by Terrance V. Mc Arthur
& Anastasia V. Pergakis

Anastasia

Review by Terrance V. Mc Arthur

Anastasia V. Pergakis’s Cleanse Fire: The Kinir Elite Chronicles is a tribute to her father’s twenty years of military service, and all who have served their country in the Armed Forces, written in the fantasy world of elves, men, wizards, dwarves, fairies, and dragons.

Derac is the captain of the Kinir Elite, a co-ed team of elves who tackle impossible rescue missions (think of Navy S.E.A.L.S. with pointy ears), but their latest assignments have become more dangerous and booby-trapped in odd ways, as if somebody wanted the male elves to be killed. Who is setting them up for failure? Why are they being targeted? Who is in on the plot?

Derac is tormented by the death of the wife he couldn’t save from a fire, but is bothered by his attraction to Kie, a lovely archer on his team, who has her own personal problems that go back to her childhood.

Tyn is Derac’s longtime friend; Rakan is the crusty old-timer; Jardel is the Romeo of the outfit with a girl in every village; and Aeli has curly hair that is probably smarter than she is, although she does have a redeeming sense of duty to the team. The sexual tension here is so thick you could cut it with a dwarf’s battle-axe, but Kie and Derac know that they must not allow emotions to jeopardize the mission.

The mastermind who sets the plots in motion, when he is finally brought into the story, has definite justification for his vendetta against the Kinir Elite. The resolution of his storyline is brought about by an intriguing method with interesting results.

This is really a nifty little adventure, with elements of a John Wayne World War II flick and Lord of the Rings, and a touch of cloak-and-dagger, trust-nobody, Bourne-type conspiracies, plus a few surprising explosions of serious elf-sex, including rape. I understand that the sexual assault is part of the background to the story, but it is hard to justify. I feel that the attack could still have been an outrage without the carnality.

I applaud the adventure aspects of the book, and I look forward to further installments by Pergakis in this series.

Terrance V. Mc Arthur is a California-born, Valley-raised librarian/entertainer/writer. He is currently writing a stage adaptation of Jack London’s The Call of the Wild for the Fresno County Public Library’s next The Big Read. He lives in Sanger, four blocks from the library, with his wife, his daughter, and a spinster cat.

Guest post by Anastasia

I’m Derac Vidor, Captain of the Kinir Elite. I lead a team of six elves, chosen and specifically trained for dangerous and specific missions – some of which I’m not allowed to talk about. In your world, we would be a Special Forces unit, such as Delta Force in the United States kingdom.

Derac

Cleanse Fire tells the story of when our Commander, Palto Junta, betrayed Kinir. *balls hand into fist* Tried to kill us even! You see, he tried to make it appear as an accident, that we simply died in the line of duty. The team proved to be smarter than him! *laughs*

We knew he wasn’t smart enough to pull off such a grand scheme. He’s a slimy, sniveling worm! We discovered that a powerful wizard was behind it all. And while the Commander may have wanted us dead for his own personal reasons – his own gain, I should say – the wizard was really the one pulling the strings.

As Captain, I had to maintain my team’s morale as best I could. Kinir means everything to me and to my team and Palto just threw it away like trash! *hits fist on table* Apologies. This is still a sore subject for me. I wanted nothing more than to kill Palto myself for his treachery. After all, treason against Kinir is treason against me.

My team handled his betrayal better than I did I think. They didn’t question my orders – okay, they rarely questioned my orders – as we tracked Palto down to bring him to justice. Me? I was completely baffled how he could do it. I mean, betray his country? *shakes head* I can’t fathom it.

The team is a mixture of personalities that often times don’t get along. *laughs* But, they banded together quite well as we hunted down Palto. I was impressed, but don’t tell them I said so. Don’t want them to think compliments from me will happen all the time.

Our next mission – or series of missions I should say – in the next book, Blood Trade will prove to be much tougher for all of us. I don’t want to give away too much, but we face a new enemy in the book. A new race of creatures that none of us in Kinir had ever encountered before. They force us to rethink all of the training we have received in the Army and the Elite. It’s a challenge that I embrace whole heartedly.

Thank you for allowing me to visit today. I don’t want to take up too much time as I must return to help my author finish Blood Trade. It was a pleasure. *salutes and strolls away*

Purchase Cleanse Fire
• for your Kindle at Amazon
• for your Nook at Barnes & Noble
• for your other E-Readers at Smashwords
• in paperback at Amazon
• in paperback at Barnes & Noble
• in hardback at Kinir Elite Website

I’m giving away a signed paperback of Cleanse Fire! Leave a comment on this post to enter into the random drawing. I’ll draw the names at the end of my tour, January 31, 2012. If you want more chances to win a copy, visit our website to follow our tour! The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

All commenters will also be added to the drawing for a chance to win a signed hard cover. Drawing for the hardcover will be on January 31, 2012, the end of my tour.

You can also get more chances to win by tweeting or posting on Facebook! Just leave a link to the tweet or post in a comment below!

**All Winners will be announced on the Kinir Elite Website on February 1st**

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Anastasia knew she always wanted to write. She began at a young age, writing those little stories about the apple tree in the yard. Though her love of stories stayed with her through her poetry stage in high school, she didn’t begin writing novels until she was almost an adult. That’s where she found her true passion. Her characters visit her dreams – and sometimes during the day – to share their stories with her. Anastasia is merely the writer, but the characters are really the storytellers. Anastasia lives in Columbus, Georgia with her husband and son. A stay at home Mom, she loves spending time with her son during the day, then writing furiously at night. Follower her on Twitter and Facebook!