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106th out of 294 books
—
194 voters
The Serpent (Atlan #1)
by
Jane Gaskell
In the lost world of prehistory, a girl is born. Is she a goddess? Cija herself believes that she is. For seventeen years her mother, the Dictatress, has kept her imprisoned in an isolated tower. When she is released, it is with a mission: to seduce Zerd, the snake-scaled general of an occupying army--and stab him to death. This fantastic story of love, jealousy and sudden...more
Paperback, 306 pages
Published
November 28th 1978
by Paperback Library
(first published 1963)
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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...more
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...more
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 remind...more
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lovely beginning to one of my favourite trilogies.
EX-LIB. SEE BOOK 2 FOR MORE DETAIL.
i liked the serpent but i didn't love it. i admit that jane gaskell is a great writer, and the world and characetrs she created are fascinating and believeable. but the plot was all over the place, with too many events and characters that were not really necessary. other than that very enjoyable read
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.
May 01, 2013
Legato Darksummers
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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 Em...more
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Jan 12, 2013 09:29am