"Dael and the Painted People" Review

"Dael and the Painted People" (Zan-Gah #3)
by Allan Richard Shickman

Publisher: Earthshaker Books
Release Date: Aug 30, 2011 
Source: sent by publisher

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Summary from goodreads.com:  

A prehistoric adventure, this is the third of the Zan-Gah young adult books. When Dael, guilty and tormented, came to live with the tribe of the painted people, he longed for peace and restoration; but without knowing it, he made a powerful enemy. Luckily, Dael had friends-including a troop of crows-and his own mystical powers. The disturbed and violent hero learns from the Children of the Earth, and from his submissive wife, a new way of life that is peaceful and generous. Dael and the Painted People is a story of conflict, healing, hate, and love by the winner of the Eric Hoffer Award, a finalist for the ForeWord magazine Book of the Year Award, and the Mom's Choice Gold Seal for Excellence in a family-friendly book series.

My Review:

The Zan Gah series is so well done and this book is a welcome addition to the series. This is the first book where Zan Gah's twin, Dael, is the lead instead of Zan Gah. I have to admit that I missed Zan Gah in this one, but I did like being able to see Dael finally grow and be happy.

The second book in the series is still my favorite, because I loved meeting all of the fantastic characters. Most of my favorite characters are back in this story, but it seemed like not as much time was devoted to characters other than Dael and his wife, Sparrow. I was so glad that Rydl was back, he was one of my favorite characters, and after all, we had to see how he and Sparrow would interact after what happened between them.

The thing I liked the best about this series is that you see it doesn't matter whether it's the 21st century, or prehistoric times, people are pretty much the same. We still want and need the same things. We still have the same types of social relationships. This is a series that I never would have picked up based on the summary, but I am so glad I did. Now, I'm totally immersed in this prehistoric world and anxiously awaiting the next installment.


Main Characters: 5/5
Supporting Characters: 5/5 (I just wanted to see them more!)
Setting: 5/5
Romance: 4/5
Uniqueness: 5/5
Cover: 3/5 (it is straight from the story though)
Writing: 5/5


Bottom Line: A nice addition to the Zan Gah books, this time focusing on Zan's troubled twin brother, Dael. It's an adventure filled trip back to Zan Gah's prehistoric world, full of lessons we can learn from today.