Customer Reviews

Shamra Divided: Book Two of The Shamra Chronicles

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Shamra Divided is book two of Barry Hoffman's series from The Shamra Chronicles...

Filled with adventure, magic, passion, prejudice, responsibility, leadership, heritage, and more....this novel follows the life of Shamra who is a strong willed girl who must save her people....A once dormant enemy awakens and becomes her strongest nemesis....Chaos.

Chaos is intent on destroying civilizations and killing Dara. Shamra must be true to herself, realize her heritage, and take on the responsibility while fighting this enemy. A novel that is spellbinding, captivating and well written.

I recommend it to readers of fantasy, paranormal, and adventure epic. I enjoyed it a lot and believe YA are a prefect audience for this type of noel and I would recommend it to my high school.

Reviewed By Ami Blackwelder
[...]
June 13th

All it takes is one person, no matter how insignificant, to take humanity off the road to Chaos. "Shamra Divided" is the second book of the Shamra Chronicles as young Dara must lead an army against oppression and rise up against a powerful force called Chaos, something she alone may be the only one to stop. "Shamra Divided" is a fantastic fantasy that genre fans will simply love.

The magical adventure continues with SHAMRA DIVIDED, the second installment of Barry Hoffman's Young Adult trilogy about Dara, a little Shamra girl with a very big spirit. The story opens with Dara leading an improbable, impromptu army into a dark forest as they flee subjugation of greedy tyrants that have overrun their homeland. As Dara and her beloved sidekick, Tyler, a fierce little creature called a Bauble, enter the darkest regions of the forest, Dara learns secrets about her own heritage. Dara must face terrible truths and terrifying foes that include false friends and false prophets. But there is something even more dangerous waiting for Dara, a foe of unimaginable power and treachery called Chaos, a creature that has been dormant for nearly two centuries. When Chaos awakens, Dara must battle the most ferocious enemy she has ever encountered to save the lives of her friends and, indeed, civilization. With great humor and high adventure, SHAMRA DIVIDED demonstrates how young girls must stay strong and rely on their best judgment to navigate successfully through life. Young readers will be swept away by Dara's heroic story, and it is a perfect opportunity for parents and educators to encourage discussions about personal responsibility and life's choices.

Dara, a strong-headed Shamra girl who suddenly finds herself in the leadership role of a ragtag army, learns why it was her destiny to one day save her people from her country's oppressors. While learning about her heritage she is attacked by what will become her most powerful enemy, Chaos. Dormant for 170 years, Chaos reappears. It is intent on destroying civilizations from within and killing Dara, whome he actually fears. (taken from the back of the book)

First of all, I find it really interesting that Hoffman created this series in response to the Twilight saga. In Twilight we have a female who'll gladly do anything for her 'man'. We find wishy-washy women who don't have inner strength and character of their own. The Shamra people are nothing like that. These women are strong hunters who marry out of necessity. Hoffman's females take leadership roles and fulfill their destinies. These women are adventurous, witty and exciting.

As for the writing portion of the book, I'm rather impressed. I only found two typos in the entire book, and those were simply missing quotation marks. I love when an author has taken the time to either proof the book correctly or pay someone else to do it and do it well. Each page is descriptive and alive. The characters have a dreamlike quality that leads you to care about each of them. Though there are many to keep straight, they're all so vivid that it's not difficult at all.

As for my personal opinion of the book, I loved it. It has that something extra that made me want to keep reading. Though I haven't read the first book in the series, 'Curse of the Shamra', I definitely plan to. This is a series that I definitely want to collect. For you romance people, you'll not find it here. For those of you looking for an alternate world where anything can happen and excitement and creativity abound, this is the book for you. Nice job, Barry!

Curse of the Shamra is a very unique fantasy with original characters. The story is one of strength and empowerment in a dystopian setting with well-developed creatures that we accompany very personally as they overcome oppression, alienation, and hardships beyond my own imagination. A very significant tale for young girls to read, Shamra's main characters are teenage girls that battle the brutality of a very gender based society. We follow them as they grapple with a barrage of sexism, fascism, and despotism yet effectively prove perseverance and passion are more powerful than anything mankind could use as a weapon.


I chose 3/5 stars not because it was a mediocre story; on-the-contrary it was very deep and thorough, but more-so because it's not MY type of story. If you enjoy getting lost in a fantasy world with very different creatures, you will love this book. I, however, would have liked to have seen some romance (I know...typical woman response).


This is the second book in the Shamra Chronicles, and I haven't read the first. This may impact my choice, when I get to it.