BOOK REVIEW - The Day Of The Martians (The Martian Diaries #1) by H.E.Wilburson

 

                                                                 BOOK DESCRIPTION

The terror of the coming of the Martians is all but a distant memory, a bad dream that has faded with time. All George wants is a quiet suburban life – but at breakfast one morning his newspaper reports the shocking discovery of a Martian cylinder, found intact and unopened, and carefully transported to London. Could it be from the first alien invasion and are there Martians still alive inside after more than ten years?

By teatime he learns that vengeance seeking Martians and their tripod fighting machines are already on their way back. This time they are armed with a doomsday weapon, able to destroy all bacteria and completely annihilate Earth The countless numbers of their projectiles form a huge green comet and invasion day will be just before Christmas.

The first attack by aliens was enough for any lifetime, but who would expect to be involved with two? Can George and his wife escape this new Martian apocalypse and how will our planet survive a second time?

The Day Of The Martians continues the iconic Mars novel by H.G.Wells, in this exciting, unmissable action adventure – the first volume of The Martian Diaries science fiction series.

Since it was first published in 1897, there has been numerous adaptations of H.G.Well's terrifying story of alien invasion. I have my personal favourites and yes, that does include Stephen Spielberg's version. My absolutely number one favourite is Jeff Wayne's iconic musical version (it terrifies the life out of me if I listen to after darkness falls and I would love to experience the immersive version but I would probably end up having a nervous breakdown and suffering nightmares for the rest of my life) For decades, fans of Wells's timeless classic have been patiently waiting for a proper sequel to be written, a story that fits in perfectly with the character and style of the original. Well, in my humble opinion,the wait is finally over.

The Day Of The Martians is set just over ten years after the original invasion and voiced from the perspective of George, the Journalist. He is understandably shocked when he unfolds the paper one morning and discovers that a intact and unsealed cylinder has been discovered in a remote region of Wales. He is even more disconcerted when he reads that the cylinder has been transported to London and placed in Ogilvy's Martian exhibition at Crystal Palace. Both men had borne witness to the horror's and destruction that happened during the original invasion and George cannot understand why his old friend would behave so foolhardy and recklessly. George wants answers so once again he finds himself,along with his beloved wife Laura on his way back to London, travelling through countryside that still bears the scars of the damage and destruction caused by the ruthless, martian heat ray's. Once there Ogilvy informs George that the war is not over and he finds himself in a desperate race against time that will take him from London,to rural Wales and on to the coast at Kent. A journey during which he will find himself encountering faces and reliving memories from the terror filled days of the past. Meanwhile, across the gulfs of space,a horrifyingly familiar green comet is making its way across millions of miles of void towards Earth. The Martians have learned their lessons, they have a new plan of action, they have upgraded their technology and are on their way to finish what they started over ten years ago...... the massacre of mankind.

This is only a short story but, oh boy, the author has certainly packed a lot into its 77 pages. It's fast paced, gripping, seriously spine chilling at times and has all the intensity and atmosphere of the original, classic story. I really liked the way that the author didn't bog down the flow of his story by including pages of difficult to understand and confusing  science and technology information. I really enjoyed this enthralling story and look forward to reading book 2 Lake On The Moon.

                                                                    AUTHOR BIO

H.E Wilburson is an award winning British author and composer, with accolades for the writing and music for The Martian Diaries series – his audio sequel to The War Of The Worlds. Having long been drawn to the H.G.Wells science fiction classic, he decided in 2015 to continue the story himself as he felt there were questions Wells left unanswered. With almost a lifetime of composing and painting pictures with music, Wilburson created his sequel with his own musical compositions and added immersive sound effects.

Apart from The Martian Diaries trilogy he has adapted The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, his first project combining text with music, which will be released in the future. He also has several hundred pieces of music, and unpublished stories and poetry. Wilburson, who likes to be known as H.E, finds much inspiration by getting off the beaten track and into the great outdoors, and is in his element exploring remote locations around coastal and mountain regions, but most especially in Wales. 

Find out about the making of The Martian Diaries here https://www.martiandiaries.com

Come and find H.E on Twitter https://twitter.com/martiandiaries

Winner of 5 awards in the 2020 Los Angeles Science Fiction Film Awards, Audio Drama category and Bronze medal winner in the Readers Choice Awards 2020 (Science Fiction).

Volume 1 'The Day Of The Martians'
Volume 2 'Lake On The Moon' 
Volume 3 'Gateway To Mars' 

Pre order Link

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08Z7KN9YL?pf_rd_r=X4PX913DE8E7BSTEXVC6&pf_rd_p=6e878984-68d5-4fd2-b7b3-7bc79d9c8b60&pd_rd_r=ac3eb61b-61ca-4d4b-999c-63edf5f51ee2&pd_rd_w=yw9gj&pd_rd_wg=Y7Cmf&ref_=pd_gw_unk