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“There’s more at stake than surviving until tomorrow. I will change my tomorrows with what I will do today. With what I do right now.”
Thrilling, heart wrenching and extremely well written, Julie Eshbaugh’s dystopian fantasy CROWN OF OBLIVION will ensure to draw you in and never let go. It has intriguing politics, the games of a royal court, unique magic system, and – of course – the Race of Oblivion.
Astrid Jael is our protagonist, and she will do everything she can to protect what is left of her family, including entering the Race of Oblivion to earn citizenship for them all.
I received an ARC of Crown of Oblivion from the FFBC’s Crown of Oblivion Book Tour! Thank you so much!
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Astrid is the surrogate for Princess Renya, which means she bears the physical punishment if Renya steps out of line. Astrid has no choice—she and her family are Outsiders, the lower class of people without magic and without citizenship.
But there is a way out of this life—competing in the deadly Race of Oblivion. To enter the race, an Outsider is administered the drug Oblivion, which wipes their memory clear of their past as they enter a new world with nothing to help them but a slip of paper bearing their name and the first clue. It’s not as simple as solving a puzzle, however—for a majority of the contestants, the race ends in death. But winning would mean not only freedom for Astrid, but citizenship and health care for her entire family. With a dying father to think of, Astrid is desperate to prevail.
From the beginning, the race is filled with twists and turns. One of them is Darius, a fellow racer Astrid meets but isn’t sure she can trust. Though they team up in the race, as Astrid’s memories begin to resurface, she remembers just who he was to her—a scorned foe who may want revenge. Astrid also starts to notice she has powers no Outsider should—which could help her win the race, but also make her a target if anyone finds out. With stakes that couldn’t be higher, Astrid must decide what is more important: risking her life to remember the mysteries of the past, or playing a cutthroat game in order to win her—and her family’s—freedom.
Sounds amazing, right!
And for those of you who haven’t previously heard of Julie Eshbaugh, here is her author profile:
Julie Eshbaugh is a YA writer and former filmmaker. She made two short films and then spent several years producing an online video series for teens which received several honors from the Webby Awards. Her new YA fantasy standalone, CROWN OF OBLIVION, is coming from HarperTeen November 2019. IVORY AND BONE (HarperTeen 2016) and OBSIDIAN AND STARS (HarperTeen 2017), her prehistoric fantasy duology, are out now. You can learn more about Julie’s writing escapades by visiting www.julieeshbaugh.com.
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★★★★½
4.5 stars / 5
At some points I wanted to give it four stars and at other points I wanted to give it 5. So, I just decided to give it (well earned) 4 ½ stars—even though I will be classing this as 5 stars on Goodreads.
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Okay, let’s begin with brief details before we get into the good stuff… I really enjoyed this! The characters were developed, and I like how we discover things along with our protagonist and even be deceived just as she is.
The main reason why I didn’t give it a full five stars was because I found myself getting lost off at certain points. The beginning was one of them. But this was most likely because I was thrown straight into the magic system and it took a little while to understand what was happening and what everything meant.
At the beginning, I was worried that I, as the reader, would know too much prior to Astrid entering the race and therefore losing her memories. But there was no need to worry. Eshbaugh did this very well, which made the book that bit more enjoyable than it already was!
I also really liked the magic system (even though it took me a while to understand in the beginning) because it wasn’t overly excessive. There was just the right amount.
In a way, Crown of Oblivion lowkey reminded me of if The Hunger Games and Catching Fire was happening at the same time: if Katniss was having her first Hunger Games (the 74th and not the quarter quell) but didn’t know the whole truth about the rebellion that was going on)—I hope that makes sense!
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Although I am under the impression that this is a standalone, YES! Yes, one hundred times over. I need to know what happens to Astrid—oh, and poor Marlon! (he’s a smol bean and MUST be protected)—Darius, Renya and if Lars survived (and if there were any truth behind his lies at all!)
As I am writing this, I didn’t realise just how attached I had become to these characters. So definitely yes!
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I STRONGLY recommend getting yourself a copy of this epic dystopian fantasy by Julie Eshbaugh…because I have a feeling that the copies will be snatched up fast.
To purchase yourself a copy of the awesome CROWN OF OBLIVION, follow these links!
Amazon:
B&N:
iTunes:
And to find out more about Julie Eshbaugh, including her previous works, you can follow these links!
Website:
http://www.julieeshbaugh.com/
http://www.julieeshbaugh.com/
Twitter:
Instagram:
Pinterest:
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I hope you all enjoyed this book review! Special thanks again to the FFBC team for this blog tour as well as Julie Esbaugh and HarperTeen!
Thank you for reading,
Stay awesome,
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