Proceed With Caution:
This book contains an attempted rape, violence, death, and gore.
The Basics:
Fire in His Chaos is the eighth book of the series and kind of stands alone. It takes us back to Fort Dallas and focuses on completely new characters. We did briefly meet Jurik back in book two in passing, but Rachel is a new human woman. While the romance is new and doesn't rely on previous books, this one does finally pick up the overarching plot involving Azar and the Rift, setting up for the following books.
My Thoughts:
I wasn't as into Fire in His Chaos as the previous books. I was a bit disappointed to be following characters we hadn't been introduced yet, but it was necessarily to move along the bigger plot. Rachel is part of the "Panty Program" which gives the women of Fort Dallas some protection. Rachel has no idea what any of this is about until she runs into a golden dragon while out scavenging. He follows her back to the fort and that's when Azar tells her that she needs to mate with the dragon and bring him back. Or else.
The romance aspect of Fire in His Chaos was okay. Rachel starts off terrified, which is understandable. After chatting with Azar, she knows that Jurik won't hurt her, but that's a hard idea to reconcile when faced with a fanged and clawed beast. Especially, when Rachel's face is disfigured and she's missing a hand because of a dragon attack. I did like how Jurik goes to other mated drakoni to find out why Rachel doesn't seem to want to mate with him. He's definitely the most present drakoni we've met so far other than Liam.
While the romance didn't fully work for me, I was totally into the plot of Fire in His Chaos. No one knows what to make of Azar and his plans. He seems to be telling the truth that something big and scary is coming. But are his methods really as necessary as he claims? I believe him, but that's more because I know his book is coming and he needs to be redeemed in some way before we can cheer for him to get his mate.
Fire in His Chaos wasn't bad at all, but it was my least favorite of the series up until this point. It felt like a bridge book. Not quite filler, but it's clear that this one is meant to pull together the bigger picture and set up for the final books.