The Food of the Gods

By H. G. Wells and William B. ,Jr. Jones

The Food for the Gods is a science fiction saga by H.G. Wells. Mr. Bensington and Professor Redwood were amongst a new breed of men - or 'scientists' as they had become known. After discovering Herakleophorbia IV, a chemical that accelerates growth, the countryside is overrun with giant chickens, rats, wasps and worms. Havoc ensues, but Benson and Redwood are undeterred and begin to use 'the food of the gods' on humans. Soon, children are growing up to 40 feet high. But where will the experiments end?

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Classics Illustrated
• Release date: Jul 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781620281192

H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells (1866-1946) is best remembered for his science fiction novels, which are considered classics of the genre, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898). He was born in Bromley, Kent, and worked as a teacher, before studying biology under Thomas Huxley in London.

Reviews for The Food of the Gods

[over.the.edge · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"It is not that we would oust the little people from the world,' he said, 'in order that we, who are no more than one step upwards from their littleness, may hold their world forever. It is the step we fight for an not ourselves... We are here, Brothers, to what end? To serve the spirit and the purpose that has been breathed into our lives. We fight not for ourselves - for we are but the momentary hands and eyes of the Life of the world... This earth is no resting place... We fight not for ourselves but for growth - growth that goes on forever. Tomorrow, whether we live or die, growth will conquer through us. That is the law of the spirit for ever more. To grow according to the will of God."

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an unusual (for its time) mixture of science fiction, horror and elements of Edwardian comedy. Much of the dialogue and actions carried out by characters strike us as unlikely today, but we must remember that this was an era when people were on the whole more suggestible and people in isolated areas could remain unaware of dramatic events if they didn't see a newspaper. The ending was particularly moving and thought provoking, especially the death of Young Caddles and the realisation that the Giants see themselves and are seen as an entirely separate species of humankind. Not up to the standard of his most famous SF works, but worth reading.

[theboylatham_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Six out of ten.

Two scientists, Professor Redwood and Mr. Bensington, stuble upon an amazing discovery, that which they have dubbed Herakleophorbia, or the food of the gods. This substance has the properties to cause any living thing to grow continuously, but will this cause more harm than good?

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not good. The first section is all high-flown language about science and scientists - but the scientists he focuses on are really bad at the mechanics of science. New, strange, complex discovery - and they leave the details to a clumsy, slovenly pair of incompetents. And then, before anything, including the functionality of the stuff, is determined, one gives some to his son. Excuse me? So of course the stuff (the Food of the Gods) escapes - and feeds everything from mushrooms to insects to rats up to dangerous size. The middle section, focusing on Caddles, was...interesting, but also depressing. The poor kid. How old was he when he was set to work? Same section, the man out of prison (which is basically a way of getting around "As you know, Sam"), was also good - seeing how things are. More high-flown language and verbosity amounting to, you can't see what's going on while you're in the middle of it. And then the last part, the revolt of the Giants - the trigger is rather stupid (only one female (human) has ever been fed the stuff; she didn't know there was anyone else, and falls in love with the first Giant she sees. Bleah), the events are nasty (they're all too closely intertwined to really fight), they resolve to fight, and find their place - and it ends. Worshiping growth for growth's sake is at least as bad as worshiping conformity. Weak - partly because he keeps swerving between humor and social commentary. The best parts are when he's just reporting "facts" - telling it straight, instead of trying to burden the story with either jokes or attempts at depth. I like some of Wells' stuff, but not this one.

[la2bkk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Although I am a fan, particularly of works such as The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, etc., I found this book rather disappointing. The general concept is interesting, but Wells could have done much more with the first section of his work regarding the abnormally large plant and animal life. Along the same lines, the character development as to the giant humans was rather simplistic. A decent read, but far from his best effort.

[melydia_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Two men create a substance to accelerate growth in any living thing, which is fine for vegetables but gets a little out of hand when wasps the size of dogs plague a nearby village. Things really start getting weird when one of them has the brilliant idea to feed the stuff to his infant son. This is a decent premise, but turned out not to be one of my favorite Wells stories. The characters fell a little flat and the story sort of unraveled as if Wells had this great idea and then had no idea what to do with it. It wasn't bad so much as it just didn't really hold my interest.

[baswood · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is one of H G Wells more obscure science fiction novels and it deserves its obscurity. Published as a novel in 1904 after being serialised, it is by far his weakest novel since he started being published nine years earlier. It is a very tall story and Wells can never make up his mind whether he wants to play it for laughs or make it into a critique of early 20th century society. A couple of scientists come up with a new formula for a synthetic food that will increase growth to the power of 6 or 7 times. The are both bumbling and incompetent in many ways with one of them Mr Bensington suffering from domestic strife at home in the shape of his cousin and housekeeper Jane; none of this is really very funny. The new food is tried out on an experimental farm by less than competent helpers and it soon leaks into the local flora and fauna. The result is battles with giant rats and wasps.The food is given to the other scientist son and the Redwood boy grows alarmingly; a local engineer and organiser of the hunting parties (Cossar) snaffles some for his children and there are other unofficial trials. A campaign at government level is mounted against the "Food of the Gods", but Wells interrupts his story at this point with a gap of 20 years. A new government is now faced with the threat of a number of young adolescent Giants some of which are under the protective wing of Cossar. This last third of the book has a theme of a new species of Giants against the old normal sized populace and a skirmish soon develops. Apart from some early excitement in hunting down the giant rodents and some humorous situations there are no other redeeming features. This is a story for the pulp magazines and that is where it should have stayed. Totally unbelievable, threadbare plotting and poor characterisation does not help as Wells stumbles from one idea to another. Oh Dear! 2 stars.

[deckla_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An amusing satire of the smallness of scientists and government officials, set against the giant implications of their actions and discoveries. I like the narrative voice, calmly narrating what happens when two 19th century scientists happen upon a concoction that induces living things to grow exponentially in advance of their average rate. A story of giants and small men, set in England. The ending, however, leaves mostly everything unresolved, which presents somewhat of a problem given the structure of the narrative. Nevertheless, Wells makes his point. A little tale for a lonely evening.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What would happen if scientists discovered an additive for food which removed limitations on growth? And it worked for ALL organisms which ate or absorbed it? Should we do something like this just because we can? What would be the long term ramifications of it?This story seeks those answers and more as it explores the scientific method as was frequently practiced in the late 1800s and early 1900s. What surprised me, was the humor in the first part of the book. It would have made a great comedy movie. The latter part of the book gets pretty serious, exploring themes of racism, classism, politics and more. If you can reconcile yourself to the writing style of this period (and Wells is a very good writer), this is a great read. Think X-men in the early part of the century.

[joe73-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting story. Wells had a knack of leaving you hanging and wondering what was going to happen. And pretty much left the fate of the characters to the readers imagination. It was well written and the ending was not too bad. I know Wells probably did this on purpose; but the indifferent attitude of the scientists and creators of the substance really pounded on me. How could they do this to their own children? And it seemed no one cared about what the children were feeling about the position these irresponsible men put them in. But on the other hand I can see that Wells is speaking about unconditional love and the fact that blood is thicker than water. I think the indifference is nothing more than a metaphor.