changed, because of the first invasion, from the history we know into an alternate that has been affected by the first, failed Martian war and the technology left from it.

This book moves at a more readable pace than WotW with, for me, a more interesting narrator. It doesn’t have the claustrophobic feel of the original, nor does it try to be the original. It is its own interesting story, based from the Wells book.

I received an Advance Reader's Copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

If you are going to call your book The Massacre of Mankind there had better be a massacre or you might find yourself up for false advertising. And while Stephen Baxter’s authorised sequel to The War of the Worlds has a second, bigger invasion and plenty of battles between man and Martian, this is not a book (thankfully, for mankind at least) that really lives up to its title.

Massacre is written as a Wellsian, early-twentieth century sequel to the original. While it would not have been characterised as this back then, in modern terms it could be seen as a steampunk alternative history (where the branch is the unsuccessful 1907 invasion of England by Martians). Set in the 1920s, Massacre charts the second Martian invasion interrupting a war between Germany and Russia which Britain, scarred by the first invasion, has stayed out of. The setting comes complete with zeppelins, advanced technology based on stolen Martian knowhow and a supporting cast of luminaries including Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, George Patton and Wells himself (although never named). Besides Martians, Baxter also introduces beings from other planets including water-dwelling Venusians (shades here of last year’s far superior Radiance by Catherine Valente).

Unfortunately, Massacre is anything but engaging. The first two thirds of the book feels like an endless trek across Britain into the heart of the Martian war machine which has dug in for an unexplained two year softening up period. The global war, when it finally comes, is described in a series of quick vignettes from various international locations that feel a little like the destruction scenes from Independence Day.

The narration is clear from the outset that humans win the war. So it is no surprise when they do, other than it is via a deus ex machina more breathtakingly ridiculous than the original solution devised by Wells. Massacre proves once again that our thirst for sequels, prequels, reboots and reimaginings may well have hit its limit.

I love Stephen Baxter's books - not necessarily because he's a wonderful author, but because he was my entry point into science fiction when I began reading in genres beyond literary fiction about fifteen years ago. Baxter is not an elegant prose writer, and his conception of how history works is a bit like the world-building of that game Civilization - but when it comes to alien invasion scenarios, then he's the writer you'll want. Here, Baxter returns to his constant inspiration H.G. Wells and the particular invasion of Wells' The War of the Worlds. This is a sequel, of sorts, and Baxter does his best to infuse some of Wells' early 20th century style into the dialogue, but this novel mainly shines when Baxter gives up the Wellsisms and expands the plot into familiar Baxter-like "grand plan of the universe" territory. A fun read, but nowhere near the fun of his Malenfant trilogy.

An engaging and cleverly considered sequel to HG Wells' The War of the World which extrapolates from the original and 20th century history to create an alternative timeline where the original martian invasion influences human development.
Baxter also thinks out how a second War of the Worlds would differ from the first with interesting parallels to the US being drawn into WW2.
As always Baxter has done copious research and though through every detail of his project and as always this is where my reservation about the book comes in. Occasionally the authors need to share everything needs to be reigned in. Here the story is interrupted by a look at the Martian invasion from different perspectives around the world - I would have preferred this section, along with more Baxter on his thoughts about the science in an appendix rather than being a distraction from the central plot.
Over all I would recommend this to anyone who knows Wells' original

Wasn't really for me. I thought it'd be a fun update on War of the Worlds but it wasn't that much better than the weak original.

And still they come.. 2 stars

It's 1920, thirteen years since the first Martian attack ended in their defeat. Now astronomers have noticed ominous signs on the Red Planet – they're coming back to try again! But this time England has been expecting them, and has made every effort to prepare...

It's been a long time since I read The War of the Worlds, but I remember loving it - the descriptions of the Martian ships, the heat ray, the terror of the people, the rather quirky ending. So when I saw this sequel had been endorsed by HG Wells' estate, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, as so often, I came away from it wishing that sometimes (most times) great books could just be left to stand as they are.

The basic plot of the original is that when the Martians arrive, the humans try everything they can to defeat them, but the Martians are so technologically superior they can overcome any of humanity's weapons. These repeated failed attempts go on, interspersed by the narrator telling of his own experiences and describing the devastation and fear caused by the attack, until finally something entirely unexpected by either Martian or human comes along to break the cycle.

Baxter replicates this approach. He starts by creating an alternative history, speculating how the First Martian War would have altered the course of the next couple of decades. This is quite fun – WW1 happens very differently, Britain has turned into a kind of martial state, Churchill is involved in the plans to defeat any future Martian attack etc. We also meet the two people through whose eyes we mainly see the story develop – Julie, a journalist, and ex-wife to Frank, a doctor (and brother of the narrator in the original). At this early stage I was quite enjoying it in a mild kind of way.

But then the Martians arrived. We attacked them with our little guns. They killed us. We attacked them with bigger guns. They killed us. We attacked them with great big guns. They killed us. We attacked them with their own guns... well, you get the point. Now, as I said, this is pretty much what happened in the original too. But there is one huge, major difference. The original is 208 pages long – this one is listed as 464 according to Goodreads, but my ARC actually comes in at roughly 540 largish pages. I'm sure you'll all have memorised my literary laws – I fear this book fails the first one badly...

FF’s First Law: The length of a book should be determined by the requirements of the story.

Apart from the length issue, I found I hadn't developed any concern for the major characters. Partly this is because I found the writing a little flat, and the female character rather unappealing. But largely it's because within the first few chapters the author lets us know through some clumsy foreshadowing that they both survive! And furthermore, that they meet up again after the war and collaborate on this book – hence we know straight away that mankind clearly isn't massacred after all! Telling me about the sudden deaths of thousands of fictional soldiers I've never been introduced to doesn't have the same emotional impact as would fear for one character I'd grown to care about. (Hmm! Perhaps that should be FF's Fifth Law...) If memory serves me right, in the original, the narrator, and therefore we, were concerned about the whereabouts and welfare of his missing wife.

I'm afraid that by the time I reached page 150 the basic premise (we attack – they kill us) had already been repeated three or four times, and I decided I couldn't face hundreds more pages. Usually I'd give an abandoned book 1 star, but truthfully this is reasonably well written and the spirit and style of the original have been largely maintained. I didn't hate it, it was just too long for its content and too repetitive to maintain my interest. Pity.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Orion Publishing Group.

The War of the Worlds is one of my all-time favourite books – something about being indoctrinated with it and all sci-fi in early childhood no doubt. I am always wary of sequels to books I have a huge investment in when they are not by the original authors (and to be frank sometimes when they are) but there was no need for caution in this case. I haven’t read a lot of Baxter’s work so how this compares to his other novels I can’t say. However he has matched Wells’ style here well, telling the quietly terrifying tale of a reinvasion of earth by the Martians with no small amount of wit and understanding of the original. I don’t think you ever read Wells for the characterisation – the ideas are nearly always greater than the delineation of specific characters (the artilleryman aside in WOTW)- but this is where Baxter has stepped away from the original and given the reader characters she can really empathise with and root for. Respectful of the source material but still very much its own book, this is one for sci-fi fans who enjoy a slower, more deliberate pace with more thought and less explosions. Great stuff. Will check out more of Baxter’s novels.

It has been 14 years since the Martians invaded England. The world has moved on, always watching the skies but content that we know how to defeat the Martian menace. Machinery looted from the abandoned capsules and war-machines has led to technological leaps forward. The Martians are vulnerable to earth germs. The Army is prepared.

So when the signs of launches on Mars are seen, there seems little reason to worry. Unless you listen to one man, Walter Jenkins, the narrator of Wells’ book. He is sure that the Martians have learned, adapted, understood their defeat.

He is right.

Thrust into the chaos of a new invasion, a journalist – sister-in-law to Walter Jenkins – must survive, escape and report on the war.

The Massacre of Mankind has begun

No one would have believed in the early years of the twenty first century that a reviewer would read a book created by an intelligence far greater than his own. The reviewer would scrutinise and study the text as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. The reviewer even considered the possibility of life on other planets. And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this reviewer with envious eyes, and slowly and surely, they drew their plans to purchase it after they had read his review…*

I’ll begin with an admission. I came to War of the Worlds in reverse. I am a child of the nineteen seventies (yes I do know I am hideously old, thanks), and my first exposure to War of the Worlds was the musical concept album by Jeff Wayne. I still have a fond place in my heart even now, forty years later. After the musical I moved onto the George Pal movie version which is shlocky, if massively inaccurate, fun. When I did finally get to the H.G. Wells book, I was completely entranced. It perfectly captures the society it was trying to depict and you can easily see why it is considered a science fiction classic. When I heard that a sequel authorised by the Wells estate was in the works, I was excited and apprehensive in equal measure. Could any author live up to Wells’s vision?

The author who has stepped up to this challenge is Stephen Baxter, and I’m pleased to say he has done a great job of expanding on H. G. Wells’s original story. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve not read any of Mr Baxter’s other novels. I suppose the one positive of this oversight is that I had no preconceived notions going in. The narrative picks up fourteen years after the first book. Walter Jenkins, the unnamed narrator of War of the Worlds, is a shell of the man he once was. The horrors he experienced during the Martian War have left him scarred, both physically and mentally. His marriage has failed and he is obsessed with the red planet and it inhabitants. He has never been able to shake the feeling that the Martians will return. Fortunately, there are many others across the planet who feel the same. The Artilleryman, Albert Cook, also returns. His slightly deranged world view was a treat in book one, and he is as opinionated as he ever was. I’m glad to see him back; outspoken characters are always great fun. Others also reappear. I think it is fair to say that all their lives have all been irrevocably changed.

There are some clever little twists in Baxter’s alt-history of the early twenty century. The First World War never happened. Britain and Germany are still on speaking terms but there is still a whole lot of antagonism across Europe. Germany has conquered France and is involved in an ongoing conflict with Russia. Baxter also peppers the text with some famous faces, Churchill and Einstein to name but a few. Even H.G. Wells gets a mention. It’s these nice additional details that help elevate the narrative into something special.

I’m a firm believer that the best sequels succeed when they don’t just re-run the original story, they enhance it. War of Worlds is centred specifically in England, and doesn’t really mention the rest of the world at all. I want my alien invasions to be a bit more awe inspiring than that. I want to feel the huge scope of what is going on. The Massacre of Mankind does up the ante quite considerably and makes the Martians return feel like a genuinely global event. There are a handful of chapters that detail the invasion across the world from Australia to China, South Africa to India. One of things Baxter manages to capture early on is the same insight that Wells achieved in the original novel. In War of the Worlds, England is so self-assured when it comes to their superiority. There is an implied smugness. The British have never met an enemy they cannot beat. Baxter scales up this idea and then some. In The Massacre of Mankind, the reader gets to view how the Martian’s return affects the entire planet. Humanity’s complacency remains self-evident. Rather than protect or defend themselves when the Martians arrive in New York hundreds flock towards the landing site for a bit of a look. The general populace has little consideration that these otherworldly enemies may have evolved over the fourteen years that have passed since their first arrival. It doesn’t occur that any retribution might be forthcoming.

I’ve always dreamed that there would be a big screen adaption of War of the Worlds that was set in the correct century and followed the plot from the novel faithfully. Now that I’ve read Baxter’s sequel, I think there might need to be more than one.

The Massacre of Mankind is published by Gollancz and is available now. If you’re a fan of the source text I think you’ll enjoy this

*with apologies to H.G. Wells for the conceit of this first paragraph.

For the first 50 pages Baxter relishes giving you new insights into a world completely changed by the original assault brought on by the Martians. I assume the actual novel is brilliant and hits all the right notes but I found it difficult to slog through 50 pages of world-building descriptions about an alternative reality. For hardcore fans my words might be blasphemy but they are my words nonetheless.

So has Baxter been successful in keeping the tone and feel of Wells’ book? Yes, I think he has. Walter who was the main protagonist in The War of the Worlds, has spent his time since then exhaustively researching the Martians and is convinced they will return. He’s not the only one. Britain is quite a different place as society is more militaristic, poverty is widespread and life is a lot more drab as everyone has been impacted by the damage inflicted by the Martians. Julie, our protagonist who also made an appearance in The War of the Worlds, is shocked at how much England has been affected on her return. I really enjoyed the fact that Baxter has not just reprised a Martian invasion – he has also constructed an alternate history for Europe and America in the aftermath of the initial invasion.

Once it all starts to kick off again, the feel of the action with the pace, the tone and some of the characters from Wells’ apocalyptic adventure returning makes Baxter’s tale feel very familiar, in particular the artilleryman’s appearance is every bit as disturbing as before. Although there are some important differences – the Martians have learnt some vital lessons after their first unsuccessful attempt to conquer Earth, which transformed the familiar into an engrossing page-turner. Initially, Baxter emulates Wells’ action-filled chaos as the British military are all set to engage the invasion force – it shouldn’t come as a huge shock if I reveal the carefully laid plans by the best military minds don’t go to plan. I really enjoyed Baxter’s trick of using historical figures in his catastrophic scenario, such as Winston Churchill.

Like Wells, Baxter regularly cuts away from his main protagonist to other characters in key positions as the Martians tighten their grip on Earth by targeting cities around the world. Will humanity survive, or is Mankind doomed to unremitting slavery for the rest of millennia? We learn of other humanoid races who accompany the invasion force – and there is a real sense of shock when we learn who they are and where they come from. For the purposes of this book, Baxter has continued using the version of the solar system provided by Wells. So not only is Mars inhabited, but also Venus and Jupiter. As for the final twist that brings the Martian advance to a halt – it certainly provides an interesting outcome. I really enjoyed the idea once I got used to the notion, particularly as Baxter then builds upon it and gives a fascinating scenario.

There is scope for another book in this series and I’m very much hoping Baxter write it – I found The Massacre of Mankind as compelling as The War of the Worlds and would love to read more set in this traumatised, alternative world.

the very notion of this book engaged me - but then I found it a bit stodgy - first I had to keep getting my head around what war everyone meant - did they mean WW2 as conventional - against Hitler and Germans - or against first and then second wave of Martians - the old boy war stories, and confusions in their recall and the furore of how it was all reported - truth or false report - cluttered things up for me - and why was Harry so attached to it all - for people who like alternative history, and enjoy the comparisons with what was chronicled and with reports for political or familial reasons afterwards, this should be a joy. Its focus on the meta-issues of history just clogged up the forward story - the characters are really nicely drawn and the narrator's voice telling the tale charming and smart ... just not for me.

Lets start with the positives. This book is rich with intertexuality, mentions of author writers, events, and works of fiction. This has to do with its nature as a sequel, but also its genre. There are also some very interesting pieces of commentary on British society. The main protagonist was female. But I felt her characterization to be somewhat flat. I personally enjoyed verity, a side character more.

On the note of documentation, the book, to me, was prolonged and dry. This book strives to be a piece of narrative, backed up by research and pieces of witness accounts. But unfortunately, this made it quite dry and there were long tangents of "witness accounts" that had really no place at all. This book is much longer than it has to be because of this simple fact, and that made reading it a chore. I felt i had to finish the book not to really see what happened, but to finish it.