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.

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!

male narration awful

I cannot stand the inflection that the male narrator ends each sentence with. it ruins the entire story. I ended up reading the story instead of listening.

Did not like the male narrating

I did not like the male narrating especially when it came to side female character. If its duel narrating then the female should do the female side characters and male should stick to male characters. The acents took me away from the story or it would have benefited just having the female voice.

Actually like reading this book more then the audio.

Did not like the male narration

I liked Cedric’s voice and his other male voices but when he narrated, it sounded like an announcer for a baking show. There wasn’t any lilt to it. It was very monotone and at the end of every sentence, his voice rose in an exclamation of sorts. I don’t know how to explain that it just sounded like he was announcing not narrating. And his girl voice for Kit I did not like and did not match the female narrators voice for Kit. A lot of their voices didn’t match very well. This was a duet in a sense where the main character voices were a duet but the narrators took over the other voices in the pov chapters. It would’ve been better if they just stuck to all female characters and all male character voices.