YMMV / Atlan

• Accidental Innuendo: The Pocket edition of The Serpent sports a buffet of phallic symbols on the cover, thus accurately underscoring the novel's sadomasochistic elements.
• Genius Bonus: One member of the Fantasywithbite LiveJournal community described the world-building in this series as "catastrophic," but this defect is the result of Gaskell's reliance on the reader's knowledge of unorthodox prehistory. The sources in the first two books' bibliography can point the confused reader in the right direction. ^note To give one example, the titular serpent and dragon of the first two novels are the archetypal reptiles from various myths: the serpent in the Garden of Eden story, the Supreme Seven-headed Serpent from The Lost Continent of Mu, Quetzalcoatl, the Pelasgian serpent, etc. These titles may also refer to the reptilian Zerd.
• Iron Woobie: Cija can endure anything: kidnapping, rape, war, arranged marriage....
• Squick: Be prepared for rape and bestiality if you decide to read these novels.