If what grabbed you in Some Summer Lands was Cija’s quicksilver ethics as she bargains with warlords like Zerd and plays Atlan’s nobles against each other, you’ll love following Phèdre nó Delaunay. She’s a courtesan-spy whose loyalties, like Cija’s, bend under the weight of geopolitics, desire, and survival. Court alliances shift, invasions loom, and every tryst can be an espionage move—very much the same dangerous dance Cija performs when she turns charm and information into power.

You enjoyed how Cija navigates Atlan’s palace traps—reading motives, dodging assassins, and leveraging fragile alliances in Some Summer Lands. Yeine Darr faces a similar crucible when she’s summoned to the Sky palace and dropped into a succession deathmatch backed by captive gods. Like Cija during the Atlan power plays, Yeine must decide whom to trust, when to bluff, and how to survive a court that smiles as it sharpens knives.

If Cija’s diary-like voice hooked you—her sly omissions, self-justifications, and talent for recasting blunders as masterstrokes—then Parker’s Orhan will feel deliciously familiar. He narrates the defense of a doomed city with the same sardonic, self-preserving flair Cija shows when she ‘accidentally’ lands on the winning side of Atlan’s upheavals. You’ll keep asking, as with Cija: how much of this tale is clever spin, and what really happened?

Cija’s ferocity and vulnerability—her ability to weaponize poise in barbarian camps and court chambers alike—echo in Lee’s nameless heroine. Awakening under a volcano, she strides through warring tribes and decadent cities much as Cija crosses the Summer Lands and Atlan, claiming agency amid violence and desire. If you admired how Cija refuses to be anyone’s pawn, this protagonist’s relentless self-determination will resonate.

Part of the allure of Some Summer Lands is how Gaskell makes Atlan and its neighboring territories feel textured—rituals, cuisines, and grudges that drive Cija’s every move. Tigana offers that same sumptuous immersion: provinces with conflicting loyalties, songs and festivals with political teeth, and rebels who, like Cija among Atlan’s factions, exploit the currents of culture as much as steel. You’ll taste the world on every page.