The Serpent

Atlan #1a

by Jane Gaskell

Orbit / Futura, 1985. British mass market paperback, 1st thus. The first book (or the first part of the first book) in the Atlan / Cija series. After first publication, the original novel "The Serpent" was split into two separate novels, The Serpent" and "The Dragon." Set in prehistoric South America and in the mythical world of Atlantis. The books in the series "The Serpent (1963); and "The Dragon" (1963); [both contained in the book offered here], "Atlan" (1965); "The City" (1966); and "Some Summer Lands" (1977).

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Literature, Adventure, Speculative Fiction

317 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Gaskell was born Jane Gaskell Denvil on 7 July 1941, in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, England (previously in the county of Lancashire). She is the great grandniece of the Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell. Her first novel, Strange Evil, was written when she was 14-years-old (published two years later, in 1957). In 1963 Gaskell married truck driver Gerald Lynch; and in 1965 their daughter, Lucy Emma, was born. (Their marriage ended in divorce in 1968.)

In 1970 she received the Somerset Maugham Award for her novel A Sweet, Sweet Summer.

China Miéville lists Strange Evil as one of the top 10 examples of weird fiction.

Wikipedia®

Reviews

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Want to make certain a teenager reads a book? Put it on a list of titles removed from public school library shelves. Thanks to a group of small minded folk years ago, the Atlan books have been favorites for a long time.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I first read when I was, like, sixteen. It's stuck with me. I know it's, I don't know, overblown, maybe? But it has a strongly written heroine and some great adventures. I still go back and reread it. BTW, do NOT read this book without also reading the second one, "The Dragon." These two books were originally published as one, and they really don't make sense as two separate books.

[Arlene Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were a little strange, and a bit ahead of their time, with its fiesty, independent and sexual heroine. There is an edge to these that most fantasy of the time did not have. If you like Sheri Tepper's feminist science fiction, these are worth tracking down and reading.

[Darrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

When we first meet Cija, she is a teenager trapped in a tower like Rapunzel, albeit with many servants to complain to. She doesn't know about the existence of men. Like the Biblical Judith, she is then given the task of seducing the leader of an invading army and killing him once his guard is down. The man she is sent to kill is actually a reptile who appears human for the most part, except he has a snake's tongue and scaly skin which changes color. Oh, and he sparkles in the sun.

Cija finds it difficult to get close to the leader. She spends most of her time traveling with the army as a hostage, in constant danger of being raped, so it's not exactly a fun read. I did find it interesting that one of the characters she befriends turns out to be a woman trapped in a man's body.

There are some interesting things about this novel. The people ride giant birds instead of horses. There are giant snails whose shells are used as helmets. They eat a dinosaur at one point. Unfortunately, many interesting possibilities are raised without being fully explored. There is a group known as the Changeless that we learn next to nothing about. We're told of a group of half human freaks without learning much about them.

This book has a very slow pace. It takes place in ancient South America, but character use modern slang. I know this is the first book in a series, but it ends rather abruptly. It didn't really seem to be setting up the next book, just meandering off into the weeds.

[Ikonopeiston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely beginning to one of my favourite trilogies.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 . First fantasy would continue series because I’ve gotten to know characters in a tv show way not that attached. fun change of pace . You know classic riding giant birds and unexpected cross dressing always a plus .

[Gary Reger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jane Gaskell's Atlan series seems rather forgotten today. My copy bears a blurb comparing it to "Lord of the Rings", but while Tolkien's books remain popular (and in print), Gaskell's are available only as used copies, or as pristine ones offered for outrageous prices. (Look at Amazon and shudder.)

This disappearance is terribly unfortunate. Gaskell was an excellent writer; open her book at random and you will find vivid description, original and striking metaphor, and carefully constructed, varying sentences that deploy a wide-ranging and sophisticated vocabulary. Her approach to characterization depends on the telling detail: a prostitute who's been invited unexpectedly to a high-class dinner reacted to this elevation by "put[ting] on her sandals"--beautifully observed.

The first person narrator of the tale is a young girl (17 at its start), Cija; Gaskell's conceit is that she's keeping a diary of her adventures. Gaskell never violates the narrative position; we only get what Cija sees, hears, feels, and knows. But despite her age and cramped upbringing, Cija is smart, observant, and reflective. She also freely admits her own mistakes and naiveté. She's a charming companion, whom you want to follow through almost 500 pp of text.

There are some disturbing elements for today's reader. Cija's virginity is stolen in a rape; she doees exact revenge by killing her assailant. Her other sexual encounters are also rapes, the last of which she enjoys. This is the only issue I have, though, aside from trivialities like whether Cija could actually have found the time to write so much! No doubt the rape trope should be attributed to the time Gaskell wrote; "The Serpent" appeared originally in 1963.

This is an intelligent fantasy for intelligent readers. It is far from the sword-and-sorcery glop that is churned out today for a mass audience. Gaskell deserves to be rediscovered.

Addendum: when some paperback editions of the series were published, the first volume was divided into two books: "The Serpent" and "The Dragon." The edition I read and reviewed here is the original, with both volumes together. As an aid to others, the separate edition of "The Dragon" contains the last 4 chapters of the original: I (=6), The Bed in Southern City; II (=7), The Palace; III (=8), Escape; and IV (=9), The Possession. I take this information from a 1975 edition of 206 pp published by Tandem Publishing, Ltd.

[Kaila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strangely anti-woman. Cija hates every woman she comes across, but thinks she herself is pretty awesome. Somehow, this became endearing as she was painted quite well as both ignorant and innocent. Basically everyone in the novel, women included, are constantly telling her she needs to wise up, and she blissfully ignores them.

For some unknown reason, somewhere along the line, this first book was divided into two volumes. It's easy to come across the entire book as it was originally published, or the first half, but the second half, published as The Serpent, Part 2: The Dragon, is incredibly difficult to track down.

This is the last line of my copy, the DIVIDED version. If this is also the last line of your copy, I have bad news for you.

"His eyes were not fixed, staring glassily into space as the governor's had been; Smahil's eyes sought mine, and his were vivid with life, triumphant, tender, mocking."

Hopefully this will help your search, as I couldn't figure out for a long time whether the copy I had was divided or not.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

(n.b. This edition takes the first volume of Gaskell's series (confusingly also called The Serpent in its original publication) and splits it into two volumes -- The Serpent and The Dragon)

I'm not entirely sure what first drew me to these books back in ... high school? maybe even junior high? I'm guessing that it was just seeing Atlan on the public library shelf, thinking, "Atlantis, huh? OK, that's cool," and working my way back to the first in the series. I'm also not sure, across these vast gulfs of time, how far in the series I actually got back in the day; and there's a whole lot of stuff in these books that would have just whizzed right above my 14 year old head.

But anyway. Regardless of how much I did or didn't actually read back in the day, parts of the story have always stuck with me, so I decided that it was time for a revisit.

The series is presented as a diary written by one Cija, daughter of the Dictatress of a small nation (city-state?) on the eastern seaboard what would be the present-day continent of South America, although the story takes place in a distant, mythical prehistory when, amongst other things, there was a small continent called Atlan out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean; and those Atlanteans, clever buggers that they were, had sealed their island off from the rest of the world behind a mile-wide shell of vacuum.

Cija has been raised in isolation her entire life, living in a tower on the seacoast, tended only by women, and told (slight fib) that the men of the species had become extinct. She is also, perhaps unsurprisingly, kind of a brat and a terror. Then at the age of 17 or so, she discovers that her mother hasn't been entirely truthful with her; and that not only do men still exist, but that she, Cija, is going to be given as part of a party of hostages to the notorious general Zerd (a northerner whose skin is blue and finely scaled like that of a serpent), who is passing through the area on his way to cement an alliance with the Southern Kingdom, with the ultimate intention of breaching the vacuum barrier and conquering Atlan; but Cija's mother the Dictatress has a secret mission for her daughter -- seduce Zerd and then kill him. Easy-peasey!

Or, perhaps, not. This is, as mentioned above, just the first half of the original first volume, and follows Cija on any number of scrapes and escapades as she keeps escaping, being captured by some other party, being kept as a concubine or a plaything, escaping again, being recaptured again, etc., etc. (And oh, yeah, this is one of those books that kind of plays fast and loose with the whole idea of consent, and takes a certain amount of sexual assault as just kind of par for the course; so if that's not your thing, then steer clear.)

This is a series that seems to have kind of fallen by the wayside over the years, and that's a bit of a shame. I know that Michael Moorcock regards it highly, and it was influential on Tanith Lee, amongst others. Cija has a very breezy narrative style (which presumably Gaskell was "translating" into 1960s vernacular) and everything is filtered through her (often naïve) perceptions. The world is just kind of sketched in -- in fairness, most of it is unfamiliar to Cija, who's often kind of just along for the ride -- but fascinating nonetheless, filled with cavalry riding large (now extinct) flightless terror birds and the like.

Worth a look if you can accept a few infelicities.

[Kim Cowie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was written some time ago and is now out of print, though the five paperback volumes of the Atlan series can easily be found from secondhand book resellers. Some of Jane Gaskell's non-fantasy work is hard to obtain and surviving copies change hands for fancy prices. Jane Gaskell's work was widely admired in the 1970's but she has faded from view. I rediscovered her recently because she was included in a list of '100 Best Fantasy Novels'.
The Atlan novels are set in a kind of prehistory where warriors ride giant flightless birds, civilisations battle, and the fauna include man-apes. Volcanoes erupt, damsels are carried off. Cities are described in luxuriant and exotic detail. 'Atlan' is of course Atlantis.
The heroine, Cija, is a princess who is brought up in an isolated tower before enduring a series of varied and often humiliating adventures, being at different times enslaved, made pregnant and married to a conquering half-lizard warlord. The story is narrated by Cija herself in a resolutely cheerful tone as though written down in her diary which she carries with her.
Cija's general lack of agency may not chime with more modern tastes, but this is a true original and well worth tracking down, as it's better than a lot of the fantasy currently available on Amazon.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good book. Going in to this I really didn't know what to expect from it so I was pleasantly surprised with it. Cija's situation is definitely an interesting one, and seeing how she grows throughout all the stuff that happens to her is cool. It is obvious that the author definitely intended this to be a much longer work considering the cliff hanging and abrupt ending.

[Rebecca Ives · Rating 1 out of 5]

I spent most of the time while reading this book hoping that the heroine would die, thus fulfilling the "survival of the fittest" concept. The character's behavior largely ran from stupid to self-centered oblivion. Bleh - I rooted for the antagonist.

[Victoria Sadler · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a teenager, I thought this was wonderful. A strange, emotional fantasy sci-fi epic that just gripped me.

[Chris Duval · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review covers the original 'The Serpent,' separated in this printing into two volumes, the second called 'The Dragon.'

This is a fantasy* adventure told by a woman, Cija, in the first person** that has five-star aspects (particularly when one considers it was first published in 1963) and three-star flaws. Instead of talking about either of these, I'm going to talk first about what I found most uncomfortable: Cija's mixed reactions to being raped.

All of the directly described first sexual intercourses she has with various men are rapes; her longest relationship prior to the epilogue is consensual after the first time, but in a context of coerced confinement and emotional abuse. Cija speaks of arousal,*** sometimes of pleasure, during several of these rapes--and doesn't categorize them all in her mind as rapes. I found this disturbing. My mind wandered back over some other SFF books that dealt non-trivially with rape. I'd recommend comparing it with: Octavia Butler's 'Parable of the Talents' (empathic victim); Gwyneth Jones's 'Life' (rape by a colleague); and either Jo Walton's 'The King’s Peace' or Mary Gentle's 'A Secret History' (trauma's relation to magic).

A theme of the book was accommodation to captors, conquerors, and rough types that Cija took as companions due to demanding circumstances. This also made me think of other books that dealt with the moral wilderness of the occupied, and their sometimes collaboration, sometimes rebellion. Outside of SFF I thought of an introductory history about the Philippines that spoke of the ambiguity of Ferdinand Marcos's acts during the Japanese occupation. Within SFF I thought of: Carol Emshwiller's 'The Mount'; Gordon Dickson's 'The Way of the Pilgrim'; and Harry Harrisons' 'West of Eden.'

* There are allusions to super-technology, but these are remote from the character. Generally, transport, weaponry, agricultural implements, kitchen tools, and urban amenities are all pre-modern.

** Told as diary entries, although emotional immediacy is generally present.

*** I remember reading for a class the testimony of a victim of the rapist called 'Stinky.' She testified that the humiliation was worsened by the arousal that eventually came with the prolonged attack.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Atlan Saga. If your book seems to end abruptly there's a reason for that not the fault of the author. First published in 1963, in later editions it was split in half with the second half published as The Dragon. I first read this--and loved this--in my teens. I'm rather afraid to reread them and find my memory of them doesn't hold. I do remember them as even then striking me as beyond weird yet irresistible. Just from what I remember, let alone what I've been reminded of by reviews makes me rather embarrassed to have loved them. They are utterly bizarre. This is framed as a diary of a princess who lived on an Earth before there was a moon, in a land of ape men and dinosaur men. One of those scaled men, Zerd, is the "serpent" of the title. Our diarist, Cija, is the clumsiest heroine you'd ever want to meet--a precursor of Bella in that way except she does overachieve on ego. She's a princess raised in a tower and told she was hatched from an egg and men are extinct--until she's told she'll have to seduce Zerd and assassinate him. Okay! The thing is the writing and the world Gaskell creates is so lush it's addictive.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rocky start to the Atlan Saga. Coming out almost twenty years before Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun series, Gaskell’s molds an innovative prehistory that now seems like a precursor for Wolfe. The setting and hints at political underpinnings intrigued and kept me going despite the faltering first half. I’m sure this will be the story of Cija coming into her own, and the second half starts to demonstrate that, but the first 150 pages seemed like a teenage diary. Her crushes and insecurities. Fortunately, things take a turn and the story starts feeling less a like a Young Adult as things progress.

I’m cautiously optimistic and will stay on this trail with Gaskell to Atlan.

[Scheherazade · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Serpent was first published in 1963. It is the first part of the Atlan series, a set of four (or five*) fantasy novels set in prehistoric times. The following novels are Atlan , The City and Some Summer Lands . The stories are set in Atlantis and South America.

* The Serpent was also published split into two books, titled The Serpent and The Dragon , hence the confusion over the numbering of the volumes.

I read this series in my teens and have just recently reread them. Great plot and execution of storyline. Enjoyed the swashbuckling otherworldly feel and the sexy themes are not OTT.
Different, dynamic and worth the effort.

[Julie Long gallegos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this series as a young teenager - perfect YA reading and adult reading. Swinging 60s filtered through a most vivid realization of Atlantis and pre-history - and told in diary first-person. What could possibly not be to love? Style to burn, and wickedly great characters, lust, humor, adventure.

[Matthew Pennell · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, this 1963 fantasy novel (the first in a series of five loosely written about the lost continent of Atlantis) has a handful of fun ideas and engaging characters, but is let down by some occasional leaps in logic and clumsy phrasing.

[Kevin Kovacs · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book felt a little different from what I wanted when beginning, it really picked up and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I felt like I rushed the beginning but I went back after I got to the end. I believe I will retrieve the second book.

[Deb Southerland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book at the time I read it. I must dig it up and read it again, and if I like it as much now, give it a better rating.

[Katy Lohman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember it being very surreal.

[Sophie Gale · Rating 4 out of 5]

first read in June 1969. Surprised how well it has held up!

[Pollymoore3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book I of the Atlan saga. These stories are brilliantly imagined and told, vastly better than most fantasy writing. Sexy and humorous, too.

[Kars · Rating 3 out of 5]

A romantic drama told in the first person from a young women’s POV, dressed up as a pulp fantasy adventure story. The world-building is actually quite interesting, and when Gaskell narrates action she’s pretty good at it, too. But the amount of agonizing over all varieties of relationships just got a little bit boring after a while. I admit I was drawn to this for its controversial reputation, and I can see how in the early 60ies some of the book’s sexual politics may have been pushing the envelope, but from today’s perspective a lot of it is perhaps less liberatory and more problematic. Although who am I to judge as a white cis het male? Anyway, I’ve gotten used to pulp fantasy contemporaneous with this that covered the amount of action in this book in a fraction of the page count. Sure, those may lack the romance and drama, and be more straightforwardly masculine in their outlook, but they tend to make up for it in pure escapist fun.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Written with the aplomb of a small child who can't even structure a sentence yet. It's interesting to a point, but there's no need to force myself through a book that slipped out of memory for an obvious reason. Cija has led a sheltered upbringing and never met men before and been told they don't exist, yet is ultimately tasked by her mother to couple with and kill a man who may or may not be interested in doing such. It's the lack of soul-seacrhing around any of these things and the paltry world-building that ultimately led me to abandon this as we just get tiresome diary updates of "this happened" and "this happened" when the internal psychology and setting could both be quite fascinating. It's a frustrating experience particularly as this was an opportunity to establish female perspectives in fantasy narratives early on - I'll be interested to see how that develops throughout the 60s though as I have plenty more women's writing to come (probably as much as the males)

[Christina Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a used bookstore find that i decided to grab a bunch of old books and read them. This was the first book i decided to read. This was written in the 60s and the 60s culture is some what present in this fiction fantasy. I quite enjoy this book due to the realistic relationships. This is no romance novel. To me every character has good sides and bad sides. The main character Cija is naive and bratty at first which gets her in a lot of trouble. The world hardens her as the book progresses and she tends to trudge through the terrible world she lives in like a champ. I did however was surprise for a book written the 60s to have a transgender character. That character was also the most likable one and pure in my opinion. It did have its annoying parts and its eye rolling parts. Overall it was an entertaining read.

[James]

In the time-lost world of prehistory, a girl was born to the Dictatress. Was she a goddess: Cija herself believed she was. For seventeen years her mother had kept her imprisoned in a tower. She released her with one object in view: as a tool to seduce Zerd, the half-man, half-serpent lord of an invading army. Cija goes off with Zerd to attempt the conquest of fabled Atlantis ... and enters upon a series of startling adventures that forces her into many roles: princess and camp follower, scullion and empress, slave, cook, and heroine warrior....

[Scoper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm. So far I'm not really enjoying this. The protag is a young girl, who's clueless and rather annoying - although it's the first book in the series, so she may improve. There aren't any other likable characters so far, and quite a bit of unpleasant and violent sex. But the world, although somewhat obfuscated at this point, is just interesting enough to be intriguing me and I am curious about Atlan. So I might trudge through a bit more of it to see where it goes.

[Lynda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written back in 1963, this book has Chocobos in it (giant riding chickens, for those who don't know), and a brief section about the evils of chemically altered foods. This is the story of a young woman who is sent off by her mother as a war hostage with the understanding that she is expected to marry and kill the general of the enemy army.