Book review:Zan-Gah and the beautiful country by Allan Richard Shickman

This is the second novel in Allan Richard Shickman's series set in the pre-historic are. If you want to you can read my review of the first book, Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure, here.

What's this book about?

While the first novel in this series was filled with hope Zan-Gah and the beautiful country is a much darker story. A large part of this story has main focus on Dael, Zan's twin, his mind has been irreparable damaged by his captors, who both physically and mentally abused him. Dael has become unstable and vengeful, and now his life evolves around the idea of getting back at the people who treated him so badly.

My thoughts:

In this novel we get thrown head first into the drama. Let me tell you, Mr. Shickman, that I did not see that one coming! I would have known if I'd read the Goodreads description of the book in advance but I'm glad I didn't because that would kind of have ruined the element of surprise for me.

Again Shickman does an excellent drawing a picture of what might happen to a person who has experienced a great deal of suffering. Dael is such a dark character, sometimes a tiny piece of his old self shines through but it disappears with the blink of an eye. It pains me to read how Dael behaves towards his twin brother, Zan. Zan loves Dael and he always defends him, while Dael on the other side only displays hatred. Through out the story we get to know several of the clan member's and their feelings about Dael(and his violent behavior), and their life in general, through alternating chapters. I think this worked out very well for this story.

There is also a good deal of focus on the womens life in this clan and their rights at this time. The main character Zan is a modern man in terms of respecting women. I almost forgot to mention an important part of the story! The clan heads out on a long and difficult journey to seek a country where there is more food and better living in general. Unfortunately for the clan Dael manages to arouse his supporters in to a war with their neighboring clan. 

All in all it was a pleasure to read this book and I enjoyed it even more than the first one. What does that say about me when I prefer the darkest one of the two?!

This book will perhaps especially appeal to young boys.

My rating of this book:
4 stars out of 5.

Want a second opinion? Check out the reviews written by some of my book blogging friends below:

Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell:"An interesting YA book about an era we do not get to read much about." Literarily Speaking: "I thought Zan-Gah was a great role model of a character for kids."

Wendy's Mind Spot: "The descriptions are magnificent and the action superb.  Young Adults and Adults alike will enjoy this series.  I certainly did!"

Want to know more?
Visit Earthshaker Books
Download sample chapter from the first book

Pages(paperback): 151
Publisher: Earthshaker Books
ISBN 13: 978-097903571-5
Full disclosure: Book received from publisher for an honest review

Book review: Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure by Allan Richard Shickman

This is how the first adventure of Zan of the rock starts out:

From a long distance a traveler, or some wild thing, might see within the deep and absolute blackness of night an intense orange light which looked from afar like a glowing coal. If that observer were curious(or hungry, as often was the case), and had the courage to seek nearer a vantage point, he would see a youthful figure seated on a rock staring into a blazing bonfire.

So tell me what is Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure about?
This is a book about Zan-Gah, a young boy coming to age sometime during the prehistoric era. The story starts off with a quite dramatic event where Zan gets the opportunity to show himself as more than just a young boy.

Zan struggles with a guilty conscience and an emptiness inside. A year ago his twin disappeared after a quarrel they had. Zan's brother might be dead but in his heart Zan feels his brother is alive and he embarks on a dangerous quest to find his lost brother.

My thoughts:
I have never before read a book where the story was set in the prehistorical era so I was quite exited to find out what was in store for me. Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure was a fairly short and easy read book.

Author Allan Richard Shickman paints a believable portrait of how the humans might have lived back then. Surviving on your own out in the wilderness were hard, both humans and animals considered you as fair game. Children had to grow up fast, people died fairly young. The men were hunting and the women stayed close to home;cooking, taking care of the children and so on. Shickman describes the hardship of catching enough food to get through the year without starving, trying not to be killed or sold as a slave by a nearby clan.

Zan's brother, Dael, was a happy child but he has experienced so much pain in a short while so that he no longer is himself. Shickman in showing the reader how a personality can be altered by abuse and trauma. 


There is one violent scene in this book that I reacted to and parents might want to read the book to decide for themselves if their child is old enough to read it. I would say this story suits boys and girls age 13 and up.

Short said it is a big contrast to the life most of us are fortunate enough to live.

The cover:
The cover illustrates one of the dramatic events in the book and after having read the story I quite like it.

My rating of this book:
3 stars out 5 stars.

Want another opinion on this book? Check out the reviews written by some of my book blogging friends below:

Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell:"This is a book that I would recommend for young boys, yes sure girls could like it too but I do think boys would really fall for this one."

Giving...Reading A Chance!!!: "Definitely a book for your teen, teen friend or for you, if you interested in the genre! "

Literarily Speaking: "I thought Zan-Gah was a great role model of a character for kids."

This book can be purchased from Amazon(I'm not an affiliate).

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book.

Want to know more?
Visit Earthshaker Books
Download sample chapter  

Pages: 148
Publisher: Earthshaker Books
ISBN: 978-0-9790357-0-8
Source: Received from publisher for review.