The White Mountains is the first book of what has come to be known as Christopher's Tripods Trilogy. The novels are set in a future world in which the earth has been invaded by aliens, called Masters, who rule through the Tripods— great metal machines that move on three legs. The series' protagonist, Will Parker, and two companions embark on a quest across a Tripod-controlled Europe to join a band of resisters headquartered in the Alps. In the next book of the trilogy, The City of Goldand Lead, Will and a friend enter the domed city of the Masters as slaves in order to explore the alien culture. In The Pool of Fire, the freedom fighters wage a war against the Masters and manage to regain control of the earth.

The Lotus Caves is a highly original novel that explores the temptation to yield individual...