An Outcast In Another World

This review was written after I had read all three published books. I’m waiting on the Kindle version instead of reading on RR so I can give the author my money.

If you liked HWFWM, Defiance of the Fall, Primal Hunter, or Randidly, you’ll like this series.

Initially, I was worried when the starting chapters felt very close to both DoT and Primal Hunter. Young white man in a forest with dangerous beasts… I’ve read that few too many times for it to still hold the magic it originally held with me. Luckily, the similarities to other works vanish as book one progresses, and our MC (Rob), confronts a few facts about the world he finds himself in. Things like:

• Grass is colour coded based on the initial national borders.
• There is some form of infection spreading in the forest.
• There’s a settlement of elves nearby.
• Oh, and there was a continent wide war against the humans only a few years ago, leading to the race’s extinction and the death of about half of all people on the continent.

Rob, as it turns out, is up shit creek without a paddle. His sole benefit is that humans have the Fast Learner trait, which is the main gimmick/cheat Rob can exploit to level up fast.

Rob makes an initial elf friend (Kiera), and has to work hard to try and sway the public opinion (which is effectively to put down the last human and finish the job), leading to some tense but rewarding social progress as he slowly chips away at people’s defences.

There are a few small moments of lecturing here (ie don’t generalise, sins of the father, racism, etc), however this doesn’t get anywhere close to the levels of preachiness one might find in HWFWM, so if that was an issue for you in that serious, it won’t be here. And, to reinforce that point, all hints of it vanish by midway through the first book and don’t appear in latter books at all.

So where does that leave us? Well, we’ve got some really interesting worldbuilding that keeps getting deeper as the books continue. A strong cast of characters that have well defined and separate personalities. Fun classes, levels, and skills, that are obviously super favourable to Rob without being hands-in-the-air-unbelievable. And a whole bunch of tantalising open plot points about what’s happening and being hinted at happening back on Earth.

I’m keen to keep reading, and I’m especially keen for when Earth comes into the mix once again.

Definitely give this one a read.