When Dael encounters an enemy among the painted people, the life he has made for himself among the tribe is threatened.
As I have been with the last two installments of this series, I was enthralled by Dael and the Painted People. The writing, the characters, and the entire story line drew me in. In fact, I finished the book in one day because I had to know what happened next.
Shickman's writing continues to amaze me. His uncanny ability to put the reader into the story and the characters he creates make this novel superb, to say the least. I can honestly admit that I never liked Dael in the previous books. I cared for his well-being because of how Zan-Gah remembered him, but I couldn't bring myself to actually care for him as a human being. He was cruel and heartless. As I read this book, however, I learned to like him. He really changed through his journey with Sparrow and the new tribe they found. Instead of being extremely violent and hateful, he becomes a caring, generous person.
Sparrow changes in her own right as well. She becomes this vibrant, out-going, and incredibly patient woman by the end of the book. It is almost hard to believe that she is the same shy girl that left the Ba-Coro in the beginning.
Sparrow, along with their new friend Koli, became my favorite characters in this novel. Koli was hilarious. I loved him for breathing a bit of life back into Dael and for being so kind. He was really an all around great character.
Though I complained about the ending to the last book, I can't do the same for this one. It was exactly what I needed as a reader to tie up loose ends and feel like the story was complete. Shickman obviously knows how to bring a story to life, but he also knows how to end it.
Rating: 8
*The fact that I received this book from the author did not influence my opinion of it in any way. This was my honest review.
