Currently reading
A Clash of Kings
The Diviners
The Book of (Even More) Awesome
Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories
Shatter Me
Cress
Truth & Dare: 20 Tales of Heartbreak and Happiness
Watchmen
Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country
Although it’s not the type of thing I would normally pick up on my own, I enjoyed Zan-Gah when I read it in 2011, so I was curious to hear where our characters Zan and Dael would go next. It turns out that the twins’ next adventures not only give us more information about what’s happened to them, but also shows the reader how Shickman has improved as a writer. Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country was a fast-paced read filled with great characterization and juicy historical information.When I first reviewed Zan-Gah, the author of the books left a comment about how Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country is geared at a slightly older audience. Considering everything that Zan and Dael endure both between the two books and in Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country, I definitely agree with this statement. I also thought that their characters were both much more well-developed and even more engaging for the reader.Shickman particularly gives Dael a bit more focus and delves further into what has happened to him. Not only was this interesting to me, but I found it necessary to better understand his story. The one thing that became problematic at times was that Shickman became more experimental with his writing and while it was fine for the most part, there were a few times when I’d be reading and say, “That’s not quite working.”Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country provided everything one could ask for from a sequel. I’m curious to see where Shickman takes his characters and readers next, so I’ll be reading Dael and the Painted People soon.