"Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country"by Allan Richard Shickman
Publisher: Earthshaker Books
Release Date: Sep 265, 2009
Source: sent by publisher
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Summary from goodreads.com:
The prehistoric saga continues in Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country, the sequel to the award winning Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure. In this story, Zan s troubled twin brother, Dael, having suffered greatly during his earlier captivity, receives a ruinous new shock when his wife suddenly dies. Disturbed and traumatized, all of his manic energies explode into acts of hostility and bloodshed. His obsession is the destruction of the wasp men, his first captors, who dwell in the Beautiful Country. When he, Zan-Gah, and a band of adventurers trek to their bountiful home, they find that all of the wasp people have died in war or of disease. The Beautiful Country is empty for the taking, and Zan s people, the Ba-Coro, decide to migrate and resettle there. But the Noi, Dael s cruelest enemies and former tormentors, make the same migration from their desert home, and the possibility develops of contention and war over this rich and lovely new land.
My review:
In the sequel to "Zan-Gah", Zan and his tribe move to a more fertile land called The Beautiful Country. While we don't see quite as much of Zan in this book, we do get to meet fascinating new characters in his world.
Dael, Zan's twin brother, descends into darkness again after his wife's death, which causes even more problems for Zan and his tribe.
We meet Zan's wife, Pax, who is a match for him in all ways. She's a fantastic hunter, very rare for women in their tribe. Zan's twin, Dael, looks down on Pax's skills as a hunter but Zan admires her and sees her as an equal. I love Pax's character, she's such a strong girl, but vulnerable in her love for Zan.
I also love the character Rydl, the boy from the opposing tribe that Zan took under his win in the first book. Rydl marches to the beat of his own drummer and because he's small, he uses his wits to win battles instead of brawn. Rydl's relationship with Sparrow is very well-drawn and heartbreakingly honest.
Main Characters: 5/5
Supporting Characters: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Romance: 4/5
Uniqueness: 5/5
Cover: 3/5
Writing: 4/5
Bottom Line: I enjoyed this book just as much as the first in the series, because I got to see how interesting the other people in Zan's life are. I hope to see another installment of Zan's story, he's a great hero with a great story to tell.