Book Review: The War Of The Worlds

I've just finished reading "The War Of The Worlds" by HG Wells for my reading group. (No matter that the meeting to discuss the book was two weeks ago.) Although the text is in some ways starting to show its age, with references to now-defunct items and the prevalence of horses for transportation, the sheer amount of imagination poured into this book is stunning. The Martians (spoilzors!) are described in incredible detail, with every aspect justified, even the weakness to microbes. It also goes into a great amount of detail on how an invasion would play out in post-Victorian south-east England, from the initial newspaper reports and the inclusion of Martians in the funny papers, to the mass stampede of all of London fleeing at once in a huge cascade of humanity and inhumanity.
One slight quibble I have with the book is the lack of characterisation; none of the main characters have names, and are referred to by either their job titles or their relation to the narrator, himself unnamed. Also, very few aspects of their personalities are shown, and you're left feeling slightly detached from them, as if they're just there for things to happen to them instead of having some control over their lives.
My favourite part was a paragraph very near the end: "Dim and wonderful is the vision I have conjured up in my mind of life spreading slowly from this little seed-bed of the solar system throughout the inanimate vastness of sidereal space. But that is a remote dream. It may be, on the other hand, that the destruction of the Martians is only a reprieve. To them, and not to us, perhaps, is the future ordained."