Has anyone else read this series by John Christopher? Its young adult sci/fi, written in the late 60s, but it doesn’t come across as dated, due to the material.
Its set in the not-too-distant future, on an Earth where humans are beaten and controlled by an enigmatic alien race, who travel the world in vehicles similar to that of HG Wells’ War of the Worlds.
The series is a quick read: 3 books of less than 200 pages each, plus a prequel he wrote in the late 80s. But while they are quick and short, they tell a great story. Suspense, mystery, fear… elements for a fun read.
The books in this series are: The White Mountains, The City of Gold And Lead, and The Pool of Fire. The prequel is titled simply The Coming of the Tripods
I’ve been on a kids/youth oriented book spree, and I have to say it has really been enjoyable. Maybe its that it doesn’t take the concentration that reading more mature fare takes, or maybe its that the stories are whittled down to their most important elements.
So, if you are able to get your hands on them (your local library is sure to have them in stock), check out the Tripods.
I love this series. First happened on it in the library in 5th grade. The 3rd set of these books is now on my bookshelves. (The previous sets were loaned to people who never returned them. Now I direct possible readers to the library.)
The BBC did an adaptation of the first two books in the mid 80’s. Unfortunately the third was never filmed.
Just adding my 2 cents. The Tripod books were my favorite when I was a kid. I loved these books. I ended up reading all of Christopher’s books (at least those stocked by my local library). The tripod trilogy was the best but I also enjoyed the Fireball series (though in hindsight these may be a little too derivative of the whole parallel world genre).
I discovered them through the comic-strip adaptation in Boy’s Life. Neat stuff. I like how the alien species required a slightly different environment for comfort, & was, as I recall, much denser & slower physically.
I read 'em when I was a kid myself; I thought I was the only one! I started in the middle, though, with The City of Gold and Lead. And then I read the third one, and then I read the first one. So I was pretty confused about the whole business.
I remember reading the last book again when I was about eleven (I was a bit younger when I read the whole series) and thought “Wow, that ending was so deep…” Heh. I do remember being very, very moved by how
Like you said, nothing really changed. People were still powerhungry when they didn’t have something Big, Huge, and Evil to fight against.
I’m wondering what the Caps might have been metaphors for…
Hmmm. Thought I posted about this earlier, but I guess not. Weird.
I just LOVED the Tripod books when I was a kid. All of John Christopher’s books thrilled me, in fact, to the point that I borrowed many of them from various libraries around the state thanks to our interlibrary loan program. The tripod series was my favorite, and I liked the fireball time traveling trilogy and the “spirits” books too. There’s a DVD out?! Man, I have to get that. Good thing my DVD player plays region 2 discs as well as region 1.
… I just found an old journal entry from when I was in fourth grade. The entry, in its entirety, written in big purple crayon because it was the only writing implement I had handy, is:
Absolutely my favorite books when I was in my early teens! I also discovered them through the comics in Boy’s Life magazine. The BBC serialization was excellent too…one of the highlights of week when it was out (Ken Freeman’s music is perfect–I was glad to finally get it in digital form)! I liked the books so much, I went and read a large percentage of John Christopher’s oeuvre…lots of good stuff in my opinion!
Absolutely my favorite books when I was in my early teens! I also discovered them through the comics in Boy’s Life magazine. The BBC serialization was excellent too…one of the highlights of week when it was out (Ken Freeman’s music is perfect–I was glad to finally get it in digital form)! I liked the books so much, I went and read a large percentage of John Christopher’s oeuvre…lots of good stuff in my opinion!
Oh man, a giant thank-you to the OP! I’ve been trying to remember the names of these books for ages. Several times I considered posting an “ID this sci-fi series” thread, but never did. Now I can go back and reread them from a rather different viewpoint than when I was just a kid.
I first read these (after seeing the Boys Life comic) as a schoolkid. later, when writing a nonfiction article that involved UFOs and the White Mountains of New Hampshire, I recalled the title of the one book in the series, and dug it up again from the library.
Sadly, the White Mountains are the Alps … but it was still fun to re-read them.
I read these books when I was a kid, too. Loved them! They’re some of the tightest juvinile fiction around. Years later when I read Battlefield Earth I thought L. Ron had ripped off the Psychlos domed cities from The City of Gold and Lead.
I never read any more of Christopher’s stuff, though.
