Shamra Divided by Barry Hoffman

Fun fantasy read with strong female characters!

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!