The War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells' classic, The War of the Worlds, starts out promising great adventure and excitement, but the real danger is to the reader rather than the character. Losing a grip on reality is not what I had in mind for a good read. If you are easily depressed, then this book is not for you. I, happily, can sit hear and say "It was really depressing," without feeling anything of the sort, but it really is a rather gritty story. Besides, the story(told from first-person) usually gives things away, by alluding to things that haven't happened yet. If this is the best job that one of the Fathers of Science-Fiction can do, I am very disappointed. But I digress.
 So a couple of men see a bright light flashing across the sky, some sort of comet or meteor, which lands on earth.
The next day, people from around that part of England gather around the pit where the projectile has landed. The missile is smooth and metallic, very large, and not at all like previously documented meteors. Then, the lid on the the meteorite begins to turn slowly. When opens, horrible creatures from Mars emerge. They are at first very sluggish and slow, due to Earth's greater gravity and air pressure. The crowd runs, screaming, in all directions away from the pit.
The narrator, the main character, stays hiding in the brush nearby, transfixed by fear.
And the Martians are unleashed! 
They come out in horrible walking machines! And burn everything in sight! The English countryside is in ruins! They unleash a choking black smoke! Sickly red weeds grow everywhere, threatening to choke out every last bit of plant life!
Oh look, they're all dead. Well, that was easy.
Because apparently, Martian immune systems are underdeveloped, considering that they are, after all, merely brains. So they are all dead.
But, an odd mark has now appeared on Venus. Like a crater. Oops. So much for the Venusians.
So, yeah. The Martians invade, they destroy, they die. Then attack Venus.
I wouldn't really recommend reading it. I don't know about any of H.G.Wells' other books, because I haven't read any yet. But I hope to eventually.
Maybe those will be better.