James Nicoll Reviews

1965’s Atlan is the third volume in Jane Gaskell’s sword-and-sorcery Atlan series … unless you purchased 1963’s The Serpent before it was divided into The Dragon (1975) and The Serpent (1975), in which case Atlan is the second volume. It was followed by two other volumes in the series, The City (1966) and Some Summer Lands (1977).

Naïve, cosseted Cija, having survived many unpleasant educational experiences, has married man-serpent Zerd, now Emperor of Atlan. One might think this would confer on Cija a measure of security, but no, Cija is beset on all sides. 

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The Dragon is the second half of the original 1963 hardcover edition of Jane Gaskell’s The Serpent, which in turn is the first part of the Atlan series. Publishers, am I right? Let’s call it book two of the Atlan series and move on. 

Thanks to the tumultuous events towards the end of the previous instalment, Cija is on the run. She manages to hide in plain sight, as her friend Smahil’s lover. Smahil insists on making this pretense real. It’s probably for the best that Cija does not know that Smahil is her half-brother. 

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1963’s The Serpent is the first volume in Jane Gaskell’s Atlan series. 

Long, long ago, before Atlan and Mu sank, when humanity still lived alongside the brontosaurus, Cija was raised in an isolated palace by servants of her Dictatress mother. Now seventeen, Cija chafes at the restrictions under which she must live. 

The Dictatress descends upon the palace and Cija’s life changes in an instant. 

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