The novel is set in Woking, London, this brings a sense of reality to the reader as they can imagine it, and this is enhanced by the use of specific road names. The story kicks off on Horsell Common where the first capsule lands, all of the locals treat it as almost a festival, dancing, having picnics etc. Everyone is happy and doesn’t think that the Martians will be hostile. When it emerges from the capsule the Martian kills all of the people on Horsell Common. Once this happens and people here the army is being sent in they feel happy that they are safe. Once the army is also destroyed there is an air of panic as everyone tries to escape. The novel describes what H G Wells believed life would be like in the next century. The novel is a long way ahead of its time in predicting space travel and or exploration, he also predicted that civilisation would make a ‘heat ray’, what we now call a laser. Wells also introduces fighting machines, robots. He did still believe that we would use a horse and cart. The main theme of ‘The War of the Worlds’ is complacency, humans thinking they are a superior race – nothing can challenge them. I will focus on chapter 4 book 2, ‘The Death of the Curate’. In this the chapter the Curate goes mad and is murdered. The narrator is left alone, trying to escape from the Martians.