What LitRPG Series do you recommend?
I read through He Who Fights with Monsters and it was not only my first read into the genre, so far it's been my favorite. I've come to absolutely love the characters, especially the protagonist, and the humor. Interesting and likeable characters are what makes or breaks a book for me.
I'm waiting on the next book to release, and in the mean time I've tried reading some others, but I've disliked what I've read so far. I read through the first three and a half books of Defiance of the Fall, but not only is the main character just hands down boring and contradictory, it's made worse by the fact that I don't believe the author is a very good writer. The amount of times a character has "snorted" and "rolled their eyes" is honestly a bad running joke.
After this I tried reading the Iron Druid Chronicles. It's not a LitRPG book, just a fantasy novel that takes place in modern times, but the author spent very little time on anything but the major plot points. Everything happens in such rapid succession that there's no depth given to the characters. I don't think it's poorly written, I just think it's just written for a different kind of reader. The books are also incredibly short for me, and I finished the first three in just a few days.
I'm halfway through the first book of The Primal Hunter now, and the writing is far better than Defiance of the Fall, the protagonist much better written, except I'm not sure I like him all that much. Very much the "I'm quiet, smart, and better than everyone" kind of attitude you'd get out of the know it all in high school, except supposedly this guy is a grown adult.
I've read all of these through Kindle Unlimited and they were all suggested to me by the app itself. I've only recently picked up reading again since dropping Reddit altogether, so I'm not super well versed into the best ways of finding new series to read.
I don't have huge expectations of LitRPG series, and they can be very variable in quality (or more generally, anything on Kindle Unlimited). I tend to pick them up when I want something comfortable to read. The best way I've found more books in the genre has mostly been Reddit threads much like this one in the past. Goodreads is effective at linking to similar books, but I find people tend to overrate books in this genre and two LitRPG books of similar ratings can be wildly different in quality.
That said, I really enjoyed the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and This Quest is Broken! serries recently. Both did a good job of focusing on a balance of humor and characters instead of focusing exclusively on game mechanics and progression.
I'm hoping to find some time to restart The Wandering Inn — I lost my place a few years ago reading it's online version. It's quite long at this point, and I recall the LitRPG elements being pretty minimal, but it's one of my favourite series both in and out of the LitRPG genre.
I'm loving the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Im just about to start book 6. The audiobooks are excellent if you have that option.
I believe pirateaba is rewriting some of the early chapters of TWI, not sure where they are with that though. Those chapters were in rougher shape compared to later ones. If you're into audiobooks though, I'd recommend the audible version. You'll get caught up quicker and the voice acting is top notch, can't read the web novel without hearing the voices now.
Is this rewrite different from the Kindle releases of the books?
They started the rewrite about a year ago, so I think it is different from the current kindle releases. More here:
https://wanderinginn.com/volume-1-rewrite-pt-1/
LitRPG is a tough genre for me. When I find one that clicks it's really good, but most just don't click, whether that's because they focus too much on the game system to the exclusion of all else, because the game system itself just doesn't make sense for me, or for other reasons. Personal note aside, if you want to find more LitRPGs I would try RoyalRoad and ScribbleHub, both of which have tags for it. In my experience RoyalRoad is more Western and SciribbleHub has more wuxia/cultivation type stuff. Some specific recommendations:
Have a list of my favourites, ordered in order of bestest to best:
Summary
A social worker father and his adult daughter crash land on a desert full of crystal plants and little else. The city walls of Ar'Kendrithyst rise in the distance, but as the pair hike closer they see those walls are more like mountains, and the mega-metropolis is long dead.Luckily, the adventuring city of Spur is alive and green and hospitable, and well outside of Ar’Kendrithyst’s shadow.
Follow Erick Flatt as he tries to make a nice life with new friends in a new home with his daughter at his side, but this land is rarely as kind as its people, and Erick will need to change if he wants to live the life he wishes to live.
What to expect:
Slow burn storyline, worldbuilding, father-daughter relationship, Erick is the MC, Jane is the side character, slice of life, numbers in blue boxes but also high fantasy, trying to understand magic, creating new magic, living the easy life but forced into dealing with problems, problems becoming very large, massive changes, traumatizing content, and most of all: character growth.
Summary
The world called out for a hero to purge it of a great evil. It received Broccoli Bunch, explorer, expert cleaner, occasional ghost-buster, and full time Cinnamon Bun.Features include:
Talking enemies into becoming friends
Hugging menu boxes
Awesome overpowered skills (such as Cleaning, and Gardening)
Wholesome litRPG mechanics
And more adventure than you could shake a stick at!
Follow Broccoli on her personal quest to make all the friends. All of them.
This is warm and fuzzy while not ignoring that the world can be a serious place. This was my intro to the LitRPG genre, and it absolutely hooked me.
Super Supportive was linked above, definitely seconding the rec.
Oof. What to pick from?
I read quite prolifically in this genre, and the like/dislike examples you've given help quite a bit. From your choices you're fine with combat, just not to the exclusion of development (plot/character/world).
My first recommendation would be the only fiction I spend money on (for Patreon access): Beneath the Dragoneye Moons - the main character gets reincarnated into a fantasy world, has a fair bit of her knowledge from home stripped away but finds she still has some medical and related scientific knowledge and becomes a healer. VERY long story, still ongoing. High quality character development and good plot.
Monroe. Guy gets portal-isekai'd when someone at a university run particle collider screws something up, and the initial plot revolves around him single-mindedly forcing himself on the quickest path to rescue the only person he cares about in the world: his cat Monroe, who is locked in his apartment and will starve to death if he (Bob - MC name) doesn't find a way to either get home or bring Monroe to him. Bob is socially awkward, probably on the autism spectrum, and faces challenges from that as well. Larger plot develops from those initial conditions. Ongoing active story. Multiple well developed characters.
Lacks the RPG (stats) portion, but very compatible otherwise: Beware of Chicken - Books 1 and 2 are stubbed out since they've been published and also have audiobooks out, but are very good. It's (at least initially) a very satirical take on Cultivation / Xanxia themes. A guy from our world gets shoved into the body of a (momentarily) dead cultivator. Just read this excerpt from the first page:
"Jin was full of wanting to become a powerful cultivator, a master among masters, and do whatever it is the dickbags who run this place do, which is presumably to be dicks, dickishly. I kinda... didn't care about his motivations. My body now, buddy. Sorry, not sorry. Dear old Jin was essentially a servant right now anyway, and had to do every task that the other people offloaded onto him, while harboring vengeance and hate and angst.
And let me tell you, I wanted none of that shit. I declare any revenge fantasies and ambitions null and void. I wanted none of the little fuckboy who wasted my ass. And most importantly, I wanted nothing to do with the politics of this world, because holy shit. Lots of line extinguishing, and murdering each other for face.
You know, standard xianxia stuff."
Next up: Industrial Strength Magic. Our intrepid, teenage MC lives in a world of superheroes and supervillains. His parents are such individuals. His dad, a tinker/mad scientist type, decides to enhance his son by designing a power system for him (you guessed it, LITRPG style) since he saw how much his boy loved video games. So Perry (our MC) ends up with a mix of 'normal' superpower that he can't really use well / initially at all and a kind of stat and quest system. Very fun story.
There are a bunch more I like but I'll stop there.
Oh, and I second u/Minithra: Ark'spellcheck and Cinnamon Bun are both excellent. Additionally, u/borntyping mentioned The Wandering Inn - it is gold standard character development.
I LOVED Cradle. It’s easily one of my top series of all time.
I’ve also started Ascend Online and I’m really enjoying it. It’s not a literary masterpiece but it’s fun.
As earlier mentioned, Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, is really good. It's action packed and quite gory but also gives room for character growth besides the LitRPG parts.
Another one that I enjoyed is Battle Mage Farmer by Seth Ring. It is a slice-of-life story of a powerful, almost maxed out, adventurer whose latest quest simply says "retire". I've only read the first book, Domestication, so far but I intend to continue the series some day.
If you're also interested in progression fantasy, Will Wight's Cradle series is a must.
I'm going to read through the other recommendations, but can anyone suggest a litrpg series either written by a female or non-binary author or with well written female/non-binary main character? Queer rep is a bonus. I mostly seem to see male authors recommended and was hoping to broaden out! I did enjoy the This Quest is B.... "trilogy"
It isn't a series but I really enjoyed How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps by Andrew Rowe
I've often looked for similar, so I scanned through my Goodreads list for books with female characters. Not sure I have anything to recommend with queer characters — LitRPG isn't the most diverse genre. I tend to look to fantasy and sometimes sci-fi for women and queer representation, which I've had much more success with.
Beyond The Wandering Inn which I've mentioned elsewhere in this thread, these aren't really recommendations as I can't remember much about any of them. I liked them enough to finish each series though, according to my Goodreads history (with the exception of Somnia Online, which I'm currently reading).
Thanks, I'd started Wandering Inn but gotten lost.
I'll check those out!
These are or started as web serials and some are also available on Kindle.
Edge cases by SilverLining - an exploration of things quite common in any software, that is bugs, errors and unintended interactions in a fantasy litrpg form.
Daily grind by argusthecat - a standard IT support worker finds an office dungeon in his work. Contains polyamory.
The Game at Carousel: A Horror Movie LitRPG by lost_rambler - a horror about playing out horror movies
Quill and Still by Pastafarian - portraits a different kind of society
Threadbare by Andrew Seiple - from the viewpoint of a toy bear
Fanfictions
Fairy dance of death by Catsy - a fanfiction of Sword art online taking place in Alfheim Online
The Games We Play - a RWBY fanfiction
And some borderline ones as far as them being LitRPGs is concerned.
Shade Touched by zat, on hiatus for a long time - a story from the perspective of an intelligent being similar to zergling. Litrpg elements are present but not very visible
Only Villains do That by DD Webbs (the author of Gods are Bastards) - currently on hiatus. An original and fresh isekai story. The protagonist is a character but is called out on it and character development is one of the themes. Subtle litrpg elements.
This used to be about dungeons by Alexander Wales(author of Worth the candle already recommended here) - a very comfy story in earlier parts. The litrpg elements are extremely subtle and not much noticeable.
I mainly read KU stuff and there is a ton of good (and bad) stuff on there to read. That being said these are some I've enjoyed:
Cradle Finished Series: Other's have mentioned this, its more cultivation/wuxia than full on LitRPG, but its a very good series. Worth checking out. He has some other finished series The Traveller's Gate that are good also.
Dungeon Crawling Carl In progress series: Another one others have mentioned. Lots of humor, most of it on the darker side.
Threadbare Finished series: Mentioned by another commented, this one is really good. The author has some other series as well in adjacent genres.
Mark of the Fool In progress series: Latest series I'm working through. Good read through the first 2 books.
Battle Mage Farmer In progress series: OP mage just wants to live a quite life, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.
The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound In progress series: Guy gets stuck in a dungeon as the 'system' takes over Earth. Leads to him starting out with a bit of a head start and to a bunch of other shenanigans.
The Weirkey Chronicles In progress series: This one is once again a little more of a cultivation-type novel, but its got a unique take on how people derive their powers so I find it pretty fun.
Full Murderhobo Finished series: Dakota Krout has several LitRPG or adjacent series that are really fun. This one is definitely my favorite from a humor standpoint.
Unbound In progress series: Pretty standard LitRPG fare here. OP main character, etc, but it goes in lots of fun directions.
The Ten Realms Finished series: Couple of army guys who ended up as mercenaries get transported to a magical realm and use good old fashioned guns and ammo to get a leg up on things. The series evolves nicely, but the last few books are really short. Still worth a read in my opinion.
Immortal Great Souls In progress series: Its only 2 books so far, but the series is really taking off at the end of book 2. I'm looking forward to more. Also more of a cultivation book than strictly LitRPG, but this has some Groundhog Day-ish elements to it that are fun.
Mother of Learning Finished series: Main character is stuck in a month long time loop and trying to figure out how to break out of it and defeat overpowered enemies in the process.
Unorthodox Farming In progress series: If you're tired of all the direct combat, this is something a little different where the main character is a farmer instead of some all-powerful fighter/spellcaster. Still really fun.
Limitless Lands Finished series: Old man is stuck into an experimental medical pod that comes with a side of online gaming. Sounds odd, but it really works. Good all around story. There's a follow-up series that follows somewhat adjacent characters if you end up liking it.
Super Powereds Finished series: Super Hero college life. The author has some other series that are also good.
A kind of subset/subgenre of LitRPG seems to be dungeon core novels, where the main character is put in a core running a dungeon. I won't list a bunch of those, but if you like them check out Jonathan Brooks as he has written a TON of them which are mostly pretty good if a little repetitive now and then.
There are probably more I could recommend if I go dig through my RoyalRoad reading history, but these are most of the good ones I've read or am reading through on KU. Starting even a few of these will lead you onto other good stuff.
You've got some great options recommended already. Royal Road has He Who Fights With Monsters, Defiance of the Fall, and Primal Hunter on it - so you can read ahead on those. Unbound is another one I associate with those 3. There are a lot of series on Royal Road, though the quality can vary. Ar'Kendrithyst has already been mentioned and is one of my favorites for being well-written and a bit deeper than the first 4 mentioned. Azarinth Healer is a finished story about someone from earth being dumped into a fantasy world and stumbling upon a hidden "warrior healer" class. The Calamitous Bob is about a female soldier from earth being dumped into a harsh world of magic. Worth The Candle is about a DM who is thrown into a world cobbled together from every campaign hes ever created - its completed and rather deep.
I'll also shoutout the /r/progressionfantasy subgenre. Its often similar to LitRPG - focusing on progression/learning/growth that you often see in litrpg, but with less numbers/rpg elements. That should open up a ton of new options like Mother of Learning, Cradle, Sufficiently Advanced Magic, and many more.
What part of LitRPG and the stories you've read do you like? You could easily branch into progression fantasy as something similar, but you could go a dozen different ways within fantasy/fiction depending on what you like. If you like to see new takes on existing tropes (reincarnation, isekei, system integration, dark magical girl, dark superhero, etc) - then royal road is going to be a great source. If you like the unique/original worldbuilding, then something like Ar'Kendrithyst or even more professional fantasy like Brandon Sanderson would be good. Or rather i If you like the sheer size and (seemingly) neverending content - there are plenty of quality web serials that are either ongoing or finished-but-huge - including many on royal road/kindle unlimited or things like Worm+Ward that are just posted to blogs. If you want something comfy that isn't too deep, but is still of decent quality - then there are a bunch of "OP MC" novels that are usually just plain fun. You might even benefit from branching out to new mediums - anime and comics/manga/manhwa/etc often hit several of the same notes.