Chaos and Communion (Book 5 of The Master Chronicles) by Jamie Craig

The fifth book in this series once again deviates a good deal from the format of the first three. We get even more of the back story in this book. We learned a great deal in book four, but book five pretty much tells us everything. I think.

Here is the blurb for the book:

Stopping a murder that happened forty years earlier may be the only way to heal a tortured mind... Six months after Jesse Madding is brutally tortured by Marcus Brooker, he is still experiencing flashbacks, panic attacks, and jumping at his own shadow. His lovers, Gideon Keel and Emma Coolidge, would do anything to help him, but Jesse cannot tolerate the thought of being alone, and refuses to be hospitalized for treatment. Desperate for a change, Gideon and Emma suggest a radical solution. Jesse wants to fix his life. More than anything, he wants to be normal again. He doesn't want to live in fear. He doesn't want to be ashamed of his scarred and mutilated body. He doesn't want to shy away from Gideon's touch. Certain that the holding pattern will kill him, he agrees to Gideon and Emma's proposed solution: travel to an alternative dimension and save Marcus Brooker from witnessing Mary's grisly murder...in order to save Brooker's soul.

The BDSM scenes aren't as intense in this book, but they really can't be, with Jesse's state of mind. There is one intense scene in the book, as well as a not so intense one in Sangre, but compared to previous books in the series this one is pretty tame.

We get to watch Jesse fight to get his life back though, and I'm glad that the author didn't just glance over what Jesse's experience was likely to do to him. And I like that Gideon was willing to do whatever it took to help him heal. We knew Emma would, and I figured Gideon would, but it was nice to see.

The story line is good, and I enjoyed it, though not as much as I enjoyed previous books.

To be honest though, the last two books have been more intense than I was ready for at the time. Too much drama and not enough fun. I usually like drama okay and even appreciate it, but these books just made me tired. The blurb for the next book makes it look like things may get even more intense, and I'm just not up for that right now. Part of the blurb for the next book says "Jesse must convince the vampire who doesn't remember him, or the love the three of them share, to fight for their lives.". I do intend to read the next two books in the series at some point, just not quite yet. I don't want to see Emma possessed, and I don't want to see Gideon lose his memories. Not now, anyway. I like these characters and I don't want to see anything else bad happen to them. Not that bad, anyway.


Heat level: 3 of 5
Book Rating: 8 of 10
Series Rating: 7 of 10 (after reading first five books)



1. Master of Obsidian
2. Unveiled
3. Mosaic Moon
4. Seduction in Black and White
5. Chaos and Communion
6. Dominion
7. A Renaissance In Blood