Proceed With Caution:
This book contains mentions of rape and prostitution, violence, death, and some gore.
The Basics:
This is the first book of a post-apocalyptic, dragon romance series. It's set in the near future after The Rift fills our world with deadly, fire-breathing dragons. Billions of people are dead and the rest are struggling to survive. Including our heroine, Claudia, who is doing her best to take care of her younger sister. But when we meet her, she's been arrested for scavenging and is facing banishment. Or worse.
My Thoughts:
I had been devouring Ruby Dixon's alien books, but what about her dragons? Fire in His Blood was a fun read and a good introduction to the series. Is it as charming as Ice Planet Barbarians? No, but it's chock-full of similar tropes and sexy times, so it's still a good time.
Fire in His Blood has a lot of interesting world-building. Not as much as her other series, since this one is set on Earth in 2023. It's not too far off from what we're living, just with the addition of dragons swooping down and burning towns to the ground. Everything is run by the military, of course, and women have it especially bad, of course. We learn that dragon attacks are fairly predictable, so the people can prepare and take cover. However, things seem to be getting worse when we enter the story.
At its center, Fire in His Blood is a romance novel. While there is a decent external plot going on, it all hinges on Claudia and Kael's eventual mating. Kael is a big gold dragon who rescues Claudia after the military leaves her out as dragon bait. He knows she's his mate, although he can't communicate that to her even while in his humanoid form. Just like with Ice Planet Barbarians, there's a language issue with a pretty simple solution. In this case, completing the mate bond, which actually makes perfect sense. But how can Kael get this woman to mate with him when he can't tell her that they're mates? You'll have to read to find out!
Like I said, the external plot is pretty good. Claudia needs to get back to town to save her sister who is being held as a kind of collateral, in the case that Claudia comes back with information on the dragons. She also wants to get her best friend out of there and start a better life. But why did they use Claudia as dragon bait? Why are the dragons suddenly acting so erratically? Why can't we all just get along?
I did enjoy Fire in His Blood and read it in one afternoon. It would have been better if it hadn't been so repetitive, especially at the beginning. The same sentiments are repeated multiple times per chapter, and then reiterated in the following chapter, and on and on and on. I guess it was a way to drill the details into our brain, since this book is doing the heavy lifting of establishing this world. But it was a bit much at times. Still worth a read though and it did leave me wanting the next book.