The White Mountains is "The Tripods #1" by John Christopher. I first read this oh many years ago: perhaps when I was fourteen. This is probably my first re-read. Now, I'll have to find the other two in the series.
It's fun. Officially "young adult" so some things can be excused. There's even a veneer of philosophy in there: is it better to be free, or to be happy? In this out hero decides to be free, though the "happy" version doesn't have much downside in this book.
Good bits: how things are described; the olde-time objects (most obviously, grenades)are described in terms of how people see them, not using their names. The railway is the shmand-fair, because that's what the French word sounds like. The overall adventure story is decent, and well told. One can doubt that children or even adults would really make it so far, but that is a quibble for all such books.
There are two obvious plot holes... actually, make that three. The first is that really, if people were out seeking for recruits, they would have some kind of system of safe-houses or something along the way. The second is the Count taking in three strangers and treating one of them so well and leaving him alone with his teenage daughter; that seems implausible. The third is the tracking device: having implanted it, why make it quite so blatant that you can follow? It's also odd - well, nowadays, with drones common - that the Tripods only mobility is via Tripods; why wouldn't they have a swarm of drones to do the small work too? But, I'm quibbling.
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