Book Review: Zan-Gah series

I was asked by the kind folks at Earthshaker books to review this series. The first book is about a boy in prehistoric times who searches for his twin brother, and his subsequent adventures. The second is really when they're both adults, and discusses their people's move to a faraway land and psychological trauma of his brother.

The first book:

Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure by Allan Richard Shickman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I received a copy of this book from Earthshaker books to review. I feel like I would have absolutely loved this book- if I were a 9-13 year old boy. It has lots of excitement and a great hero. But even though it does attempt to deal with some serious issues, like the torture that Zan's brother Dael faces, I felt far removed from the material as a 30 year old. The book is quite short and the characters are somewhat one-dimensional, at least compared to some of my favorite Young Adult books. Zan is good; Dael is bad (after his torture). He has a reason to be bad, and you feel for him, but there isn't a lot of development there.

I did like Zan a lot and I enjoyed reading about his journey in this book.

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The second book:

Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country by Allan Richard Shickman

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Well, I wasn't crazy about this sequel. The first book was enjoyable enough, but this book jumped around a lot, and I got sick of Dael and wondered why the tribe and Zan even put up with him- he was just mean. I also didn't see a lot of character growth- Dael was pretty evil all throughout the book, until the very end, when he has a miraculous "rising" from his funeral pyre (after dying from "his own tempestuous and harrowing passions"- huh?)- a stunt that was coated with religious symbolism. It felt like too easy of a fix for me. In general, I did make it through the book (it's short), and I think I would have liked it if I were a lot younger, but it was a little boring to me and it lacked a lot of the angst and deep character development that really marks a great YA novel.

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If you're here from the Hop, hello! In response to the question, my favorite "new to me" author is probably Lauren Olive, who wrote "Before I Fall."