Cleanse Fire: The Kinir Elite Chronicles, #1
By Anastasia
Pergakis
Ecopy provided by author
Rating:
3 Stars
Captain Derac Vidor takes pride in
leading his team of Elite Kinir warrior elves. Serving his country by
protecting the weak and rescuing those in need fill his life—until an act of
betrayal threatens not only himself but every member of his team. He will stop
at nothing to discover who is trying to kill them and why.
Let me start by saying I enjoyed Cleanse
Fire. As a debut author, Ms Pergakis is off to a great start. The main male
protagonist, Derac Vidor, is an interesting character with internal conflict
that is driven by his sense of integrity and honor. The right balance was struck
between moral fiber and not overly stiff and prudish.
Several other members on the team are
worth noting as well. Kie is a strong female with issues of her own. They are
revealed through the course of the book and not all at once, and I liked
learning about her in active scenes as the plot unfolded.
Tyn, as Derac’s best friend, is a very
likeable character. He had his friend’s back no matter the situation and always
looked for the positive from each team member. Rakan, Jardel and Aeli are all
secondary characters with distinct personalities that added to the story as
well.
With all the positive story aspects noted
up front, it’s time to talk about what didn’t work for me. The book needed a
final edit before going to print. Word misuse and grammatical issues pulled me
out of the story. That’s a common issue for new authors, but I think the
easiest to correct in the future.
One issue I had with the story was the somewhat
two-dimensional writing. By this I mean senses. In many of the scenes, I had no
real idea what the characters looked like or how things smelled or felt.
My biggest problem with Cleanse Fire is
there was no real description of the world. I had no idea why there were elves,
faeries and dwarves and why they were allies or enemies. Humans existed in this
world, but the mention was so tenuous, for the most part I forgot they were
part they existed in Kinir.
Some world description would have been
helpful as well. I know Kinir is a fantasy world, but modern phrases
occasionally crept into the writing. When comparing that with the dragon’s
verbiage and some of the other vernacular, the world did not seem modern in the
contemporary sense.
Did all of these issues
detract from the book? They did a bit for me. Will they keep me from reading
the next book in the Kinir Elite Chronicles? Not a chance. I have a feeling Ms
Pergakis’ stories will get better with each telling, and I intend to enjoy the
resulting novels!
