When the Tripods Came

Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful sci-fi
Review: I have not read the original trilogy yet. According to several reviewers, my enjoyment of that series will be curtailed by having read this prequel first. Oh, well. I still plan to read the rest of the books because I enjoyed this one so much. John Christopher makes a very interesting and effective choice when he chooses to tell his story entirely from the point of view of his adolescent protagonists. We know only what they know. Their lives go on fairly normally for a time, even after the Tripods have arrived on Earth. But things begin to go gradually wrong until, by the end of the book, the Tripods are firmly in control of the Earth and our protagonists are fleeing for their lives with every hand turned against them. Very good. And the Tripods' method of taking over is chilling.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT EXLPLANTATIONS!
Review: I thought this book was well written. Perhaps not as well as the rest of the series, but it holds many good answers to the series that the rest do not answer. Very good description on how the world was taken over. Very interesting on how un-capped humans came to live in the White Mountains. I do have one suggestion: Read the first three books before reading this one. I think the magic in the series is NOT knowing how the Tripods and Masters took over the earth. This book was written as a prequal, a book made to explain things that were left out in the other books. If you read this one first, I do think the rest of the series: The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, and The Pool of Fire, will not hold as much magic and imagination if you had read it last. Very good, very thorough, but meant to be the last read.

Rating:
Summary: my book revew
Review: I would recommend this book to someone who likes adventure, suspense, action, science fiction, and series. I liked this book because it keeps you on the edge of your seat. It's so exciting. I liked when the doctor hypnotized the main character's sister because he was a Trippy. He asked her what she needed to do and she said, "What ever the Tripod tells me." She was totally brainwashed. Also, when his whole family had the hats on, they were trying to put one on him. They were saying, "Total happiness comes when you become one with the Tripod." So, if you enjoy these kinds of books, this is the perfect book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Spidery Creatures Grab Readers' Guts
Review: In this book, aliens land on earth. At first they don't do much, but then they start a TV show and broadcast subliminal messages to take away people's brains. The hypnotized Trippies start to enslave people with brain-controlling machines known as Caps. Soon the Tripods have taken over the whole world, and only a small band of free humans is left. I thought this was a great book. It has a unique and suspenseful story. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense and science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: An eerie vision of Earth's first contact, reviewed by Dmitry
Review: John Christopher has done it again with his amazing prequel to his tripods trilogy. The main characters struggle to maintain normalcy in their lives when Earth is visited by mysterious alien visitors that come in the form of stoic and bizzare tripods. Soon the tripods take over the citizens of Earth using subliminal messages transmitted through television. Soon, the tripods land again, and the brainwashed humans flock to join them. Soon Earth is divided between caps and free, and the struggle is on. The heroes struggle to safety, and find refuge in the hills of Switzerland, leaving us with a tiny hope that the human race may yet save itself from the mysterious tripod invaders

Rating:
Summary: NOT JUST FOR THE YOUNG
Review: MANY PEOPLE DON'T SEEM TO REALIZE IT, BUT THIS BOOK IS NOT JUST FOR KIDS. THIS BOOK MAY SEEM SIMPLE WITH ONLY 150 PAGES, BUT LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING. ALIENS LAND ON EARTH AND BEGAN USING TELEVISION AGAINST US. PEOPLE GIVE THEIR MINDS TO THE TRIPODS AND BEGAN TO LOOK FOR MORE UNWILLING RECRUITS(KIND OF REMINDS ME OF THE INVAISION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS). THE TRIPODS ARE DESTROYED IN A STRIKE BY A UNITED EARTH, BUT SOON THEIR DISCIPLES TAKE OVER WORLD GOVERNMENTS. A NEW SOCIETY EMERGES DEDICATED TO ENSLAVING OUR OWN. THIS IS DEFINIATLY NOT KIDS STUFF. IN ESSENCE IT IS A SCIENCE FICTION HORROR STORY ABOUT HAVING YOUR MIND AND YOUR FREEDOM STOLEN FROM YOU. VERY THOUGHT-PROVOKING, A MUST READ FOR ALL SCIENCE FICTION FANS. SHOULD BE MADE INTO A FILM ALONG WITH ALL OF THE OTHER BOKKS IN THE SERIES. ALSO STORY IS SUBLIMINALLY DARK BUT HAS A HOPEFUL ENDING.

Rating:
Summary: "Coming of Age" story used as prequel
Review: My children are aged 7-11, still to young to have discovered the wonders of science fiction. I am older, and am both a physicist, and an adherent of Gene Roddenberry's Prime Directive for dealing with alien cultures. Because of my background, I was predisposed to look for certain elements as I read the story to my kids. Instead, I was treated to a functional family operating in a completely disfunctional world. Laurie's father and his grandmother were unpredictably delightful in their realization of the situation and in their absurd actions. Minor characters such as the pilot, the policeman's wife, the member of the clergy, and the station policeman had much to say about today's society. The last third of the book was less exciting than their discovery of the Tripods or their first interactions with the Trippies, but may have been logically required as a prequel to the Trilogy.

Rating:
Summary: When the Tripods Came
Review: The entire series by John Christopher is well written and we enjoyed them as read-alouds for our children when they were about eleven. They are certainly just as enjoyable as an adult read and contain some startling insights. (Years ago Chicago's PBS showed the BBC television series based on these books which is how we decided to try the books.) Very exciting, rather haunting. Also, for a reluctant reader, the books aren't extremely lengthy and there is plenty of action to encourage the reader to finish the book. I highly recommend this series for the whole family. They stimulate a lot of good conversation over ethics and start youngsters and teens to thinking about how much freedom we actually have. Like the 'Giver', the content is a good neutral starting place for some lively discussion with your pre-teens and older. Also, as mentioned in a previous review, the whole TeleTubbie and Pokeman thing happened AFTER these books were written so for those of us who had read these before, it was a bit jolting almost prophetic, in a sense.

Rating:
Summary: Arg! Pokemon!
Review: The only thing I have to say is, look at the Teletubbies and the Pokemon craze. Then read the book. Then look at these fads again...from a distance. We may not be threatened in the near future by an invasion from space, but the concept of hypnotising by television/popular culture is close enough to put a chill down your spine. I recommend reading this one *after* the original trilogy. Surprisingly good for a "young adult" sci fi trilogy. Reminds me of "The Giver" in terms of scale and depth of human nature. Movie franchise plausible, laudable.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book
Review: This book is very interesting. I would not reccommend just this book, people should read the entire series. I've read this book many times. John Christopher does an amazing job mixing the future with the past.