The Pool of Fire (3) (The Tripods)

I read this series as a youngster, and just reread as a soon to be 60 year old and still enjoyed it!

One of the greatest classic sci-fi books. Suitable for teens...

Exciting but needs a little more of a foundation😎

In Book 1 of “The Tripods” series, Will Parker, his cousin Henry, and Jean-Paul, whom they call Bean-Pole, escape the Tripods who rule the earth and join the resistance. In Book 2, Will, Bean-Pole, and a boy named Fritz are sent to pose as slaves in one of the Cities of the Masters so that they might obtain information that would be helpful in defeating them. In Book 3, Will and Fritz travel to Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Middle East to organize more resistance against the Tripods. The resistance, having ambushed a Tripod, discovers that alcohol has a strong soporific effect on the Masters and uses this knowledge in developing a plan of attack on their cities.However, with the news that one of the Masters’ spaceships is due to arrive from their home planet in about four years, the humans’ time to work out the plan and execute it is short. Can they come up with one in time? Does it work? Or will they get caught? There is a fourth book in the series, When the Tripods Came, but it is actually a prequel, so The Pool of Fire is a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Some unfortunate deaths do occur, but, after all, this is a war against evil for the survival of mankind, and the descriptions are not gory or lurid.I did notice one observation which I questioned. Henry is worried about future wars because he is afraid “that men should go out to kill other men they did not know, simply because they lived in a foreign land.” While no one wants war, that is, to me, a rather simplistic view. Yes, some wars are silly, but others have to be fought because there is a genuine evil that needs to be eradicated. The trick, of course, is knowing the difference. One reviewer did not care for the fact that the protagonist seemed more annoying this time around, like everyone else is growing up around him and he’s still a bit insufferable. Well, Will is a typical human being, with the same kinds of faults and foibles which all of us have. He makes mistakes, but tries to learn from them. I liked the book.

STOP!!! You, O Reader, must stop reading and listen to this warning now. The book that this review tells about is the third book of the series The Tripods. Understood? Do you take upon all responsibilities? Yes? Good. O Guardian of the Review, open the gate! (Yes, by the way he exists).The Pool of Fire, by John Christopher (oh yes, Samuel Youd) is the follow-up of The City of Gold and Lead, which is the follow-up of The White Mountains. Now that Julius and the scientists have the samples that Will brought from the City, they are ready to catch a Master. They unlock the secret to defeating the Masters, but it is risky business…I am sorry, but I must declare a horrible truth to you: I was utterly disappointed in this book. Compared to its two older siblings, The White Mountains and The City of Gold and Lead, it was amazingly dull. Unlike The City of Gold and Lead, it had almost no action. I was shocked when I realized this, because a book without action is a page of alien writing (or my ex-piano teacher’s writing). I was also disappointed because the ending was what I call “incomplete”, which I think is OK for books with sequels, but not conclusive ones (the next book, When the Tripods Came, tells of the coming of the Masters to the Earth). As I read the book, I tried to feel hopeful that something tremendously exciting would happen, but I was disappointed. I closed the cover feeling sad and deceived because I was sure that John Christopher (ahem, Samuel Youd) could have made a masterpiece instead of this tragedy.However, The Pool of Fire shouts out a clear message. If we wish to understand it properly, we must take a step back. Let me see… every time we have a war, we threaten to destroy ourselves. However, if a force were to come against humanity, we would do two things: bicker amongst ourselves with how to deal with it; then unite and deal with it anyway. All together we could just defeat the force against us — that is, if we haven’t blown ourselves up already. This unity would make us bond together, get to know different races and cultures better. It is important that we get together now, so that we will be ready to confront any force (it can even be global warming), but also so that we can try to find ourselves in different cultures and be ready to resist racism and other things.Though this book brought me into the “depths of despair” (that’s from Ann of Green Gables), I encourage you to give it a chance. However, don’t expect anything supernaturally spectacular, because you will be even more disappointed than I was. I will remind you that this is the third of four books, the previous being The White Mountains and The City of Gold and Lead, and the next being When the Tripods Came. Go ahead, open it up. Remind me that from now on, whenever I see its name, I will write “disappointment”. And if you'd like to see more youth reviewed books, go to my blog, bookshelfexplorer.com.

Very good

My 12 year old son loved the whole Tripods series