Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780505524522
ISBN number: 050552452X
Label: Love Spell
Manufacturer: Love Spell
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: 2001-09
Publishing house: Love Spell
Sale Popularity Level: 206079
Studio: Love Spell
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Product Description:
In this third book of the award-winning SHIELDER series, Jarek san Ranul wages a desperate battle to ensure his people's survival and lead them to shamara--to sanctuary. His quest leads him to the most intriguing woman he's ever met, one who challenges his sole commitment to duty and honor. On the run from a mighty warlord, Eirene Kane is fighting her own battles--to elude those pursuing her, to keep secret her rare psychic abilities, and to avoid emotional entanglement with the handsome and charismatic Jarek. Yet their paths and their hearts become inexticably bound as they face unforeseen perils and discover ageless spiritual truths, as they seek . . . shamara.
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Rated by buyers 
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I think calling her a genius is going a bit far. I've seen much better writing and have read fantasy/science fiction with worlds writen in a much more vivid setting. It's okay for a romance book. I've read this one and the one that came before it. The previous book was horrible! with terribly written characters. This one does a better job of creating a realistic character, but I think Spangler has much more work to do in that department. I cannot stand the contrite behavior of the leading female who doesn't believe anything the man she says loves regardless of everything they have done to support their loyality. At least not until a total stranger tells her give up and go to him. Pleeeese. Spangler's discrptions of the unusual powers are also vague. She gives no foundation into what she is describing.
Sorry, but I'm giving up on this author--there are way better and bigger fish in tge sea that I could spend my time reading.
Rated by buyers -
SHAMARA by Catherine Spangler is the third in a series of romances set in another time, another galaxy. I thought this was a decent read, but it wasn't as good as the very first book in the series.
The hero of SHAMARA is Jarek san Ranul (Nessa's brother), who is now the leader of the Shielders, a race of people being systemically destroyed by the evil Controllers. Jarek has a bounty on his head and has a daring plan to bring his people to Sanctuary - known as Shamara - but he needs an Enhancer to help him.
The heroine, Eirene, is an Enhancer. She's also on the run from her abusive uncle, who intends to marry her off to a Leor commander in order to gain new trade routes. Just when Eirene thinks she's free of all the men in her life, Jarek kidnaps her. Now she has to escape him as well.
I thought Eirene and Jarek were okay characters. On the positive side, they had some chemistry together. On the negative side, Jarek spent too much time apologizing and Eirene spent too much time doubting herself and keeping everything a secret. She got annoying, fast. Especially since all she did is try to escape Jarek over and over, with negative consequences each time.
The characters I really enjoyed were two minor characters: the courtesan Lani and the Leor Commander Gunnar. Now THERE was a couple with fun dialogue, interesting scenes, and hot chemistry. I would have rather read their story, and enjoyed every scene they were in. I even found myself counting pages until their subsequent scene, just cuz they were so good together.
Regarding the plot of SHAMARA, I have to agree with another reviewer that there were way too many coincidences in the story to make it believable. Also, this story suffered from jargon issues. It's set in another galaxy, but characters say things like "okay" and "hey," very American dialogue. Things like this took away from the "realism" of the story.
Anyway, it's an alright read. Entertaining, but not a keeper. If you are interested in this book, however, its series begins with SHIELDER (the best), followed by SHADOWER (which I loathed), and then SHAMARA. SHADOW CROSSING and SHADOW FIRES follow.
Rated by buyers 
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Shamara is the third in the `Shielder series' book by the very talented Catherine Spangler. She started out in Futuristic Romance back when it was still getting its wings and her Shielder books helped define and set the standard for this genre. Spangler gives you George Lucas fantasy Off-World planets, and then proceeds to make you see them through her eyes. Her vivid writing conveys every detail of their world, allows you to experience it But more so, she never forgets the romance. She always gives you very human characters. Not the perfect hero and heroine, but very down to earth...well, very human characters with flaws. It's through these flaws you get the emotions, the involvement that won't let a reader put her stories down.
In Shamara, the third in the series (though they are stand alone and can be read out of order you enjoy them more if you do them in order). On the planet Travern the women are little better than slaves, so it's not surprising when Eirene Kane is told by her greedy uncle she is going to be bartered away as a virgin bride to the powerful Leors. On her planet she has no rights, yet she pleads with her uncle to reconsider her fate. She argues she is s healer. He merely laughs that her virginity was worth more to him. In her `mind-seeing', she learns that she in an Enhancer, and that her future spouse will learn this secret sealing her doom.
The Controllers, the rules of this quadrant, has wiped out the Enhancers, though obviously they missed a few here and there. So Eirene must hide that she is one. Desperate to escape her fate, she knows she must rid herself of her virginity, so she enters a pleasure dome where she meets a Shielder, Jarek san Ranual.
The Controllers have been destroying the Shielder colonies, and Jarek was left for dead. Jarek is determined to prevent The Controllers from destroy more Shielders, but he needs Eirene's help. However, she refuses to admit she is an Enhancer. He believes she is the key to saving the Shielders, but he needs Eirene to trust him. The big stumbling block - Jarek killed her father, a traitor to the Shielders.
Spangler just won a RITA nomination for Shadow Fires, the latest Shielder book, and small wonder. Shamara demonstrates the unbelievable brilliance with which Spangler conjures these far away worlds. It's a powerful, moving book that just doesn't get any better than this.
Rated by buyers -
My introduction to this author came from Shadow Fires. I really liked that book and was looking forward to this one. I wouldn't recommend this one (try the library or a friend or used first). It isn't bad, it just is incredibly annoying. Too many coincidences, to many people standing at just the right time to help. Also, The heroine is another whiny, annoying female. She wants freedom, but boo hoo I can't help anyone else. She just takes and takes and people cover up for her. If she wants to be free, then she needs to deal with the consquences of all her actions. True adults don't run from responsiblities. When she gets absolved of her guilt(another coincidence) she suddenly can grow up and take charge of her life. If you read this book look for Lani and Gunnar - their interaction is the only interesting part of this book.
Rated by buyers 
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If you've been reading the author's other Shielder stories, then you can safely give this one a pass-by. The only good thing about it is the small subplot where we find out how Lani and Gunnar of Leor met. For the rest, it's just a tiresome recital of Eirene running away from this person or that planet and/or running away from her past/present, and Jarek tracking her down for the greater good of the Shielder people. Eirene has all of the emotional range of a 13 year old (my apologies to any 13 year olds who are reading this), and Jarek is just so heroic that it's tiresome. Although there's a lot of "action", nothing really ever happens - just a lot of people traipsing back and forth around the same portion galaxy. And please, every humanoid species worships the same god (given that oh-so-original name, "Spirit")? Characters from other stories have bit-part roles, but the main characters are so stereotypically semi-tragic that they become annoying. As to their romance, it's another one of those stories where they go at each other like rabbits in heat but lack the ability to say "I love you" until the last page. By the end of the book, I didn't really care if Eirene lived or died. Don't waste your money on this one.
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