War of the Worlds: New Millennium

by Douglas Niles

Imagine if H.G.Wells' Martians launched their attack tomorrow.

First there was the mysterious loss of contact with the Mars probe.

Then a few flashes of light detected via telescope on the planet's surface, and several pieces of undefined space debris traveled through space and fell to earth.

And thus the War of the Worlds began.

From an isolated farmhouse in rural Wisconsin to the mall in Washington D.C., our world had becomes a battlefield against the alien intruders from Mars whose superior weapons and defenses dwarfed the Pentagon's latest weaponry.

By order of the President, scientists and soldiers pooled resources and inspiration to overcome a threat that appeared bent on our annihilation, while all across the land brave and bold Americans waged their own efforts of resistance against the Martian menace.

At stake not just the dominion of Earth, but mankind's own survival.

Inspired by the H.G.Wells masterwork War of the Worlds and updated with the technothriller technology of today, Douglas Niles has written a contemporary novel of alien invasion that successfully combines the genres of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle with Tom Clancy and Larry Bond.

Genres: Science Fiction, Aliens

359 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Douglas Niles is a fantasy author and game designer. Niles was one of the creators of the Dragonlance world and the author of the first three Forgotten Realms novels, and the Top Secret S/I espionage role-playing game. He currently resides in Delavan, Wisconsin with his wife, Christine, and two Bouviets, Reggie and Stella. He enjoys playing his guitar, cooking, and visiting with family.

Reviews

[Hrairoorah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the retelling of this classic story. It has always been one of my favorite books and I really enjoyed bringing the story up to date. I like the twist and the characters were all engaging.

[jboyg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Retelling Of H.G. Wells Classic

Impressive. Miles brings the classic Martian invasion tale to new life with cool characters, fast moving action and strong battle scenes. Pretty high coincidence factor along the way, but who cares? We win again!

[Brian Grouhel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a worthy sequal to HG Wells original War Of The Worlds. Updated and set in today's world New Millennium retells the story of the martian invasion in a very fast paced and totally enjoyable way. To say it was a page turner would be true! I didn't want to put it down until I was finished!

[Ian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoiler!!! The Martians are killed by moldy bread.

This book was killed by moldy plot, characters and writing. It's better off dead, believe me. Just yuck.

It's my own fault, though. I should have known just by the title and cover! Just can't resist dem alien invaders. Sucker!

[Stefan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast paced, gripping, readable, and creative science fiction read. The interesting idea of updating Well's War of the Worlds into the twenty first century. The characters are are connectable but feel somewhat flat, the use of varied settings help move the novel along but is often not described as well as it could be, and the plot sweeps the reader along even though it suffers from some serious problems. Overall not a bad light read, though the author could have been more creative, realistic, descriptive, and imaginative whenit came to adapting Well's masterpiece.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent "update" of H.G. Wells' classic novel, set in the early 21st century (this book came out before Spielberg's 2006 movie). Niles does a good job staying true to the source material while providing a few twists of his own (including an interesting redo of the original book's ending). My only complaint is that the last part of the book feels rushed, as if he was on deadline and had to hurry up and finish. Still, this is a good read for fans of the original book, and alien invasion tales in general.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The start had promise, but the ending seemed a bit fast and a bit disappointing. It was fun seeing the alternate Universe take on the exploration of Mars at the beginning, and the early invasion part was set up quote interestingly, but I was hoping that the updated context would lead to some treatment at some point in the book of the history nature of the Martian civilisation and history on Mars, their motivations and view of humans, etc. The ending was just 'martians dead... the end.'

Perhaps a sequel?

[Ian Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

First two parts are pretty good, the launch and initial invasion, though the Martians as in most reboots were too invulnerable, but the ending.. Erg.. Gangbangers with moldy tacos? The Martians are supposed to die of their own oversights!

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, but not as good as Wells' original novel.