In the Days of the Comet


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(3.8 stars; 49 reviews)

William ("Willie") is a student living in the British town of Clayton. As a Socialist, he tries to move power from the upper class to the working class. Interestingly, in a fictitious confrontation Britain declares war on Germany. Willie falls in love with Nettie, but when she elopes with an upper-class man, Willie resolves to kill them both. Throughout the novel there is present in the sky a large comet which gives off a green glow. As Willie prepares to shoot the lovers, two battleships appear and begin shelling the coast, causing Willie to nearly lose his targets. As the comet enters the atmosphere, it gives off a green gas which envelopes everyone including Willie, who falls asleep. Willie wakes up a changed man. He is able to reason so clearly that he realizes the foolishness of his plan for revenge. Other people have changed too. Our hero marvels at how humankind has risen to new levels of vision and understanding. (Summary from Wikipedia) (9 hr 50 min)

Chapters

00 -- Prologue 4:39 Read by Bigmouth
01 -- Bk First, Ch First, Sec 1 12:25 Read by Lewis
02 -- Bk First, Ch First, Sec 2 25:10 Read by Lewis
03 -- Bk First, Ch First, Sec 3 18:19 Read by Felicity C
04 -- Bk First, Ch First, Sec 4-5 18:02 Read by Felicity C
05 -- Bk First, Ch Second, Sec 1-2 24:28 Read by Felicity C
06 -- Bk First, Ch Second, Sec 3-4 11:41 Read by Lewis
07 -- Bk First, Ch Second, Sec 5-7 20:30 Read by Lewis
08 -- Bk First, Ch Third, Sec 1-2 18:19 Read by Lewis
09 -- Bk First, Ch Third, Sec 3 25:58 Read by Lewis
10 -- Bk First, Ch Third, Sec 4 20:43 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
11 -- Bk First, Ch Third, Sec 5-6 21:11 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
12 -- Bk First, Ch Third, Sec 7 16:07 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
13 -- Bk First, Ch Fourth, Sec 1-3 28:05 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
14 -- Bk First, Ch Fourth, Sec 4-6 20:43 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
15 -- Bk First, Ch Fifth, Sec 1-2 21:55 Read by Bear Schacht
16 -- Bk First, Ch Fifth, Sec 3-5 19:08 Read by Bear Schacht
17 -- Bk First, Ch Fifth, Sec 6 13:34 Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
18 -- Bk Second, Ch First, Sec 1-2 16:12 Read by Mike Pelton
19 -- Bk Second, Ch First, Sec 3-4 16:33 Read by Mike Pelton
20 -- Bk Second, Ch First, Sec 5-6 17:24 Read by Mike Pelton
21 -- Bk Second, Ch Second, Sec 1-2 12:48 Read by Mike Pelton
22 -- Bk Second, Ch Second, Sec 3-4 16:05 Read by Mike Pelton
23 -- Bk Second, Ch Second, Sec 5-8 14:22 Read by Mike Pelton
24 -- Bk Second, Ch Third, Sec 1 21:19 Read by Mike Pelton
25 -- Bk Second, Ch Third, Sec 2-3 16:56 Read by Mike Pelton
26 -- Bk Third, Ch First, Sec 1 10:14 Read by Mike Pelton
27 -- Bk Third, Ch First, Sec 2-3 14:04 Read by Mike Pelton
28 -- Bk Third, Ch First, Sec 4 16:15 Read by Mike Pelton
29 -- Bk Third, Ch First, Sec 5-6 8:56 Read by Mike Pelton
30 -- Bk Third, Ch Second, Sec 1-3 20:04 Read by Mike Pelton
31 -- Bk Third, Ch Second, Sec 4 7:37 Read by Mike Pelton
32 -- Bk Third, Ch Third, Sec 1 13:44 Read by Mike Pelton
33 -- Bk Third, Ch Third, Sec 2-3 12:10 Read by Mike Pelton
34 -- Bk Third, Ch Third, Sec 4 8:33 Read by Mike Pelton
35 -- Epilogue 6:10 Read by Bigmouth

Reviews


(2 stars)

Terrible story for H. G. Wells and even worse readers. Do the readers ever listen to themselves, I wonder? I have endured the readers and poor story to look for some semblance of a story, but alas, no story has come forth. Skip this one and get that nap instead.


(3.5 stars)

Very different considering how old this story is definitely a must listen...

good story very interesting and suspenseful


(4.5 stars)

Interesting concept


(3 stars)

Interesting concept - a new way to build a utopia of sorts: by having the new atmosphere remove all the flaws in the human character: selfishness, baseness, dissimulation, etc. After the comet comes, the plot slows down considerably to explain the differences between the old and the new order of things. It got a little monotonous in that way. There are some morals and theology that I greatly disliked in this story. It attacks Christianity and Judeo-Christian morality. So, yeah - interesting concept, but only 3 stars for the slowdown of plot and the philosophies I didn't like. Readers were adequate to great. No one stuck out as being bad.

OMG


(2 stars)

the final reader on the novel was excellent but for HG Wells, this is in my opinion a horrible book. too descriptive of minor details that in no way help the plot. reader struggled with the vernacular thus disrupting the flow of the story just increased the pain of getting to the point

Really interesting story


(3.5 stars)

This was an intriguing listen, I wasn't sure where this story would go. The readers were generally good with one or two exceptions, and the intro/epilogue reader was a standout.


(3 stars)

Good story, can't stand how slow the reader is.

Great Book by H.G. Wells


(5 stars)

H.G. Wells tells of a change by a comet and a love story. He does a marvelous job, a must read.