The Pool of Fire

The great domed City of the Masters has been penetrated; their plan for polluting the earth's air has been learned; now it is possible, and essential, for the uncapped, uncontrolled remnant in the White Mountains to act. Concluding the trilogy that began with The White Mountains, Will, the rash young narrator escaped from a future pastoral England, recounts his travels arousing resistance to the intra-terrestrial tyrants and their vehicular Tripods among the about-to-be-Capped; the ensnaring of a Tripod and the scientific examination of one captured Master; the accidental discovery that he is temporarily paralyzed by alcohol - which offers a way to strike simultaneously at the three Cities by adulterating their water supply. The attack against the City of Gold and Lead succeeds but the City in the West resists sabotage, necessitating a direct assault - finally, crucially, by a flotilla of balloons. Men have regained their freedom; will they then - as a crypto-UN conference indicates - resume their quarreling? Intriguing in detail and often tense, but not as startling or trenchant as the first, not as psychologically suggestive as the second, this should be read as it's meant to be last. (Kirkus Reviews)