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The Tripods #1-3
The Tripods Trilogy
Mass Market Paperback Edition Three The White Mountains / The City of Gold and Lead / The Pool of Fire
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
About the author
John Christopher
177 books526 followersSamuel Youd was born in Huyton, Lancashire in April 1922, during an unseasonable snowstorm.
As a boy, he was devoted to the newly emergent genre of science-fiction: ‘In the early thirties,’ he later wrote, ‘we knew just enough about the solar system for its possibilities to be a magnet to the imagination.’
Over the following decades, his imagination flowed from science-fiction into general novels, cricket novels, medical novels, gothic romances, detective thrillers, light comedies … In all he published fifty-six novels and a myriad of short stories, under his own name as well as eight different pen-names.
He is perhaps best known as John Christopher, author of the seminal work of speculative fiction, The Death of Grass (today available as a Penguin Classic), and a stream of novels in the genre he pioneered, young adult dystopian fiction, beginning with The Tripods Trilogy.
‘I read somewhere,’ Sam once said, ‘that I have been cited as the greatest serial killer in fictional history, having destroyed civilisation in so many different ways – through famine, freezing, earthquakes, feral youth combined with religious fanaticism, and progeria.’
In an interview towards the end of his life, conversation turned to a recent spate of novels set on Mars and a possible setting for a John Christopher story: strand a group of people in a remote Martian enclave and see what happens.
The Mars aspect, he felt, was irrelevant. ‘What happens between the people,’ he said, ‘that’s the thing I’m interested in.’
As a boy, he was devoted to the newly emergent genre of science-fiction: ‘In the early thirties,’ he later wrote, ‘we knew just enough about the solar system for its possibilities to be a magnet to the imagination.’
Over the following decades, his imagination flowed from science-fiction into general novels, cricket novels, medical novels, gothic romances, detective thrillers, light comedies … In all he published fifty-six novels and a myriad of short stories, under his own name as well as eight different pen-names.
He is perhaps best known as John Christopher, author of the seminal work of speculative fiction, The Death of Grass (today available as a Penguin Classic), and a stream of novels in the genre he pioneered, young adult dystopian fiction, beginning with The Tripods Trilogy.
‘I read somewhere,’ Sam once said, ‘that I have been cited as the greatest serial killer in fictional history, having destroyed civilisation in so many different ways – through famine, freezing, earthquakes, feral youth combined with religious fanaticism, and progeria.’
In an interview towards the end of his life, conversation turned to a recent spate of novels set on Mars and a possible setting for a John Christopher story: strand a group of people in a remote Martian enclave and see what happens.
The Mars aspect, he felt, was irrelevant. ‘What happens between the people,’ he said, ‘that’s the thing I’m interested in.’
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews
March 1, 2012
I read this as a young teenager and was driven by my passion for H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds. It is a gripping read for the younger reader although I found it a little simple when I re-read them in my late 30's. It is a series of 4 books with the initial trilogy written in the late 60's and the 4th novel being a prequel written 20 years later. All of them are a great read and introduce confronting situations that every teen has to face although these are in a rather unusual setting - namely the future Earth (circa 2100) after an alien race has invaded and suppressed/enslaved humanity.
I bought the series for my teen daughters who enjoyed them. I recommend reading them in the order they were released with the prequel (when the tripods came) last.
The series consists of:
The White Mountains
The City of Gold and Lead
The Pool of Fire
When the Tripods came
Plot ***Spoilers***
The White Mountains
In the year 2100, the world is controlled by machines called Tripods. Life goes on largely as it had in the pre-industrial era, as all of humanity is subject to mental controls which prevent anyone from challenging the established order. Will, a thirteen year old living in the small English village of Wherton, is looking forward to the transition to adulthood which will take place on the next "Capping Day", until a chance meeting with a mysterious Vagrant named Ozymandias sends him on a quest to discover a world beyond the Tripods' control. He is accompanied by his cousin Henry, and a French teenager named Jean-Paul, nicknamed "Beanpole" for his height and slimness, and punning similarity to his real name.
On their journey the boys have many adventures. The novel climaxes with the discovery that earlier on Will was captured by a tripod and implanted with a tracking device and that the tripods intend for the boys to unwittingly lead them to the human resistance (an organisation which the boys have been seeking). Harry and Beanpole remove the device which causes a nearby tripod to attack the group. The boys defeat the tripod and eventually reach, and offer their services to, the resistance, located in the titular White Mountains.
The City of Gold and Lead
Will, Henry, and Beanpole have spent a year living among the free men in the White Mountains. The Resistance now charges Will, Beanpole and a German boy, Fritz, now wearing realistic yet harmless caps, to infiltrate a Tripod city by competing in a regional sporting exhibition: the winners of the events are always offered to the Tripods for service. Will, a boxer, and Fritz, a runner, win their respective contests, while Beanpole fails to win in the jumping events.
The winners are taken by Tripods, which they discover to be machines operated by living creatures, to the Tripod city, which is located in a sealed, pressurized dome that sits astride a river. Inside the city, the boys are confronted with the actual aliens, which they refer to as the Masters. Human males are made servants for life inside the cities, while beautiful females are killed and preserved in museums of sorts, for the Masters to admire. The Masters themselves live under environmental conditions lethal to unprotected humans, and even with the breathing masks the slaves are provided with, the artificially increased gravity inside the cities rapidly wastes them away; hence the annual sporting competitions to select the fittest and most resilient of the human stock to attend the Masters' needs.
While Fritz is severely abused by his Master, Will's Master turns out to be rather benevolent. From him Will learns much about the Masters' origins and habits, and eventually the Master trusts him so much that he reveals an upcoming operation in which the Earth's atmosphere is to be replaced by the Masters' toxic air, eventually killing off all life on Earth and enabling the Masters to assume full control of the planet. Will meticulously records every piece of information in a diary. When the Master one day finds that diary and confronts Will, the boy kills him with a punch to a sensitive nerve cluster in order to maintain his secret.
With time running out, Will and Fritz prepare their escape via the river which flows through the city. With his mask sealed airtight, Will manages to escape, though he nearly suffocates but for the timely assistance of Beanpole, who has been waiting hidden in the ruins surrounding the Tripod colony. The two wait for Fritz, but he does not appear, and in the end the coming winter forces them to return to the White Mountains without him.
The Pool of Fire
Will returns to the headquarters of the Resistance after several months in the City of Gold and Lead, where he and Fritz (who has escaped the city some time after Will and found his way back to the Resistance) travel to Eastern Europe, the Caucasus region, and the Middle East and set up resistance cells with young boys who question the power of the Tripods. The cult of the Tripods is strong in the Middle East; the Masters via the Caps have replaced Islam with a religion worshipping the Tripods - with some similar features.
The resistance then ambushes a Tripod and captures a Master. Upon the discovery that alcohol has a very strong soporific effect on the Masters - and that, unlike other incapacitating agents which are tried, is undetectable by them - the Resistance schedules simultaneous commando attacks on the cities. Will is one of the leaders of the attack on the European city.
By introducing alcohol into the city water system, the raiding party is able to incapacitate all of the Masters and ultimately to destroy the integrity of the city's sealed environment, killing all the Masters. The attack on the second city, in eastern Asia, is likewise successful, but the attack on the last city, in Panama, is not. Assuming that the Masters in the city will have killed all their human slaves, thus precluding a second attack by infiltration, the Resistance attempts an aerial bombing using its newly constructed aeroplanes. This attack also fails — because the Masters can disable the motors from a distance, presumably with an electromagnetic pulse. Fritz then leads an attack launched from air balloons, which succeeds, although at a terrible cost to the friends: after all the other bombs have been deflected away harmlessly by the city's impregnable dome, Will's cousin Henry lands his balloon and detonates his bomb by hand.
The world is liberated from the Masters' thought control and technology is rediscovered rapidly. The Masters' spaceship finally arrives, only to launch nuclear devices that destroy the remains of the cities, presumably to prevent the humans from reverse engineering the Masters' technology and using it to launch a retaliatory expedition against them, and once this happens the captive Master abruptly dies. Humanity is saved, but the saga ends with a renewal of nationalist sentiments, Europe being once again divided into rival nation states and tensions building up towards war.
When the Tripods Came
When the Tripods Came is set in the late twentieth century.
In the second book of the main trilogy, one of the Masters tells the main character about the Masters' conquest of the Earth. The plot of the book follows the description of the conquest previously given. It is revealed that the Masters were afraid of the technological potential of Humanity and decided on a pre-emptive strike. Unable to defeat Humanity in a conventional war, the Masters use their superior mind-control technology to hypnotise part of Humanity through a television show called The Trippy Show, and then use the caps to control them permanently when they eventually land. The tripods then cap other people until the capped are in control in most places.
Like the narrator of the original trilogy, the narrator of When the Tripods Came is a young English boy, known as Laurie. As society slowly falls under the control of the Masters, he and his family escape to Switzerland, which has adopted an isolationist stance in order to hold out against the initial invasion. Eventually it is invaded by France and Germany, who have fallen under the subjugation of the Masters, and the narrator is forced to flee into the Alps with his family as the Swiss are also enslaved by the Masters. Here, they establish the "White Mountains" resistance movement that features heavily in the original trilogy, and the book ends on a hopeful note.
I bought the series for my teen daughters who enjoyed them. I recommend reading them in the order they were released with the prequel (when the tripods came) last.
The series consists of:
The White Mountains
The City of Gold and Lead
The Pool of Fire
When the Tripods came
Plot ***Spoilers***
The White Mountains
In the year 2100, the world is controlled by machines called Tripods. Life goes on largely as it had in the pre-industrial era, as all of humanity is subject to mental controls which prevent anyone from challenging the established order. Will, a thirteen year old living in the small English village of Wherton, is looking forward to the transition to adulthood which will take place on the next "Capping Day", until a chance meeting with a mysterious Vagrant named Ozymandias sends him on a quest to discover a world beyond the Tripods' control. He is accompanied by his cousin Henry, and a French teenager named Jean-Paul, nicknamed "Beanpole" for his height and slimness, and punning similarity to his real name.
On their journey the boys have many adventures. The novel climaxes with the discovery that earlier on Will was captured by a tripod and implanted with a tracking device and that the tripods intend for the boys to unwittingly lead them to the human resistance (an organisation which the boys have been seeking). Harry and Beanpole remove the device which causes a nearby tripod to attack the group. The boys defeat the tripod and eventually reach, and offer their services to, the resistance, located in the titular White Mountains.
The City of Gold and Lead
Will, Henry, and Beanpole have spent a year living among the free men in the White Mountains. The Resistance now charges Will, Beanpole and a German boy, Fritz, now wearing realistic yet harmless caps, to infiltrate a Tripod city by competing in a regional sporting exhibition: the winners of the events are always offered to the Tripods for service. Will, a boxer, and Fritz, a runner, win their respective contests, while Beanpole fails to win in the jumping events.
The winners are taken by Tripods, which they discover to be machines operated by living creatures, to the Tripod city, which is located in a sealed, pressurized dome that sits astride a river. Inside the city, the boys are confronted with the actual aliens, which they refer to as the Masters. Human males are made servants for life inside the cities, while beautiful females are killed and preserved in museums of sorts, for the Masters to admire. The Masters themselves live under environmental conditions lethal to unprotected humans, and even with the breathing masks the slaves are provided with, the artificially increased gravity inside the cities rapidly wastes them away; hence the annual sporting competitions to select the fittest and most resilient of the human stock to attend the Masters' needs.
While Fritz is severely abused by his Master, Will's Master turns out to be rather benevolent. From him Will learns much about the Masters' origins and habits, and eventually the Master trusts him so much that he reveals an upcoming operation in which the Earth's atmosphere is to be replaced by the Masters' toxic air, eventually killing off all life on Earth and enabling the Masters to assume full control of the planet. Will meticulously records every piece of information in a diary. When the Master one day finds that diary and confronts Will, the boy kills him with a punch to a sensitive nerve cluster in order to maintain his secret.
With time running out, Will and Fritz prepare their escape via the river which flows through the city. With his mask sealed airtight, Will manages to escape, though he nearly suffocates but for the timely assistance of Beanpole, who has been waiting hidden in the ruins surrounding the Tripod colony. The two wait for Fritz, but he does not appear, and in the end the coming winter forces them to return to the White Mountains without him.
The Pool of Fire
Will returns to the headquarters of the Resistance after several months in the City of Gold and Lead, where he and Fritz (who has escaped the city some time after Will and found his way back to the Resistance) travel to Eastern Europe, the Caucasus region, and the Middle East and set up resistance cells with young boys who question the power of the Tripods. The cult of the Tripods is strong in the Middle East; the Masters via the Caps have replaced Islam with a religion worshipping the Tripods - with some similar features.
The resistance then ambushes a Tripod and captures a Master. Upon the discovery that alcohol has a very strong soporific effect on the Masters - and that, unlike other incapacitating agents which are tried, is undetectable by them - the Resistance schedules simultaneous commando attacks on the cities. Will is one of the leaders of the attack on the European city.
By introducing alcohol into the city water system, the raiding party is able to incapacitate all of the Masters and ultimately to destroy the integrity of the city's sealed environment, killing all the Masters. The attack on the second city, in eastern Asia, is likewise successful, but the attack on the last city, in Panama, is not. Assuming that the Masters in the city will have killed all their human slaves, thus precluding a second attack by infiltration, the Resistance attempts an aerial bombing using its newly constructed aeroplanes. This attack also fails — because the Masters can disable the motors from a distance, presumably with an electromagnetic pulse. Fritz then leads an attack launched from air balloons, which succeeds, although at a terrible cost to the friends: after all the other bombs have been deflected away harmlessly by the city's impregnable dome, Will's cousin Henry lands his balloon and detonates his bomb by hand.
The world is liberated from the Masters' thought control and technology is rediscovered rapidly. The Masters' spaceship finally arrives, only to launch nuclear devices that destroy the remains of the cities, presumably to prevent the humans from reverse engineering the Masters' technology and using it to launch a retaliatory expedition against them, and once this happens the captive Master abruptly dies. Humanity is saved, but the saga ends with a renewal of nationalist sentiments, Europe being once again divided into rival nation states and tensions building up towards war.
When the Tripods Came
When the Tripods Came is set in the late twentieth century.
In the second book of the main trilogy, one of the Masters tells the main character about the Masters' conquest of the Earth. The plot of the book follows the description of the conquest previously given. It is revealed that the Masters were afraid of the technological potential of Humanity and decided on a pre-emptive strike. Unable to defeat Humanity in a conventional war, the Masters use their superior mind-control technology to hypnotise part of Humanity through a television show called The Trippy Show, and then use the caps to control them permanently when they eventually land. The tripods then cap other people until the capped are in control in most places.
Like the narrator of the original trilogy, the narrator of When the Tripods Came is a young English boy, known as Laurie. As society slowly falls under the control of the Masters, he and his family escape to Switzerland, which has adopted an isolationist stance in order to hold out against the initial invasion. Eventually it is invaded by France and Germany, who have fallen under the subjugation of the Masters, and the narrator is forced to flee into the Alps with his family as the Swiss are also enslaved by the Masters. Here, they establish the "White Mountains" resistance movement that features heavily in the original trilogy, and the book ends on a hopeful note.
December 8, 2010
I absolutely love this trilogy. I discovered it via the BBC Television adaptation of 1984/5. Unlike the TV series (which I do like very much), the story rattles along at a pace. The idea of people being Capped so as not to question the status quo has always resonated with me. The Tripod city in the books is a much harsher place than the one depicted on screen. For a children's trilogy, the issues concerning one's freedom to think and speak are handled in a mature way. It's told in the first person from the point-of-view of 14-year-old Will Parker. The other main characters are Will's cousin Henry, French would-be inventor Beanpole (Jean-Paul), and the taciturn German youth Fritz. It is not without reason that the Tripods trilogy is described as "almost unbearably exciting".
February 1, 2008
These books were one of the few that got me to really start reading on my own as a child. I don't know how accurate this rating would be today, though, since I haven't read them in 12 or 13 years. :)
March 21, 2011
Read these as a teenager and loved them. Read them again about ten years ago, and loved them still!
March 16, 2019
Tripodien Aika on John Christopherin nuorten tieteisseikkailu kirjasarjan yhteisnide, joka alunperin julkaistiin kolmessa osassa: Viimeinen tukikohta 1967, Lyijykaupunki 1968 ja Tulinen pyörre 1968.
Tripodien aika on post-apokalyptinen tarina, jossa ulkoavaruudesta satoja vuosia aikaisemmin tulleet Tripodit, jotka ovat jättimäisiä kolmijalkaisia koneita, ovat orjuuttaneet ihmiskunnan. Tripodeita ohjaavat näkymättömät muukalaiset (myöhemmin nimetyt"Mestarit"), joiden ulkonäkö paljastetaan vasta kirjasarjan viimeisessä osassa. Keskiaikaisen kulttuurin tasolle taantunut tyytyväinen ihmiskunta elää kylissä ja pienissä maalaiskaupungeissa täysin Tripodien valvonnassa ja ohjauksessa.
Tripodien aika oli myös yksi ikimuistoisimmista BBC:n TV-sarjoista 1980-luvulla, jonka muistan myös itse hyvin. Se oli yksi suosikkisarjoistani ja jokaista uutta jaksoa odotin aina malttamattoman jännittyneenä. TV-sarja oli yllättävän julma ja samaan aikaan kiehtova outoudessaan sekä myös ahdistava ja tietenkin järisyttävän jännittäviä, kun ajatellaan, että se on suunnattu nuorille lukioille. Ja saman vaikutuksen tekee tämä kirjasarjakin. Kuolemaa kirjassa käsitellään paljon ja selvästi kirjailijaan on vaikuttanut Toinen Maailmansota Euroopassa, juutalaisten työ-ja tuhoamisleirit sekä ns. yli-ihmisten oikeudesta päättää alempana pitämiensä ihmisten elämästä.
Tarinan alussa 13-vuotias Will poika, joka asuu Whertonissa Englannissa, odottaa pelokkaana seuravaa vuonna tapahtuvaa "kampitusta". Kun ihminen täyttää 14 -vuotta, hänen päähänsä laitetaan implantti, joka tekee hänet tottelevaiseksi ja säyseäksi Tripodeja kohtaan. Tulevaisuus näyttää uhkaavalta, sillä Will haluaisia olla vapaa ja päätää itse omista asioistaan. Kun paikkakunnalle saapuu vastarintaliikkeen edustaja ns. "vaeltajaksi" (joukko ihmisiä jotka ovat jostain syystä säästyneet implantin laittamiselta) naamioitunut Ozymandias, joka saa Willin lähtemään pakoretkelle yhdessä serkkunsa Henryn kanssa. Pojat saavat tietää, että valkoisilla vuorilla eli Alpeilla sijaitsee viimeisten vapaiden ihmisten tukikohta, ja tätä turvapaikkaa kohti pojat aloittavat vaarallisen pakomatkansa.
Kirjan tarina on koukuttava ja "Mestarien" kaupunki ja itse Mestarit ovat uskottavasti ja kiehtovasti kuvattu. Muutenkin kirjan maailma ja tapahtumat ovat uskottavia ja todentuntuisia. Ja vaikka henkilökuvaus pakkaa usein olemaankin nuortenkirjoissa hieman kaavamaista ja latteaa, niin ainakin Willin persoonaan on saatu hieman enemmän särmikkyyttä, sillä hänen itsepäisyys ja lyhytpinnaisuus johtavat hänet usein vaikeuksiin. Jännitys säilyy aivan loppuriveille saakka ja loppuratkaisu on yllättävä. Tätä nuorten scifi-seikkailukirjasarjaa voi myös suositella kyseisestä genrestä kiinnostuneille aikuisille.
Tripodien aika on post-apokalyptinen tarina, jossa ulkoavaruudesta satoja vuosia aikaisemmin tulleet Tripodit, jotka ovat jättimäisiä kolmijalkaisia koneita, ovat orjuuttaneet ihmiskunnan. Tripodeita ohjaavat näkymättömät muukalaiset (myöhemmin nimetyt"Mestarit"), joiden ulkonäkö paljastetaan vasta kirjasarjan viimeisessä osassa. Keskiaikaisen kulttuurin tasolle taantunut tyytyväinen ihmiskunta elää kylissä ja pienissä maalaiskaupungeissa täysin Tripodien valvonnassa ja ohjauksessa.
Tripodien aika oli myös yksi ikimuistoisimmista BBC:n TV-sarjoista 1980-luvulla, jonka muistan myös itse hyvin. Se oli yksi suosikkisarjoistani ja jokaista uutta jaksoa odotin aina malttamattoman jännittyneenä. TV-sarja oli yllättävän julma ja samaan aikaan kiehtova outoudessaan sekä myös ahdistava ja tietenkin järisyttävän jännittäviä, kun ajatellaan, että se on suunnattu nuorille lukioille. Ja saman vaikutuksen tekee tämä kirjasarjakin. Kuolemaa kirjassa käsitellään paljon ja selvästi kirjailijaan on vaikuttanut Toinen Maailmansota Euroopassa, juutalaisten työ-ja tuhoamisleirit sekä ns. yli-ihmisten oikeudesta päättää alempana pitämiensä ihmisten elämästä.
Tarinan alussa 13-vuotias Will poika, joka asuu Whertonissa Englannissa, odottaa pelokkaana seuravaa vuonna tapahtuvaa "kampitusta". Kun ihminen täyttää 14 -vuotta, hänen päähänsä laitetaan implantti, joka tekee hänet tottelevaiseksi ja säyseäksi Tripodeja kohtaan. Tulevaisuus näyttää uhkaavalta, sillä Will haluaisia olla vapaa ja päätää itse omista asioistaan. Kun paikkakunnalle saapuu vastarintaliikkeen edustaja ns. "vaeltajaksi" (joukko ihmisiä jotka ovat jostain syystä säästyneet implantin laittamiselta) naamioitunut Ozymandias, joka saa Willin lähtemään pakoretkelle yhdessä serkkunsa Henryn kanssa. Pojat saavat tietää, että valkoisilla vuorilla eli Alpeilla sijaitsee viimeisten vapaiden ihmisten tukikohta, ja tätä turvapaikkaa kohti pojat aloittavat vaarallisen pakomatkansa.
Kirjan tarina on koukuttava ja "Mestarien" kaupunki ja itse Mestarit ovat uskottavasti ja kiehtovasti kuvattu. Muutenkin kirjan maailma ja tapahtumat ovat uskottavia ja todentuntuisia. Ja vaikka henkilökuvaus pakkaa usein olemaankin nuortenkirjoissa hieman kaavamaista ja latteaa, niin ainakin Willin persoonaan on saatu hieman enemmän särmikkyyttä, sillä hänen itsepäisyys ja lyhytpinnaisuus johtavat hänet usein vaikeuksiin. Jännitys säilyy aivan loppuriveille saakka ja loppuratkaisu on yllättävä. Tätä nuorten scifi-seikkailukirjasarjaa voi myös suositella kyseisestä genrestä kiinnostuneille aikuisille.
March 4, 2017
John Christopherin 1960-luvulla kirjoittama scifi-romaani on jännittävä kuvaus tulevaisuuden maapallosta, jolle saapuneet vieraat valloittajat ovat taannuttaneet yhteiskunnan keskiaikaisiin oloihin ja ottaneet käyttöön "kapituksen", kaikille varhaisnuorille tehtävän operaation, jossa päähän asetettava metalliverkko tekee ikantajastaan lammasmaisesti isäntiään tottelevan orjan. Se on kuitenkin vasta alkua, ja jotain kauheampaa on vielä luvassa...
Vapaiden ihmisten vastarintaliike on kuitenkin olemassa, ja tripodeja vastaan suunnattuun taisteluun tempaistaan myös 13-vuotias englantilaispoika Will ystävineen.
Nuorille suunnatusta kirjasta nauttii myös varttuneempikin lukija. Christopherin päähenkilöt ovat heikkouksineen ja puutteineen mielenkiintoisia (joskin ehkä vähän yksiulotteisia) hahmoja, eikä kirjan maailmakaan ole aivan mustavalkoinen paikka, hallitsivatpa sitä sitten ihmiset tai tripodit.
Vapaiden ihmisten vastarintaliike on kuitenkin olemassa, ja tripodeja vastaan suunnattuun taisteluun tempaistaan myös 13-vuotias englantilaispoika Will ystävineen.
Nuorille suunnatusta kirjasta nauttii myös varttuneempikin lukija. Christopherin päähenkilöt ovat heikkouksineen ja puutteineen mielenkiintoisia (joskin ehkä vähän yksiulotteisia) hahmoja, eikä kirjan maailmakaan ole aivan mustavalkoinen paikka, hallitsivatpa sitä sitten ihmiset tai tripodit.
July 6, 2022
War of the Worlds-style alien fiction. The first book is a great adventure story, the second an infiltration, and the third a story of the ingenuity and endurance of humanity.
March 19, 2018
In 1987, I was in the 6th grade when Mrs. Meister, the junior high librarian, did a science fiction presentation. My little soul’s mouth dropped open and urged, “I want to go to there.” I had been scouring the children’s’ libraries available to me to sate my soul’s hunger for the extraordinary and had been consuming a heavy diet of non-fiction about ghosts and weirdly adapted classic horror monster fiction for kids. But her summary of this story plus that iconic cover. I claimed it for check-out that day and a lifetime passion for the genre was born. In my youth, I read quickly and for plot, only passively processing the subtext, character development or themes that lit up my brain’s analytical pleasure centers. I usually forgot the plot just as quickly. But some specific scenes from these books have stuck with me, even though I couldn’t keep them in context.
So, I just re-read this series and found myself pleasantly engaged by more than just nostalgia. Treating the trilogy as a single novel, it reads as a war narrative, with the male (all of them are unapologetically and exclusively men) protagonist traveling through his coming of age and hero’s journey with emotions, self-doubt, adversity and lucky victories. The descriptions of the aliens are precise, compelling and pre-digital. It was written in 1967 and I assume the author was a WWII vet. It ends with a hopeful ambition to work toward world peace in a world that is no longer united against a common foe. Despite the simplicity of themes, i enjoyed the nuance of supporting characters even when their backgrounds weren’t fully fleshed.
So, I just re-read this series and found myself pleasantly engaged by more than just nostalgia. Treating the trilogy as a single novel, it reads as a war narrative, with the male (all of them are unapologetically and exclusively men) protagonist traveling through his coming of age and hero’s journey with emotions, self-doubt, adversity and lucky victories. The descriptions of the aliens are precise, compelling and pre-digital. It was written in 1967 and I assume the author was a WWII vet. It ends with a hopeful ambition to work toward world peace in a world that is no longer united against a common foe. Despite the simplicity of themes, i enjoyed the nuance of supporting characters even when their backgrounds weren’t fully fleshed.
May 27, 2011
A very intriguing and enjoyable read.
My favorite character was by far Beanpole. He invents glasses, thinks up steam power, fights tripods with hand grenades, and creates a hot-air balloon. He also demonstrates a lot of character (as well as brains) in the end.
I loved the clincher in the end, that makes you wonder whether the tripods had the right idea in wiping out humans. Can peace and liberty ever go together?
My favorite character was by far Beanpole. He invents glasses, thinks up steam power, fights tripods with hand grenades, and creates a hot-air balloon. He also demonstrates a lot of character (as well as brains) in the end.
I loved the clincher in the end, that makes you wonder whether the tripods had the right idea in wiping out humans. Can peace and liberty ever go together?
January 29, 2011
I'm not actually sure if I read the entire trilogy, or just one or two books, but whichever way, they were memorable and wonderful and stand out as one of the most amazing children's sci-fi books I read.
May 10, 2014
Rating is from my 12 year old self, planning to re-read...
July 22, 2020
A favorite from my youth!
March 19, 2024
The copy I'm reading is literally so old it's falling apart in my hands ;-;
The stories themselves were great. Spoilers ahead.
The White Mountains: 3 stars
This was okay. A little bit boring, usually I don't mind travelling books but this dragged. The incidents with the tripods were enough to keep me entertained though.
The City of Gold and Lead: 4 stars
This was interesting, let us have an inside look to the City of the Tripods, where we met the "Masters" - the aliens behind them. This got depressing real quick, but was the best of the trio, in my opinion.
The Pool of Fire: 3.5 stars
A good conclusion! Was a bit slow at the start and less intriguing than the second book, but I was happy with the outcome (and all the modern words finally sneaking into this medieval-like world).
All in all, an average series, and something good to read if you want a bit of sci-fi to add to your collection.
The stories themselves were great. Spoilers ahead.
The White Mountains: 3 stars
This was okay. A little bit boring, usually I don't mind travelling books but this dragged. The incidents with the tripods were enough to keep me entertained though.
The City of Gold and Lead: 4 stars
This was interesting, let us have an inside look to the City of the Tripods, where we met the "Masters" - the aliens behind them. This got depressing real quick, but was the best of the trio, in my opinion.
The Pool of Fire: 3.5 stars
A good conclusion! Was a bit slow at the start and less intriguing than the second book, but I was happy with the outcome (and all the modern words finally sneaking into this medieval-like world).
All in all, an average series, and something good to read if you want a bit of sci-fi to add to your collection.
April 27, 2018
Solid trilogy. Good read for the younglings
November 17, 2018
Quaint. 3.5 stars
November 9, 2021
Un libro simple para alguien mas mayor pero para un niño es facil de seguir e interesante. Acaba con una nota realista que hace pensar.
June 25, 2012
The rating I've given for this book is honest and accurate: one star; I didn't like it. However, this is unlikely unbiased. I was forced to read this in middle school in "Reading" class. It's the first book I remember ever being forced to read, after years of choosing and reading hundreds of books for myself that I appreciated. If I did not already have a very firm foundation of reading that had nothing to do with school and assignment, it's possible this experience would have turned me off against reading in general; I wonder if that's what happens to so many other students and why so many people don't read.
I hated having to read this book and many other books required of me through middle and high school. Hated them. When I was given at least multiple choice of books to read for class assignments, I had much more peace and joy, and was exposed to such treasures as 1984, Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Of Mice and Men. When forced, I learned to hate The Tripods, Heart of Darkness, The Invisible Man.
Perhaps I may/must reread The Tripods Trilogy, to see how much was the book itself and how much was the horrible circumstances.
I hated having to read this book and many other books required of me through middle and high school. Hated them. When I was given at least multiple choice of books to read for class assignments, I had much more peace and joy, and was exposed to such treasures as 1984, Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Of Mice and Men. When forced, I learned to hate The Tripods, Heart of Darkness, The Invisible Man.
Perhaps I may/must reread The Tripods Trilogy, to see how much was the book itself and how much was the horrible circumstances.
April 16, 2019
Reading the Tripods trilogy nowadays (I first read the books when I was about 14), I'm struck first of all by their Wellsian style and elements (I read them before I'd read 'War of the Worlds' or other of Wells' scientific romances). I'm also struck by their powerful allegorical overtones - fictions of the atomic age that look backwards to the Second World War (a desperate resistance movement fights totalitarian overlords) but which see youth as the hope of the present (very 1960s). Is Julius, the all-seeing overlord in his redoubt, a Churchillian figure? Is the use of an alpine redoubt ironic (it was where the Nazis were supposed to be planning a 'last stand')? Is the almost complete absence of female characters an indication of intended readership? My TV tie-in edition says that the books are 'unbearably exciting' but I found them rather pedestrian and the final overthrow of the aliens quite disappointingly straightforward. All in all, the sequence is fascinating, but largely because it has that typical SF quality of being as much a view of its present as it is a vision of the future.
Read
March 5, 2014I had read this series before, and may have had copies of the original volumes. This edition is the whole series, in one boxed set.
Volume I: THE WHITE MOUNTAINS
Told from the point of view of an insecure child in his early teens, this book can't be expected to be anything like objective--and it's not. The 'evil alien overlords' aren't particularly menacing. They demand nothing from humans except that the humans (a) worship them uncritically, (b) not use advanced technologies, and (c) not fight wars.
This makes them so innocuous that the author seems to conclude that they're not menacing enough--so he feels like he has to add dangers and former depredations as the series progresses.
Many of these 'monstrous' behaviors are, in fact, originated by the humans. The 'Masters' (as they're called in the later volumes) are apparently fascinated by human variety--so they carry out observations of customs, which include taking part in cruelties devised by the humans. The aliens show little or no ingenuity in this regard themselves.
In the meantime, the humans live what are, by and large, pretty good lives. The rebels object that even a gilded cage is bought at too high a price. Fair enough. But they can't reasonably argue in favor of overthrowing and killing the alien overlords without alleging greater danger. Overthrow them, sure. Maybe even force them to leave Earth. Or force them to stop oppressing humans--but leave them in peace otherwise.
One important point is that the people who are innovative seem not to include archivists or librarians. There is some mention of historians and libraries--but not much. So the rebels have either to accept the accounts of the human past provided by the 'Masters' through the Capped, or make up their own interpretation of things they realistically know nothing about. Even the curious Beanpole shows little curiosity about how 'ancient' peoples actually lived--he's more concerned about technical developments.
VOLUME II: CITY OF GOLD AND LEAD
The small colony of bandits hidden in the 'White Mountains' (from context, probably the Alps) decide to try to infiltrate one of the cities from which the Tripods emerge (there are, it turns out, only three on all the Earth). They're looking for some weakness of the Tripods which a small group of virtually unarmed people (none of whom seem to be women) can exploit. The 'Tripods' take male athletes and 'beautiful' females (this is an exceptionally misogynistic series, even for the period) into their cities to 'serve' them. Only the males are actually enslaved--the females are 'preserved' as museum pieces. Which raises the question--are the 'Masters' actually a two-sexed species? There's some evidence that they do have something that's either wrestling or sex (or maybe both?), but it's never really elaborated. The 'aliens' (they seem mostly to have been born on Earth, since they've been on Earth for over a century, and they don't seem to be that long-lived) seem to have their own aesthetic standards, but they accept human standards for terrestrial beauty.
In the course of this volume, the narrator Will learns how to murder the 'Masters' on an individual scale, and learns of an alleged plot to environmentally engineer Earth so that it's suited to the Masters (but not to humans and other terrestrial life). This plot doesn't seem to have been very well thought out, since the Masters' contact with their homeworld seems to be pretty tenuous. Whether it would have worked at all even IF it weren't prevented isn't really discussed. The conspirators then decide to accelerate their plots.
VOLUME III: THE POOL OF FIRE
The conspirators begin to mature their plots--they begin to recruit more and more youngsters (boys only, as far as I can tell), and to set up cells to train plotters. They conclude that the Masters have 'laid waste' to the entire Southern Hemisphere (later in the book the narrator says that he's been exploring the abandoned lands, but there's no accounting of whether there are any survivors). Why creatures which thrive on heat would not rather have chosen to 'lay waste' to the NORTHERN hemisphere is never explained.
The plotters try to come up with ways to poison the 'Masters', and come up with one. The poison is not fatal, but all but one of the Masters ends up murdered, anyway, because the domed cities are broken open, and Earth atmosphere is poisonous to the aliens. But this raises another question--why would the aliens have come to a planet they can't live on? Even though they did succeed in taking over the planet to the degree that they can keep the humans from attacking them, they're going to great effort to maintain an essentially unsustainable enclave. Even if they COULD do a sort of reverse terraforming and make Earth habitable to themselves, it involves more work than is justifiable. The human slaves outside the domed cities are not, apparently, major sources of supplies to the Masters. Nor are the human slaves inside the cities particularly critical. There is, it's repeatedly argued, considerable dissent among the Masters about whether they SHOULD use human slaves to labor in the cities. It's argued that while some object to the abuse of the humans, others simply object to dependence on humans because they're already vulnerable due to the inhospitality of Earth.
So why, having scouted Earth, did they choose to try to colonize it in the first place? The argument is that there are few habitable planets in the cosmos. This seems rather less than probable. Even if the aliens have a very limited range, there should still be habitable planets within that range. For that matter, there must be planets that could more easily be made habitable than by means of taking over an already inhabited planet.
Note that, having taken over the cities (and murdered all their inhabitants, except for one enslaved captive), the first thing the humans should have done is raided the ARCHIVES of the aliens, and then destroyed the cities entirely. Trying to reverse-engineer their technology isn't likely to be successful--but it could more easily done by deciphering their technical documents than by just dismantling and trying to rebuild their machines--and there would have been no humans in the cities when the space fleet arrived. If the leaders of the humans didn't recognize that, why wouldn't the techies like Beanpole have suggested it?
Just for the record, by the way, the proposed mechanism of takeover is clearly absurd. It's just plain not possible to have put every human on Earth to sleep at the same time. Leaving aside time differences (and you can't), and leaving aside the question of whether everybody who might resist had a television set and had it turned on (again preposterous), the hypnotic command to go into a trance simply COULDN'T be as universally effective as implied. And frankly, the chaos that resulted would most likely be mostly a result of accidents...and 'dead-man' switches working as designed. There's some evidence that implies biological warfare--but how could the aliens have done that? Their scouts did examine what was televised--but think about it--how much actual scientific information is televised? Especially about biology. How could they have devised their methods of 'laying waste' to any lands without time to experiment? It's evident that there was some resistance for some time, even after the process of 'Capping' was developed, and the 'Capped' could be used to round up the resistors.
All in all, it doesn't hold together. And the whole thing reads like a propaganda piece, developed by the victors to justify their own ruthlessness. Even the nostalgia for the (relatively) peaceful and prosperous life of the Capped tends toward the propagandistic. In fact, they weren't necessarily very peaceful or egalitarian. It's taken for granted that humans (even Capped humans) WILL commit murder--and will be murdered in return. And as for prosperity, there is no lack of inequality--and there are severe 'penalties' for 'thieves'.
The 'Vagrants' and their treatment is a good example. 'Vagrants' are people whose minds can't be controlled. In the attempt to do so, those minds are destroyed. The ordinary citizens are enjoined to care for these mad wanderers--and they do...sometimes. At least they generally feed them, and provide them with housing, clothing, etc. They do this casually--but they also ostracize the victims, even if these victims are their own children or other kinsfolk. The implication is that the failure of the Capping inculcates a restlessness that overcomes all social ties--but in fact, the social ties are deliberately unraveled--and after that, what is there to stay for? And this is true even in communities where the 'Vagrants' aren't forcibly 'moved along'.
Volume I: THE WHITE MOUNTAINS
Told from the point of view of an insecure child in his early teens, this book can't be expected to be anything like objective--and it's not. The 'evil alien overlords' aren't particularly menacing. They demand nothing from humans except that the humans (a) worship them uncritically, (b) not use advanced technologies, and (c) not fight wars.
This makes them so innocuous that the author seems to conclude that they're not menacing enough--so he feels like he has to add dangers and former depredations as the series progresses.
Many of these 'monstrous' behaviors are, in fact, originated by the humans. The 'Masters' (as they're called in the later volumes) are apparently fascinated by human variety--so they carry out observations of customs, which include taking part in cruelties devised by the humans. The aliens show little or no ingenuity in this regard themselves.
In the meantime, the humans live what are, by and large, pretty good lives. The rebels object that even a gilded cage is bought at too high a price. Fair enough. But they can't reasonably argue in favor of overthrowing and killing the alien overlords without alleging greater danger. Overthrow them, sure. Maybe even force them to leave Earth. Or force them to stop oppressing humans--but leave them in peace otherwise.
One important point is that the people who are innovative seem not to include archivists or librarians. There is some mention of historians and libraries--but not much. So the rebels have either to accept the accounts of the human past provided by the 'Masters' through the Capped, or make up their own interpretation of things they realistically know nothing about. Even the curious Beanpole shows little curiosity about how 'ancient' peoples actually lived--he's more concerned about technical developments.
VOLUME II: CITY OF GOLD AND LEAD
The small colony of bandits hidden in the 'White Mountains' (from context, probably the Alps) decide to try to infiltrate one of the cities from which the Tripods emerge (there are, it turns out, only three on all the Earth). They're looking for some weakness of the Tripods which a small group of virtually unarmed people (none of whom seem to be women) can exploit. The 'Tripods' take male athletes and 'beautiful' females (this is an exceptionally misogynistic series, even for the period) into their cities to 'serve' them. Only the males are actually enslaved--the females are 'preserved' as museum pieces. Which raises the question--are the 'Masters' actually a two-sexed species? There's some evidence that they do have something that's either wrestling or sex (or maybe both?), but it's never really elaborated. The 'aliens' (they seem mostly to have been born on Earth, since they've been on Earth for over a century, and they don't seem to be that long-lived) seem to have their own aesthetic standards, but they accept human standards for terrestrial beauty.
In the course of this volume, the narrator Will learns how to murder the 'Masters' on an individual scale, and learns of an alleged plot to environmentally engineer Earth so that it's suited to the Masters (but not to humans and other terrestrial life). This plot doesn't seem to have been very well thought out, since the Masters' contact with their homeworld seems to be pretty tenuous. Whether it would have worked at all even IF it weren't prevented isn't really discussed. The conspirators then decide to accelerate their plots.
VOLUME III: THE POOL OF FIRE
The conspirators begin to mature their plots--they begin to recruit more and more youngsters (boys only, as far as I can tell), and to set up cells to train plotters. They conclude that the Masters have 'laid waste' to the entire Southern Hemisphere (later in the book the narrator says that he's been exploring the abandoned lands, but there's no accounting of whether there are any survivors). Why creatures which thrive on heat would not rather have chosen to 'lay waste' to the NORTHERN hemisphere is never explained.
The plotters try to come up with ways to poison the 'Masters', and come up with one. The poison is not fatal, but all but one of the Masters ends up murdered, anyway, because the domed cities are broken open, and Earth atmosphere is poisonous to the aliens. But this raises another question--why would the aliens have come to a planet they can't live on? Even though they did succeed in taking over the planet to the degree that they can keep the humans from attacking them, they're going to great effort to maintain an essentially unsustainable enclave. Even if they COULD do a sort of reverse terraforming and make Earth habitable to themselves, it involves more work than is justifiable. The human slaves outside the domed cities are not, apparently, major sources of supplies to the Masters. Nor are the human slaves inside the cities particularly critical. There is, it's repeatedly argued, considerable dissent among the Masters about whether they SHOULD use human slaves to labor in the cities. It's argued that while some object to the abuse of the humans, others simply object to dependence on humans because they're already vulnerable due to the inhospitality of Earth.
So why, having scouted Earth, did they choose to try to colonize it in the first place? The argument is that there are few habitable planets in the cosmos. This seems rather less than probable. Even if the aliens have a very limited range, there should still be habitable planets within that range. For that matter, there must be planets that could more easily be made habitable than by means of taking over an already inhabited planet.
Note that, having taken over the cities (and murdered all their inhabitants, except for one enslaved captive), the first thing the humans should have done is raided the ARCHIVES of the aliens, and then destroyed the cities entirely. Trying to reverse-engineer their technology isn't likely to be successful--but it could more easily done by deciphering their technical documents than by just dismantling and trying to rebuild their machines--and there would have been no humans in the cities when the space fleet arrived. If the leaders of the humans didn't recognize that, why wouldn't the techies like Beanpole have suggested it?
Just for the record, by the way, the proposed mechanism of takeover is clearly absurd. It's just plain not possible to have put every human on Earth to sleep at the same time. Leaving aside time differences (and you can't), and leaving aside the question of whether everybody who might resist had a television set and had it turned on (again preposterous), the hypnotic command to go into a trance simply COULDN'T be as universally effective as implied. And frankly, the chaos that resulted would most likely be mostly a result of accidents...and 'dead-man' switches working as designed. There's some evidence that implies biological warfare--but how could the aliens have done that? Their scouts did examine what was televised--but think about it--how much actual scientific information is televised? Especially about biology. How could they have devised their methods of 'laying waste' to any lands without time to experiment? It's evident that there was some resistance for some time, even after the process of 'Capping' was developed, and the 'Capped' could be used to round up the resistors.
All in all, it doesn't hold together. And the whole thing reads like a propaganda piece, developed by the victors to justify their own ruthlessness. Even the nostalgia for the (relatively) peaceful and prosperous life of the Capped tends toward the propagandistic. In fact, they weren't necessarily very peaceful or egalitarian. It's taken for granted that humans (even Capped humans) WILL commit murder--and will be murdered in return. And as for prosperity, there is no lack of inequality--and there are severe 'penalties' for 'thieves'.
The 'Vagrants' and their treatment is a good example. 'Vagrants' are people whose minds can't be controlled. In the attempt to do so, those minds are destroyed. The ordinary citizens are enjoined to care for these mad wanderers--and they do...sometimes. At least they generally feed them, and provide them with housing, clothing, etc. They do this casually--but they also ostracize the victims, even if these victims are their own children or other kinsfolk. The implication is that the failure of the Capping inculcates a restlessness that overcomes all social ties--but in fact, the social ties are deliberately unraveled--and after that, what is there to stay for? And this is true even in communities where the 'Vagrants' aren't forcibly 'moved along'.
August 8, 2024
I recently rewatched the BBC TV series of The Tripods, but unfortunately the Beeb only adapted the first two parts of the trilogy before poor viewing figures caused them to axe the show. That left me with a lot of build-up, but no resolution. So I decided to read the novels to see if we ever defeated our three-legged foes.
With the TV show fresh in mind I was able to see all the differences the BBC had made to the original story. Oddly enough, it's mostly love interests. There's a few episodes where the boys stay with a French family with a bunch of eligible daughters. Will is already besotted with Eloise, but this gives Henry and Beanpole a chance to fall in love. This whole section isn't in the book and in the wider scheme of things doesn't matter and is never mentioned again.
There's another episode where they meet these two (quite horny) girls on their way to the games, and in the show they go back to their hotel room and the scene cuts away with the boys grabbing the giggly girls and kissing them. I wondered at the time - was that a sex scene? In a children's show? Our heroes are supposed to be 14. Those girls and that scene aren't in the book either. Odd choice, BBC.
So, without giving too much away, the third book is all about 'the showdown'. I wondered how we (humanity) were ever going to defeat these aliens who are technologically superior and have reduced the human race to a medieval stage of evolution. And here's where the book tends to stretch credibility.
Will escapes the city and takes a sample of the alien air and water with him, and the humans are able to replicate this air so they can capture one of the aliens and keep him alive in his own atmosphere for study. HOW? How on Earth did they study the genetic composition of the alien air AND replicate it with the technology available? The third book is full of these technological leaps in order to make the final battle more even-handed. There's even talk of humans building spacecrafts to travel to the moon at the end of the book! How? These people are still using horses and carts for the most part.
So book three was a bit of a letdown. I was hoping they would use some primitive but clever way of defeating the Tripods, but they end up just doing a bunch of time-jumps forwards and saying - suddenly we have this and this to help us. I suppose you could make the argument that they don't have to invent these things, just rediscover them, but it still seems highly unlikely that a society completly uneducated in the sciences would pick this stuff up so quickly.
Those time-jumps annoyed me as well. Sometimes in the middle of a exciting sequence it would cut away to someone recalling what happened from months or years later. It robs the reader of any suspense because we know they don't die if they're recounting the tale later.
Not a bad trilogy, but obviously written for 12 year old boys, and not 12 year-old boys of today who are tech-savvy and can spot plot-holes a mile away, but 12 year-old boys from the late 60s when this was first published who didn't ask too many questions.
The ending, which should leave you on a high, ends up with a few pages of the newly liberated humans arguing amongst themselves. I wasn't sure how to take this. It sounds a lot like the author is telling us when were under the control of the tripods we had peace, but now we're being left to our own devices, we start squabbling among ourselves, and that can only escalate to genocidal levels as time goes on. If that's what he was trying to say, it's as bleak an ending to a children's novel as I've ever read.
With the TV show fresh in mind I was able to see all the differences the BBC had made to the original story. Oddly enough, it's mostly love interests. There's a few episodes where the boys stay with a French family with a bunch of eligible daughters. Will is already besotted with Eloise, but this gives Henry and Beanpole a chance to fall in love. This whole section isn't in the book and in the wider scheme of things doesn't matter and is never mentioned again.
There's another episode where they meet these two (quite horny) girls on their way to the games, and in the show they go back to their hotel room and the scene cuts away with the boys grabbing the giggly girls and kissing them. I wondered at the time - was that a sex scene? In a children's show? Our heroes are supposed to be 14. Those girls and that scene aren't in the book either. Odd choice, BBC.
So, without giving too much away, the third book is all about 'the showdown'. I wondered how we (humanity) were ever going to defeat these aliens who are technologically superior and have reduced the human race to a medieval stage of evolution. And here's where the book tends to stretch credibility.
Will escapes the city and takes a sample of the alien air and water with him, and the humans are able to replicate this air so they can capture one of the aliens and keep him alive in his own atmosphere for study. HOW? How on Earth did they study the genetic composition of the alien air AND replicate it with the technology available? The third book is full of these technological leaps in order to make the final battle more even-handed. There's even talk of humans building spacecrafts to travel to the moon at the end of the book! How? These people are still using horses and carts for the most part.
So book three was a bit of a letdown. I was hoping they would use some primitive but clever way of defeating the Tripods, but they end up just doing a bunch of time-jumps forwards and saying - suddenly we have this and this to help us. I suppose you could make the argument that they don't have to invent these things, just rediscover them, but it still seems highly unlikely that a society completly uneducated in the sciences would pick this stuff up so quickly.
Those time-jumps annoyed me as well. Sometimes in the middle of a exciting sequence it would cut away to someone recalling what happened from months or years later. It robs the reader of any suspense because we know they don't die if they're recounting the tale later.
Not a bad trilogy, but obviously written for 12 year old boys, and not 12 year-old boys of today who are tech-savvy and can spot plot-holes a mile away, but 12 year-old boys from the late 60s when this was first published who didn't ask too many questions.
The ending, which should leave you on a high, ends up with a few pages of the newly liberated humans arguing amongst themselves. I wasn't sure how to take this. It sounds a lot like the author is telling us when were under the control of the tripods we had peace, but now we're being left to our own devices, we start squabbling among ourselves, and that can only escalate to genocidal levels as time goes on. If that's what he was trying to say, it's as bleak an ending to a children's novel as I've ever read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2022
"What I was suddenly aware of was the importance of their being whatever each of them was---cocky and contemptuous, or bothered and beaten---as long as it was something they'd come to in their own way: the importance of being human, in fact.
The peace and harmony Uncle Ian and the others claimed to be handing out in fact was death, because without being yourself, an individual, you weren't really alive."
Ozymandias -
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Toad the Wet Sprocket:
Flesh becomes water
Wood becomes stone
https://openliterature.net/2012/05/18...
As the framework of mortality, ‘flesh‘ in Hamlet is also a primary constraint on freedom and a source of anguish.
https://www.inkbottlepress.com/useful...
throughout history, literary critics have pointed out that water — and often river water — typically represents both rebirth and healing.
https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/robe...
Eventually, the speaker will “decay” just as the wood-pile is decaying; he will leave the human world and return to the earth. The abandoned wood-pile, unable to do its job of warming a home, might also be a testament to the impermanence of human works—how nothing people create can last forever. This, in turn, is echoed by the impermanence of human life itself.
https://symbolism.fandom.com/wiki/Bones
when a bone is seen it often represents permanence beyond death - bones are often the last things left of us. As a mark of permanence, bones can also be seen to represent the earth, even outside of societies with burial customs. in the same way, bones can represent our truest, barest self. they are lasting, and are the frame of our bodies - they are our home and anchor in the physical world.
https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/4...
we spotted the ocean at the head of the trail
where are we going, so far away
and somebody told me that this is the place
where everything's better, everything's safe
walk on the ocean
step on the stones
flesh becomes water
wood becomes bone
and half and hour later we packed up our things
we said we'd send letters and all those little things
and they knew we were lying but they smiled just the same
it seemed they'd already forgotten we'd came
now we're back at the homestead
where the air makes you choke
and people don't know you
and trust is a joke
we don't even have pictures
just memories to hold
that grow sweeter each season
as we slowly grow old
The peace and harmony Uncle Ian and the others claimed to be handing out in fact was death, because without being yourself, an individual, you weren't really alive."
Ozymandias -
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Toad the Wet Sprocket:
Flesh becomes water
Wood becomes stone
https://openliterature.net/2012/05/18...
As the framework of mortality, ‘flesh‘ in Hamlet is also a primary constraint on freedom and a source of anguish.
https://www.inkbottlepress.com/useful...
throughout history, literary critics have pointed out that water — and often river water — typically represents both rebirth and healing.
https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/robe...
Eventually, the speaker will “decay” just as the wood-pile is decaying; he will leave the human world and return to the earth. The abandoned wood-pile, unable to do its job of warming a home, might also be a testament to the impermanence of human works—how nothing people create can last forever. This, in turn, is echoed by the impermanence of human life itself.
https://symbolism.fandom.com/wiki/Bones
when a bone is seen it often represents permanence beyond death - bones are often the last things left of us. As a mark of permanence, bones can also be seen to represent the earth, even outside of societies with burial customs. in the same way, bones can represent our truest, barest self. they are lasting, and are the frame of our bodies - they are our home and anchor in the physical world.
https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/4...
we spotted the ocean at the head of the trail
where are we going, so far away
and somebody told me that this is the place
where everything's better, everything's safe
walk on the ocean
step on the stones
flesh becomes water
wood becomes bone
and half and hour later we packed up our things
we said we'd send letters and all those little things
and they knew we were lying but they smiled just the same
it seemed they'd already forgotten we'd came
now we're back at the homestead
where the air makes you choke
and people don't know you
and trust is a joke
we don't even have pictures
just memories to hold
that grow sweeter each season
as we slowly grow old
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2023
My editions were published by Collier books (copyrights in the mid to late 1960s)
Each of the three books in the series has a different societal issue it addresses heavily influenced by the time period and cultural background that the author came from.
They are all united by the alien invasion dystopian backdrop as as described in a simple voice familiar to readers of the survival genre (Robinson Crusoe).
The first book dealt with youthful rebellion in the face of complacency exhibited by the elders and adults maintaining the status quo of subjugation by the Tripods. The character of Ozymandius seems to embody the famous “ turn on, tune in, drop out” mantra of the hippy counter culture as he wanders the world as a bearded unkempt vagrant spreading a secret message of rebellion among the uncapped youth.
The second was an exploration of slavery. While not a subject unique to the era it was written, I can’t help but think it was inspired by the civil rights and black power movements of the 1960s era it was written in.
The last a triumph over the alien “ Master race” only to realize that the only thing keeping humans from killing each other was being united in the face of a common enemy. The author was born in the 20s, saw the rise of that other “master race” and defeat of the Nazis..only to see the Cold War and other examples of the inhumanity of the human race.
All of the above put this in my “ time capsule” shelf. This is firm must read for anyone who is a fan of the YA dystopian genre.
Each of the three books in the series has a different societal issue it addresses heavily influenced by the time period and cultural background that the author came from.
They are all united by the alien invasion dystopian backdrop as as described in a simple voice familiar to readers of the survival genre (Robinson Crusoe).
The first book dealt with youthful rebellion in the face of complacency exhibited by the elders and adults maintaining the status quo of subjugation by the Tripods. The character of Ozymandius seems to embody the famous “ turn on, tune in, drop out” mantra of the hippy counter culture as he wanders the world as a bearded unkempt vagrant spreading a secret message of rebellion among the uncapped youth.
The second was an exploration of slavery. While not a subject unique to the era it was written, I can’t help but think it was inspired by the civil rights and black power movements of the 1960s era it was written in.
The last a triumph over the alien “ Master race” only to realize that the only thing keeping humans from killing each other was being united in the face of a common enemy. The author was born in the 20s, saw the rise of that other “master race” and defeat of the Nazis..only to see the Cold War and other examples of the inhumanity of the human race.
All of the above put this in my “ time capsule” shelf. This is firm must read for anyone who is a fan of the YA dystopian genre.
December 26, 2021
3 books in one fat paperback that at first glance seem inspired by H G Wells's War of the Worlds. Set 100 to 200 years after alien machines have taken over Earth and enslaved the adult population.
Shortly before he is due to be "Capped" and become an adult, country boy Will is offered an alternative by an itinerant vagrant. His subsequent adventure leads him to a resistance group and the fight back against the aliens. The aliens are distinctly inhuman both in appearance and in living requirements. Their behaviour is moderately alien. Some of the successes against the aliens are hard-won and others seem too easy. There are also setbacks, but sequences that seem too cosy.
In addition to a fight against the odds adventure story, there are a number of "lessons" that John Christopher weaves into particular chapters. Some are to gain the empathy of teenage readers and others to educate teenage readers. These are quite obvious to adult readers.
Shortly before he is due to be "Capped" and become an adult, country boy Will is offered an alternative by an itinerant vagrant. His subsequent adventure leads him to a resistance group and the fight back against the aliens. The aliens are distinctly inhuman both in appearance and in living requirements. Their behaviour is moderately alien. Some of the successes against the aliens are hard-won and others seem too easy. There are also setbacks, but sequences that seem too cosy.
In addition to a fight against the odds adventure story, there are a number of "lessons" that John Christopher weaves into particular chapters. Some are to gain the empathy of teenage readers and others to educate teenage readers. These are quite obvious to adult readers.
January 22, 2024
Rereading a childhood favorite originally published in 1966, I did expect it to be dated. But man...... zero, that's not ONE single active female character. Zilch. There are two nice, nurturing, ineffective ones who come and go pretty quickly. That's worse than Lord of the Rings. There are also some national stereotypes: the stolid German, two pugnatious but good-hearted English boys, and (sigh) "slim, yellow-skinned Chinese boys."
So what's to like? Beyond that, it holds up! The writing is solid, the initial premise while clearly derivative from War of the Worlds with the Tripods moves along from that pretty quickly. The pacing is brisk and the plot moves along engagingly. Along with the action the characters do get to develop from 13-year-old boys to young men with different levels of maturity. I especially like that the aliens, while grotesque in description and hostile to human survival, have personalities and individuality amongst themselves. The heroes are not heroic all the time and the villains are not villainous all the time. The resolution is satisfying but not a simplified happy-ever-after.
I'm not throwing the books away and if a young person picks them up from my shelf, I would not yank them out of young hands but I would want to have a discussion during or after the read about how things have shifted since they were written.
So what's to like? Beyond that, it holds up! The writing is solid, the initial premise while clearly derivative from War of the Worlds with the Tripods moves along from that pretty quickly. The pacing is brisk and the plot moves along engagingly. Along with the action the characters do get to develop from 13-year-old boys to young men with different levels of maturity. I especially like that the aliens, while grotesque in description and hostile to human survival, have personalities and individuality amongst themselves. The heroes are not heroic all the time and the villains are not villainous all the time. The resolution is satisfying but not a simplified happy-ever-after.
I'm not throwing the books away and if a young person picks them up from my shelf, I would not yank them out of young hands but I would want to have a discussion during or after the read about how things have shifted since they were written.
November 27, 2019
In my teen years I picked up the middle book of this trilogy 'the city of gold and Lee's however it being a bridge to two other books it remained unread and I must have got rid of it ages ago...I did hear after that the story of how this Trilogy was turned into a BBC series but in a similar way remained unfinished as it followed the first two books before money ran out of something.
Anyhow as these things do the book and series gained cult status and I changed upon this at a charity shop and thought I would give it a read....it may be a young adult piece but the writing is very strong and it works as a decent sci fi book describing a world that has regressed to the point where human achievement in a industrial sense just isn't there..the tripods themselves are pretty much responsible for this 'family's humans at a stage of young adulthood to prevent insurgence.
I found this a fairly rapid read ..partly as it is generally aimed at a younger audience and ultimately as it's a good tale that draws you in....it remins fairly dark throughout..the heroes have feet of clay and to be honest humankinds future as the book closes doesn't look all rosy as the lack of a common enemy brings forth old rivalries.
However this is all to the good and In many ways steeps the fantasy in some sort of reality....
Anyhow as these things do the book and series gained cult status and I changed upon this at a charity shop and thought I would give it a read....it may be a young adult piece but the writing is very strong and it works as a decent sci fi book describing a world that has regressed to the point where human achievement in a industrial sense just isn't there..the tripods themselves are pretty much responsible for this 'family's humans at a stage of young adulthood to prevent insurgence.
I found this a fairly rapid read ..partly as it is generally aimed at a younger audience and ultimately as it's a good tale that draws you in....it remins fairly dark throughout..the heroes have feet of clay and to be honest humankinds future as the book closes doesn't look all rosy as the lack of a common enemy brings forth old rivalries.
However this is all to the good and In many ways steeps the fantasy in some sort of reality....
June 29, 2020
The Tripods are my favourite set of books from childhood and probably still are. I read them every other year. I think I may have watched the first BBC series and then got the books before the second series was released. The White Mountains is excellent. The City of Gold and Lead is probably the best of them. The last sentence of The Pool of Fire is my favourite line in literature. The prequel book When the Tripods Came written years later is perhaps not quite of the same standard, but still highly enjoyable.
I would also strongly recommend John Christopher’s other works. Most of them are technically children’s books, but the adult themes and quality of writing sets them apart. The Death of Grass, A Wrinkle in the Skin, The Guardians, The Sword of the Spirits Trilogy, I could go on. If you’re a fan of dystopian fiction, I would also recommend The Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids by John Wyndham and the recent The Age of the Triffids by John Whitbourn (a masterpiece, sadly only available in Canada).
I would also strongly recommend John Christopher’s other works. Most of them are technically children’s books, but the adult themes and quality of writing sets them apart. The Death of Grass, A Wrinkle in the Skin, The Guardians, The Sword of the Spirits Trilogy, I could go on. If you’re a fan of dystopian fiction, I would also recommend The Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids by John Wyndham and the recent The Age of the Triffids by John Whitbourn (a masterpiece, sadly only available in Canada).
January 23, 2020
When I first saw this title, I didn’t think this series would be epic. The Tripods by John Christopher is a series about young boys saving their world from aliens who control robots that look like camera tripods.
Everyone they know has to wear a cap once they turn 14, to be controlled by the aliens. The protagonist, Will, met with a strange man that told him about the outside world. He and his cousin, Henry, and a French kid they nicknamed as ‘Beanpole’, joined the resistance to fight against the Tripods.
Not entirely sure how alcohol can make aliens sleepy, but that’s how the resistance group found out. They planned a strategy to sabotage the atmosphere of the place all the Tripods are at, in which it’s like pouring alcohol to make the air “poisonous” to the Tripods and make them sleepy. Once it’s done, the resistance attacks and they won. However, because of an act of bravery, Henry’s life was lost and he is remembered as a hero.
Everyone they know has to wear a cap once they turn 14, to be controlled by the aliens. The protagonist, Will, met with a strange man that told him about the outside world. He and his cousin, Henry, and a French kid they nicknamed as ‘Beanpole’, joined the resistance to fight against the Tripods.
Not entirely sure how alcohol can make aliens sleepy, but that’s how the resistance group found out. They planned a strategy to sabotage the atmosphere of the place all the Tripods are at, in which it’s like pouring alcohol to make the air “poisonous” to the Tripods and make them sleepy. Once it’s done, the resistance attacks and they won. However, because of an act of bravery, Henry’s life was lost and he is remembered as a hero.
February 20, 2024
My rating is based on my limited science fiction experience so I don't know how original this story is. It is definitely oriented towards kids, albeit older ones, for there is quite a bit of children in peril and even a suicide plot point.. I found everything to be rather simplistic and superficial but it moves along speedily and has some interesting things in it (to me). I will say many plot points are quite obviously contrived and he really didn't try to be very creative in moving things along, theres a lot of "coincidences" that just happen to let things work out. But, if you don't want to be very challenged and like a quick moving, easy to read story, and like science fiction, then it's recommended, it won't take very long to read.
March 2, 2017
Fast read. Interesting concept of alien subjecation of human race that's been going on by mind control for 100 years. Written for Junior reader set but fast read for adults. Bittersweet ending. I read the prequel first. Recommend you do that to appreciate the background of aliens' snobbery. Flawed main character rushes into things/ makes mistakes. (beating of human slaves, those whose minds are broken, some stealing food, runaways, bombs, tearing of people seen from far away, not too graphic) 11 and up
June 27, 2018
I remember reading this book when I was 10 or 11 and I absolutely loved it. I read 3 of them in one week or even less. Even though that it's a really old book and not many people around my age know about this I still recommend all the teenagers to read this book at least once, and believe me, you can't put it down when you start the book. wish I could explain why I liked it or give more description but I can't remember anything about it except the joy that I had while reading the book.
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