I don’t know about you, but I’m stressed. Gordon is stoic (but I know he is stressed out.) Our daughters are hella stressed out. Escapism. We need it. On that note, I’ve read 8 novels in one series, back to back.
THE GRAND GAME
One man. Assassin. Caster. A new world. And a Game that is as brutal as it is complex.
Michael finds himself in the realm of the Forever Kingdom, with no memory of how he got there and who he is. Even so, he must participate in the Grand Game and forge a new destiny for himself.
Dropped into a dungeon of monsters, and strange magics, would you survive in a Game where to lose means death?
Alone, and with little more than his wits to aid him, Michael must advance as a player, slay his foes, and gain experience. All while navigating the intrigues around him and discovering his purpose.
A world of Powers, Forces, and mysterious factions. A Game with endless opportunities for advancement and power.
Join Michael on his epic adventure as he deals with the Game’s challenges, the machinations of the Powers, and the ambitions of his fellow players.
The start of an exciting new portal fantasy epic!
The series is written by Tom Elliot, who has the coolest website ever. I’ve enjoyed this series. It’s very difficult for me to turn off internal editor that snags on things like what it believes to be unnecessary adverbs and creative dialogue tags, but this story was so engaging that I kept reading right over things that would normally trip me up.
I’m now reading HE WHO FIGHTS WITH MONSTERS by Travis Deverell, and I’m enjoying it a lot. Jason is insufferable at times but so endearing.
HE WHO FIGHTS WITH MONSTERS
Jason wakes up in a mysterious world of magic and monsters.
It’s not easy making the career jump from office-supplies-store middle manager to heroic interdimensional adventurer. At least, Jason tries to be heroic, but it’s hard to be good when all your powers are evil.
He’ll face off against cannibals, cultists, wizards, monsters…and that’s just on the first day. He’s going to need courage, he’s going to need wit, and he’s going to need some magic powers of his own. But first, he’s going to need pants.
After cementing itself as one of the best-rated serial novels on Royal Road with an astonishing 13 million views, He Who Fights with Monsters is now available on Kindle.
About the series: Experience an isekai culture clash as a laid-back Australian finds himself in a very serious world. See him gain suspiciously evil powers through a unique progression system combining cultivation and traditional LitRPG elements. Enjoy a weak-to-strong story with a main character who earns his power without overshadowing everyone around him, with plenty of loot, adventurers, gods and magic. Rich characters and world-building offer humor, political intrigue and slice-of-life elements alongside lots of monster fighting and adventure.
Surprisingly, there is quite a bit of an overlap between the character builds. Both are stealth based. Both are using shadow teleport. The books are very different, though.
Michael accepts his reality relatively quickly and becomes very proficient and lethal almost immediately. Jason is the kind of character that has unbelievably high luck stat. He keeps stumbling from one disaster to another, and yet somehow he always triumphs. Not without getting his face bashed in first, but still, he comes out better than he went in and he is genuinely kind. I really liked the subtlety of characterization, because Jason is not well, but he is trying to get a grip.
On a side note, Rufus has morphed into Regé-Jean Page in my head. I blame the D&D movie. He was so good as a paladin and I can absolutely see him in this role.
I would love more recommendations along these lines. Looking for that progression of the character getting stronger in a magical RPG world.
I have a small request: please don’t leave book recommendations on The Inheritance posts. We work very hard on those installments, and we hope you will give us your undivided attention when they are up.
first?
Certified 🙂.
I will delete all other first comments for ease of navigation.
Love that idea Mod R!!!
I’m currently reading Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinnaman. Premise: earth gets recycled and turned into a dungeon survival TV show by a galactic corporation, and the survivors of the collapse have to fight through the dungeon for entertainment.
Love DCC and the variety of characters. Princess donut is one of the few acceptable fictional felines that becomes endearing.
That was the series I was going to recommend, glad you mentioned it.
Me too (but listening to it rather than reading). I’d put off starting it for a long time, but bit the bullet and raced through the first book, then bought book 2 immediately afterwards. Good adventure and really funny, I’d recommend it 👍
Princess Donut for the Win! I throughly enjoyed listening to the audiobook.
+1 for Dungeon Crawler Carl! The audiobook is great!
+1 to DCC although my favorite character is Prepotente, lol. The recent hardbacks have chapters in a parallel story too, which is fun.
For cozy Isekai, I’m re-listening to the Heretical Fishing series. Also, australian and a node to HHFWM early on re lemonade (FWW I made it and it was too sweet, but YMMV).
+1 for DCC. I’m a proud member of the Princess Posse. All hail our Princess!
came to say that😁 I’ve read the books and now going through audio
One I have been enjoying lately (and I adore Jason!): All the Skills series. Much more PG than PG-13, but a very enjoyable world, with skill building and DRAGONS!
Hopefully this isn’t too off-topic – I’d love to get more into this genre but I’m a sucker for romance (here’s me, still shipping Ada and Elias!)… are there any recs that feature a romantic subplot?
+1 I too prefer at least a dash of romance in my escapism.
I’ve found that romantic subplots tend to be very much the exception rather than the rule in this genre. Most of the heroes/heroines tend to be so much stronger than everyone else that they have a hard time finding someone who can keep up. That, or they just have zero interest in romance. Even the books with romance tend to still focus on one partner and the other often feels like more of a sidekick. IA is doing a great job in “The Inheritance” of building both Ada and Elias as individuals and giving each of them a true voice so that we come to see them as potential future equal partners. This is much easier said than done, and not something that most litRPG writers take the time to focus on. Probably because the genre is based around video game culture, and at the end of the day, gamers are playing for themselves and their teams and are the self-appointed heroes of their own stories.
@paula thanks for the explanation! I guess that makes sense given the origins of the genre and my own experiences trying to find something with a romantic subplot…
@Alisha, thanks for the recommendation! I’ll look into it – not opposed to closed door romance at all!
Try Path of Ascension. Not a romance book in any sense but there is a great romantic subplot (all closed door). And it’s female MC is equally as awesome as the main male MC.
Same for me. I’m listening to the Azarinth Healer right now coz of your recommendation, and it’s good. I think I would enjoy it more if it had a romance in it also.
There is one I read recently that has romance/relationship elements. It’s “The Guardian League” series by Kevin J. Morris. It’s labeled as a reverse portal fantasy novel and is essentially about protecting the Earth from an invasion by alien zombies. Here’s the blurb for the first book in the series, “The Guardian in the Palace”:
Disillusioned with her military career, Red Hernandez takes a job as a second tier security lead for an engineering marvel meant to cram more people into Manhattan. Expecting a smooth transition to civilian life, her plans go up in smoke when a similar building is destroyed in a mysterious, unprecedented blast, turning her cushy retirement into a new battleground.
With lives on the line, but big money pushing to continue construction, Red finds the steely determination that she’d lost in the desert of her past. Monsters lurk in the shadows, forcing her to re-evaluate everything she believed to be true… and all that she imagined.
This series also has a character called Bear, but Bear is sadly a human rather than a German Shepherd.
If anyone is LitRPG curious and hasn’t read them, the Dungeon Crawler Carl books by Matt Dinniman are fantastic. In short, Earth is destroyed by aliens who reconstruct the remains into a giant video game dungeon. The aliens then send the surviving humans into the dungeon and make their travels into a reality show. The series focuses on a guy named Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat (who quickly learns to talk). Hijinks and adventures ensue. There is a lot of blood and death if anyone is sensitive to that.
I also recently read Bastion by Phil Tucker, book 1 of The Immortal Great Souls (terrible series name). It was a highly enjoyable progression fantasy – definitely had some LitRPG elements but it wasn’t deep enough in that world to have levels, an interface, etc. Essentially, the main character wakes up in a tomb and is quickly told he was a reborn “great soul”. But it turns out he was a criminal in a past life, so he’s thrown into the savage wilderness. He subsequently has to survive while gaining power and plotting revenge.
some of the ones I’ve liked are:
mage errant by John Bierce – finished series
Cradle by Will Wight – finished series
bog standard isekai by Miles English – not finished
guardian of Aster Fall by David North – finished series. More focused on crafting than the others I’ve mentioned but still has a good chunk of fighting.
also really love DCC but it’s been mentioned multiple times already.
I can also recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl- very much enjoyed it. Gritty but with a lot of humor.
Also, Beware of Chicken is a good read. Feels like you’re reading an anime comic.
Beware of Chicken is one of my favorites! I also really adore Heretical Fishing and Azarinth Healer. I have read so many different series in this genre that I have a hard time remembering all or determining which one is my favorite, because so many of them are so good! It’s hard, waiting for continuations to be published. I just read the first book in a new one called Wraithwood Botanist that I really enjoyes.
The Daily Grind by Argus. Not completed but still worth checking out. I believe also well received on Royal Roads.
Call center technician existing in his fluorescent light glare job, answering ridiculous questions leaves his night shift and used the stairs instead of the elevator. That’s when the alternate reality is discovered. Staplers, desk lamps and hanging ferns aren’t always friendly or stationary, yikes.
The Wandering Inn – Pirate Ava is fabulous. It’s free on her site and comically long.
I just finished the Murderbot Diaries. Not LitRPG but short and fun novellas. Premise is a security robot hacks his ‘guardian chip’ the one that limits things like it murdering humans, mostly so it can watch soap opera tv. Fun exploration on gender and the confusing interactions that occur with humans.
A Murderbot TV Series just came out pretty recently on AppleTV and it is SO good! Alexander Skarsgard plays the title character and he’s perfect.
+1 on the rec for The Wandering Inn, and my appreciation to whoever suggested it the last time this topic came up. The first couple of chapters were a little clunky, and five volumes in I still wish there were more commas, but I’ve been hooked. The length of the thing almost feels like a soap opera, but in a good way.
https://www.webnovel.com/book/shadow-slave_22196546206090805
Shadow Slave by Guiltythree (legally available at Webnovel)
That’s the serial novel that got me hooked on the RPG genre. The author publishes 2 short chapters per day, and english doesn’t seem to be their first language, so there are some words that he uses a lot, and some filler chapters (inevitable considering the format).
This might mean that your internal editor doesn’t leave you alone while reading it… but still, it’s really, really, really worth it.
Nothing is what it seems, the (male) main character slowly powers up through hard work, there are many many interesting arcs, and there are a lot of side characters, both male and female, very well written. In between adventures and misteries, it also deals with themes of power, and the responsability of those who have it.
I read the daily chapters before going to sleep, and it’s wonderful for scaping the real world.
If you try it, I hope you like it.
I love and have read both of these series. I also have the audiobook for HWFWM, Health Miller is a great narrator. Both have intelligent characters who work for their goals (even if Jason can be a bit reckless – I like how his team balances him out). I’m also going to be imagining Rufus as Regé-Jean Page now! 😁
Recommendations-wise I’m currently reading Tunnel Rat by WalrusKing. It’s not quite isekai like the other two but bounces between the real and game world. Unlike some with the same premise both worlds are equally as interesting and it’s fun to see how they intertwine. Milo is a great protagonist, incredibly smart and a complete chaos magnet. He has a need to help and fix things which causes unexpected (but fun for us) ripple effects for all involved. Book 3 has just been published and more is on Royal Road.
The Stork Tower series by Tony Corden…the first book is Nascent!
I enjoyed Mother of Learning by Domagoj Kurmaic aka nobody103. The teenage protagonist wakes up on the morning he is heading back to school for his third year. School goes how he expects for the first couple of months until the summer festival, when monsters invade and he’s killed. He wakes up three months in the past, about to head back to school.
How did he get stuck in this time loop, and how does he get out? And who else is stuck here with him?
I can’t recommend Mother of Learning enough. It’s fascinating and different enough from most series to really make it worth reading. One caveat – the first few chapters can be a bit of a slog, but once you’re through it gets amazing.
I LOVE that series! I wanted to recommend it here too but it is more than possible that I found out about it through one of the past book recommendation post here already so I was not sure if I should ;-). Word of warning the first few chapters are poorly written and irritating. It gets SO much better later. I could not put it down.
I really enjoyed The Grand Game, but had a hard time getting into He Who Fights With Monsters, as you said, Jason can be insufferable and I only have so much patience for him. Others that I have read and enjoyed are “Dungeon Crawler Carl”, “Primal Hunter”, “Path of Dragons” – Though I read this on Royal road and only the first book has recently been released, “Defiance of the Fall”, and The Path of Ascension. All of these have fantasy elements. For a more sci-fi type progression series, I strongly recommend the “Iron Prince – Warformed:Stormweaver” series. Unfortunately there are only two books so far and the third is probably a year or so out at this point.
I almost forgot: Rise of the Winter Wolf is a fun series too.
Skyclad, by Scott Browder, and the NPC’s series by Drew Hayes are two that I like.
Saintess Summons Skeltons on Royal Road.
Skeletons. Oops.
I highly recommend any series by Sean Oswald, Apollos Thorne, or Plum Parrot. All three are amazing authors and highlights of the genre.
Second the recommendation for Plum Parrot. Love his works, Victor of Tucson especially. But his cyberpunk stuff is good, too.
Thanks for all the recommendations! Im on day 6 of my 18 day recovery from minor surgery and I cant seem to find anything that holds my attention. I had a list of books, manga, and tv/movies and Ive only finished 1. Everything else has been meh.
I’m going to stalk this post and hopefully one of these will keep me interested and sane.
The Calamitous Bob by Alex Gilbert is one of my very favorites, a french medic ends up in a magical world, and decides that becoming an Evil OverLady just might be for her.
I second this recc, great character and progression to overpowered empress. plus adorable murder dragon.
I third the recommendation.
Besides, Viv is (Totally not an) EVIL OVERLADY! It says so in the title of one of the books! To quote from the blurb: “But that doesn’t mean she’s evil! She just looks the part. Honest!”
I hope things get better for you and your crew. I absolutely get diving headfirst into a book when things get stressful. Lately my family has followed the pattern of disaster, disaster, really good thing shampoo, rinse, and repeat. I just want some nice boring, middle of the road events for a while to get my equilibrium.
I am looking forward to seeing what everybody recommends 😀 I am still in a bit of a book slump as I approach my sixth month of bedrest and 275-ish books read.
I have enjoyed He Who fights monsters but admit I am finding it hard to get into the 11th book.
I also enjoyed a few of the other mentions… Tony Corden The Stork Tower and The wandering inn.
The three that I keep going back to and rereading are The Age of Retha, and Battle Trucker (love the spatial world building within dimensional space) and Rise of the mistic mage by Boyce, all are unfinished series so don’t start them if you get driven bonkers waiting for next books. I have read them multiple times since February.
I am currently reading Temple of Sorrow by Carrie Summers… so far so good on this one.
+1 for Age of Retha!
@Whitney: here is a great slow burn romantic subplot.
Dungeon crawler Carl is amazing, especially the audio books.
I really hated Jason. No hate to those who do like him! But he really reminded me of this one coworker I had. He would take every opportunity to tell people about his not very well-thought out opinions. And the other characters in the book never really push back on Jason – I would prefer if he was beat up more
He Who Fights With Monsters has a great full audio cast to listen to. Stumbled across this series two months ago and love listening to it at work. The detail of world building reminds me of KD.
I really like The Primal Hunter by Zogarth and Beware of Chicken by Casual farmer
If you ever do audiobooks I really enjoyed Heath Miller’s narration of HWFWM. It gets a bit crunchy at times and I often skip the stat blocks/skill descriptions but I think he definitely added to the books.
Another one of my favorites would be Beware of Chicken by CasualFarmer. It is more about poking fun at all the tropes. The main character gets isekaied and decides he doesn’t want anything to do with this crap. That, of course, only works out so well but he really does try to just settle down and farm.
He who fights with monsters is one of my favorite series and one of two people I follow on patreon
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys both series by Eric Ugland.
+1
Dungeon crawler Carl ! Carl is forced to compete in an intergalactic Dungeon crawl, assister by his talking cat, and a perverted AI
I really like
– The Calamitous Bob by ALex Gilbert As of now 9 Books on Amazon
And
A Soldier’s Life by AlwaysRollsAOne 5 Books
Both are a mix of portal fantasy/ Isekai/ Litrpg. Whit heros like Jason who has just a bit more luck than is normal
I just started Wasteland Warlords and it’s hysterical. Everyone needs a chainsaw wielding redneck with a bionic raccoon partner.
Progression and LitRPG have become some of my favorite genres in recent years, but there’s so much out there. While power famtasy is common in many of these books, there are some really good ones available.
Recommendations in no particular order:
-Victor or Tucson, A young man is teleported to a new world and immediately enslaved and sold to a gladiator stable. As he applies his wrestling skills to deadly combat, his owner pays to help him consolidate a Core, a fundamental necessity for progression. Victor ends up with an uncommon Spirit Core, and the rest is history.
-The Fortifier, A System Apocalypse has come and left ruin and opportunity in its wake. The MC is a man struggling to keep people safe, while using humor and the occasional pop culture reference to avoid dealing with his own rage and loss.
-Salvos, A demon from a dark dimension is born from the Advent. She has no teachers, no guides, and only one ‘friend,’ a fellow demon that just won’t leave her alone. During a fight with a much stronger demon, Salvos is catapulted to the mortal plane, and has to survive her most challenging opponent, Civilization. Plus all the other monsters and adventurers that would kill her as soon as look at her.
-Street Cultivation trilogy, In a world where Families and Corporations have automated to process of drawing the magical energy in the atmosphere as fuel for the Modern era and its many comforts (at the cost of many magical creatures’ lives), our down on his luck MC works as a training dummy at a martial arts dojo to provide for his sick sister. The trilogy follows Rick as he starts down the path of being a prize fighter, seeking not fame and fortune, but merely financial security.
-Millenial Mage, Human Civilization has survived in their wild, chaotic world by creating great cities that fade over a few centuries. Tala is a recently graduated mage from humanity’s only permanent establishment. She is teleported to her new city, and has to quickly find employment or a Master to take her on and help pay for the precious metals she needs to have tattooed on to her body to continue being able to cast spells, and more importantly pay off her student loans.
-The Transcendent Green, The world is transforming with the arrival of the System. Slowly enough that people have a fighting chance. Calum is an earnest and proud Scotsman, riding his bike out of Glasgow as quickly as possible to reach the last of his family. Along the way he meets others just as confused as himself, and monsters of every sort preying on regular folks. But when push comes to shove, he stands up for what’s right, growing strong with his companions in the process.
D’oh! Victor OF Tucson.
Millenial Mage! I forgot to mention that one in my post. I love that series.
Some of my current favourites:
– Path of Ascension (LitRPG/cultivation combo). Different from some of the usual with it not being Isekai, but the progression and universe building is really great. Love the main team, and has a sweet closed door romance sub-plot.
– Quest Academy – less magic more sci-fi. Set in an academy and the Main character is a crafter not a fighter. World has been invaded by monsters via rifts and humanity survives in shielded communities. Really love the crafting and appraisal elements.
– Iron Prince – another sci-fi set in a military academy. Really great weak to strong progression, and lots of fun tournament PVP combat, with a war looming in the background.
– Path of Dragons – system apocalypse litRPG with a Druid MC. Like the combo of LitRPG and cultivation again.
– Unbound – most like the Grand Game/HWFWM in that it is an Isekai LitRPG.
– Beneath the Dragon Eye Moons – female MC who is Isekai’d/reborn in another world. Like Azarinth MC is a healer character, but goes in a pretty different direction in that she can’t attack anyone unless it is in defence of herself or a patient.
I would recommend Hell Difficulty Tutorial (4 books on Amazon and the rest on RoyalRoad) and already mentioned Mother of Learning, Path of Dragons.
I escaped into virtual worlds of reading immediately and have basically remained there. Thank you for the new recommendations! None of the new things I’ve recently read are something I’d really want to bother reading again tho, so I don’t think I’ll pass those on.
I think you would like the works of Alex Gilbert. He writes kompetent femal heroes. I like all his books and to me all of them are realy well writen.
The journy of black and red is a vampire story. Early 19th century alternate Earth. The worldbuilding is epic. The strory is funny and flows so well you don´t want to stop. The heroine is patient and cunning huntress. Ok she is sometimes silly. The story is done so no delayed gratification. Sadly no litrpg elements but the sweet progresion is there. From the lovest of vampires to the dred lady Ariane.
The Calamitos Bob is my favorite. It is a litrpg isekai to magical world. Style is equaly good but the settings are conpletele different. Viviane ends up in lifeless dizaster zone because of a carless god. Only first book is finalised.
Changeling is sci-fi/cultivation postapocalyptic story. Really well written alien heroine. Nestra is failed cultivator. She knows there is something wrong with her. And then she dicovers what it is. This work is only on RR.
I could recomend many more books. So much more. I want to. Ok broader genre. Did you try child isekai? The adult or almost adult MC is reinkarnated in to a childs body. Hilarity ensues. Sametimes the story ends up unexpectedly brutal. Mark of the Crijik have lot of baby jokes. Melody of mana reads or maybe feels gentle. Bog standard isekai reads like horor with nasty witches. I like Elydes the best. It is mooving, gentle and funny and brutal in equal mesures. And the hero always picks himself up and does his best.
These are wuxei, not isekai, but Tao Wong’s 1000 Li series is pretty good. You probably already know Wil Wight’s Cradle, which starts with Unsouled.
It’s portal but not necessarily powers progression — it IS, but the story comes in at the end — Django Wexler’s Dark Lord Dani is *wonderful*. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard at a book. I mean out loud, scaring the cats laughing. And the character growth is stunningly beautiful. Only a duology. If the story didn’t end so satisfyingly, I’d be much more bummed.
That’s what I got on the recent.
Highly recommend Gods of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Seeds of Chaos by Azalea Ellis – there is violence and gore, but the premise is interesting and the writing is pretty good. Currently, it is available through Kindle Unlimited.
Royal Road/KU all litrpg
serials on RR now books
Tunnel Rat
Butcher of Gabodra (same world as TR)
Beware of Chicken (mentioned above by several, starting to be a trope in other litrpg)
Beneath the DragonEye Moons (Heroine is Elaine, a healer, who wrote the first medical text, and then is transported into the future where the word for Healer is almost every language is now Elaine)
Straight books
Good Guys Bad Guys by Eric Ugland. (Two series)
DCC
all of them except BtDEM are light comedies
On the one hand, I didn’t love Primal Hunter but on the other hand I binge read all 12 books and wailed that the next one isn’t out yet. Savage Awakening/adastra339 features a genuine himbo and it just cracks me up. I loved Wraithwood Botanist/Little Lynx and I need more.
Wraithwood Botanist! I devoured that one and want more!!
Super stressed out! Needed to increase blood pressure meds. Thanks for the acknowledgment and the suggestion!
A Thousand Li series by Tao Wong
I don’t have a book recommendation but I had a brainstorm.
HA has written in the past about developing a new anchor series to hopefully broaden the fan base.
HA declined to put Inheritance on Royal Road because while LitRPG inspired, it didn’t have some of the classic elements of that genre.
What if HA worked with another creator, like they did with Innkeeper to create a webcomic and graphic novel, to create a more traditional LitRPG edition of Inheritance to post on Royal Road and introduce more fans to their work. Maybe some percentage of them would enjoy it so much that they would go on to read HA’s non-LitRPG works.
I’m sure HA is capable of doing it themselves but probably doesn’t have the time.
When it comes to the BDH, the more the merrier.
At the moment, no writing collabs are in plan 🙂
Not quite LitRPG, but have you read Into The Real by John Ringo and Lydia Sherrer?
Instead of the character going into a fantasy world, it’s set in the near future of our world with a new augmented reality game about killing transdimensional monsters that are sucking up electricity and destroying infrastructure. All pretend… or is it?
Main character is a 17yo girl gamer who starts out just wanting to stay in her room and play first person shooters, which she’s really good at. Actual outdoor exercise, not so much. 2 books so far, 3rd due this August.
I have read many of the ones listed here, DCC/Princess Donut is a fav of mine and I loved the first few books of Beware of Chicken. For a series I didn’t see mentioned yet, Andrew Seiple’s Threadbare about a teddy bear who becomes sentient and begins to level up with different classes trying to help his little owner. I adored the first three books, the next set not as much but the first three were awesome. Maybe I just have an issue as books try to move past the original conflict because I really enjoyed the first two Heretical Fishing but then did not finish the third.
It’s funny that so many people really enjoyed Dungeon Crawler Carl but I haven’t been able to get into that one at all. I’ve tried four times. I have recently enjoyed reading You Are Summoned, so far there’s three in that series. The Code of Survival has kept my interest very well so far. Cassio Ferreira has several series I’ve been reading this year. I can’t even begin to list all the series that I have on my list wait if for the next one.
Heretical Fishing is very entertaining, Beware of Chicken is fantastic. The Fort at the End of the World is another one. I’m so glad there’s so much variety in writing styles and storylines. It’s pretty easy to find a series that I will enjoy. The worst part of it is many of these are self published, and the editing does leave something to be desired.
I just remembered one more that I thought was fantastic. Apocalypse Parenting!
I have enjoyed are Beers and Beards by JollyJupiter that just put out book three. The plot is a guy from B.C Canada dies and becomes a dwarf in another world and has to fix their beer. The Ripple System by Kyle Kirrin. It has Five books so far and is a VRMMO. If you want laid back fantasy then Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree are fun books.
Ritualist by Dakota Krout
(book 1 in the Completionist Chronicles)
book 12 just released today!
Me just opening up kindle unlimited to download these book recommendations 😊
Also: since I love it when others share their great book recommendations, here’s one I stayed up to read through the night, trying not to snort-giggle and wake the husband;
Travis Bragwells’s Madness Re-incarnate series is gloriously and disgustingly funny! It’s everything Main Character’s Demon Daddy promises it will be (actual name of character in the book who actually says);
“This is going to be gross… so gross. Ew, ew, ew,”
The first book (Hollow) was so hilariously demented that I truly doubted that level of deranged plot twists and turns could be maintained in the sequel.
But the unhinged glee that unfolds in the second book (Roadtrip) exceeds every expectation and delight. I was simultaneously enthralled and appalled – like watching a train wreck, I could not take my eyes away and ended up reading the entire book in one night (well into the wee hours of the morning, desperately trying to repress snorts of laughter so I wouldn’t wake my spouse.)
It reads like over-caffeinated insanity, but doused with alcohol fueled humor while fighting a raging dumpster fire
Nyx continues to prove the universe really is out to get him: every success is just a cleverly disguised new opportunity to die horribly. Every escape is through a door hiding new impossible horrors. Meanwhile the bromance continues to reveal excruciating new depths of uncomfortable truths as Nyx’s lunatic plans coerce an unwilling Fang into (malicious) compliance in order to avoid death
I can’t wait for round three!
My favorite GameLit of all time is The Stork Tower series by Tony Corden. It’s not finished, but the worldbuilding and character growth are absolutely stellar. I have issues with some of the writing choices, especially early in the series, but keep coming back to re-read it over and over anyways. Features a female protagonist in a full-VR-immersion world (like Ready Player One). Book one is essentially within just one virtual world plus the real world but it quickly expands from there so it’s sci-fi, fantasy, horror, steampunk, and about any other goodness you can think to mention. Such fun!
If you like the slooow burn, meandering nature of He Who Fights (it was written as a web serial to begin with) you might also like The Wandering Inn series. Slow and steady character growth with the slowest of slow burns as the story progresses. I haven’t mustered the patience to finish it, yet, but my friend who has assures me it’s worth it.
I have quite enjoyed the System Universe series by SunriseCV. There are various spin-offs but I only read the one starting with System Change so far.
Derek is as emotional as a stone but, while getting stronger and stronger, ends with a huge tribe/family he takes care of.
There is no dog but a hilarious rabbit that becomes a chef!
It is in KU.
May I interest you in the wandering Inn by pirateaba, you can read this as a serial on her website https://wanderinginn.com/ or buy the ebooks it is fun and sometimes tragic but the story is captivating with a few characters that are well written and a world with a deep lore and politics
Dungeon Crawler Carl👏 👏
It’s litrpg awesomeness. I’m currently binging the series can’t put it down. Most awesome character is a snarky cat.