The City of Gold and Lead (1967 original; edició 2003)

When revisiting a memorable book from childhood, it's interesting to go back and see what age it was recommended for. Scholastic says this series is for 6-8th grade, which seems a bit late. The 'great man' theory permeates this (absolutely fine, engaging) series, and I think it does a disservice to the reader's intelligence if they are really reading this in 8th grade (I mean, they are 13-14 years old at that point!). You have the normal issue with most book protagonists - everything important happens to them or near them or with their help, and layered on top of this is a coda where humanity goes back to it's warring ways because they couldn't trust one great man to lead them. I think this series is a fine introduction to science fiction for a young reader, with the understanding that it may reinforce weird beliefs about 'great men of history.'

I give books in a series, with a few exceptions, the same review. ( )

After a year in the White Mountains, the resistance charges Will, Beanpole, and a German boy, Fritz, to infiltrate a Tripod city by competing in a regional sporting exhibition. Will, a boxer, and Fritz, a runner, win their respective contests, while Beanpole fails to win in the jumping events.

The winners are taken to the Tripod city in a pressurised dome astride a river. Inside the city, the boys discover the Tripods' operators, whom they refer to as the "Masters". Human males are slaves inside the cities, while beautiful females are killed and preserved for the Masters to admire. Slaves are furnished with breathing masks to survive the aliens' atmosphere, but are rapidly exhausted by the stronger artificial gravity and must therefore be periodically replaced. Although Fritz is abused by his Master, Will is treated as a privileged pet by his. Eventually, Will's Master reveals a plan to replace the Earth's atmosphere with the Masters' toxic air to enable full control of the Earth. When the Master finds Will's diary, Will kills him to maintain the secret. With the assistance of Beanpole and Fritz, who temporarily stays behind to maintain Will’s alibi, he escapes and returns to the White Mountains with Beanpole. The story's title refers to the gold colour prevalent in the Masters' cities, as well as the leaden weight of the increased gravity on the human slaves.

I enjoyed my re-read of this book more than The White Mountains, I think because Will wasn't being as whiny during it. (He was still getting himself into dumb scrapes, but he was more-or-less taking responsibility for them.) There's still a lot less development of either plot or character than I'm used to in the books I read, but I'm also not used to reading children's books. ( )

Segunda parte de la trilogía de los trípodes, una de mis primeras incursiones en la CF. Años después, leyendo a Greg Egan, en la historia en la que al cumplir 18 años de cambian el cerebro por uno de silicio, me acordé de esta novela, en la que una raza invasora a bordo de robots (los trípodes) hacen que al llegar a la mayoría de edad todos los jóvenes se implanten un chip. Los que no lo hacen se convierten en fugitivos y deben huir. Una novela de ciencia ficción para jóvenes que me gustó mucho. ( )

In this book, Will and a few others are sent on a mission to learn more about the Tripods. I enjoyed getting to finally see what they are and to learn more about the alien culture. That also made for a neat contrast from the first book, which examined the remains of pre-Tripod human civilization (aka what real life is like now) as though it were similarly alien.

This book had the same problem that the previous one did in that a lot of the story was told in summary rather than scene. My other major problem with this book was that there were no speaking female characters in the entire book. For some reason, the resistance on the White Mountains only seem to take pre-Capped boys, though I can't fathom why they wouldn't bother looking to save and recruit the girls, as well. Additionally, the only alien creatures we are introduced to are treated as male, and the only other humans in that world with which our main characters interact are also male. Eloise, one of the only females from the first book, was mentioned, but did not take up a speaking role in this book for certain reasons that I won't spoil here. ( )