Smoke and Scar by Gretchen Powell Fox
Genres: Romantasy, New Adult
Pages: 486
Cover: Paperback
Age rating: 18+
Buy on: Amazon, Kindle
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Elyria, the Revenant, over a hundred years old, drowned herself in grief after losing her former lover to the Crucible. Now, she had to become the formidable warrior she once was to stop the Crucible from taking her former lover's sister in the same fate.
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Cedric, an honorable knight, who had trained for years to become the Champion for the Crucible. What people don't know is that he is also training for vengeance when he meets the Revenant, who had taken his parents' lives all those years ago.
With each trial testing their strength, courage, and betrayal lurking in every corner, Elyria and Cedric needed to navigate the Crucible and figure out the complex relationship that they are in.
​​​Characters and Plot
This was so fun!!! Just what I was expecting from a romantasy. First of all, the cover is just gorgeous, and the color palette is utterly breathtaking.
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The trials in here were actually dangerous and deadly. I think it managed to utilize the skills of the candidates very well, and gave almost everyone a chance to shine, not just the two main characters. The world-building wasn't hard to follow. Despite the simple concept, I think it was executed very well. Elyria is THE SHADOW MOMMTY!!! Some of her moments were totally badass, and it's so refreshing to see an immortal fmc instead of the mmc. Cedris is the damsel in distress, and I love him for it. He reminds me of Chaol in Throne of Glass lowkey...
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The plot was fast-paced, fun, and the plot twists at the end had my jaw on the floor. I did predict one of the twists, but I didn't guess everything, and I was left staring at the wall for a little while. The romance was okay. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but it didn't annoy me. I just think that it moved a bit too quickly, and most of the time was Elyria yelling at Cedric and pushing him away for some reason (girl needs to get it together, you are over 100 years old).
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I am so excited to see how the story continues, as the ending was crazy and, yes, the definition of the best last 100 pages.
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