Smoke and Scar

By: Gretchen Powell Fox

Narrated by: Dan Calley, Stephanie Németh-Parker

An epic fantasy romance where enemies-to-lovers must brave the deadly trials of the Arcane Crucible, facing dark magic and impossible odds that could shape the fate of their world forever.

For centuries, humans and the magical races of Arcanis have been locked in conflict. The Arcane Crucible, a deadly trial held every twenty-five years, offers a glimmer of hope for peace—but at a steep cost.

Elyria Lightbreaker, once a celebrated fae war hero, has been living in the shadow of her past. After losing the man she loved to the previous Crucible, she has sworn to protect his sister from meeting the same end. To keep her promise, Elyria must find the strength to face the chaos she thought she left behind.

Cedric Thorne, hardened by grief and driven by vengeance, has devoted his life to conquering the Crucible on humanity’s behalf. To win, he’ll have to rely on the one person he despises most: Elyria, the fae warrior he blames for his parents’ deaths.

Thrown together by circumstance, Elyria and Cedric must endure brutal trials that test their strength, spirit, and power. Fragile alliances, shifting loyalties, and growing feelings between them threaten to tip the scales of fate.

Smoke and Scar is the gripping first installment in the Shattered Crown Trilogy, a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romantic fantasy filled with high stakes, dark magic, breathtaking world-building, and unforgettable characters. Perfect for fans of The Serpent & the Wings of Night, Throne of Glass, and Trial of the Sun Queen.

Will Elyria and Cedric survive the trials…or destroy each other along the way?

The male voice actor sounds like an animal plant narrator.

I cannot stand how the male voice actor narrates the story. He’s sound like he should be narrating an episode of Bear Grylls. It’s very high pitched, and the cadence that he speaks almost gives a creepy old dark story teller vibe. The female voice actor is very good tho.

The story is great, think ACOTAR meets Hunger Games. Super interesting political dynamic. Romance is alright, like I said the male voice actor really throws me off. Other than that’s I enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the next book.

Very good production of a 10 out of 10 book.

While the male Kit voice was certainly chuckle worthy, was an excellent listen. After reading all these Romantasy books with an MMC as a "shadow daddy", came across this Romantasy on tiktok, by the author, claiming the FMC as the "shadow daddy". Sparked my interest and read it on Kindle while traveling. Was so good that it was a massive highlight on my vacation and when the audiobook came out, had to get it and listen. Again, the only knock is the male Kit voice but it's not bad so much as, again, chuckle worthy.

Slow burn fantasy. Done very well!

The betrayal at the end SHOOK ME.

I can’t wait for book 2. These narrator’s are amazing!

Read the book and now the audiobook

I love this book so much, Gretchen has created such an amazing story. I can’t wait to read/listen to the next book in the series.

The Audiobook was okay, the story is phenomenal

Smoke and Scar is a fantastic read and is only the second book this year I can confidently give five stars to. Like many other popular fantasy books in recent years, we are following a magical tournament to the death whose prize will change someone’s life forever. Unlike most other books that use this formula, however, the name of our game is unity. Our cast of characters must put aside their prejudices and team up to survive the horrors of the crucible. I laughed, I sobbed, and I screamed at the ending. The emotions really flowed for me.

Elyria, our badass main character, is an over 200-year-old fae who has seen some shit. She fought in a bloody war, earning herself the moniker of ‘The Revenant’ and that watched the love of her life enter the previous crucible, never to be seen again. Now she is incredibly cynical and has walls built around her. Cedric, our male lead, is a simple man whose goal in life is to help his people and kill the Revenant for what she did to his family. Instead, Elyria ends up saving him from certain death a bare minimum of five times. It’s always refreshing when the woman isn’t the ‘weak’ one in the group. It’s not just Elyria who is strong either! Kit and Gael are also incredibly strong female characters who help keep the group alive themselves! There is LGBT representation as well, which is always important to me and the fact that the representation came in the form of an entirely non-binary race of people warmed my gender non-conforming heart.

When Gretchen Powell Fox said she was going to do a slow burn, she truly meant it and I both love and hate it. As I have pointed out in previous reviews, I am a hopeless romantic and it is so obvious that there are feeling budding between Cedric and Elyria; we only get the slightest of tastes however of how far it has evolved and I hate that I have to wait another whole book to see them come together. However, this complaint has no bearing on my rating, I am just impatient.

I want to lay a warning to you all that this story can be dark at times as well. I didn’t always expect rainbows and sunshine but... there is depression, alcoholism, torture, scaring, murder, deception, racism, and betrayal. This is a trigger warning in case any of you need that. However, reading this book for me was almost therapeutic. It felt sometimes like Elyria was talking straight to me and telling me how good I was doing, just for holding on. It meant a lot to me.

LOVE!!

I loved this book! The author did an amazing job and I can’t wait to read the second book!

A favorite 2025 read!

Smoke & Scar is a great fantasy with romance subplot for anyone who is looking for a story with an older, strong FMC that flips the script on a lot of common romantasy tropes. Both narrators are fantastic and they do a good job bringing the characters to life to keep you engaged. Happy listening!

It snatched me in and didn't let go

The story is great, and the narrators were perfect for their characters, but how the duet was done was a little jarring. I wish she had done all the female, and he had done all the male. Between different chapters the same side character would be voiced by whoever was doing that chapter, and as a listener it was a little difficult to keep track of what voice was what. That aside I loved the book, and the fact it actually is a slow burn.

Good! The adventure before the romance

--As to the audio _style_ this is a hybrid-narration style that's new to me. As a listener, I think I still prefer dual to hybrid, if duet is not a po$$ibility for authors and producers.-- THE NARRATORS HERE WERE STILL EXCELLENT.--
--As to the story, this is the adventure that comes before the romance between the main characters. It is action packed!!! The marketing leans heavily into the romance, but that a simmer here, expect the burn to come in book 2. If you like fantasy and the deadly challenges/trials trope, this one has what you're looking for.

Such an engaging story!

Love this book! Had me hooked from the very beginning. I will definitely be diving right into book 2!!