The City

Atlan #3

by Jane Gaskell

Endless Peril...Anguished Fate!
Rescued by a bold sailor, held in the confines of a lascivious brothel, Cija faces yet another life-and-death ordeal.
She escapes but her respite is short-lived. Treachery and betrayal sweep her into the temple of her hated father, beyond a terrifying, sensual interlude in the Arena of Apes.
With the seed of her ape-man lover growing within her she is carried to her ultimate destiny inside the monstrous walls of Atlan...

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

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

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

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

Take Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan, H. Rider Haggard's Lost Civilizations and John Norman's Gor and as your heroine princess raised to believe she's divine and men are extinct and you have the world of the Atlan Saga. The City continues the perils of Princess Cija, who falls into the clutches of Sedili, the first wife of her lover Zerd, a man-serpent general. Cija does grow on you, which given these are supposed to be her diaries is important. So, this is the description of the book on Goodreads:

Endless Peril...Anguished Fate! Rescued by a bold sailor, held in the confines of a lascivious brothel, Cija faces yet another life-and-death ordeal. She escapes but her respite is short-lived. Treachery and betrayal sweep her into the temple of her hated father, beyond a terrifying, sensual interlude in the Arena of Apes. With the seed of her ape-man lover growing within her she is carried to her ultimate destiny inside the monstrous walls of Atlan...

Yes, really. Sometimes I'm embarrassed to admit I've read these, let alone these are favorites that have been on my bookshelves since my teens, but there you are. Addictive like crack. Or just crack pot.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

In which things come full-circle (this was the end of the original Atlan trilogy, back when it was still a trilogy) -- Cija, having fled the mystical continent of Atlan, finds herself in a pretty crappy coastal city which she gradually comes to realize is her own homeland (in her defense, she was raised in isolation in a tower on the outskirts, and her only real experience of the City proper was her hurried passage through it as one of General Zerd's hostages back when everything began). And there are still more plots and shenanigans involving Cija and her young daughter Seka, and all manner of factions moving against each other for advantage.

[Richard Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gets more outrageous, and the language more baroque, as it progresses.

[Alien]

(alte Wertung: die Handlung kann man vergessen, aber gute Charaktere und Details. Leicht perverse Züge. 2-3)

[Christina Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting continuation of the Atlan saga. It gives you a sort of end to Cija’s back story of the prophecy she is tied to. It was the shorter book but it had a lot of action in it and adventure that I admit was better than the past books. The story was unique halfway through and went beyond weird but it gave Cija some character development, I suppose.

[Kaila · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was kinda all over the place. Liked it enough, though. Zerd didn't make a SINGLE appearance which is just ugh. I hope he's in the next one.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, there's a lot to unpack with this one. It's the only book in the series I've read (always dangerous) and while it stands on its own just fine, I'm pretty sure the appearance of the protagonist Cija's parents would have had a lot more emotional impact for me if I'd read the first two.

Still, Cija is a great character, full of mystery and interesting motivations (really wish I knew more about her daughter) and lots of great female characters move about the plot machinations. The men are mainly conquerors, slavers, incestuous brothers/lovers, johns (in the "customers of prostitutes" manner) or pimps. The "best" guy of the lot is an ape man, very reminiscent of Tarzan (or more likely of Tarzan's best ape friend, really).

I started to read a lot into the ape man/Cija relationship, figuring it was a take on race relations a la Planet of the Apes, until I got to the part with the guy having a romantic relationship with an alligator (!!!) and gave up on trying to overthink anything.

The plot meanders--it's just Cija roaming from one dangerous/confusing situation to another, and I'm not sure it's leading up to anything. Still, it's worth a read if you like female-written and driven fantasy that packs more emotion and creativity than your typical Conan kind of thing.

The climax seemed extremely rushed, like Gaskell was bumping up against a word count or a deadline or an editor was feverishly doing the same. It wrapped up far too quickly given the amount of description given for other, less crucial events in the story.

Not sure I'll ever read the rest of the books in this series, but I'll keep an eye out for them for sure.

[Garick Cooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

2-1/2 stars. I liked this one marginally better than Atlan, mainly because it was much shorter (176 pages vs. 287 pages, in my Paperback Library editions). I've heard it stated seriously that Gaskell did lots of background research for this series. If so, it wasn't in the direction of biology. Among other things, she seems to think that spiders have six legs; that constricting snakes have suckers, like an octopus' tentacle; that tyrannosaurs were the size of Godzilla; and that female alligators have breasts (the better to become concubines of lascivious priests, natch). Maybe this falls under the heading "so bad it's good." Or maybe it was just a waste of Gaskell's considerable talents.

I'm a fan of Jane Gaskell, although you might not know it after I've handed out three two-star ratings in a row (for Strange Evil, King's Daughter, and Atlan). It was my misfortune to come across her best work first, and to be disappointed later by her mediocre efforts.

[Pollymoore3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cija escapes her dragon husband Zerd only to find herself expected to work in a brothel, then becomes the lover of a forest man.....

[Jessie]

The City by Jane Gaskell (1966)

[Arlene Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never finished reading this series. Does anyone know what book 6 is??

[Andy]

EX-LIB. SEE THE DRAGON FOR MORE DETAILS ON SERIES.