Early science fiction in War of the Worlds

Lets get something straight. War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells isn’t a great book by my definition. It is definitely ground breaking for its day, but I can’t call it profound literature. Everyone knows the story: Martians come to Earth to enslave, they cause a ton of destruction in a small amount of time with no resistance to their technology, but quickly die off, in deus ex machina fashion, when their bodies can’t fight the bacteria present everywhere on our planet. It is an interesting read from the point of view of seeing how much our perspective and knowledge has changed in the 115ish years since it was published, as Wells writes about big societies on the rich, vibrant Martian planet. Despite being a science fiction novel, Wells glosses over the science parts of the book, focusing more on the narrator’s (the book is told in the first person, and we never get his name) interactions with others around him. Probably known best as the radio drama (that historically is probably a bit overblown), or for young-ins, for the movie adaptation, the novel itself is a quick, short read.