Dael and the Painted People by Allan Richard Shickman

Title/Author: Dael and the Painted People (Zan-Gah #3) by Allan Richard Shickman
Publisher/Date published: Earthshaker Books, August 30th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher

Goodreads summary: "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."

I liked this book better than I did the second one in the series, Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country. In that one, Dael annoyed me and was being all creepy and violent. In this one, he is still a bit creepy, but he's a more developed character and is learning to deal with his rage and with what happened to him in the past.

The one thing that has bothered me in this series as a whole: there is virtually no dialogue. Everything is related, but there's no dialogue. And there's a whole lot of telling instead of showing going on.

But anyway, I really enjoyed the different cultures Shickman presents in his novels. In every one we meet a new tribe/group of people and they all have their own quirks, it's really nice! The painted people were so interesting! And I loved how Sparrow came into her own finally.

I wasn't completely sold on Dael's miracles and powers. To me, his episodes of 'fainting' sounded more like epilepsy, with the flashes he sometimes saw before they happened and such. But well, the miracles show the power of mind over matter!

All in all, this was an enjoyable, quick read with a lot of cultural diversity!

My rating: 3 stars