I don’t think my passion for these books can be overstated.When I was in 6th grade, the day after reading that a character previously thought dead at the end of “The City of Gold and Lead” was, in fact, alive, I told my teacher that I was “partying in my head.” The thrill upon re-reading that section, now some 20 years later (!) was, I swear, not in any way diminished. This third book, of the Tripods Trilogy, was definitely a “wrapping up” story. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that, of course, man triumphs against the tripods. Knowing this there were definitely parts of this story that are a little less captivating, a bit anti-climactic as it were. I re-read “The City of Gold and Lead,” about 7 or 8 years ago and I remember being simply floored by it, as much as I was when I read it in 6th grade. “The Pool of Fire” didn’t stick in my head quite as much in 6th grade (except for that thrill at the beginning), and upon re-reading it, I was similarly, not quite as engaged. Bits of it are just awesome – the capture of the alien, the discovery of the aliens’ major weakness for example, but overall, I think the story is much more “relaxed” shall we say. Like, almost, at a certain point, I didn’t really feel I needed to keep reading, since I knew they were all gonna be okay. In some ways that should feel like a major indictment, but in other ways the power of the earlier books, and then finally, the power of the last chapter (provided you stick through to the end) fully and completely redeem this other “slowness” I describe. And so there we have it – the last chapter, the last paragraph, moved me to tears! John Christopher is just amazing in the succinctness of his writing. So many youth books today strike me as being a bit bloated. Don’t get me wrong I love them, but when I read John Christopher I am just AMAZED at HOW MUCH he packs into the most simple sentences. The writing is simple and efficient. Not a word is wasted. The editing job on these books just boggles my mind. And so it is that just a few sentences, a few end scenes, pack the ending with a wallop of seriousness and importance. And LOYALTY. I remarked in my reviews of “The Fireball Trilogy” that I had come to realize that all of John Christopher’s books are essentially driven by the power of friendships. I didn’t have the language for it until very recently, but I realized that they are strongly “character driven” stories. Of course the action of the fight against the aliens is cool and exciting, but it is the characters and the dynamics between them that are the true heart of the story. It took me two decades, I think, to realize that, after all, I AM interested in stories that are about people. I thought for a long time that I was just a science geek.And so in the ending of “The Pool of Fire” we are reminded again about the strength of the bonds between the boys, and thus, in my sentimental old age, I cried. But it was a good, awesome cry.Finally, reading this from the perspective of being a scientist who is very much interested in trying to use science fiction to promote both reading AND engagement in science, it was super fun to examine the way scientists are described and portrayed in this book. The scientists play a big role in leading the charge against the tripods, since they, essentially redevelop a lot of the technologies that allow them to fight back. Also, in very accurate detail, J. C. describes the process of distilling ethanol out of a fermentation. I am TOTALLY using this the next time I teach distillations in organic chemistry. I LOVE JOHN CHRISTOPHER.:-)Finished re-reading on May the Fourth Be With You, 2014
When finishing a book, the result should not be that I'm impatiently glad to be rid of and done with it. As with book 2, here are my notes.-very boring-some of the revolutionary-underground atmosphere is exciting and interesting. Even within the group we only sometime later learn that the group has a secret laboratory, and that there's another group doing similar resistance operations outside one of the three alien domed cities. What's unfortunate is that absence of detail and unity. We learn scientists are building this, studying that, but it's as passively talked of as with everything else. We learn there's another significant group working to fight against the aliens - well, who are they? What are their aims and operations? How did they come about? We don't really know anything about this, nothing mentioned beyond the first 'look here, something interesting' the author tosses in to disrupt the otherwise dull story.-for all its talk of freedom, the underground group has a rigid and violent internal hierarchy.-the author has some kind of obsession with culinary carnivorousness. By this book, it's so intrusive and gross as to have several sighs of disapproval from me. It's just...ugh. Scifi book turns into a creepy hunter's manual and culinary magazine.-abusive, violent authoritarian drunks are portrayed as sympathetic characters, their critics as unreasonable and irrational-the ending was even more disappointing than I remember. Hundreds of years after human discord, and once they're liberated from the control of the tripods, everyone goes back to normal, bickering and nationalism? Nonsense. This is a work of fiction. Do something fictional - something interesting.
What do You think about The Pool Of Fire (2003)?
This is the third and last of the "Tripod" trilogy, picking up almost exactly where "City of Gold and Lead" left off. Will has returned to the resistance base camp in the Swiss Alps. Enough information is passed on about the Masters (who ride in Tripods when outside of their city) and their cities to allow specific plans to be started to overthrow them. Will has found out that the Masters plan to kill all humans and replace earth's atmosphere with their atmosphere so they can begin living there. This plan is well on its way, and a ship from the Masters home planet should arrive within 3 or 4 years to begin this process. To learn more about the Masters physical capabilities, a Tripod is ambushed and a live Master is captured and put in a special area, like a guarded zoo area, based on information Will provided. It is discovered that a small bit of alcohol totally incapacitates the aliens, so a plan to put alcohol in the drinking water of the Tripod cities goes into action. Will and Fritz return to the city they were slaves in, and successfully stupefy all the Masters. They travel to the energy source of the city, the "pool of fire", and successfully open the outer doors allowing a crack to be made in the city covering. This kills all the Masters in that city. Two such other attempts in the other two Tripod city are made, one other city is successfully destroyed. But one city remains standing, and a new tactic has to be employed, that of dropping a bomb on the outer shell of the city by means of hot air balloons.Eventually all three cities are destroyed, and humans win their freedom and begin to set up a new government that will help them rediscover the lost ways of the ancient humans, before the Tripods ruled the earth.
—Melinda
The Pool of FireBook 3 of the Tripods TrilogyChristopher, JohnNew York: Aladdin, 1970204 pagesChapter bookGenres: Science fiction, coming of age, drama, quest, adventure, young adultFritz manages to escape the city and he, Will and Beanpole return to the resistance headquarters. The boys travel all over the world to set up resistance cells. When a Master is captured live, the resistance discovers that the Masters can be controlled with alcohol. The resistance places alcohol in the City water supply, disabling all the Masters. The City shell is breached and all the Masters are killed; this plan works in the second City as well, but the third City thwarts the alcohol attack. The resistance attempts to bomb them by air, but the Masters disable the motors on the airplane. Henry detonates the bomb manually, sacrificing himself for the resistance. Once the Cities are destroyed, thought control is ended and humans begin to rebuild and reconstruct their lost technologies. The Masters destroy their cities remotely, to keep humans from accessing their more advanced technologies. The series ends on a bleak note – the newly freed humans are already dividing among themselves, heading toward probably conflict.
—Melissa
While I can’t say that I was disappointed by this final chapter to the Tripods Trilogy, I have to admit that was just slightly below the first and second books in the series (The White Mountains and The City of Gold and Lead, respectively). The story takes off from where we were left, at the end of The City of Gold and Lead-In a world where alien Masters control all of mankind through strange, mandatory metal caps, only one small group of free men survive, hidden in a remote camp. Will, our story’s hero, has escaped the city of the alien Masters and has returned to the last surviving free men to report back everything he has learned, most importantly the deadly plan of the Masters to covert the Earth’s air into a breathable atmosphere for themselves, killing every other living creature on earth. Now, humans are forced to take action and strike down the Masters before it is too late.While I assure readers that Christopher delivers another action packed, adventurous book, it is noted that The Pool of Fire is slightly off pace; it begins to feel episodic, with periods of thrill followed by periods of drag, towards the end. Of course, maybe this isn’t fair to Christopher-he had to wrap up the epic struggle that he created and he does so with a satisfying conclusion. Even with the pacing issues of the final book, I am still thoroughly satisfied with the trilogy as a whole. I would recommend the trilogy to children and tweens seeking an adventure or science fiction series. One thing that I liked a lot about this series is the fact that it has a wide appeal due to its action packed plot that plays nicely with its more thoughtful elements that contemplate concepts of humanity and freedom.
—Laura
