Books like “The War of the Worlds”

What to read after “The War of the Worlds” by H. G. Wells: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham · 1951
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Creeping Dread
- Apocalypse
A meteor shower blinds most of humanity, leaving a few sighted survivors in a world where walking, venomous plants have escaped from farms. A young man and a small group try to reach safety and decide what kind of society can be rebuilt.
2
The Beetle
Richard Marsh · 1897
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Victorian London Atmosphere
- Creeping Dread
A strange, insect-like creature arrives in London bent on revenge against a member of Parliament, and its powers reach into the lives of everyone near him. The story is told through several witnesses who each encounter the being and try to stop it.
3
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson · 1886
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Victorian London Atmosphere
- Creeping Dread
A respected London doctor is oddly close to a violent, mysterious man named Hyde. When a friend investigates the link between them, he uncovers a scientific experiment that set loose a darker self.
4
Dracula
Bram Stoker · 1897
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Victorian London Atmosphere
- Creeping Dread
A young solicitor journeys to a remote castle in the Carpathians to settle a client's estate, only to find his host is no ordinary nobleman. As the count travels to England, letters and diaries record a creeping sickness spreading from Whitby to London.
5
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell · 1949
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Creeping Dread
In the totalitarian superstate of Oceania, every thought and word is watched. Winston Smith works at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting the past, until he starts a diary and a secret affair. His small rebellion against a system that controls reality itself slowly closes in around him.
6
Childhood's End
Arthur C. Clarke · 1953
Same genre: “Science fiction”
- Alien Invasion
Giant alien ships appear above Earth's cities and impose a peaceful rule under the Overlords. Decades of calm and progress pass, but humanity's golden age hides a purpose no one can guess until the Overlords finally reveal themselves.
7
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad · 1907
Similar setting: “Victorian London Atmosphere”
- Victorian London Atmosphere
In late-Victorian London, a shopkeeper who is also a paid spy for a foreign power is ordered to carry out a bombing. The people around him, including his wife and her vulnerable brother, are pulled into the consequences of a plot he cannot control.
8
The House of Silk
Anthony Horowitz · 2011
Similar setting: “Victorian London Atmosphere”
- Victorian London Atmosphere
Sherlock Holmes is asked to guard a London art dealer who is being followed, and the case opens onto two mysteries: a gang known as the House of Silk, and a crime so dangerous that Watson can only set it down years later, in a final untold adventure.
9
Earth Abides
George R. Stewart · 1949
Same genre: “Science fiction”
- Apocalypse
A plague kills nearly everyone on Earth. An ecologist emerges from the mountains to find empty cities and a few survivors, and spends the rest of his life watching a new, smaller society take shape without the old world's machinery.
10
The 5th Wave
Rick Yancey · 2013
Similar plot moves: “Alien Invasion” and “Apocalypse”
- Alien Invasion
- Apocalypse
After a series of waves wipes out most of humanity, sixteen-year-old Cassie is alone and running from an enemy that could look like anyone. To find her little brother she will have to trust a stranger, even as she learns how the invasion really works.
11
Kindred
Octavia E. Butler · 1979
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Creeping Dread
Dana, a Black writer in 1976 California, is suddenly pulled back in time to a Maryland plantation, where she saves the life of a white boy named Rufus. Again and again she is dragged into the past, where she must survive slavery and protect Rufus to keep her own future alive.
12
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
M. R. James · 1904
Similar atmosphere: “Creeping Dread”
- Creeping Dread
Eight ghost stories in which scholars and clergymen uncover things better left alone. An old manuscript, a whistled tune and a locked country house each hold a presence that follows the people who found it back into ordinary life.