Pit Fighter

Victor of Tucson #1

by Plum Parrot

From the author of Falling with Folded Wings comes a furious new fantasy series, in which a teenage, hard-case Earthling tries to earn some class . . .

Victor can’t wait to get the hell out of high school, go to the local community college on a sports scholarship, and start his own life. But that’s all put on hold when he enters his abuela’s house and somehow ends up stepping into a world unlike anything he’s ever known, filled with fantastical meta-humans; walking, talking devils; and other creatures one usually needs some serious pharmaceuticals to see.

Fanwath is no dream, though. In fact, it’s a nightmare. Sold into slavery as a pit fighter, Victor quickly learns his new home is controlled by the “System” and the only way to get ahead is to fight, kill, and collect the precious “Energy” that means the difference between a long life and an early grave. And according to his stats, Victor’s starting out at a solid zero.

Lucky for him, no one in this world has ever met his kind before—which means they have no idea what he’s really capable of. But they’re about to find out . . .

The first volume of the hit LitRPG adventure series—with more than 750,000 views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

Genres: Litrpg, Fantasy, Audiobook, Fiction, Young Adult, Role Playing Games, Magic

333 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 17, 2023

About the author

Plum Parrot is the pen name of author MC Gallup, who grew up in Southern Arizona and spent much of his youth wandering around the Sonoran Desert, hunting imaginary monsters and building forts. He studied creative writing at the University of Arizona and, for a number of years, attempted to teach middle schoolers to love literature and write their own stories. If he's not out walking his Airedale Terrier, you can find Gallup writing, reading his favorite authors, or playing D&D with friends and family.

Reviews

[Murphies_law]

Nothing to write home about.

A foul-mouthed, rather simple hispanic young man with a lot of frustrations penned up inside him gets transfered to another world and is forced to fight and kill in pits to survive. Fittingly, he gets some kind of beserk class..

Unfortunately, the character can´t be compared to Logan Ninefinger from Abercrombie´s "First Law" series and his struggle against his dark side. This protagonist is an annoying naive blabber mouth.

[Jacob Proffitt]

This is an isekai with a particularly harsh start. Victor is a wrestler hoping to get into community college on a scholarship. He has had a bit of a rough road, but he's an essentially good kid. And he gets a truly raw deal summoned into a world with a system and magic and, having no levels or skills, is dumped off on the lowest bidder. So he's destined to fight in the pits to the death. Raw. Deal.

He does his best. And ends up being underestimated due to his low "energy" (a grab-all for what builds levels and powers magic and stuff). He fights above his expected capabilities. And gets some bonuses as a result when he finally gets some energy (with accompanying skills and levels).

And he does his best with what little relationship you can build with those doomed to die and the jerks who "manage" them. The author does a decent job with the characters here. Victor is doing his best with people who out power him by an incalculable degree. I like that he keeps his snark in check, does his best, and works hard while he's at it. And gains respect and comrades-who-may-be-friends along the way.

And then the whole thing turns on a dime about a third in. It's actually a little later because the last ten percent or so is a preview of the next book so the math skews. But it felt a little early to abandon the titular pit fighting for something else. And I had significant backlash as the turn reduces him in both status and the power he has built. I very nearly abandoned the book there, frankly. Having a power fantasy pull the rug out that way is a bit of a jolt.

I'm a little glad I stuck with it. Victor does power through and find his feet with new folks. And the author shows his skill in allowing good to shine in the dark preventing this from being simple grimdark. And Victor regains his footing and all that was lost with a bit of a bonus for the pain.

By the end, we have another upset, but this one didn't have that huge power loss, just a scenery change (and no, it isn't a cliffhanger or you'd get my rant about how evil those are). And I found myself eager to pick up the next in the series. In all, I'm going to call this four stars, though it was wobbly there for a while.

A note about Chaste: Victor is the only human in sight. Some of the races are attractive and he is a young man with healthy hormones. So he has thoughts. But there's never anything like space for intimacy or even just furtive sex. And he doesn't seem like the type to grab and go, so to speak. So this is very chaste.

[Roberto Flores]

An okay book with a few caveats.

The two big issues are a lot of casual cursing, which some find off putting, and a very immature MC. The action is simple and direct, as is the storyline. There is no character development and the side characters are changed at a quick pace, so don't bother getting attached to anyone. If you want any depth in storyline, this is not for you. If you want a B rated action flick of a book, this one is for you.

[Steve]

Wasn't sure what I'd get here, but it worked. A 4.5 on the old scale as it's paced well, the MC isn't a total bag of hammers and it all adds up to an engaging read, but not quite a full 5. It ends in a good place for the sequel, so I look forward to what Victor can make of his new life.

Hopefully a bit less "fuck" in all its' incarnations in the next book, but people (particularly young people) do speak like that.

[Russell Gray]

A mixed bag of hybrid isekai, gamelit, and cultivation. If you like one of this author's books, you will probably like the others. Unfortunately, the inverse is also true.

Character - 5/10, Plot - 6.5/10, Setting/Game Mechanics - 5/10, Writing - 6/10, Enjoyment - 4/10

This is the second book I've read from this author after Falling With Folded Wings. I didn't really connect with most of the characters in that book and the same happened here. If I had to choose, I would say I disliked Victor more than I liked him. He was immature and couldn't seem to string more than a couple sentences together without dropping an f-bomb. He also wasn't the brightest and seemed like a jackass. The supporting cast were ok, but just a rotating group of people that didn't leave much of a mark. This is probably one of the weaker categories for me with this story.

The plot was okay despite being held back by the characters. An 18 year old jackass from Tucson, Arizona gets pulled into a fantasy land by a summoning ritual. The summoners, reacting like fishermen who accidently reeled in an old boot, quickly sell Victor off to be an enslaved pit fighter. The book basically follows Victor as he struggles to get by as a slave while learning about the new world, the races inhabiting it, and how stats, skills, and cores work.

The setting was within the same universe as the author's other series, which was fine, but didn't really contribute anything to my experience one way or another. The game mechanics were pretty standard and fine as far as that goes, but I feel like the stats and levels were mildly pointless and could have been removed from the story with little effect.

The writing was fairly clean from a proofreading standpoint. The grammar was functional as well, though there are a lot of filler words that cluttered sentences at times. Nothing to complain about since that sort of thing is only an annoyance to certain people. (I'm one of them, though)

I was pretty lukewarm after the author's other book. I had no motivation to read the second volume of that series and decided to try this series out instead for something different. Unfortunately, it was too similar in the ways that made the book a miss for me and I was tempted to drop it at the 60% mark. I soldiered on and kind of regret it.

That being said, I think your average gamelit reader should give this author a try. Your enjoyment levels at about 50% into whatever book you chose will probably be an accurate gauge of your future experience with the rest of the books.

[M Hamed]

new and naive and inexperienced fantasy writers are obsessed with words like RAGE and Berserker

they think that the power of being angry is manifest destiny

i start a fight,get my RAGE on ,black out,win....rinse and repeat the entire book

[Leslie Baptiste]

good story, not a very likable character.

I would give this story five stars, except for the issue of the main character. The main character is a jerk, he curses too much too many F bombs in the story which are not necessary, and the trope of a foul mouth, angry Hispanic, male has been played to death. Hispanic people should be P owed that you made the MC so ignorant. Besides the flaw of the main character, the story progresses very well. The progression is fast and keeps you wanting to turn the page to see what’s going to happen. I hope in the next book the author tones down the F bombs, because all that profanity takes you out of an enjoyable story in my opinion. Will read the next book when it arrives.

[Michael Jackson]

Fantastic

This authors works are awesome. i was hooked from the beginning, a real page turner. Please read this book as a good author. it needs to be rewarded for such good work.
The story is of a young man thrown into a world as a slave and basically a fight to survibe, he meets several interesting characters. Some die some help him, and some betray him.
I need the next book badly, and his next series book as well.

[James Bravo]

DNF

I probably didn’t give this book a chance if you consider that I put it down after chapter one. But never in my life can I imagine someone just telling me that they “own me” and being like, well I guess I’ll just roll with it for now. Right out the gate my only impression of the MC is he’s a bad tempered little asshole with no spine. I’ll pass on this one.

[Shonari]

"Pit Fighter" by Plum Parrot is a surprisingly good fantasy novel that immerses readers in the world of Fanwath. Follow Victor, a teenage Earthling turned pit fighter, as he navigates a brutal existence in this captivating and unique story.

[Luke]

decent read

Had no expectations when I picked up this book. Really enjoyed it , moved at a fast pace. Would recommend

[Kiba Snowpaw]

Final Rating: 3.49/5.00

Starting score: 2.50
+0.32 for combat shaped by technique, positioning, and dangerous choices.
+0.35 for emotional cultivation connecting inner growth with magic.
+0.25 for early companionship and sustained grief.
+0.20 for captivity supported by a convincing economy of coercion.
+0.17 for everyday details that make the population feel alive.
+0.21 for reciprocal trust and cooperation in Victor's later partnership.
+0.16 for Victor's recognisable background, abilities, and immaturity.
+0.12 for setbacks that preserve the threat of more powerful people.
-0.14 for repetitive profanity flattening the range of the language.
-0.06 for identifiable grammar and character-attribution slips.
-0.15 for structural disruption and lost cast continuity.
-0.07 for regeneration reducing the weight of injuries.
-0.08 for overly convenient access to information.
-0.11 for repeatedly using women's suffering to motivate the hero.
-0.18 for insufficient resolution of the escape journey.
Calculated final score: 3.49/5.00

Hook and Thesis

Give a frightened young man the ability to turn anger into strength, then put him in a world that keeps finding reasons to make him furious. That dangerous foundation sinks its teeth into me when the audiobook takes its consequences seriously. My interest goes beyond watching another opponent collapse under a stronger attack. I want to know what survives inside the person delivering it. From my frozen den in HowlStrom, I can appreciate a savage fight while still wanting the fighter to have something worth returning to afterward. This story gives Victor that possibility through friendship, memory, and the discovery that his emotional life contains more than rage. It also frustrates me through repetitive language, a substantial interruption to its early momentum, and an ending that leaves too much of the immediate journey waiting. This bruising adventure has a stronger emotional idea than its rough surfaces suggest, though its first volume leaves that promise partly unfulfilled.

Basic Plot Summary

Victor is eighteen, physically trained, academically inconsistent, and trying to turn a wrestling scholarship into a future. Entering his grandmother's home becomes an involuntary passage to Fanwath. There, strangers assess his usefulness and sell him into pit fighting. His owner, Yund, offers survival on terms designed to benefit Yund. Victor has neither local knowledge nor powerful connections, and the System's levels initially tell him how far behind everyone else he stands. His cellmates, Yrella and Vullu, introduce weapons, Energy, and the rules that allow people to become property. Wrestling gives him something useful to bring into this nightmare, but it cannot make him instantly equal to experienced fighters with supernatural abilities. The story follows his attempts to gain strength, preserve relationships, and find some control over his future. Its arena setting eventually expands into a broader struggle through another part of this world's machinery of exploitation. These are lives at stake, with no convenient logout waiting to cancel the consequences.

Praise and Critique

The action works when Victor must solve a physical problem before the System congratulates him. His first practice with Vullu immediately makes his background useful: balance, a feint, a controlled takedown, and an understanding of how another person's weight moves. He can teach something as well as receive lessons. That gives his survival a convincing starting point. In the first pit fight, coordination with Sarl gives two individually outmatched fighters a chance against a stronger opponent. The bodies occupy space; openings have to be created; panic interferes with judgement. Later weapons and powers expand those possibilities, while confined passages and unsuitable equipment can still make brute force a poor answer. There is plenty of savage impact, but I appreciate being able to follow the decisions beneath it. My claws dig into the den's armrest when someone commits to a dangerous move and its consequences. Berserk adds a particularly useful complication: greater force comes with reduced control over what Victor does next.

The Spirit Core is compelling because its development asks Victor to examine what drives him. His early cultivation draws on humiliation, rejection, and grief. Those memories produce power, but repeatedly stirring them up also leaves him exhausted and difficult to reach. Vullu's concern about whether this is healthy gives that process a necessary witness. The story later provides a more controlled method, and its emotional range eventually widens beyond anger. Inspiration has practical force because Victor remembers people whose example helped him keep going. That matters for someone whose circumstances have taught him to expect domination. He begins to find value in what he might bring out in others. The mechanics give this distinction room to affect his choices. The frost in my fur can bristle at his rage while another part of me responds to that warmer possibility. Power remains desirable, but the kind of person supplying it starts to matter as much as the amount available.

Yrella and Vullu give the opening captivity an emotional shape that its bars and bruises could never supply alone. Their help comes through practical instruction, teasing, impatience, and the shared routines of people who cannot choose better surroundings. Their kindness leaves room for their own flaws and concerns. Their histories and relationship complicate Victor's first impressions. He learns from them while failing to recognise how much of their lives lies outside his attention. That feels appropriate for his age and self-absorption. Their jokes, sparring, meals, and moments of concern accumulate enough weight that changes in the little group affect the atmosphere of the cage itself. The book also allows kindness to coexist with professional violence. These people know how to kill, but that does not explain everything they are. As an Ice Wolf who cares about the difference between a crowd and a dependable pack, I find the modest gestures persuasive: someone gives a warning, shares knowledge, or notices when bravado is covering distress.

Yund is effective because he can sound reasonable while discussing an arrangement that remains monstrous. He pays for useful training, rewards profitable victories, and sometimes accepts a requested change to a contract. None of that makes the underlying situation fair. Victor negotiates a five-year term reduced by successful fights, asks for his earlier victories to count, and pushes for clearer reward provisions. His small amount of leverage operates within someone else's calculation of what his future is worth. Becoming more valuable brings attention and investment, followed by tighter control. A reward can therefore improve his abilities while making his owner more determined to secure him. Strength changes the captive's price before it guarantees freedom. “A warmer cage is still a cage, even when its keeper lets you choose the blanket.” That is where my fangs show at Yund's paternal manner. His occasional generosity makes the exploitation more revealing because it gives him a language for excusing it to himself.

Fanwath gains credibility through details that are smaller than its battles. Different peoples have their own appearances, assumptions, and habits, and Victor gradually has to learn names instead of relying on whatever Earth creature or colour they remind him of. The Vodkin's fur and Ghelli's wings belong to people with occupations and attachments beyond their striking appearances. In the mine, credits become boots, socks, armour, and supplies, while another worker spends his earnings on food he enjoys. Ordinary purchases make bodily discomfort and personal preference visible. Companions joke on the walk back from turning in quests, even though their circumstances remain oppressive. Those shared habits make the place feel inhabited. The broader political history is still sketched rather than fully explored, and much of what Victor learns concerns survival. Nevertheless, the small transactions, shared spaces, and conflicting attitudes create a workable society around him, with comforts that people try to preserve inside it.

The later partnership with Thayla strengthens the story through mutual usefulness and imperfect trust. She has skills, suspicions, and reasons for keeping information private. Victor cannot simply demand access to her whole life because they are travelling together. He also needs what she can do. When his weapon proves ineffective, her intervention matters; elsewhere, his abilities help them both. Their disagreements are practical as well as personal, and the exchanges have room for irritation and humour without turning every sharp word into romantic tension. In a valuable late conversation, Victor notices that his curiosity has touched something painful and stops demanding an answer. That is a small change in behaviour, but it gives the physical cooperation an emotional counterpart. From the perspective of my own pack, shared danger can begin a bond; listening when someone reaches a limit helps it grow. This relationship gives me more reason to follow the journey than another impressive weapon could manage by itself.

Criticism

Victor's language is a mixed success. The swearing belongs to his character, and others notice it, establishing it as a deliberate verbal habit. Profanity itself does not offend me. The problem is how often the same intensifiers handle different emotional tasks. Surprise, irritation, admiration, fear, and casual observation repeatedly reach for similar wording, including in the close third-person narration surrounding him. That can make an extreme situation sound less distinct from an ordinary annoyance than it should. The opening establishes his verbal habits very quickly, then continues reinforcing something already clear. His better exchanges have room for embarrassment, a clumsy correction, or a thought that escapes before he knows what it reveals. I wanted more of that range. At my usual faster listening speed, I still care about the variety and precision of the language. This criticism belongs to the wording; I am leaving narration and audio production unscored rather than assigning unsupported judgements about voices, pronunciation, or recording quality.

There are editing slips beneath the deliberate informality. In one exchange with Gorz, the narration uses “had never spoke” where the construction calls for “had never spoken.” More confusingly, a conversation in Captain Lam's room briefly assigns an action to Fath after the sergeant has left, while the description continues referring to the captain's glass and chair. These do not justify condemning the whole book, but they warrant a small deduction for avoidable distraction. I separate those mistakes from Victor's Spanish and his informal English. The language integration even receives a useful demonstration when two words from different languages reach another character as the same word. His manner of speaking can remain part of his identity without being what everyone else literally hears. As someone using English as a second language, I appreciate that distinction. My objection is to inconsistent attribution and faulty construction, not to a character having a vocabulary, cultural background, or register different from my own.

The largest structural weakness is the substantial change of direction after the arena story has established its people and rhythm. The change follows from powerful people using Victor, preserving a danger that winning individual fights cannot remove. I value that refusal to make his ascent effortless. Even so, another round of introductions and rebuilding interrupts relationships that have begun gathering momentum. Some people who mattered become memories or unanswered questions while a new supporting cast takes over. That can communicate how captivity tears a life apart, but it also weakens my continuous investment in the volume. My paws have learned the ground beneath them, then the snow gives way and I must begin finding a route again. The second major setting contains worthwhile material, especially for Victor's emotional development. I still wanted a stronger connection between the two stretches, with more space for the earlier relationships and ambitions to remain active concerns rather than mostly things left behind.

The balance of danger and rescue sometimes becomes too accommodating. Berserk's healing is established as part of the system, and it does not prevent every defeat or solve every injury. Yet repeatedly surviving severe physical damage through that ability makes certain wounds feel less decisive than their descriptions first suggest. The most convincing threats concern restraint, lost control, and people who can remove Victor's options, because another burst of fury cannot reliably answer those problems. Gorz brings another convenience. Finding him involves danger, and his remembered knowledge has limits. Still, his stock of maps and explanations can turn a difficult unknown into a question Victor mainly needs to remember to ask. Their banter helps, and Victor does experiment with the information. I would still prefer more discovery between an explanation and the breakthrough it enables. The story is strongest when instruction gives Victor something to work through instead of appearing to supply the missing answer just when required.

Sex is a minor ingredient here. There is attraction, suggestive language, flirting, and brief kissing, rather than recurring, extended scenes of explicit sexual activity. The harsher adult material comes through graphic violence, captivity, torture, and threats of sexual exploitation. Those distinctions clarify what “mature” means here. Victor's attraction to women can expose his awkwardness, and the story lets Edeya object when his crude assumptions cross a line. Her objection gives the interaction some needed resistance. My larger concern is how often a woman's vulnerability becomes a means of intensifying his rage or proving his protectiveness. The early relationships have substance beyond that function, and Thayla's agency provides a welcome counterweight. The pattern remains noticeable, though. I want the people he cares about to have emotional lives that continue beyond what their suffering teaches him. More explicit intimacy would not answer that concern. More room for their experience, their choices, and their own aftermath would.

Evaluation and Personal Impact

The ordinary memories of home are where Victor's situation reaches closer to my own life. He remembers a grandmother he wants to make proud, the grandparents who took him in, and the fear that the years demanded of him could cost time he can never recover with her. I cared for my father for roughly five years while also working, and his death left more than an empty place in a room. It changed the meaning of routines built around another person's needs. Our histories differ, but I understand why a remembered meal, a familiar voice, or someone waiting at home matters. The book is effective when those small things disturb his focus more deeply than another enemy does. Memories can comfort and hurt within the same moment. That gives the early companionship its weight. Someone can spend only a short time beside you and still alter what you expect from the world when they are no longer there.

The cultivation method connects particularly closely with what I call my “Background Layer,” though the resemblance has limits. I have spent years learning to live with pain without giving it all my attention. Games, audiobooks, music, writing, programming, and work can occupy different parts of that space. Victor initially does something far harsher: he repeatedly brings painful memories forward to feed his rage. The later method separates feeling from experience, but removing anger does not remove guilt or responsibility. He can still recognise that he has hurt Belsa and owes her an apology. I value that separation. Its magic need not model real psychology for that question to matter. Like the grief and self-examination that draw me to Continue Online, it gives the progression something human to carry. “I have enough winter behind my ribs without reopening every frozen wound just to prove I can still feel it.” Victor's search for another source of strength makes that thought especially relevant.

Conclusion

The final stretch gives Victor more useful abilities and a companion who changes how he survives. That leaves me interested in who he might become. The actual stopping point is less satisfying. Obstacles have been overcome, but lasting freedom remains ahead as the next stage opens. I still want this individual audiobook to provide a stronger sense of arrival. This one earns its positive score through physical action, emotionally significant mechanics, and relationships that can make a brutal world feel worth resisting. Its repeated language, uneven structure, convenient assistance, and limited resolution keep my praise qualified. Listeners comfortable with a coarse young protagonist, graphic violence, and prolonged captivity will find more to appreciate than those seeking a clean arena tournament or a quickly liberated hero. I have a reason to continue because Victor is beginning to discover what strength might protect. From HowlStrom, my final judgement is simple: keep the fangs, but give the wolf a life worth carrying them home to.

[Gareth Otton]

This was a solid opening novel that did a really good job of getting me invested in the characters, especially the main character and his plight.

The only element that really let it down for me was a lack of balance. This is very action heavy and also leans on the side of negativity. Given the situation of the story, that is understandable but we could do with other elements to balance it out a little more.

There were some interesting friendships that I think did this in small doses, but they never lasted long enough to really matter to the story overall. Also the character was always getting into bad situations and, while sometimes he managed to escape them, he never really did so in any satisfying way. People who treated him poorly remained unpunished in almost all situations and that left me feeling quite unsatisfied by the end of the story.

What I'm saying overall is that this is a solid opening book that could do with some alternate variables to round it out a little more and that will bring it up to five stars. That being said, I'm looking forward to what the next book brings.

[Lara R.]

Pit Fighter by Plum Parrot throws you straight into the deep end of a ruthless LitRPG world and doesn’t let up.

Victor’s sudden transition from an ordinary teenager to a enslaved pit fighter is harsh, violent, and intentionally uncomfortable — and that’s exactly what makes this book work.

The progression system is compelling, the fights are visceral, and the sense of survival is constant. I really appreciated that Victor doesn’t instantly become overpowered; every bit of growth feels earned through pain, loss, and sheer desperation.
The pit fights are brutal and repetitive by design, reinforcing just how dehumanizing this world is, and the emotional toll on Victor makes the story feel grounded despite its fantasy setting.

That said, the pacing can drag at times, especially during extended combat sequences, and some side characters feel more like stepping stones than fully developed people. The heavy focus on violence won’t be for everyone, and readers looking for lighter fantasy or quick world-building payoffs may struggle early on.

Still, as a dark progression fantasy opener, Pit Fighter delivers exactly what it promises: relentless survival, slow-burn power growth, and a main character shaped by trauma rather than destiny. I’m definitely continuing the series.

[Jim]

Life isn’t fair, and Victor is about to ride a wave of unfair bullshit

Magically summoned from his magic dead world, Earth, Victor or Tucson must adapt to a world with magic and new laws. More the Wild West than what we would recognize as civilized, there are still rules in place, laws etc but money and might often allow you to skirt or ignore the laws that apply to the poor.
Victor is quickly tossed into one situation after another where fighting for his life is his only choice! He’s not ready to die so he fights and fights and pushes to survive and even thrive in the fighting pits, until he is caught up in a rich woman’s plans for revenge. Which he becomes the deliverer of, ensign another young noble in mortal combat.
And this is where the story really takes a turn as the boys father buys his contract to take revenge.

With a newly destroyed core, Victor is sold to a mining consortium with little hopes he will survive. Victor on the other hand, isn’t ready to give up yet and he may finally get himself out of this mess if he can just keep a low profile and stay out of trouble.

[Tori Coulson]

Fun book. I've read a lot of reviews that the main character swears alot which is true. I think I swear a lot, but I found it a bit much and messed with my immersion. he also lacks depth. I feel like the whole book was a series of things happening to a blank slate. however, I enjoyed the side characters and the world that is built and I love how only the relevant part of the character sheet was shown when it was updated

[Danny Moody]

I liked it. I am a sucker for gladiatorial fighting. You do get the downside of that thought, the being a slave for a good part of the book. But it isn’t a pity party like some books that follow this trope do. The MC is cool with an OP class. There is a ton of fighting throughout the book.

[Gil T]

It’s the Pits for you..

Victor was in Tucson walking home from summer school. He had paid for an essay from a kid during the spring semester of school, but it was copied off the internet. Victor was busted. Luckily, he could still finish the class in summer school and still graduate. He was hoping to get on the wrestling team at the local community college to get noticed. It was so hot, that the soles of his shoes were almost melting to the hot pavement. He made it back to his grandparents’ house. He stepped into the house and then everything went black.

He was conscious but he was drifting in darkness. He wasn’t sure what was going on. Was this related to the heat? Suddenly there was a light. It got bigger and bigger. He was now standing in a big wooden room. Four guys were standing there with four glowing rods. They had blue skin and fluorescent hair. He started get messages including that he was integrated into the system.

One of them said he must be from a dead world. He was to be sold to the pits. He was hit with one of the metal wands and he was immobilized. He waved his wand and Victor floated behind the blue man. As the moved, there were odd creatures and beasts on the streets. They came to a huge arena and they slowly went down into the basement. An obese man sat behind a desk and asked what he was. They said that Victor was base 0 but had a high energy affinity. The obese man says he won’t make it out of the pits on his first night. Time to train hard and fast. And so it begins…

[Michael Burnett]

Great book

Great book I can't wait to read the next book in the series I would recommend this author to anyone

[john]

Gotta love it

THis is a good read. I read this back when first released and an very much looking forward to reading the rest. Great plot twists and thankfully the protagonist does not get totally op in the first two minutes.

[Peter]

Great book

Stellar work from Plum Parrot! Lots of action and adventure, magic and monsters. Looking forward to reading the next one!

[Cillian Gavin]

what a series

Can’t wait to read more this looks like a great start to a fun fast paced and entertaining series cheers

[Brett]

Number 1 of this series is a great addition to the genre. Love these sort of beginnings where lots of things are against the main character, summoned and enslaved into fighting pits is about as stacked as you can get. Interesting characters, betrayals, situations, a scant few grey characters helping the mc out. Pretty interesting power system. Pretty interesting hierarchical class, races and world system.

Probably stop at this book though and you'll be fine. The next series volume loses all of these elements. First story is basically a breakout from slavery and the second story is about what happens when the mc escapes. Author doesn't seem to know what to do and amps up the characters do-gooder penchant, amps up the dependency of supporting characters, to provide some direction. Just comes across as slice of life, directionless creep.

[Shawn Myers]

the world that was created for this series is full of surprises

[M]

So I'm guessing PP named it Victor of Tucson to entice readers of BUYMORT???

[Jim Phillips]

Wish we'd spent more time in the pits

Now this was an interesting story. I loved the description of Tucson. I lived there for several years and it was easy to picture the route described.

I did have a couple of issues though. For a teenager who's grown up with his obviously Catholic Abuela he's really not Catholic and uses the F word way to much. She'd have extreme issues with his swearing.

[Kevin]

Awesome read!

This has been a really good read so far. I'm liking how all the concepts are coming together and the magic system is nice to understand as the Mc does. Good touch

[Douglas Rogers]

New author for me

As some other readers have commented, I have never read so many f-bombs in the beginning chapters as I have with this book. I use the word occasionally myself but in my opinion it’s overuse in the first chapters almost made me want to stop reading. I am glad I didn’t because the book got better and better and after halfway I could not put it down.

[Kelley]

great action adventure set in dystopian fantasy world

This book is a great action adventure type of book and it is set in a dystopian fantasy world. The author actually makes this work. The main character is pretty true to life with his views and actions. The book actually ends at a natural ending point. Yay! I really want the next book right now!

[Keith A Smith]

Great book

This is one of my favorite stories — I’ve read this and the author’s other work set on the same planet and the book is just as good as I remember.

Good story, good characters, good editing. Kinda disappointing on the formatting but that’s not a huge thing — it just makes it more difficult to pick out the messages from the system. All in all, highly recommended.