The Valley of Spiders

By H.G. Wells

The Valley of Spiders was written in the year 1909 by H. G. Wells. This book is one of the most popular novels of H. G. Wells, and has been translated into several other languages around the world.

This book is published by Booklassic which brings young readers closer to classic literature globally.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Booklassic
• Release date: Jul 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9789635262472

H.G. Wells

H.G. Wells is considered by many to be the father of science fiction. He was the author of numerous classics such as The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The War of the Worlds, and many more. 

Reviews for The Valley of Spiders

[pilgrimjess · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book is a collection of 13 short stories which have largely been forgotten and probably with good reason. Most are around 15 pages long.Now there is a mixture of tales from flesh eating creatures and plants,voodoo type practices and ghosts to name a few which are ideas which have gone on to grace various novels. The title story itself is flesh eating spiders. Three men are in pursuit of a runaway woman and her companions when they come across a valley with a strange mist within it. That mist turns out to be spiders travelling on the wind on spores (which really does happen in nature) attacking and eating that they alight on. Unfortunately it is not overly obvious why the woman ran away or just why the men and in particular the leader is so keen to catch them. Then all the men turn out to be something of cowards with the leader killing one of his companions which makes none of the characters particularily likeable.Spiders are often seen as sinister so it is an easy sell to make the flesh crawl a little and many of the tales are pretty creepy but for me they lacked any real depth and the endings were on the whole fairly predictable to really stick in the memory for very long.For the record my favourite story was probably 'The Inexperienced Ghost' which made me smirk but this book is really only for H.G.Wells most ardent fans.

[stephenbarkley · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While in high school I found second hand copies of H. G. Wells' classic works: The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The War of the Worlds, and The Time Machine. I was completely entranced. Wells' writing is so matter-of-fact, it sounds convincing. I can understand why people panicked when The War of the Worlds was dramatized on radio!The short stories collected in The Valley of Spiders have that same convincing quality, but lack the imagination of his major works. Of the 13 stories, only two stood out:1) "The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham" is a disturbing tale of waking up in someone else's skin. Wells conveys the horror of coming to grasp just what has happened brilliantly.2) "The Door in the Wall" mixes childhood memory and adult disillusionment in one unforgettable package.Besides these two shining lights, the collection falls flat.