The Book of the Emperors: Chronicles
And in the morning of the world, Zeldin took his son by the hand and led him to the summit of a high mountain. As Mikeld-lo-Taan looked down on the wide lands and bright rivers of Galkis, Zeldin said: "All that you behold, from the mountains of the north to the jungles of the south, from the deserts of the east to the seas of the west, shall be a Kingdom to you and to your heirs for ever." Then Mikeld-lo-Taan, first Emperor of Galkis, knelt before his father and swore to build him there a temple.
This page is dedicated to the "Seven Citadels" fantasy novels by Geraldine Harris.
Prince of the Godborn
The Children of the Wind
The Dead Kingdom
The Seventh Gate
They comprise a four-volume series forming a single continuous narrative in which the young and rather arrogant Prince Kerish-lo-Taan leaves the security of his pampered palace life, accompanied by his more level-headed half-brother Forollkin, in search of a prophesied saviour who can redeem the Empire of Galkis from the internal decadence and external pressure which threaten its imminent downfall. The arduous journey soon becomes also a quest of self-discovery and maturation for Kerish and his companions.
The site is still in the slow process of construction, but I've kept this introductory page up, just to let you know that you are not alone!I thought I was the only person in the world who had ever read them.
[D. Gascoyne, Canada, rec.arts.books.children, 24 July 1997]
The rather skeletal synopses offered by the Speculative Fiction database are as follows:
(I wouldn't really recommend reading it before you've finished the published books!)
"Strong conclusion to a young-adult fantasy tetralogy. Harris deepens her main characters and introduces some fascinating new ones, with colorful settings to match. (FCM)"
(Locus Magazine reviewing The Seventh Gate in 1984)
"Geraldine Harris' Seven Citadels, one of the best examples of a terse narrative style in fantasy. Fits more plot and character into fewer pages than just about any other series I can think of. Book 4 has NO relation to the Weis/Hickman travesty of the same name, by the way."
[Joel, Yale, rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan, 30 October 1996]
"This might be my favorite series! Great characters, great world, and not quite the usual quest."
(Finn's Fantasy Book List)
"One of the most beautiful fantasy sagas I have ever read."
(Yoon Ha Lee, Pegasus Nest)
"I enjoyed this book [Children of the Wind] because it was a very interesting & very exciting story... This story is a killer."
(Denise Miller, an 8th-grader from Jackson Heights, Florida, c.1998)
"There is something excessive about how every people has to be very different from the others in at least some way... Still, some of them have a lot of charm and that makes up for the less well-developed ones... I read this series when I was young and I absolutely loved it. When I reread it a year ago I could see quite clearly see the flaws that had passed me by the first time, but I still have to say it is a very nice story for those of us that will never completely grow up."The Seventh Gate was also reviewed in issue #126 (Jun/Jul 1985) of Vector (the magazine of the British SF Association), by Helen McNabb: I haven't seen the full text.
(From a review by Mikael Pålsson at the Fantasy Freaks Forum)
"...a routine fantasy of the collect-all-the-plot-coupons-and-send-away-for-the-prize type. I do like the character of Gidjabolgo, though. 'Hate keeps you alive; liking is a weakness.' 'Pride makes a poor covering: one laughs, and you are naked.'"
[Dr Richard Kennaway - http://www.sys.uea.ac.uk/~jrk/SF-for-sale.html - 29 May 1998]
"This is a fairly standard fantasy series... Not recommended for those over fourteen or so."See also comments at Books Under Review
(from a review by Adam Hough, whose reading is mostly aimed at a higher age group, so it's no huge surprise that he was under-impressed.)
[image from Diana Wynne Jones fan site]
Geraldine Harris is a British Egyptologist now attached to the Oriental Institute in Oxford; she has published a number of academic and children's books on ancient Egypt. She is an active member of the 'Science Fiction Writers of America', and was a guest of honour at Connote8 (Unicon 1987) at New Hall, Cambridge; her speech at the Tolkien Society's Annual Dinner of 1986 has been published by the Society.
Last updated 4 January 2004.
I don't have a lot of time, and my computer resources are somewhat limited, so this site is never going to be very visually exciting. If you want that kind of high-powered stimulation, try the Tad Williams fan page!
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