Customer Reviews

The White Mountains (The Tripods)

5 star:		(79)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A masterpiece --I thoroughly enjoyed this book when I was nine and now my eight year-old son is beginning to explore it. Masterful use of setting, dialogue, and rich visual descriptions that at first suggest a quiet English village of the seventeenth, perhaps the early eighteenth century. Then along come the clues: ruined metal buildings, mysterious half-corroded signs, whispered gossip of the craftsmanship of "Men in the Days Before The Tripods." Then the hero's cousin (and best friend) is happily "capped" in a rite of adulthood by a weird and mysterious leviathan straight out of an H.G. Wells novel, and the broader scope pulls into focus.

Christopher's trilogy is exciting, suspenseful, and throws around a lot of mysteries that any preteen reader should be able to reason out without too much difficulty. There is some innocent romance, but no sex. The violence is mostly implied, though there is a disturbing "field surgery" scene towards the end, as well as a nail-biting hunt and a decisive final battle. The heros' actual arrival in the Swiss Alps is somewhat anticlimactic --it sheds no new light on Earth's predicament, but merely brings Will, Henry, and "Beanpole's" quest to an end.

Best moments include the boys' sojourn through "The City of the Ancients," the devastated ruins of what was once Paris. The descriptions from Will's insular point-of-view are a delight to puzzle out, particularly when the boys encounter ordinary everyday twentieth-century objects and try to figure out what they are (i.e., "Shmand-Fair"). The discovery of a cache of explosive "iron eggs" in a subway tunnel paints a broader scope of the initial invasion: it appears there was at least some active resistance before the aliens worked out a way to assume control of human minds.

Buy this for your 8-9-10-11 year-old boy and have some fun reading it to one another. And don't neglect either of the sequels: they bring the story full circle!

I had to find a book at our school library for a readingassignment. I hate doing this, because I never find anythinggood. While I was looking for a book, I pulled out "The White Mountains". I looked at the cover and thought it was a cheap rip-off of "War of the Worlds"... But you can't tell a book by its cover! Time ran out, so I picked up that book, and we checked out our books and started to read. I was hooked! I got in trouble several times for reading in class. I kept reading and reading, and when I finally finished, I almost cried! But the next day I went to school I found out it was the first book of a series. I got the next one, "The City of Gold and Lead" and I'm still hooked! Now I've started the 3rd book, "The Pool of Fire." I love it too. I'm not totally sure why I like it... It's just... GOOD! Buy the series! You will love it! I'd give it 6 stars, and I recommend it to all ages.

This is one of those times when five stars just ain't enough.

"The White Mountains" is a fantastic science fiction adventure with deeply poigniant, sociological meaning. It's a fast-paced, thrilling, and thought-provoking story of young people fleeing enslavement, set in a world in which humanity has been conquered by giant machines called the "Tripods" and forced back into a technologically-regressed, feudal state through "Capping," the process by which mind-control devices are implanted directly onto the human skull.

So cool.

Although its target audience is adolescents, particularly boys (I first read it around age 11), "The White Mountains" is one of those books like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," "A Wrinkle in Time," and "Harry Potter" that is so remarkably well-written that it captivates children and adults alike.

But, like they say on "Reading Rainbow," you don't have to take MY word for it. Next time you're at the bookstore, pull "The White Mountains" off the shelf (it's usually in the "Young Adult" section) and flip ahead to Chapter 5, "The City of the Ancients." By itself, that chapter is one of the best science fiction short stories ever written. If you can leave the store without "The White Mountains" after that, get a mirror and check your scalp -- you've probably been Capped.

When I read The White Mountains I had no clue that it would turn out as good as it did. The suspense was so extreme at times I couldn't put the book down! All the mysteries of the Tripods had you on the edge of your seat. I felt like I was actually there watching the story happen.

The Tripods are Capping people around the world, but the Tripods do not travel into mountains, so the men living in the White Mountains in Switzerland won't have their heads controlled by the Tripods. Will Parker and his friend, Henry, set out for the White Mountains from their small town of Wherton.

On their journey they encounter many obstacles. They don't know who to trust, because anyone can be Capped and obeying the Tripods. If they get caught, they will be Capped and their journey will be over. Will they make it to the White Mountains safely? Read the book to find out!

This book is a great choice for the person who likes a suspenseful adventure book. When you finish The White Mountains, you will want to get The City of Gold and Lead, which is the next book in the series, right away and figure out what happens next. You will LOVE The White Mountains!

This book deserves a great rating. For all of its suspense and how good the adventure was, I think this book deserves a 4.5 star rating. So remember, one of the best Science Fiction books that you can choose is The White Mountains by John Christopher.

Imagine not being able to control your own thoughts. Imagine living as if you were in the 1500s, and yet the year is 2087. Imagine living with the Tripods. They came to earth from another planet only a little over a hundred years ago, but for Will they have always been part of his world. Will is nearing his capping time, when a Tripod puts a metal cap on the head of a person so they can no longer think completely for themselves. But Will is afraid, and does not want to be capped. One day, a strange man called Ozymandias tells Will about a place called the White Mountains, where men are free and the Tripods do not reign. So Will and his friends Henry and Beanpole set out toward the White Mountains crossing water, land, mountains, and ancient cities in an unforgettable adventure of friendship, suspense, and determination, all woven into the amazing science fiction novel The White Mountains by John Christopher.

Will is one of the few people in this world that hates and fears the Tripods. He is 11, is tall, and has dark hair. After meeting Ozymandias, Will is determined to avoid capping, to escape from the Tripods, and reach the White Mountains with his companions Henry and Beanpole. Henry and Will were once enemies and always fighting, but when Will was running away after he had learned the way to the White Mountains, Henry followed him. Henry forced Will to let him come along on the journey, and over time they become good friends. After a few days they meet Beanpole, who is a very odd character. He is around the same age as Will and Henry but his face is covered with metal. This metal is his attempt to make glasses for himself. Beanpole loves to invent things and his cleverness comes in handy when fighting a Tripod.

The White Mountains was a great novel filled with mystery, suspense, friendship, and determination from the three excellent main characters. You connect to Will easily and find yourself hoping that he will make clever choices and urging him along on his quest. The Tripods add plenty of suspense and mystery to the story along with the fact that the human race went backwards in technology instead of forward, but this, of course, is due to the Tripods. The danger of being caught by Tripods held my interest and made the book a wonderful page-turner that I will never forget.

The White Mountains, along with the other two parts of a 3 book series, are without a shred of doubt, the masterpiece of juvenile book writing by John Christopher. I received the Persian translation of "The White Mountains" and "The City of Gold and Lead" as a gift for my 12th birthday back in Iran. First of all, I read both books at the very least 100 times! Then my 7 year journey began to find the third book of these series called "The Pool of Fire" as this book was simply unavailable in Iran. I let everyone know about my search and when finally after 7 years, one of my friends' cousin told me that he had seen the third book in the window of a small old book store, I left whatever I was doing, stormed to the book store, bought the book and started reading it in front of the store's sidewalk! These books became and still are part of me at the age of 37. They broadened my sense of imagination, adventure, love of universe and life. I am presently living in Canada as a Canadian citizen, along with my wife, enjoying a wonderful life. These books ignited my passion and boosted my courage to leave my revolution-stricken country behind and led me to an unbelieveably hard path towards Canada. It took me exactly 4 years to get here but I never lost the courage all along. Those heroes in the books, always stayed with me. Thank you John Christopher and God bless you wherever you are.

The Tripod quartet has become a classic of juvenile science fiction (a very small section of kids' books, unfortunately), an imaginative and intriguing story about the human race's survival and free will. "White Mountains" is an atmospheric and enjoyable SF adventure, marred only by a bland narrative style.

The Tripods came to Earth long ago, ending war, poverty, and other problems. But there is a dark side to this existance: The Tripods "cap" every human being with a mechanical brain implant, making them docile, happy, and easily controlled. The adults, who treat this as a rite of passage, are all unable to question the Tripods.

But the teenage Will and his cousin Henry have not yet been capped, and so their minds are still their own. After a relative loses his suspicions about the Tripods during his capping ceremony, the boys are more suspicious still. And then a seemingly mad vagrant reveals that he is also free of the Tripods -- and that there are others like him. The boys set off on a harrowing journey to a distant place where they can fight the Tripods.

It's a fairly simple plot, being only the first of three interconnected books (there's also a prequel). "White Mountains" sets up the next two books, while establishing an interesting SF plot. Christopher is very effective in gradually increasing the feeling of fear and paranoia over the course of the story; the surroundings of this future England are familiar enough that very little explanation is needed about the surroudnings.

Will and Henry are essentially ordinary young boys in extraordinary circumstances. They don't fit into the idyllic Tripod-dominated world because they aren't mindless drones yet; their determination to remain free is very real and well-written. The vagrant, Ozymandias (an apt name), is a brief but intense presence; the other characters are rather flat and lifeless because of their lack of free will.

The only problem with the book is that the narrative style is too slow in some sections, and very dry throughout it. We hear what the heroes think, but very rarely FEEL it. Dialogue is fairly realistic, at its strongest when the vagrant explains to the hero just what happened in the past. Gradually throughout the story, Christopher establishes a subtle message on blind obedience and subservience, and how detrimental it is to the human soul and freedoms.

Readers should keep the other volumes of this series beside them as they read "White Mountains," because the book ends with a glaring "To Be Continued" sign. It's an entertaining and suspenseful SF story that will entertain kids and adults alike.

The White Mountains takes place in the future, when the world is ruled by Tripods. When you reach a certain age, you have a cap put on your head. Will Parker doesn't want to be capped. He sets off on a journey. He meets new friends, new enemies, finds new items and even battles a Tripod! I recommend this book to all readers. I liked this book very much. I expecially liked the part when Will battles a Tripod.

I first read the white mountains over twelve years ago as a child. I have read it countless times since and it reamains a favorite.

The story of Will, a teenage boy, as he travels to the far reaches of earth in pusuit of a freedom unknown to fellow mankind. Through his travels Will faces many challenges and adventures that keep the reader at the edge of their seat. The combination of amazing character creation and developement with adventure, humor, and suspence makes this book a must read.

"The White Mountains" is one of the best pieces of science fiction that I have ever read. It struck me as a combination of "Brave New World," "1984," and "The War of the Worlds" except it is written in an easy to understand prose which is perfect for younger readers. I think younger readers will relate to the main character, Will. He is not a perfect, hero-type personality. He can be self-centered and very selfish at times which makes him quite believable. My only complaint about this book is its cover. One of the worst covers I have ever seen for any book. It shows three very modern looking boys, with their 90's haircuts and clothing, which is odd considering the novel is set in a primitive society in the 21st century.