Wells is bae.

Eh. I expected more from H.G. Wells. (There is a derogatory term used throughout this story.)

Not one to be worried about spoilers, HG Wells revised the project Gutenburg version I read, and included a preface briefly detailing the things he'd changed. Said revisions didn't include the ending, but he thought he'd tell us that anyway. Thanks HG.

Anyway, this is something of a mish-mash of quite posh sci-fi whimsy, and Orwellian dystopia, and quite an entertaining romp it is. Never for one moment are you really led to believe that there's any hope for the future of mankind, nor does the author really seem to believe in his own balance of good vs evil. On the evil side, you've got one self-serving aristocracy replacing another, while stamping a big jackboot down on the face of the common-man. On the good side, you've got Graham, a man who while asleep for 200 years has had the good fortune to have literally become the meek who inherits the earth. Wells clearly thought Graham would develop into some kind of socialist messiah, but then realises that a kind of lucky bumbling nice-guy with no real skills would be just as poor a basis for a system of government as a aristocratic tyranny. And therefore runs out of steam, and has him pissing about with remarkably unfuturistic airplanes for the last few pages.

Good fun, but in that candid preface, Wells admits that he didn't really know what to do with it, and it was a rush job. First half, excellent; second half, try and piece together a more convincing plot yourself.

Maybe it just hasn't aged well; but maybe HG Wells also just isn't my speed. Or maybe this dreadful narration was it. That was probably a big part of it.

I noticed that Wells sure didn't seem to think much of the Salvation Army. The accuracy of some of his guesses about the future was pretty interesting.

I had picked this up at the City Lights bookstore in San Fransisco the previous year. I'm a big fan of HG Wells but hadn't seen this edition before.

An intersting story that clearly was ahead of its time. Now it makes an interesting comparison between what he got right and what never transpired.

Got to love that compound interest!

For a full video review visit https://youtu.be/k38ReBoV9wE?si=QuO-nb6viHZoxZpM

Apparently the third time is the charm, I have read two other works by H.G Wells (The Time Machine and War of the Worlds) and found both fell flat from the expectation society had placed on them. This one though had my favorite book plot... dystopian society. I love hearing about what people think the future will be like, especially when its messed up. It was great! Was going to give it 4 stars.
Until the book took a SERIOUSLY racist turn... and the bad guys in the future are Black people!!! :(
WHY PEOPLE!