From the Spike S. Collection: When the Tripods Came, by John Christopher (1988)

So - neither Dad nor I was aware that a prequel to The White Mountains had been written until I started doing research for the review of the Tripods Trilogy I posted a few Saturdays ago. I can't imagine how this knowledge escaped us, but there you are.

Plot Synopsis:

While on an orienteering trip with his best friend Andy, Laurie Cordray witnesses the landing of the first Tripod ever to touch ground in England. It is a frightening sight indeed, but after the Tripod snatches a farmer and his television set (presumably for study), the alien monstrosity is quickly dispatched by the British military. Tripods in the U.S. and Russia, meanwhile, are also destroyed, and people worldwide breathe sighs of relief. As alien invasions go, this one seemed pretty ludicrous.

Weeks later, "The Trippy Show" hits the airwaves. Sold as a series designed to poke fun at the Tripods, "The Trippy Show" turns out to be a good deal more, for in short order, children and adults across the world become absolutely obsessed with the program. Among these "Trippies" - the book's name for the show's crazed fans - is Laurie's little sister Angela, who attacks Laurie when Laurie accidentally fails to record an episode. As violent incidents like this one become increasingly common, some papers propose that a kind of mass hypnosis is afoot. In response, the Trippies stage protests against these news outlets - and also begin to leave their homes in droves to gather in communes. Andy's mother is among those who disappear; Angela, for her part, attempts to leave as well, but she is retrieved and cured by a psychologist and hypnotist.

Then another wave of Tripods arrive. This time, they are greeted by crowds of adoring Trippies, who agree to take temporary brainwashing Caps to all those who have not yet been influenced by "The Trippy Show." Laurie's wealthy Uncle Ian attempts to Cap Laurie, but Laurie's grandmother Martha arrives just in time to stop Uncle Ian in his tracks. At this point, both Martha and Laurie's father decide they must take Laurie, Andy, and Angela somewhere isolated to protect them from the Tripods and their followers. At first, they sail to the family's holiday home in Guernsey, but upon arrival, they discover that the island has not been spared from the Tripods' influence. They next hijack a plane and head for Geneva, Switzerland, to meet up with Laurie's stepmother Ilse. Switzerland, they've heard, is safe.

Unfortunately, Switzerland's status as a refuge does not last for long, as the French and German armies, now firmly under the Tripods' control, invade and see to it that the Swiss are also Capped. Thus, Laurie's family is forced to escape to the Swiss Alps, where they establish what will evolve into the rebel stronghold of The White Mountains.

Overall: 7.5

As Christopher relates in the preface, a fellow sci-fi writer once contended during a panel discussion that the Masters' use of searchlights instead of infrared rendered their subjugation of Earth improbable. In response, Christopher penned this novel with the intent to explain in much greater detail how an alien society that seems technologically backward in certain arenas could become the oppressors of the human race. When the Tripods Came does accomplish this stated goal, but the overall product does not impress me nearly as much as did the original trilogy.

Characterization: 6.0

Perhaps it's because I had less time to get to know them all, but I walked away from this novel feeling far less invested in the characters. As a narrator, Laurie Cordray is not unlikeable, but his personal history is presented to us in a rather slap-dash way. Christopher tells us that Laurie was second from the bottom in his form last year (for the non-Brit-savvy, that means he was a poor student), tells us that Laurie lives in a combined family, and tells us that Laurie has a somewhat distant relationship with his father, but these details don't seem to be relevant to the plot in the same way that Will Parker's impulsiveness and immaturity are relevant to the story told in the original Tripods Trilogy. And whatever flaws are noticeable in the characterization of Laurie are magnified in the characterization of the supporting players, who - with the possible exception of Laurie's grandmother Martha - are roughly drawn and pretty forgettable.

Plot/Pacing: 7.5

The plot here also seems a little choppier compared to that of the original trilogy; perhaps this is because the aforementioned exposition regarding Laurie and his family is disruptive rather than organically welded to the whole. Furthermore, I found the central conflict a little less rousing. Though Laurie and his father do carry out a successful attack on one Tripod near the end, this novel is largely a chronicle of the defeat of the human race and the retreat of free men -- and somehow, that doesn't pack quite the same punch as the original trilogy's tale of a ragtag band of underdogs and their ultimately successful battle to rid the world of the Tripods once and for all.

Concepts/Themes: 9.0

One thing is certain, however: in the twenty years between the writing of the original trilogy and the writing of this prequel, Christopher's pugnacious love for freedom was not at all diluted. Consider, for example, what Laurie's father tells Laurie as they are sailing to Guernsey:

"... In a normal law-abiding world it's better to toe the line, and come to heel when the man in uniform calls you. But that world's gone, for the time being at least. From now on it's safer to follow Martha's policy -- turn a blind eye and put your foot down."

There are echoes of Locke in this defense of man's right to rebel once his fundamental freedoms have been curtailed.