sawyl | The City of Gold and Lead (Reply)

Onwards to the second of John Christopher's Tripod novels in the shape of The City of Gold and Lead, which introduces both the resistance organisation and the alien Masters, travelling the Earth from their closed cities in their Tripods.

Having made it to the White Mountains, Will, Henry and Beanpole have started training for the next phase of the mission to free humanity: to infiltrate a huge Tripod city in Germany. In order to do this Will, Beanpole and a boy named Fritz find themselves sent to compete in an athletics competition. After falling foul of an alcoholic bargeman, Will and Beanpole have to make their way up-river to the games, arriving just in the nick of time. Will and Fritz are victorious and find themselves taken as slaves to the City of the alien Masters. Here the gravity, temperature and humidity are much high than normal while the air is poisonous to humans. Using the spare time available to them, the pair try to find out more about the city and the Masters — some of whom are brutal and some of whom, like Will's Master, treat their slaves like pets.

A rather better instalment than the first book, largely because of the oppressive atmosphere of the Master's city. Will's character is developed somewhat — his initial dislike of Fritz turning into a strong friendship under the shared pressurs of life in city — and his Master, the only alien we get to know, is an intriguing creature who tries to get to know his slave, trying to understand what it means for a human to have a friend whilst failing to realise that their relationship is too unequal for anything real. The City is well imagined, with the combined claustrophobia of the poisonous air and the dragging gravity coupled with the incomprehensibility of the Master's jobs and behaviours, making the place feel hostile and deeply alien.

It's still a Boy's Own story — and Eloise reappearing like a pinned butterfly in the Masters' Pyramid of Beauty really doesn't help — but the contrast between Will, moping despite having a relatively kindly Master, and Fritz, efficiently working to find out as much as possible about the city despite a master who beats him regularly, is well done. Definitely the highpoint of the series.