The Scarred King

(Medieval Beauty and the Beast Retelling)

By: Amy Horikami

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

*Updated revisions (2024)

Scarred from his past, Rollan is judged by his appearances, making every woman of his court flee from his very presence...until Princess Ellen arrives.

Ellen has her own scars and feels a connection to the King in a way that she has never felt before, but Rollan's pride and cruelty might ruin everything.
For both of them.

This story will take you through a journey of love that has never been told before.

*This book is a clean romance.

No ending-cuts off

It was a very sweet story. However, it abruptly cuts off just as the things get interesting. So frustrating!

Sweet, Simple, but Cut off

the writing is sweet and wonderfully captures the right words for first affection blooming into stronger feelings, but the romance is so fast it feels forced and the book ended right at the actual conflict of the story. it's like a tv show that you didn't know was going to be a "part 1" episode.
virtual voice was an interesting listen. did well for the most part, but lacks the inflection of different tones in voice. when "I love you" is said in the same tone as "I don't know why you came here in the first place", it takes away from the impact

Great story

Why are we making less of a beautiful story with virtual voice? The story itself so lovely.

Story needs work

I wanted to like this audiobook more than I did. While The Scarred King has a promising premise, the execution—both in narration and story depth—left something to be desired.

First, the virtual voice used in the audiobook is not ideal. If you're going to use AI narration, it really helps to have different voices for different characters, especially when switching between male and female perspectives. Hearing a female voice attempt to portray a gruff male character (or vice versa) without any variation is distracting and takes away from the immersion.

Second, the story itself feels a bit too simple. It starts off well and has potential, but it lacks the depth and complexity to truly hook the listener. Characters could use more development, and the plot would benefit from richer world-building and more tension.

Overall, this feels like a decent first draft of a series that could evolve into something stronger with more polish. I hope future installments improve in both audio quality and narrative depth.