Based on the provided reviews, here's a 2.5-star review:

"The Way Up is Death" starts with an intriguing premise: a mysterious tower appears, and a diverse group is forced to ascend. However, the initial promise quickly fades into a confusing and repetitive experience. While the pacing is fast and the audiobook narration is competent, the characters remain one-dimensional, and the plot feels like a series of disconnected "escape room" scenarios.

The story struggles to establish clear stakes or provide satisfying explanations for the events within the tower. What begins as a potential sci-fi thriller devolves into a series of moral lectures, losing its initial momentum. The blend of genres, including sci-fi, horror, and a touch of LitRPG, feels muddled rather than cohesive.

Ultimately, the book fails to deliver on its initial promise, leaving the reader with more questions than answers. While some may find the fast-paced action and occasional humor enjoyable, the lack of depth and character development makes it difficult to fully invest in the story. It's a quick, entertaining read, but not one that leaves a lasting impression.

The Way Up is Death is a sci-fi novel with the premise being a group of individuals are randomly selected to ascend a mysterious floating tower that has appeared above the skies of England.

What initially felt like a book that may follow the LitRPG trope of dungeon crawling soon became a confusing read with a lot of unanswered questions. We are introduced to a diverse list of characters from a teacher, a model, to an annoying social media influencer/author, etc.,who find themselves forced to climb a dangerous tower where each level appears based off one of the participants’ backstory.

Climbing each level also comes with its own setbacks and we see how the characters decide to tackle these situations in the most ‘human’ way possible. This is where things get a little hard to figure out. The characters were very one dimensional, with very little growth seen outside of the main characters. The stakes for this whole endeavor very obscure. The situations and enemies quite comical at times. The realisation that we, as the reader, just have to assume the AI running the tower (because of course there is one) has all this power with no reference as to how or why, is in the end, quite annoying. We aren’t given many answers as to how this entire situation even came to be, nor do we get any explanation for some of the events that take place within the confines of this tower ascension. Like the characters, I too was left with what was the point of it all; other than saving humanity of course. Of course..

What I will say though is that the story reads like a horror-thriller with some sci-fi elements tossed in for the sake of it. It is fairly fast-paced and did keep me going till the end. At no point, even with the annoyance felt, did I feel like just stopping until it was done.

"We were brought here with a purpose, and I think whatever built this place understood we needed at least a fighting chance of finding our way through it."

The Way Up is Death by Dan Hanks

Thank you to Netgalley and Angry Robot for the Advanced Listener's Copy of this audiobook. The narrators do a great job in this one, and I feel like it is perfect for the science fiction comedy that Edward Ashton brings, and the lunacy that Jason Pargin provides. It's also a very direct metaphor for what humanity is capable of when faced when certain death and situations that are inherently out of their hands. It is a bit trivial at a point, but I wouldn't take my opinions to heart on this one.

"You could feel its fingers on your skin, tugging at your hair. Its tongue slow and deliberate, as it savored your fear. Its teeth, sinking into your flesh. Something evil lurked here."

Listen: it's good. I just may not be the target audience. I see a lot of comparisons to Squid Games that I won't get due to not viewing that program... lol I also had a lot of really good source quotes, but missed the archive period for retrieving. But I can say with absolute certainty and authority that it is a very quotable story. Truly, all I know at the end of the day is the death is inevitable.

"Because when you get to my age, you come to know death. It becomes a friend. You must not fear it, only accept it. Death is an inevitable part of this journey, and without it, there is no journey. If something lives, it must surely die. There is a great peace in knowing that."

Simply put, I don't think I was the target audience for this book. The beginning had me hooked and intrigued, but it quickly went off the rails for me.

We are almost immediately thrown into the action here with a large number of characters. There is absolutely no explanation of this hovering tower, and our characters are thrust into fast-paced "escape room" type situations. I saw a few other reviews compare the story to Squid Game, but I didn't see that at all. It felt a little repetitive at times, and at no point did I truly understand what was going on.

Small spoiler (?): My favorite character was not a human, and I wish I had closure for that particular character.

I understand I'm in the minority here; it seems other people really enjoyed this! I just don't think it was my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

Rating: 2/5 Stars
Pub Date: 3/18
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This Fantasy/Sci-Fi/ Thriller book had a super intriguing premise. I mean, a mysterious tower appears and people are pulled from their lives and are brought to this tower with only one clue into what to do: Ascend…
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The beginning of the book had me pretty hooked. I wanted to know what this tower was and how these people got there.. As time went on, I noticed that I really struggled with who each character was as I didn’t feel many of them had much depth. I also struggled to really visualize what the author was going for as far as the concept. I understand the levels, that was cool and I really enjoyed the thrill of it, something just didn’t click with me - which I think it was me that was the problem. I struggled with the execution.
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I listened to this one via audiobook and Elliot Fitzpatrick was a great narrator. I think I may have understood this one a bit better if I had eyeball read this one. But the narration is still great and its one that I would recommend along with a physical copy.
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Overall, this one didn’t work for me, but I think it was more of a me problem. Friends of Fantasy / Sci-Fi / Thrillers - Check this one out! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Dan Hanks and HighBridge Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This reminded me of that movie Escape Room…
I thought the book was entertaining but honestly I little long winded… I feel like the book could have been cut in half and still had the same effect.

I did enjoy the book and was thoroughly entertained.

Thank you NetGalley for this ALC

La premisa de la que parte Dan Hanks para escribir su novela le daba mucho margen para imaginar. La aparición repentina de una extraña torre sobre Reino Unido en la que se encuentran 13 humanos sin más explicación que la palabra ASCEND en la puerta deja abiertas tantas posibilidades como se le pueda ocurrir a un escritor.


Sin embargo, Hanks se decanta por una amalgama de distintas influencias, divididas en niveles que a pesar de ser aparentemente distintos siguen una plantilla predeterminada que acaba siendo cansina y repetitiva. El elenco de personajes también es bastante maniqueo, con su malo malísimo, su mujer florero, su brillante adolescente… Todo muy arquetípico.

Cada nivel está inspirado supuestamente en los personajes que pueblan la novela, sacando de sus mentes influencias y enigmas para proseguir con el ascenso. Pero parecen más cascarones vacíos, escenarios de conveniencia para las decisiones morales supuestamente de gran calado a las que se enfrentan estos trece elegidos. A mí me ha parecido una sucesión de clichés, con un poco de toque de terror pero que tampoco consigue inquietar al lector.

La interpretación del audiolibro por parte de Elliot Fitzpatrick es esforzada, pero es que el material de partida no consigue atrapar al lector en ningún momento.

No sé si decir que tiene cierta inspiración en los litRPG que se pusieron de moda hace algunos años, sobre todo cuando el primer nivel tiene un exagerado look de videojuego roguelike, pero no creo que esa fuera la intención de Hanks. De hecho, no tengo muy claro que camino pretendía seguir, porque nunca me he sentido atrapada por la narrativa, la lectura de la novela ha sido un acto mecánico con poco resultado.

I really loved the concept and the story was well narrated. This felt a little like Jumanji meets Saw. High stakes but a game. It's shard because while the story itself was fast paced it felt too long. I found that I didn't care about the characters and their ultimate outcomes. It was fine overall but I wouldn't pick it up again.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

(3.75 Stars rounded up to 4 for the audio)

Thank you to #NetGalley for providing an audiobook copy of this for reading and review.

First of, I want to state that I liked this story. It was comfortable, familiar, and nostalgic. However... it was also predictable, archetypical, and maybe even a little vapid. But, that doesn't make it a bad thing.

This was more "psychological horror", like early Clive Barker, but thematically more like Squid Game.

The fact that the story used stereotypical characters allowed them to be inserted "fully developed", so yes the characters are good and familiar, but they are also a little flat because they are not really built up throughout the story. What you see, is what you get. With little pieces of extra background information thrown in to tie it into the plot.

Speaking of the plot, it really is the major character, so the book is definitely more plot-driven than character-driven. The characters will basically show you who they are when they are introduced, and you never really change your mind about them.

Again, I want to state... I did like this book. The narration was superb, the length was appropriate, and the pace was about right for the genre. I base my rating on a few things... Did I like the book on it's own? yes. Would I read more by this author? also yes. It was a fun, quick, adventure-horror book. It could be enjoyed by most ages (probably 16+), and it felt like an amalgamation of many tropes from the genre.

The premise of The Way Up Is Death sets up an exciting, high-stakes survival story within a bizarre alien tower, but the execution didn’t quite live up to that promise. The first half maintains a gripping sense of danger, but the second half takes a sharp tonal shift into social commentary—one that, for me, felt more like being lectured about morality than an engaging narrative. It slowed the pacing considerably and lost much of the initial intrigue.

The audiobook experience didn’t help matters. While there was nothing objectively wrong with the narration, I personally didn’t connect with the narrator’s voice, which made it harder to stay immersed.

Ultimately, the story felt like a bait-and-switch. What started as a tense, otherworldly survival tale devolved into an “all you need is love” message that didn’t align with what initially drew me in.

This was a really fun book. It took me a minute to get into the narrative voice, but once the action of the plot really kicked in, I was swept away in the story. The characters were well drawn - some were vile and some were morally pure, there were no shades of grey, but that kind of good v bad dynamic worked very well in this kind of story. The various levels of the tower were interesting and different enough to keep me guessing and the ending felt earned. Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected when I first started reading and would definitely recommend it for anyone who enjoys a fast paced, adventure story.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

With a great premise, this book starts off engaging and thrilling, but the excitement ultimately fizzles out due to a repetitive plot and lack of character development. When it started feeling like a chore to finish, I realized it just wasn’t for me.

Fairly original idea. Kudos to the author for that.
Genre blending. A strange mix of sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, action, and horror with a strong LitRPG pull. The plot unexpectedly flowed well; meaning that I feel like most LitRPG books are rampant with random twists that are more chaotic and distracting than linear.
The characters were flawed, which is necessary for a great story. You do not get a strong connection with any of them, but that does not take away from the book.
The dialog was good. Some random REALLY great one-liners that may or may not have fit... but hey... when you think of funny stuff, you might as well throw it in a book. The beginning abounded with British humor, which fell flat with me, but when you're from the UK, you do UK things. There was so much British humor in the beginning, that I thought I was reading a comedy. That changes quickly.
Overall, an enjoyable read. I sincerely look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you for the opportunity to review this work.
3.5 stars for me.