The Tripods Collection (Boxed Set): The White Mountains; The City of Gold and Lead; The Pool of Fire; When the Tripods Came

Read these as a kid and they stuck with me, so I grabbed the boxed set to revisit. They absolutely still hold up. John Christopher built a YA sci-fi world that’s lean, eerie, and takes its young readers seriously — three-legged alien machines rule the Earth, humans are kept docile by mind-control “Caps” placed on them at adolescence, and a small group of kids decides to fight back. Great gift for a young aspiring reader

Love the books and this is a perfect collectors edition of the whole series! So happy I got this!

(Note: This is a review of the first three books in the set.) After writing a series of "Broken Earth" genre novels in the Fifties and Sixties, of which the most famous is probably "No Blade of Grass", British author John Christopher turned his hand to these novels for young adults. Wildly popular when first published, beginning in 1967, the first two books were even made into a BBC series. The first three books are set in a post-alien-invasion Europe, after the mysterious conquerors of Earth have erased technological civilization and forced humanity back into a pre-industrial agrarian state. In the first book, the aliens themselves are never seen in the flesh, just striding across the country in their huge Tripod machines. To keep us subjugated, the aliens cleverly co-opt the tradition of a rite of passage to fit each adolescent human -- they have to wait until the subject's skull has attained roughly adult dimensions -- with a mind-control device, a fine silver-mesh Cap which becomes a part of the victim. The narrator runs away on the eve of his Capping ceremony and sets out on a perilous journey across the Channel to join the resistance in their Alpine base, and ultimately take an important part in the final struggle to stop the aliens before they can "xenoform" the Earth's atmosphere into a lethal facsimile of their home planet. The fourth book is a prequel, set during the days of the invasion. One of the best things about the original trilogy is the way its main protagonist starts out as headstrong, selfish and rather unlikeable, but matures over time, through hard experience. I also enjoy its echoes of Wells' "War of the Worlds", some obvious, like the eponymous Tripods, and some not so obvious. Although in this case the ETs originate from outside our solar system. The main problem with the trilogy is a common one for novels published at a time when "juvie" SF was -- with a few exceptions like Madeline L'Engle and Andre Norton -- pretty much exclusively written for a male audience. So there's something of a dearth of female characters, much less strong ones. Nevertheless, these are gripping reads, well-plotted, with plenty to say about friendship, self-sacrifice and the truest kinds of heroism. Ever since I first encountered the series back in the mid-1970s, I re-read them every decade or so, for fun. I've also made it kind of a personal mission to introduce young readers in my family to Christopher's Tripod series. They deserve not to be forgotten, so it was great to be able to purchase new editions for a great-nephew, instead of having to hunt down the old Colliers paperbacks.

This series was recommended to me by a friend during our bookclub. She said she remembered reading it as a kid in Iran. Even through a partially forgotten description of the plot, she shared how it inspired her life-long love of reading and sci-fi. Anything that sticks with a person that long is absolutely worth a read. So excited to dive in!!

Perfect condition.

This is a great young-adult dystopian science fiction story. Far more sophisticated and better written than the Hunger Games, with nuanced character development and complex social, ethical, and political themes, and yet at the same time a gripping and exciting read. A classic of young adult fiction that can be enjoyed by adults as well. I read it as a kid and then reread it as an adult with my 10-year old son. The language can be a little formal, but it was every bit as good as I remembered—perhaps even better because as an adult I was able to appreciate the deeper layers and themes. Everyone should read these books.

There are 'universal' values that every young man should have instilled within them before the 'mass media' of so-called 'modern times' corrupts them. Stories are one of the best ways to accomplish this, and this set of stories is one of the best and most enjoyable. I read this series when I was that age - oof that makes me sound old. Whatever, maybe I *am* old now. That doesn't matter so much. I'm an American, and I value the themes of resistance against slavery, struggle for freedom, complexity of understanding oppression, and the innate tragedy of humanity this English author wrote down over 50 years ago (1967). When it came time to consider books I thought appropriate for my grandsons this series was one of the first that came to mind. The first book pulls you in with the story of the tripods, and of young love lost. The second stokes the fire of your imagination with the description of the cities of 'gold and lead' - and the excitement of the execution of the resistance movement. The final book lifts the consciousness to understanding just what a hefty price is paid for revolution - and the tragic aftermath as the hubris of humanity gets in the way of a better tomorrow. I can't emphasize enough just how much of a good foundation for understanding our more complex and interlinked world this book series is. Buy it. Buy it now. Just make sure you read it yourself before you give it to your kids - because if you've never read it before you should. It's a great set.

So far, we've read the first two books in this series to our six year old. She said she liked hearing the words but, when I explain to book to her, it's a little dark. Without a doubt, this book has been therapeutic in these political times. It makes me feel less isolated and more human.

I love the story! Very nice sci-fi fiction.

Schöne Verarbeitung, sehr ansprechende Cover. Für Fans ein muss.

A good read

Read this when I was at state school in the 60s and always thought about it, then I saw it on Amazon and had to buy the set. A ripping yarn that is so good it is hard to put down.

J'aime beaucoup cette quadrilogie qui s'adresse aux enfants et adolescent aussi ... Je l'ai choisie pour la redécouvrir, alors que je lisais les trois premier tome en 1995 à 12 ans, car le quatrième n'est disponible qu'en anglais ! Pour tous ceux qui rêve de monde donc et de science-fiction. (Ce qui me permettra aussi d'améliorer mon anglais.)