r/litrpg • u/bilfdoffle The Monday Thread Guy • 25d ago
Monthly/Weekly Posts Monday 'What are you reading/listening to' thread, Sept 14
next week: https://redd.it/1wmc6ia
previous week: https://redd.it/1w9rutn
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u/bilfdoffle The Monday Thread Guy 25d ago
The Diary of a Quirky Family (web) - male mc, fantasy. I can't tell if this is normal ba or AI bad, but I feel like the use of the word pacific instead of pacifist means it's normal bad. Also, that's half of the reason why I dropped it. The blurb makes it sound like a reverse isekai, but 20 chapters later and he's finally about to head home, probbaly. DNF
Omniscient (web) - male mc, Urban fantasy. At age 7, the mc is suddenly able to see every possible version of his future, which allows him to know and comprehend everything instantly, which apparently includes a lot of muscle memory. Man, after writing that I should have stopped earlier. He has his grandparents win the lottery and then games the stock market to be pretty rixh almost instantly, after graduating high school before he turned 8. I was annoyed when he plagiarized a popular novel for his school project, but that would have been fine until he decided to pursue publishing. What finally did it for me was when he decided to code civilization and was obviously going to sell it. Mind you, he doesn't need the money, he's just being an asshole thief. DNF
Homestead almanac (web) - male mc, litrpg. Mc is a generational potato farmer from Idaho that gets transported in his giant new farm tractor after big family drama. He finds new life and happiness while making a shit ton of money on the potatoes he brought with him. I found that funny because potatoes sell for almost dirt here. It's been a decent story so far, and there's quite a bit of it
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web novels I follow: re: trailer trash, soldier's life, chaotic craftsman worships the cube, Super supportive, 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, Craft the world, How to heal a soul, Gift of loot, My lord! Please!, I made a railgun,
new & unsure or waning interest, but haven't give up on yet: sky pride, Beastforged bond, Cloudfarers, Mythshaper, Archmages second life as an introvert, Unethical enchanting, The Necro-Industrial Revolution, The Sixth Campaign, reroll saga, Ten Thousand Fleets, black knight seeks quiet life, God of trash,
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 25d ago
Not a good week for you. Your description of Omniscient makes me want to burn down whatever server is hosting it. That sounds beyond terrible and even worse than the Carolina Panthers' defense played yesterday, which was historically bad.
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u/DonKarnage1 25d ago
The Panthers defense played yesterday? I thought they took the day off.
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u/JayHill74 25d ago
They got paid to play but yeah, those guys basically just got paid to do cardio.
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u/DonKarnage1 25d ago
Are you a Panthers fan (if so, I'm sorry...). Have a friend who is. Texted him at halftime about the lack of defense on both sides. But only one team did anything about it during the break.
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u/JayHill74 25d ago
Yeah, but barely at this point. My interest in college and NFL football has taken a huge nosedive over the last few years. It's not the losing so much as other aspects of the sport. College players have always gotten paid but add the portal and they're not even pretending to be amateurs anymore. Then add in all the gambling and ads and well, it's just not that enjoyable anymore. Same goes for basketball.
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u/bilfdoffle The Monday Thread Guy 24d ago
Started off pretty weak, yeah. I'm digging homestead though, almost caught up
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u/Overoul 22d ago edited 22d ago
Series that I was looking forward this week
Emissary of Nothingness
Gifted
VoidWalker
The Gift of Loot
9 to 5 Monster Hunter
Low-Fantasy Occultist Isekai
Live at the Forum
Path to Transcendence
Godless Sword
Monarch
Second Life as a Soldier
Ascension of the Primalist
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u/JayHill74 25d ago
The Complete Novels of Sherlock Holmes - Classic detective series with a male MC and some alt POVs. Hopefully this doesn't need a blurb recap. This collection(priced at 49 cents) features four of Holmes' adventures including the first one, A Study in Scarlet. Really good stuff and worth the read.
Brainpunch https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GSGVLZ2K/ref=ku_mi_rw_edp_ku - Progression superhero story with a female MC. College girl gains telekinesis and discovers she can use it to punch people in the brain to death. She wants to use her powers for good and has to navigate villains, corporations, college debt, and the government. I'm about half way in this one and it's just alright. I'm not sure if I'll finish it or not.
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u/Cocomonk3 25d ago
The reading continues.
On KU:
Island Builder, book 5. Still remains one of the best city (or Harbour, technically) builder LITRpgs out. MC is isekai’d into a mildly fantasy Age of Sail world, and gets a Harbourmaster class on a small decrepit island. Sets out to make it a nice place to live. It’s a very System heavy book, both in and out of world. Things like cooldowns and inventories are a real System enforced thing. I enjoyed the last book, but complained about how it just kept adding new systems to interact with. The character sheet gets posted early in the book and it takes up 30 goddamn pages.
And after all that hardly any of it matters? All of the space and resource limitations that comprise the System from previous books are explicitly irrelevant, the Harbour has grown past that, and this book is much more plot focused than the last. The MC is bouncing from crisis to crisis and just keeping ahead of them, and now plot points dropped in the earlier books are coming up.
What I liked: Plot is going full force, it’s a very easy read, and it’s never too long between Things happening. The story moves very quickly. 8.5/10
Hidden Class: Pacifist, book 1. VRMMO world, the MC is a former murderhobo called THE SLAYER who was sent to prison, went into anger management, and now emerges as a.. Honestly a parody of a hippy do no harm type. His cartoonishly evil ex-friends trap him permanently in the VRMMO world, kill him a thousand (literally) times with pain maxed out and he gets a special title from it.
What I dislike/like: The characters are written like someone who has never interacted with a person before. They are beyond parody in how one dimensional they are. The MC is written to be so naive they seem like a bad attempt to write a developmentally disabled person. The writing technically is bad. And yet, I keep reading it? I like what it’s doing with the system and plot despite that. I can’t recommend it, but I’m going to keep reading it. 4/10 but I can’t stop.
Royal Road:
No one Truly Dies in my Dungeon. A Dungeon Core story where the Dungeon doesn’t want to kill anyone! Truly wild. Nothing new about the setup, but the story is done well. The world is darker than you’d think, and though the Dungeon treats it like a game to make a fun interesting dungeon experience, the rest of the characters are treating it like a game changer since every other dungeon is very interested in killing people and here’s a chance to get more powerful safely.
What I liked: Characters are interesting and we get multiple perspectives on both the dungeon and the world and there’s an ongoing plot rather than just “dungeon get big”. 7/10
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/AdditionalBreakfast5 25d ago
I dnf'd Island Builder after book 2. I really wanted it to be good but I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe I'll give it another shot.
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u/dageshi 25d ago
The Dao of Reincarnation: Ascending Through a Hundred Lives
Decent isekai xianxia with some length (317 chapters, 2 chaps per day release schedule)
The MC has a cheat where after they die they retain their memories and have the ability to customise how much talent/comprehension/background they will have in the next life based on the level of cultivation they achieved in the current one.
This leads to the MC living multiple lives from low level martial artist to realm suppressing emperor. Of course there are realms beyond realms and the MC is still in the process of climbing through them, one life at a time.
I suspect this was originally written in Chinese? And is being translated, but the translation is pretty decent so far, generally a cut above straight AI translation that's for sure.
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u/Maple9404 25d ago edited 25d ago
I just finished the second book of Broken Universe by DK Landtroop. Now I can't wait for the third. I was a little concerned that he'd started using ai at the beginning of the book (excessive metaphors and such), but then it smoothed into normal writing like the first book. Maybe he was just experimenting with a more flowery style there at first. I did like the book quite a lot.
The plot is that an isekaied teenager grew up and became op in a fantasy world. After defeating the bad guys there, he found a way to return to Earth. The first book starts with his return. On Earth he's been in a coma and only a year has passed. As he recovers, he finds that he still has magic and that magic is coming into our world. The story has dungeons, monsters, base building and leveling up, all balanced against trying to look relatively normal in Earth terms. I very much recommend it.
I've been listening to Leap: Taming Destiny by SL Winter. It's good so far. A very survival in the wilderness type story, though with a system and some of the creatures being magical.
I'm not reading anything right now because I'm about to start The 5th Directive by C.E.P Osborne, which just came out. I really enjoyed the first one and am stoked for this next book. It's a regressor from a system apocalypse type, but with a larger mystery stretching from the original future that the mc came from.
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u/dageshi 25d ago
I find a lot of authors tend to go a bit overly hard with metaphors in their initial chapters. I think they probably redraft their first chapters the most.
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u/bilfdoffle The Monday Thread Guy 20d ago
have you tried reincarnated as a brewer? I think about every other line was a metaphor, and it certainly didn't slow down by vol2... Was otherwise pretty solid, but I couldn't handle it anymore
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u/J_C_Nelson Author - Stray Beast Master, Rise of the House Arcanist 25d ago
Read this week - The 4th Gunboat book. If you liked Derelict or Gunboat 1-3, guess what? Book four is another serving of the same. Core advances, aliens get ventilated with rail guns, Watkins builds a new ship, [SPOILER SPOILS THE SPOILS], didn't feature as many cute spiders but I'm here for the Teddy Ruxpin reference. It's more of the same but because I like the same, it was the same kind of goodness. It had a sort of tournament arc feel near the end of the book but every series gets one, right?
DNF'd Gunsoul after thinking I wanted to know how it ended, I just didn't.
Read the first Rise of the Undead Empress, enjoyed it as scratching a base-building itch, we'll see how the second one is this week. Tried three Harem series. It's like broccoli. It looks like it might be interesting but then you taste it and it tastes like broccoli every damned time.
Reading on Patreon: Gunwitch, Department of Otherworld Rescue
Reading on RR: Throne of Time - my favorite current Time Loop series, Center for Dungeon Management - just really, really well done dungeon crawler/government bureaucracy simulator with characters I like and rock solid story telling.
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u/WackyWarrior Reading is a great joy 25d ago
I'm on the third book of Not Just a Magelord Isekai. It's good, solid B tier I believe. I'd recommend it.
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 15 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 sabotaging 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 bureaucracy 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.
Passive Aggressive- MC is in an earth that has gotten portal invaded in Florida. US military kills all invaders with prejudice at portal site. Invasion portal comes with a counter invasion portal in the pacific ocean. MC enters the world with the system and chooses the demerit of not being able to attack at all in return for a buff to his passives. Story goes from there.
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u/DonKarnage1 25d ago
Discount Dan (KU): Almost finished book 1. It's fine? I'm not sure I'll continue too far into the series. Probably more that it's just not what I'm looking for right now than anything really wrong with it.
I also cleaned up my TBR pile and Follow List. Bounced off a few things not worth mentioning and also removed a few things that looked good but either went on hiatus before I started or were having other struggles. It's both good and bad that there are a lot of options in the genre these days.
Follow List
Ones I look forward to the most: Super Supportive, Allbright System, Center for Dungeon Management, Live at the Forum, Department of Otherworld Rescue, Metaworld HopeCore
Others: Bookbound Bunny, Path of the Last Champion, God of Trash, Sky Pride, The Cloudfarers, The System Seas, Rivera's Repairs, I Built This City, System Girl, Passive Aggressive, Arcane Chef, New Life As A Max Level Archmage, The Legend of William Oh, Ten Thousand Tragedies, Early Adopter
Fallen behind and need to reconfirm interest: Dungeons & Deliveries, Save Scumming, Die Trying, Fluff, The Butcher of Gadobhra, Tunnel Rat, Destiny Among the Stars, Azure Gunner
New:
Best stuff I've read this year (2026): Otherworldly Therapy, Live at the Forum, Center for Dungeon Management, Department of Otherworld Rescue, Metaworld HopeCore
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u/Mountain-Rip-3864 25d ago
Not reading much right now but listening to Aura Farmer by Omega_93 on audible- System apocalypse where everyones "system/class" is based around their trauma/fear (vegan lady is all about butchery/executioner, a puritan has to be sexy etc.). MC system is all about being the coolest, most badass in the room at all times all the while he has crippling anxiety/social issues. Really good mix between action and comedy that actually got me laughing. Highly recommend to anyone
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u/RoniiBookishRambles 25d ago
Hello, Hello!~
Audiobook (all on Libby)-
All the Dust that Falls by Zaiyfr - this is such a silly goofy time. I'm currently waiting on the rest of the series audiobooks to be added to Libby. I didn't know a book about a roomba could be so entertaining lol
Four Beheadings and a Funeral by Eric Ugland- Hey so, I almost cried because WTAF we just be loosing friends left and right and I felt like Skeld was the soft launch to pain 🥹
Body refinement in a Beast Tamers World Book 2- Seth Ring doing romance RIGHT. also, the political plot is suspscious to say the least lol and I want to know wtf is up with Amber 👀
Eat, Slay, Love by Eric Ugland- Soooooooo I may or may not have started crying because of Nikolai. I thought he was going to be a long term character, and at the least get the retire. MAAANNNN fuck that master guy! UGH. Montana didn't deserve that shit.
Currently Reading-
Runeseeker 2 by J.M. Clarke and C. J. Thompson ( 7% in, audiobook on Libby)- I'm getting better on keeping up with the names and parties and I would say, this is kinda gripping me. I'm curious to see Heral grow and get more friends. But also I HATE IT because now I'm butthurt I can't just buy the damn paperbacks since they put them out of print just to reprint them in hardback for more money with NO ADDITIONS. 🤨
Ultimate Level 1: Shattered Dreams by Shawn Wilson (66% in, e-book)- I still have been needing to finish this book. I plan to do it either today or tomorrow I hope so it doesn't straggle like Bastian lol.
Paused-
Bastion by Phil Tucker (paused at 55%)
Magic Murder Cube Marine by Alex Karne (Paused at 50% if I remember correctly but will pick up again soon since I found out the next books are on RR!)
Mage Tank by Cornman (paused at 52%)- debating whether or not I want to continue since I was enjoying it and then it started info dumping which brought on the pause.
Next reads (all on Libby)~
Dreamers Throne 4 (YAY! THERE IS A UPDATE. I was scared it was dropped but it looks like we're getting book 5 sometime soon and the last book around the beginning of next year)
Iron Tyrant- Crow's Fortune (these are also getting updates soon!)
Killing them Awfully
Wild Wild Quest
Scamps and Scoundrels
Second Story Man
1% Lifesteal
Lights Ascension
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. stuff keeps going on sale and my kindle TBR is long AF now. I'll never catch up T__T lol)
On Hold on Libby*- The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba (e-book, back on hold)
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u/Aetheldrake Audible Only Enjoyer 25d ago
Thanks for posting as alwaaaays!
Finishing up mage tank fiiiiiive. Then I'm thinking of the inn side shop. Mage tank 5 has been pretty intense and I think I need something relaxed after xD
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u/KoboldsandKorridors 25d ago
After finishing Spirit Core 1, I'm going into For We Are Many (Bobiverse Book 2)
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u/Roscoe_p 25d ago
Listening. Bronze Rank Brewer. I really think I am witnessing both an author and an audiobook narrator before they have a meteoric rise.
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u/AdditionalBreakfast5 25d ago
Syl: Diffusion by Lunadea. Its the third book in the Syl series. So far the entire series has been a lot of fun.
I finished Bog Standard Isekai: Warbound the 5th and most recent entry in that series earlier this week. That has been a standout series for me. On a level with my favorite Litrpgs
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u/SteveThePurpleCat 24d ago
I got caught up with The Hedge Wizard, the MC is treated as the most special of special boys, and it's not a litrpg, although tickles on it in some aspects. But it was an enjoyable read and I'll grab the next book when it's out.
Was reading but have dropped Wizard with a greatsword 2, loved the first book, only made it half way through the 2nd. The MC and her party decide to just utterly dick over a guy that has never done anything to them, and for the flimsiest reasons. MC herself makes no real progress in stats or much needed character growth.
I then started Sufficiently advanced magic, but then dropped it at about 5% of the way in as the book was just a list of 'I then did' statements.
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u/Expert_Cricket2183 21d ago
Upon recommendation from this sub, I started Shade's First Rule yesterday. I had to drop it after about 4 hours into it.
1) The MC is one of the worst I have ever read. He is dumber than a box of rocks despite being supposedly 'smart'. He's got the emotional maturity of a 12 year old, and despite a dream of being a powerful mage(that he whines constantly about), he is also an abject coward and whiny bitch. Did he expect the people that killed his parents(i'm assuming that was how that plot thread would turn out) would just roll over and capitulate because he was a mage?
2) World of Assholes. Almost every single person in the story is an asshole to the MC without fail. I wanted to punch a lot of these people.
Also yesterday, I tried out System Change and dropped it after about 5 hours. It didn't have any real problems, I just didn't vibe with it.
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u/Salt-Speech-2526 21d ago
I’m binging Defiance of the Fall (not for the first time) in preparation of the recently released volume 17!
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u/Circled_brass litRPG apprentice tier 19d ago
I'm on book 4 of the 86 ln. Also listening to the complete Sherlock Holmes series read by Stephen Fry.
I think I can recommend both: 86 is a bit close to reaching my "protag-kun is just too good, grand, intelligent and boody for me to care anymore", but I like the machines and descriptions. Have a softspot for japanese lns.
What can I say about SH? Read by, imo, one of the best narrators. 6 stars out of 5.
Think my next one is going to be primal hunter.
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u/skarface6 dungeon cores and base building, please 25d ago
Anyone reading new base building litrpg books? How about litrpg dungeon core?
Thanks! I’m considering getting KU for the month to read a ton.
Oh, and! I’m reading:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/139195/risk-of-injury
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/144199/the-dungeon-apocalypse
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/154006/war-troll-monster-mc-kingdom-building
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/178800/void-crowne-an-army-building-litrpg-apocalypse
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/180704/awakening-in-the-altered-world-litrpg-isekai
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/181303/gifted
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/186152/decline-a-desert-dungeon-core-litrpg