The prequel to the Tripods trilogy is When The Tripods Came. It is a very well written story of how the Tripods conquer the Earth.
Not through violence, or at least not entirely. The initial attack is repelled successfully by the armed forces of the various nations that are invaded. But the Tripods are subtle.
They begin using subliminal persuasion on broadcast TV programs, and other methods of mind control. This leads to the young being converted into ‘Trippies’ and they begin the illicit distribution of caps.
Slowly but surely the world is taken over, with some fighting here and there.
The story is told through the eyes of Laurie whose family is involved in the initial Tripod attack in England.
They flee to Switzerland eventually where the Tripods are resisted most strongly. Eventually even that country falls and they flee to a remote mountainous part of Switzerland. (The White Mountains) where they start the resistance.
This 4 book series is one of my favorite juvenile SF readings.
One interesting thing that I discovered while looking for the first time in a while at my copy of this prequel. The blurb writer mentions that there was a BBC series called The Tripods and that it also played in the US.
I have never seen or heard of this series. Well, yet another thing I will have to google and look for on Amazon or eBay.
The second book in the trilogy is The City of Gold and Lead. In it Will Parker and his friends leave the safety of the White Mountains to enter The Games held in Germany. The winners of these competitions will get the ‘honor’ of serving the Masters, The Tripods, in their city.
This means living with them under their much higher gravity. But for the capped it’s an honor.
For Will and his fellow rebels, it’s a chance to find out more about the city and its inhabitants. Perhaps a way to free Earth and the Human Race.
So Will undertakes the dangerous journey. He is still uncapped and if discovered, all will be lost. But, he is chosen and enters the city with others.
A series of adventures and Will escapes again. As he and his companions go, they vow to return to destroy the masters.
This book did suffer a little from being the middle book of a trilogy. You know that the story is not going to end. But the life of the masters inside the city is interestingly alien, and it still a good read.
To me it’s a little hard to fit this series into any particular category other than juvenile adventure SF. Will is not a scientist, and not really a misfit. He is a hero which is an obvious draw for young people reading the story. He is fighting against tremendous odds against a vastly superior foe. So he is an interesting character.
The books of this trilogy are a success. And John Christopher has written other series for juveniles including a fantasy magic one that I read one book of The Sword Trilogy. He and this Tripod series does seem to be ignored by a lot of SF fans. Maybe because the science in it is mostly in the hands of the aliens and the humans are primitive.
But in the concluding book of the trilogy the earthmen make use of their inferior technology in interesting ways. Next post.
Another juvenile series I enjoyed was the Tripods series by John Christopher. I believe originally this was a trilogy, but it has expanded to 4 with the addition of a prequel.
The first book in the trilogy is where I will start. It’s The White Mountains.
Aliens, The Tripods, have invaded and conquered the Earth some time ago. Limited numbers of humans survived the destruction and killing. They now live as virtual slaves of the Tripods as the aliens go about their mysterious business.
Mainly the Tripds live in 3 cities where conditions of gravity, and so forth are closer to the Tripods requirements.
Humans do not question their situation, they are under the control of the Tripods and accept their lives.
But this is maintained by everyone being ‘capped’. A metal device is fitted to your head and the Tripods can then control you.
Will Parker is about to undergo the ceremony of being capped since he has come of age. Youngsters are not capped until old enough.
So he still can have rebellious thoughts. But not for long.
Will becomes aware of the resistance to the Tripods and after various adventures decides to journey to The White Mountains where the resistance is apparently located.
I thought this was a real good story when I read it way back when. I have re-read it since. A nice twist on alien invasions with young people, because of the lack of caps, being the lead in the resistance. And some interesting writing about the society of humans living under the Tripods. A pastoral society, one that does not question the domination of the aliens. Reminds me of feudal society.
Next in the trilogy The City of Gold and Lead. In my next post.
