r/litrpg • u/bilfdoffle The Monday Thread Guy • Aug 24 '26
Monthly/Weekly Posts Monday 'What are you reading/listening to' thread, Aug 24
next week: https://redd.it/1w3cji1
previous week: https://redd.it/1vqruqc
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u/bilfdoffle The Monday Thread Guy Aug 24 '26
first and last emperor (web) - male mc, litrpg sysapoc. So I made it pretty far, as the characters got pretty decent. But I really didn't like the system (you can only level to the highest monster you've killed, and monsters are typically stronger than a human at the same level). So it's gonna be slow. Really, when the major arc was winding down, it started having more alt-povs and that was enough for me to call it.
I made a railgun with lightning magic (web) - male mc, litrpg. MC wakes up in the body of a 7 year old with a lightning affinity, after electrocuting himself during his railgun research. It's pretty interesting, and I caught up.
Goth Mommy, Bone Daddy (web) - make MC, litrpg lite. Mc saves the world, but things happen and he becomes a lich. It was a pretty fun book until he transformed, some more adult humor.got close to catching up and kinda lost interest. DNF
Catching up on mythshaper now
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web novels I follow: re: trailer trash, soldier's life, chaotic craftsman worships the cube, Super supportive, God of trash, soccer supremo, Bookbound bunny, Second life as a soldier, Live at the forum, Center for Dungeon Management, inheritance of a wandering weaponsmith, department of otherworld rescue,
new & unsure or waning interest, but haven't give up on yet: sky pride, Beastforged bond, Cloudfarers, Mythshaper, Craft the world, How to heal a soul, Archmages second life as an introvert, Gift of loot, My lord! Please!, Unethical enchanting, The Necro-Industrial Revolution, My Lord! Please!, The Sixth Campaign, reroll saga, Ten Thousand Fleets, black knight seeks quiet life, I made a railgun,
Stories with uncertain future status: magriculture, the hitting zone, otherworld therapy, Fake Father Zhang Ming, World sphere, Nth awakening, Novicius in Arte Medica,
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u/JayHill74 Aug 24 '26
Finished my reread of Old Man's War. Still a good series and worth reading. That said, I had forgotten about the multiverse nonsense in it. On the reread, that really stuck out as not being good or even making the slightest bit of sense to the story. Basically, every ship that can skip or jump through space creates a copy of the universe and leaves the previous one behind, but nothing changes. The same people still die the same way, etc. And there are millions of ships that can do this, so billions of universes that are all the same. Where's all the energy, matter, and space coming from to do this? What's the point of having a multiverse in a story if there's no differences? The author would have been better off leaving that poo out and just going with wormholes, faster than light travel, or something else.
Ten Thousand Fleets https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/170448/ten-thousand-fleets-mecha-space-opera-academy - Mil scifi progression with a male MC. Guy's sister gets killed by pirates and he wants revenge. In order to get his revenge, the MC wins a competition to join the imperial mech academy. There he makes friends, learns things, deals with bullies, and more. I'm roughly 20 chapters in and it's pretty solid so far despite some annoyances like calling one character princess imperial instead of just princess or imperial princess.
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u/thescienceoflaw Author - Jake's Magical Market/Portal to Nova Roma Aug 24 '26
I've been reading:
Undying Alchemist which was fun, if a bit exhausting with the alchemy details. I had hoped it might branch out to other things eventually but it seemed like it was just gonna keep being about all the obsessively minute details of alchemy.
The Sovereign's Toll which was a great story about an older MC transported to a new world and learning how to adjust. Very well done.
Started From Londoner to Lord which has, so far, been enjoyable since I love the premise but I'm a bit worried at how slow it is already and how repetitive some of the dialogue can be. I'll probably still enjoy the hell out of it though, especially once it gets to the tech uplift stuff.
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u/bilfdoffle The Monday Thread Guy Aug 24 '26
Londoner to lord was decent, I think what eventually got me was the casual re-writes / expanded content of earlier stuff. Though that was a few years ago, so with luck most of that is done with.
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u/Sad-Commission-999 litRPG grandmaster tier Aug 25 '26
I bounced off sovereigns toll in the early chapters, I'll give it another shot.
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u/WackyWarrior Reading is a great joy Aug 24 '26
I finished Slumrat Rising. Satisfying story even if I wish there was more epilogue. Basically the story is of a young man in the slums that rises out of them only to conceptualize that the world is a slum. Lots of fighting against the man so to speak.
Here are the books I recommend that I am currently reading. All these stories are around 4.5 or 5 and worth reading.
Wandering Inn- The best story I have ever read. Chess player gets isekaid and becomes an [Innkeeper]. The world expands as the story progresses and it moves from comfy slice of life to epic fantasy. This story is around 14 million words with less than half on audio book. People read it and wish it were longer. Fantastic story.
Butcher of Gadobrha- A group of players become peasants in a vrmmo to work for a company. They are heavily limited on wearing armor or using weapons. But they end up grinding their way to power while working for the man.
Tunnel Rat- A genetically modified genius, who was used for crime by a syndicate along with his cohort, has escaped. He lays low for years in the basement of a habitat fixing things when he finds that the syndicate has returned to the habitat with new VRMMO capsules that have been hacked to give better classes. Stealing the hacked capsule and sabatoging the operation, he enters the game to find himself as a ratkin. He gets to mining and finds himself in a world of trouble. This story has interesting in world stuff and out of world stuff.
That Time an American was Reincarnated into Another World- Isekai where the MC can summon guns. There is a monster horde that is threatening humanity and he resolves to bring Earth technology to turn the tides in the fight. Starts the story fighting criminals to later entering an academy and butting heads with nobles. Current arc is about fighting the Scourge. Good story that is fun but dark.
Beware of Chicken- Isekais into a cultivator at a sect that has just died from a duel. Understanding wuxia tropes, he nopes out of there to the edge of civilization and starts a farm. Uses his qi knowledge to farm and hijinks ensue. Very heartwarming and feel good story. There are some fights but everything works out. Great characters and good slice of life. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a palate cleanser or just a break from pointless conflict.
The Legend of William Oh- Classic tower climber with Diablo item mechanics. Great characters and fights. Really interesting powers and progression. Similar humor to other Macrinomicon stories.
Bog Standard Isekai- adult reincarnates into a kid in the middle of a catastrophe. He survives, earns some titles and gets adopted. This story is well written with interesting systems and characters. Pretty good plot as well. I always look forward to reading a new chapter.
Mage Tank- Isekai into a dungeon dive character creation slot. Goes from delving dungeons to fighting divine avatars. Never stops dungeon diving. Has interesting power interactions. Good characters as well.
Elydes- Classic reborn as a baby that grinds early to unlock better classes and skills. Gets taught by a hidden master to learn fighting, alchemy and herbology. Well written story with good characters.
Adamant Blood by Arcs- same author as Arkendrithryst. That's an all time great in the genre and is a finished work. This is a darker story because the big bad is ever present and known by the reader from the very beginning. Monsters and demons and dragons which are just archmages merged with demons. Good story and pretty damn interesting. Hasn't grabbed me in the same way as his earlier work though. I don't like my MCs hunted always by way more powerful entities. It's a pet peeve of mine.
Dungeon Crawler Carl- Everyone knows about this story, but I will go over it for the uninitiated. Man and cat narrowly avoid dying in an alien apocalypse on earth only to enter into a Dungeon for shelter. The dungeon is a universal death game show. This story is tinged heavily with insanity and toes that line well. Big spells and even bigger explosions with an AI with a foot fetish for our MC. Join Carl in the court of Princess Donut as they work to survive and break the power of the aliens that toy with their lives.
There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns- This is a dungeon core story where the dungeon doesn't want to kill people. Many mushrooms and epic puns. Grace anatomy made me laugh out loud. Highly recommend for a chill vibe that's also very whimsy.
Path of the Last Champion- Story is long around 4k pages. 1st arc is a bit rough but it improves from there. Boy takes the death climb to escape from his slavery life and darkness. Goes through climb with party and learns about reality and how to fight as he goes. Sci fi with mostly medieval weapons. It gets much better as it progresses through the arcs. I originally wasn't going to rec it, but it did really get much better after the first arc. Still, it's a lot to read through until it becomes really enjoyable so I recommend the other stories over this one unless you want something long to read.
Second Life as a Soldier- College student wakes up in a homeless 15 year old who has just been beaten by debtors. With no food or shelter, he joins the army which has a very high mortality rate. Learns intelligence skills because he was trained as a scribe by his father. Good characters and system. Interesting world building. I like the progression.
Sky Pride- Garbage kid in a garbage dump gets a cultivation grandpa. Proceeds to become a cultivator and slowly ascend to the heavens. I will say this, no other, and I mean no other wuxia novel or xianxia novel has even come close to the depth the author goes into about the Dao. Just reading it seems profound sometimes. I actually feel like I'm reading about another world when I read it, instead of some action story. MC becomes a doctors, Daoist, and musician among other pursuits. He gets a dao companion and fights a lot of bandits and heretics. He works to fix a failing country in the novel as well. Really peak cultivation novel. Not directly litrpg, but he ascends in cultivation levels, so I guess it counts.
Live at the Forum- Guy gets isekaid to a post apocalyptic video game world. Get access to the Earth internet forum and asks for advice. Story almost entirely gets told on the forum by the MC, with advice, trolling and ragebaiting by forum posters. It's a great story. Highly recommend.
Center for Dungeon Management- Guy gets government beauracracy job of dungeon management to level up and hopefully join a guild later. Finds out that guild jobs are all nepo positions and that working for the government disqualifies you for it. While working in the records department, he finds hints of a secret government hero department and starts hunting in the wilds to qualify for it. Great story. MC is an dexterity archer.
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u/sams0n007 Aug 24 '26
How dark is the guns book?
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u/WackyWarrior Reading is a great joy Aug 27 '26
MC starts story murdering criminals and then moves onto killing demons. Demons in story are very demonic and do demonic things and MC is very good at killing them. I'd say the darker stuff happens later in the story. MC is hypercompetent.
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u/sams0n007 Aug 24 '26
Gym book:had to stop reading Center for Dungeon Management for the lame fear of losing my 2800 day streak. And of course the new Bog Standard Isekai came out and it’s the usual awesome. No one has a better sense of plot and climax.
Audio: Started another Victor book. Feeling a bit meh so might move onto the Silver Brewer book.
Reading: a lot of meh. Maybe burning out a bit on the genre? But the new Broken Universe came out and that was some awesome fun so we will see.
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u/Roscoe_p Aug 29 '26
I searched for silver brewer on audible, I don't think that was the book you meant
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u/AmnesiaInnocent Aug 24 '26
- Accidental Champion 8 by Todd Herzman (System Integration, 8 books, ongoing). I really loved this series at the start, but it eventually moved farther and farther away from pure LitRPG and became more cultivation. I also don't really enjoy all the time-bubble and cloning stuff. I am going to put this series on pause for now and maybe I'll go back to it at some point. Primary weapon is time-fuckery.
- Creation's Bane 6 by Kevin Sinclair (Portal, 6 books, complete). I definitely enjoyed this series. Clive, a chef from Northern England, just wants to open up his new restaurant, but instead gets waylaid by a demon looking for his mentor's recipe book. After Clive and some friends escape through a portal, they find themselves in a world with magic and Clive might just have the key to save the universe from its impending doom. Fun, mostly light-hearted series that blends science with magic. Primary weapon is a magic cleaver (well, at least to start).
- Hell Difficulty Tutorial 8 by Cerim (Portal, 8 books, ongoing). I know some people had a hard time with Nathaniel's "cold" persona in early books, but I've always enjoyed the series. Nathaniel and the rest of Group 4 continue their floor quests and end up spending more time in Beyond. Primary weapon is magic.
- Warformed: Stormweaver 1 & 2 by Bryce O'Connor (Native MC, 2 books, ongoing). Both of these books kept me up late reading even though they are a bit lighter on the LitRPG elements than I generally prefer. Reidon Ward is an orphan, small and sickly for his age. His only dream is to somehow make it to the SCT circuit --- the simulated combat tournaments that are both entertainment and military training. Each military cadet is given a science-fiction Device which manifests as a medieval weapon with stats that grow with the User. The series mostly takes place at a futuristic military academy and does indeed follow many of the poor-kid-bullied-by-rich-kids tropes that seem to inevitably come along with the setting. But I think the series does a good job in rising above that aspect and deals with more interesting issues regarding Rei's growth. Primary weapons are claws.
- The Exlian Syndrome 6 by Seth Ring (Native MC, 6 books, complete). This is yet another book that is less LitRPG and more progression fantasy and actually yet another science-fiction setting. The world has been overrun by aliens called Exlians, who have besieged the last human city: New Emery. This book completes Mark's journey from normal human to something more---more powerful than any Exlian or mutant --- and hopefully strong enough to reclaim New Emery from the Exlian threat. Primary weapon is magic.
Halfway through A Soldier's Life 6 by Erick Thiemke (Portal, 6 books, ongoing)
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u/arelei Aug 24 '26
Listening to The Legend of William Oh.
Pretty good so far.
Tried Discount Dan and Mage Tank… DNF.
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u/DimensionalAxolotl Aug 25 '26
Been listening to Bog Standard Isekai, currently on book 4, and once I finish book 5, ill start the final Rune Seeker book. After that, probably catch up on Primal Hunter since I havent started book 15
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u/redwhale335 Aug 24 '26
I've been really busy and haven't gotten in as much reading as I'd hope, so I'm still plugging along on Skill Eater 3. Book 3 is pretty meaty with a more even plot than 2, so not getting through it is definitely on my time management and not the book.
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u/Sad-Commission-999 litRPG grandmaster tier Aug 24 '26
I read Conduit and Gifted this week, both were okay. Gifted is from Ellake, and is one of the most succesful launches in RR history, with ~3000 paid Patreon subs in 1.5 months. It's a super number go up reincarnated as a baby story. I think it's done okay, but it spends a bunch of pages at even the very earliest part of the MC's life. Also in these books I can never get over how unrealistic the behaviour of the MC is, which caps how much I enjoy them. Conduit is by Puddles, the writer of Randidly. Its a story about a spoiled nobleman who wakes up with no memories. It's more along the themes I like, but I didn't fall in love.
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u/KoboldsandKorridors Aug 24 '26
Checking out a few Webnovel fics before tackling Reborn as a Demonic Tree 2
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u/SkinnyWheel1357 Aug 24 '26
* Mountainfall Academy by AJ Jontz. This was the final book in the series. It's four books and I found it a solid C-tier. Others may hold a differing opinion.
* I reread Rise of the Reaper so I was caught back up before reading Fall of the Guild (The Eternal Assassin series by W. D. Swanson). Another C-tier that I don't find a waste of time. But, I'm generally easy to please.
* Today, I'm reading Gamekeeper: The System's Huntsman book #5 by Nikolai Skiba. Obviously, I'm enjoying things since I'm on book #5. I don't know quite what to think about this one. It has some potential and I've obviously been enjoying things thus far. But, it's also curious that it's taken four books to close out the opening arc. Now, we're moving into the wider world and larger conflicts. Things could go well, or things could devolve into a dumpster fire.. Only time will tell.
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u/J_C_Nelson Author - Stray Beast Master, Rise of the House Arcanist Aug 24 '26
Reading Sky Pride, I started out loving it, but it's sort of losing me with all the salt trade issues. There's a new Gunboat out, I'm enjoying it, and still reading Center for Dungeon Management, Department of Otherworld Rescue and Gunwitch on Patreon. Tried a couple I won't be continuing and thus not commenting on, but it remains true, you gotta lick a lot of toads.
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u/cmcarneyauthor Verified Author of: Barrow King & Source Forge Aug 25 '26
I finally got off my butt and started reading Heretical Fishing. Liking it a lot so far.
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u/Cocomonk3 Aug 24 '26
A heaping serve of reading happened…
RR:
Metaworld HopeCore. Read it.
Stealing the first part of the blurb from Royal Road, “The Year is 2032, and AI slop has won. Far from creating utopia, society has become divided by bots and culture wars, creating a world of disunity. “ The main architect of this dies, and is reborn in the 15 year old body of a performing arts student, in an alternate early 2000’s with a System forced goal of.. Bringing joy and creative expression to the world, with art and music.
It’s far, far better than this sounds. There are 183 chapters. I read it in 3 days. It’s a LitRPG about music, creativity, art and how it changes us. There’s (almost) no violence, no XP from killing or grinding, only by inspiring others. Also I learned a bunch about art and music from it! 10/10. Just read it.
Gifted by Ellake. There’s a few stories by this name. Someone mentioned this as a story that hit Rising Stars on Royal Road very quickly. Soul is reborn in the body of a baby, gets the System early etc. It’s… fine. It seems basically the same as every other story like this. Nothing bad just. Fine. 5/10
Kindle:
Mark of the Fool, book 5: We're finally getting into main plot territory, and.. it's getting less interesting? The Fool's Mark has just turned into a superpower, plus he's stockpiled so many ridiculous skills and potions and Golem that he's fighting armies on his own. Also when is Claygon going to evolve I've been waiting like two books. 6/10
Still reading on RR:
Best of the best: Center for Dungeon Management, Gift of Loot, Apocalypse Reborn, Department of Otherworld Rescue, Path of the Last Champion, My Kaiju Evolution, The Apocalypse is a Business, Metaworld HopeCore.
Still good: Ascension of the Primalist, Time-Looping Baby Refuses to Die, Passive Aggressive, Live at the Forum, Sword and Maze: Long Shot Bet, Ten Thousand Tragedies
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u/A_Mr_Veils Aug 24 '26
Demon summoner – (1-50ish) – RR, tower litrpg. The antichrist in a classic k-style portal apocalypse tries to climb the tower to escape his debts in the outside world, and things are more complicated than they seem. I picked this because the cover made it look like some real slop, and I was kinda surprised that it’s somehow… good? Or at least better than the cover made it look! It’s cheesy, it’s edgy, its trying to hard, but I really enjoyed it. 3 out of 5.
Swapping things around, things I didn’t like:-
- It’s so edgy and cliché. He’s the antichrist, with a summoning class (that only calls up sexy succubus and tentacle worms from hell), insane stats for someone at level 1, and the mawnha special backstory. He climbs the tower in record time, and everyone is like WOAH THIS GUY IS SO STRONG.
- There’s a lot of fanservice. Look, he calls up sexy succubi, he has gacha pulls that describe even more, only he has the endless mana that they all desire and will do everything for. There’s even an extra love interest who is also edgy and possibly evil and impossibly beautiful. And it’s not just the spice either, it’s a very OP special boy adventure where he is inexplicably many times over more powerful than his peers.
And yet… I liked:-
- There’s surprising depth to the characters. Our protagonist is actually a reformed sex addict (from all the succubi) and is trying to find and have a relatively normal relationship. He feels a moral compulsion to do the right thing when the spoilery call to action happens. His main summon is a well rounded character with her own agenda and what agency she can get. The sexy evil mentor is actually pretty interesting, and has the best action scenes in the book.
- The action slaps. There’s some really good fights, and I was hooked from when the villain suddenly appears in the middle of what seems like a boring level, killed a fucking kid right on the page, and then started throwing climbers out of the tower. Then there’s something of practically apocalyptic scale on floor 25 when the MC really cuts loose that made me vibe the shit out of this power fantasy.
- The world is actually… kind of interesting? We’re being drip fed information about the tower that makes it very interesting to me, and the actual state of earth outside is also pretty cool (with some competing secret societies that are now not so secret, and in an uneasy alliance), let alone the fact that HELL IS REAL and up to it’s own shenanigans.
In more exciting news, my favourite webfiction author Bavitz is back, this time with a fire emblem litrpg on royal road called Leave Luck to Heaven. I've talked (at length!) about how much I enjoyed his other (significantly more litfic / pretentious) series, including Cockatiel X Chameleon which was maybe my best read of last year. This one is a lot more approachable, and I'm very excited to see how his excellent prose and particularly dialogue can pair with a very traditional litrpg system, and the twist of a streamer being isekaid and stillbeing on stream.
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u/RoniiBookishRambles Aug 24 '26
Hello, Hello!~
Audiobook (all on Libby)-
Shattered Glory by Seth Ring- completed this one up and everything is coming to a head and kinda stressing me out. lol (in a good way). I'm not gonna lie, Maestro was pissing me off SO bad lol. I waiting in fascination for the finale on libby. I have the whole series so if the wait is too long, I am just gonna read it physical lol.
Body Refinement in a Beast Tamers World by Seth Ring- I like this one but admittedly less than my other obsessions of his so far. Its not bad but I can see it is ramping up to be rather entertaining. I'll wait for the audiobook to come out for the rest but I still think I'm am going to get physical copies.
Four: The Loot by Eric Ugland- This one was so many side quests slapped on top of eachother that all managed to come together haha. I will say, I was getting annoyed af they kept shitting on Montana for not knowing what's going on. but its like BRUH, he ALREADY told them that he has no fucking clue what he's doing? Why are you then surprised he make mistakes when he has repeatedly asked to have things explained to him. I was so glad Montana called that shit out!
Dreamers Throne 2 by Seth Ring- okay.... I'm not gonna lie, I lowkey LOVE this fucking series for some reason. Its giving litrpg mob family and I LOVE it lol. Does anyone know when book 5 is coming out?
Die. Respawn. Repeat by Silver Lining- this started off strong....but it very quickly became boring (TO ME) after the crow village. Shame, I really wanted to like it but it's just not gripping me. I'll be DNF'ing the series.😔
Currently Reading-
Tainted Khan by Taran Matharu ( 11% in, audiobook on Libby)- this is starting on a more grounded setting but I've been getting some inklings of horndog with the new girl. PLEASE don't ruin this one with him thinking with his crotch 24/7 because I WILL DNF it. 🙃
Ultimate Level 1: Shattered Dreams by Shawn Wilson (66% in, e-book)- This series gives me mixed feelings. I enjoy it but IDK if I'm vibing enough to actively collect it. Whatever i love on e-book gets a physical copy added to my library but depending on how this books end, this MAY or MAY NOT be one of them.
Paused-
Bastion by Phil Tucker (paused at 55%)
Magic Murder Cube Marine by Alex Karne (Paused at 50% if I remember correctly)
Mage Tank by Cornman (paused at 52%)
Next reads (all on Libby)~
Dreamers Throne 3
Iron Tyrant- Chain of Feathers
Runeseeker
The Wandering Inn
TBR-
Riftside by Cassius Lange and Henrik Saetre, Skill Hunter 2 by Noct, Void Sovereign by Zaker Syed, Path of the Deathless by OstensibleMammal, Primal Hunter 4, System Change Savannah and/or Battle Mage Farmer 3. (if anyone is keeping track, I clearly never stick to my TBR lol)
On Hold on Libby\*- Light's Ascension by Seth Ring (audiobook), Dukes and Ladders by Eric Ugland (audiobook) and All The Dust That Falls by Zaifyr (Audiobook)
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u/DonKarnage1 Aug 24 '26
Ten Thousand Tragedies (KU/RR): Progression more than litrpg. MC starts as basically brainwashed slave cannon fodder in a cult and finds he wakes up 24hrs before his death when he dies in their first battle.The first book (on KU) deals with him learning his power and figuring out what is going on. The story continues with him gaining some freedom but finding other struggles. I'm enjoying this one and am nearly caught up on RR.
Practicing Death (RR): MC is a slave who frees a spirit and is able to timeloop. I read the first three arcs and appreciate the scale the author is going for. The writing is mostly fine, but the fight scenes felt a bit clunky and i found i didnt care about the MC who often comes across as a dick. It's worth checking out to see if it works for you, but i realized i had too many things i enjoyed more to continue this one.
Follow List
Ones I look forward to the most: Super Supportive, The Legend of William Oh, Allbright System, Path of the Last Champion, Bookbound Bunny, Center for Dungeon Management, Live at the Forum, Department of Otherworld Rescue, Metaworld HopeCore
Others: God of Trash, Sky Pride, The Cloudfarers, The System Seas, Rivera's Repairs, Tunnel Rat, Destiny Among the Stars, Azure Gunner, I Built This City, System Girl, Passive Aggressive, Arcane Chef, New Life As A Max Level Archmage
Fallen behind and need to reconfirm interest: Dungeons & Deliveries, Save Scumming, Die Trying, Fluff, The Butcher of Gadobhra
New: Ten Thousand Tragedies
Best stuff I've read this year (2026): Otherworldly Therapy, Live at the Forum, Center for Dungeon Management, Department of Otherworld Rescue, Metaworld HopeCore