Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
A small-time scrapper and his pet robot will fight their way out of the junk-heap in a tournament that will either make them richer than gods or rip them apart in the first book of Django Wexler’s lightning paced progression fantasy adventure for fans of Cradle and Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Taj lives in a junkheap, scavenging scrap to keep his family fed and dodging the monsters who live among the wreckage. His only edge is a smart-ass construct named Star he built himself.
Taj dreams of winning big with Star in the construct fighting circuits, but victory always seems just beyond his reach and the debt collectors are at the door.
His world changes forever when someone there makes him an offer that seems too good to be true: a chance to fight in the Ascent, the ultimate fighting tournament, for a prize beyond his wildest fantasies. But things that seem too good to be true usually are, and Taj finds his new benefactor comes with plenty of new enemies.
As he ventures beyond the only world he’s ever known, he discovers it’s not just his money on the line in the Ascent―it’s his life. When you start at the very bottom, the only way out is up …
My Review
If you’re a fan of LitRPG or progression fantasy, The Only Way Out is Up WILL be your next favorite series! I think y’all are going to LOVE this one! The Only Way Out is Up is a fast-paced, super fun adventure that I had a great time reading, and I’m really excited to see where this series goes.
The best way I can describe this book is battling Pokemon, except the Pokemon are robots powered by magic sigils, and the entire world takes place within an underground cavern with hundreds of thousands of residents. And the standout character is absolutely Star, Taj’s runic (robot construct), who is supposedly incapable of emotions but is somehow the funniest, sassiest character in the entire book. The banter between Taj and Star (and Taj and his ally Ky) is some of the best dialogue I’ve read in this genre. It’s fun, sharp, and compltely natural feeling throughout. You’ll really come to love all the characters.
One thing worth flagging for anyone going in based on the book description: the Ascent tournament that the whole premise seems to be built around is really only the final 25% of the book. The rest of the story follows Taj’s struggle to support his family, meet Ky, and scrape together the entry fee for the tournament. I still enjoyed the ride, but if you go in expecting the Ascent to be the main event, you might feel a little misled.
I’d also describe The Only Way Out is Up as more dystopian than LitRPG. The LitRPG elements are present but light, and the stratified underground society feels more like a classic dystopian setup than a traditional LitRPG world. Speaking of the world, I do wish we’d gotten a little more backstory about it. Who built this underground cavern? Who structured it into four levels? Who is constantly dumping trash into the cavern? I have sooo many questions, but I’m hoping subsequent books answer them! But what we learn about the Above at the end of this book has me SUPER excited for what comes next!
THE GOOD:
- Super fast-paced and fun from start to finish
- Star is an absolutely scene stealing standout character
- The dialogue and banter between characters is sharp and natural
- Taj is a great underdog protagonist
- The ending sets up the next book in a really exciting way
- A fresh take on the tournament progression fantasy format
THE NOT-AS-GOOD:
- The Ascent is only the final 25% of the book, which feels a little misleading based on the premise
- The worldbuilding leaves some questions unanswered (but hopefully answered in the future)
- We don’t get much information about how sigils work (but again, because of reasons I can’t tell you right now, I think we’ll learn a lot more about sigils in the next book!)
THE NEUTRAL:
- This reads more like dystopian fiction than traditional LitRPG, so adjust expectations accordingly
- This is a tower-fighting progression series, which is a pretty new format for me (so, like me, you may have no expectations of the genre)
OVERALL RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Only Way Out Is Up is a fast, fun, underdog progression fantasy with a sassy robot sidekick you’re going to love, even if the worldbuilding leaves you with more questions than answers.
PERFECT FOR:
- Fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl and Cradle
- Readers who love underdog tournament stories
- Anyone who wants a sassy, funny non-human sidekick
- Dystopian fiction fans who want a fresh fantasy twist
- Progressoin fantasy readers looking for something a little different
