The Cleansing Fire

Praetorian #5

by S.J.A. Turney

The villain Cleander has fallen, his wickedness gone from the imperial court, but his influence lives on. Amongst the Praetorians, a network of spies, killers and thieves remain, clawing on to the power they have enjoyed. Rufinus, returned to the Guard at the hands of the devious Frumentarii, Rome’s imperial secret service, is intent on bringing the entire web of villainy to justice.But Commodus’s reign falters, and Rome is in peril. Wolves are at the door and every man with power prepares to make a bid for the purple. In a world of chaos, Rufinus is about to learn that Rome does not harbour corruption. Rome IS corruption...

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Roman, Ancient

370 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 30, 2020

About the author

Simon lives with his wife and children and a menagerie of animals in rural North Yorkshire, where he sits in an office, wired on coffee and digestive biscuits, and attempts to spin engrossing tales out of strands of imagination while his children drive toys across his desk and two dogs howl as they try to share a brain cell.

A born and bred Yorkshireman with a love of country, history and architecture, Simon spends most of his rare free time travelling around ancient sites, writing, researching the ancient world and reading voraciously.

Following an arcane and eclectic career path that wound through everything from sheep to Microsoft networks and from paint to car sales, Simon wrote Marius’ Mules and, with help and support, made a success of it. Now, with in excess of 20 novels under his belt, Simon writes full time and is represented by MMB Creative literary agents.

Simon writes Roman military novels in the form of the bestselling Marius’ Mules series based on Julius Caesar’s campaigns, Roman thrillers in the Praetorian series, set during the troubled reign of Commodus, medieval adventures in the Ottoman Cycle, following a young Greek thief around the 15th century world, and a series of Historical Fantasy novels with a Roman flavour, called the Tales of the Empire.
Simon can be found on Twitter as @SJATurney and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SJATurney/ as well as on his website http://www.sjaturney.co.uk

Reviews

[Mr Jeffery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good solid read and you can feel the series drawing to a close.

Well recommended but probably makes sense to read the earlier ones in the Praetorian series first.

[Paul Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

BLURB


The villain Cleander has fallen, his wickedness gone from the imperial court, but his influence lives on. Amongst the Praetorians, a network of spies, killers and thieves remain, clawing on to the power they have enjoyed. Rufinus, returned to the Guard at the hands of the devious Frumentarii, Rome's imperial secret service, is intent on bringing the entire web of villainy to justice.But Commodus's reign falters, and Rome is in peril. Wolves are at the door and every man with power prepares to make a bid for the purple. In a world of chaos, Rufinus is about to learn that Rome does not harbour corruption. Rome IS corruption.

REVIEW


By my count, I have read 33 novels by Mr. Turney most of which are spread out over many different series... Tales of the Empire, Marius Mules, The Ottoman Cycle, Knights Templar, and Praetorian.  One of the things I have noticed, and am indeed marveled by, is that he sustains my interest and keeps me coming back for more. In the case of The Cleansing Fire, Rufinus has progressed as his character gets older, more confident in his abilities, more circumspect about the sundry quandaries he faces as a Frumentarii agent, which by the way are definite highlights in this twist filled plot. An enjoyable foray into one of Rome's more unsettled times, reminiscent of Nero's fall and aftermath, a sort of "Who is the Emperor today?", a sure fire heart pounding, page turning narrative full of intrigue and excitement awaits you, my fellow readers.  5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[John Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another hit.

Rufinus is an awesome character. A member of the frumentari. The James Bond of Roman historical fiction. Senova his "wife" is his Moneypenny and she is invaluable to him.
Acheron is his minder and being a huge, powerful and terror inducing dog, loves to chew the face off anyone who threatens Rufinus.
Rufinus' job is to root out the infection left in the Praetorian guard from the bad days of Cleander. Unfortunately that infection is now so widespread throughout the guard, Rufinus wonders if it's possible to cleanse the guard.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Once started, I didn't want to put it down. I lost a lot of sleep because I should have put it down and couldn't. I find I have a picture of Rufinus in my mind and that's all down to the author Simon Turney. His descriptions of people, places and things are superb, it's almost like i'm there at the time. I have laughed out loud at times during this book and that's because I could picture Rufinus. Especially when he gets Senova a gift.
A brilliant read from a brilliant author.

[Mike Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good instalment in Turney's Praetorian Roman series, set in the time of Commodus, or in this book just before and after his assassination. Turney writes well and gives us likeable protagonists and thoroughly despicable antagonists and a couple of grey-area characters in between. My main complaint with this and all the previous books is the the main protagonists is fantastically smart or fantastically stupid in turn as demanded by the plot. There is little consistency in this aspect of his character. But still a good story and an interesting take on this politically chaotic period of Roman history.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Preaetorian book yet

I've been reading Turney's books for years, and always enjoy the Praetorian series, but I believe Cleansing Fire is his best work of the series. It's development from beginning to end is strong and the attention to detail on both characters and plot is superb. The ending felt well paced, wasn't rushed, and some characters were allowed to have worthwhile conclusions. S.J.A. Turney once again makes Ancient Rome come to life in vivid detail.

[Debayan Das · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth instalment of the Praetorian series of the author and I have to say, it again serves up another excellent Rufinus adventure. The historical accuracy to detail, the characters of that time period, the details of the places described, all are characteristic of the excellent reputation of the author in the field of Roman history. That being said, the recurring theme of Rufinus as a master spy and hitman is becoming a bit repetitive in my humble opinion. I would like to see Rufinus in a slightly different setting in the future iterations of this series.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

i recommend this book to anyone who loves roman fantasy books or who wants to find out about the secretly best genre in books along with fantasy and Percy Jackson rangers apprentice type books. Roman history books are just pure ecstacy. Yo but listen all the false God worship although there is some mentions of Jupiter much these series are fulled with Saturn gods and not usually jupiterian or God /versions of Christos that do lead to God.

[Ray Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleansing is an understatement.

I find that I cannot put down a book by Simon Turney once started. And the Praetorian series is no exception.As usual the tale starts with a fast pace an never slows down it builds to an exciting climax giving the reader barely time to absorb the previous events. Looking forward to the next instalment.

[Nicholas Quenet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book five in praetorian series.

An excellent story which had everything from loyalty to being stabbed in the back to murder. Not just this book but all five in this series. The only downside was bad grammar & spelling mistakes throughout all five books. Which is why only four stars.

[Ian Robert Woolger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding read.

A superb continuation of a wonderfully woven tale, great characters and a storyline that grips you and pulls you along. I was brought up on the tales of Merco and Cato and I never thought I would find an author or characters to better them. S J A Turney brings the Eagle Alive and gives it wings.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book in the series

I love the way the author is able to take historical records and make it fine story out of it.Can't wait for the next 2 books in the series to come out

[09/01 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read

Well plotted storyline plenty of action ,dead bodies everywhere. Rufinius struggles through,often not knowing who is friend or foe. I await with interest the next instalment.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast moving intrigue and delicately poised schemes are the meat of this entertaining story.

A principled officer is assigned a secret mission to root out corruption in an elite military brotherhood. Conflicting values challenge his success. Honor and character prevail.

[Betty Guarraia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great and Captivating Read

The praetorian cleansing fire is a great read and a good deal of fun. Many twists and turns. It shows with life must’ve been like in Rome at a very high political level. Many analogies with the current day politics.

[Uriel monteiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read

Love this series of Rufinus hope it will not take long for book 6 . I recommend this whole series

[Mr P L Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continued adventures with the two main characters developing a consciousness. Nice journey from Rome to Egypt, kept my imagination on point.

[John]

Another good Rustius tale.

[RHONA HIGH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this series, read them all, obsessively 😍