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  • The Only Way Out Is Up by Django Wexler book cover
  • The Only Way Out Is Up by Django Wexler book cover
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The Only Way Out Is Up

by Django Wexler

A fighter and his handmade robot take on the Ascent

$17.69 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

A fighter and his handmade robot take on the Ascent

Taj’s life in a monster-haunted junkheap is shaped by scavenging, family needs and mounting debt. His chief advantage is Star, a sharp-tongued construct he built himself, and the pair hope to make their way through the construct fighting circuits. An invitation to the Ascent—a high-stakes tournament with a life-changing prize—opens a path beyond Taj’s familiar surroundings, while bringing a benefactor and new enemies into the picture. The setup combines scrappy survival and robot combat with a progression-fantasy tournament, where the stakes extend from money to Taj’s life.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Fantasy readers interested in tournament competition and progression fantasy.
  • Readers who enjoy stories about inventive partnerships between humans and robots.
  • Readers looking for action-adventure centered on survival, debt and a high-stakes contest.

Themes

Survival and family responsibilityDebt and ambitionHuman–robot partnershipCompetition and risk

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

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 ...
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