As the surrogate to Princess Renya, Astrid lives amongst royalty. Her life, however, is far from privileged. If Renya steps out of line, Astrid is the one who gets whipped. It’s a nightmare, but Astrid has no choice—she and her family are Outsiders, the lowest class of people, without magic or citizenship. The only way out is to compete in the deadly Race of Oblivion. First, racers are dosed with the drug Oblivion which wipes their memories. Then they awake in the middle of nowhere with a slip of paper containing the race’s first clue. Whoever finds the clues first and crosses the finish line wins. That’s the only rule—racers have killed each other in pursuit of the next clue, and the punishing terrain kills even more of them. For Astrid, competing could mean death. But winning could mean freedom.

