When the Tripods Came
Author: John Christopher
Genre: Science Fiction
Year: 1988
Rating: 9 of 10
Reading this book was a real nostalgia trip for me. My first experience with science fiction as a kid (outside of Wells and Verne) was reading the original Tripod Trilogy. I loved the strangeness and sense of adventure experienced by children coming of age, just as I was. I had not been aware at the time that there was a prequel written decades later, after the BBC television show had come out (which I also didn’t find until recently). The prequel tells the story of how the Tripods arrived on Earth and how they came to dominate the world and convince people to be capped and brought into subservience. While I only seldom read young adult novels these days this one was a pleasure to read and I believe I would have been captivated even without reliving a childhood memory. Whether you are young or older these books are well worth a read and have aged quite well in my opinion. The series is a great place to get kids started on science fiction and I believe that I would say that even has I not read them as a child.
Purchase: Buy!