Smoke and Scar scratches the Throne of Glass itch so good: a spoiler-free review

Last year, I was introduced to the world of Romantasy - a nice and sometimes balanced (and often very unbalanced) combination of the fantasy and romance genres. After being devastated by Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, I tried to get over the book hangover by diving into SJM's Throne of Glass series.

That was simultaneously both the best and worst decision I have ever made in my reading career.

Throne of Glass left me starving for more fantasy stories with a (mostly) solid story, enjoyable romances, and a main character who literally grows with and on you with each of the eight books in the series. So, once those eight books had been purchased, read, loved, and neatly put on display, I was left with a giant, gaping void. That's when I entered the world of ARCs. After reading, loving, and reviewing a few wonderful and different books and ARCs, I noticed that though I was happy with the stories I'd read, I still had gigantic hole in my heart that just… did not want to go away.

That is, until I found Smoke and Scar by Gretchen Powell Fox.

Smoke and Scar scratches the Throne of Glass itch so good - a spoiler-free review

Let’s start with the cover - it’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s what drew me to the book to begin with, honestly. I was doomscrolling on Instagram before going to bed, when I saw the image on the cover of the book and found myself DMing its wonderful author, Gretchen Powell Fox, asking if I was too late to grab an ARC. Thankfully, she welcomed me into her ARC Team with opened arms and I am now dying for the second book in the Shattered Crown series. Thank you so much again!!!

The story told in Smoke and Scar is one that resonates pretty hard in current times, a story about people getting together, working together for a common and beneficial goal. And, as always, it is never that simple.

Gretchen does a fantastic job with the world building. Much like most of my personal Roman Empire, the Throne of Glass series, there are plenty of time and pages to introduce and explore the beautiful and vast world of the Shattered Crown series - and that’s in great part because of the fact there is no spice in this book. In fact, the romance in this romantasy is extremely pleasant and kind of takes a backseat to the actual progression of the main plot. It doesn’t have the “from 0 to obsession” progression that a lot of the romance in the genre follows, it’s quite sweet and definitely has you rooting for the pair. The plot itself is pretty neat, and I can’t wait to see how it all continues to unfold in the upcoming sequel, Shattered Kingdom.

What makes it even better and an even bigger pleasure to read this book are the two main characters, Elyria and Cedric. You have a badass, somewhat mature, not self-important female main character who has a nice little character arc going for her, and then your have her perfectly written, calmer and more collected, complete opposite counterpart who is also going down a major character arc, and they need to figure out how to get along and how to… do… things. I’m not going to give you much on the plot at all here - it’s how I like to go into these books: reading literally as little as I can about it as possible before I dive in.

But anyway, the rest of the characters and their personalities also pleased me so much that I found myself audibly praising them and their development as I read, and they were each unique and unforgettable in their own way. Yes, I do have a favorite, but I won’t tell you who yet. The way the book changes POV, alternating between Elyria Lightbreaker and Cedric Thorne, made for a really fun way to tell a complicated story, and it worked flawlessly in creating some intense and important moments throughout the book. Speaking of Elyria and Cedric, these two just… make me so damn happy. There are a plethora of others characters that you will absolutely get attached to, allow to live in your head rent-free, and maybe cry over them. I don’t know. You should pick up a copy of Smoke and Scar on March 11th when it comes out (you can even pre-order it) and find out!

And let’s not even mention the twisty-twists. So good.

Official Pixigonal Rating: 10/10

Smoke and Scar is the kind of book/ARC you feel you need a cigarette afterwards because the mindfuck is a 15/10.

In all seriousness, if you’re reading this and thinking “hmm, this may be up my alley”, let me correct you and say it IS up your alley. There’s no “may be” here.

Keep an eye out for an exclusive interview with author Gretchen Powell Fox coming soon!