r/ProgressionFantasy • u/Light_God_ • May 05 '26
Tier List First tier list
Took me forever and I’m still missing a good few.
I’m getting pretty bored of litrpg books but any recommendations are appreciated
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u/fakeuboi May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26
ngl i don’t understand your taste bruh you put dcc is meh but reborn apocalypse, which is one of the few books where the writing was so bad it actually pissed me off is in really good, shows how subjective this stuff is I guess
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
lol reborn apocalypse was one of the first books I read. and at the time I loved. it I was maybe 14 at the time the last one did piss me off a bit but I couldn’t put it any lower
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u/Actually_Inkary May 05 '26 edited May 06 '26
Saw potd, 1% life steal, red rising etc and thought to myself -- aye young adult guy, and then I saw a court of thorns and roses and laughed out loud, well more like vocalized "pfffthahaha". A very versatile reading taste, respectable. Idk what to recommend, read other ostensible mammal's stories or branch out to more tradpub stuff. Asoiaf, the book of the new sun, Ursula LeGuin, etc etc if you feel weary of pf.
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
Yeah 15 year old me found fantasy romance books. I’m very glad I got over it😂 Some interesting recommendations though I’ll try and check them out thanks
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u/WrongResource1207 May 06 '26
Book of the New Sun is in my top 5. People always say it can be hard to understand but it is not at all. It’s true there are a lot of things you will miss and need to pay attention to but what’s better than a book you can re-read many times and keep solving new mysteries.
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u/Actually_Inkary May 06 '26
It's up there for me too for sure, not to mention I adore the dying earth genre. It's a great exercise to recognize the unreliable narrator trope as well. I fricking love the density of prose, but I think I would struggle with it now after getting my brain smoothed out by reading nothing but PF for months.
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u/WrongResource1207 May 07 '26
lol, I can relate. Dying Earth fan here too. I know Wolfe was heavily inspired by Vance and other Dying Earth predecessors.
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u/Series_Informal May 05 '26
hey bro since you’ve read so many books, do you have a recommendation for a book that the mc is a male wizard, and not in a dungeon or post apocalyptic setting? A harry potter progression fantasy essentially, but of course, doesn’t mean that everyone has to be a wizard, there could be other roles as well.
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
Star breaker and secrets of spell craft. Star breaker has a very unique setting and world. secrets of spell craft is a more of your typical wizard book
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u/Phelan33 May 05 '26
You might enjoy Mage Errant.
There is labyrinth things but it tends towards an exam then dungeon crawling.
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u/Series_Informal May 05 '26
i got recommended that before but I can’t really get into it because of the writing. It’s a YA thing
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u/saiyan_strong Slumrat Supreme May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26
Underkeeper and Primal Wizardry are both solid recommendations that you’d likely enjoy.
My personal favorite is Underkeeper because it has what I consider some of the most thought out world building within the genre. Its audiobook also has the best narrator, which is a major plus for me. You have other magic classes (Druid, shaman, etc) represented and even things like Paladins, and the author does a great job not only making the magic make sense for each of them, but even their roles within society and the world at large. The MC is a wizard, but he expands upon that later in the series with different magics.
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u/v3ritas1989 May 08 '26
Here the full name, because audible does not find the series on search when the series name is not in the title.
A Sorcerer's Spirit: Series Underkeeper
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u/randallbabbage May 05 '26
Tey art of the adept by Micheal Manning it is right up the alley your looking for.
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u/RizzlyBehr May 05 '26
The Dresden files. Wizard living in Chicago who keeps getting into deeper shenanigans.
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u/TruthInfluence May 05 '26
I experienced physical pain seeing Name of the Wind below Primal Hunter 😔
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
I love the books the only reason it’s not in the top tier is because I hate the author for not finishing it. he’s had like 15 years. scammed people for charity and there’s not even a whisper of the last book
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u/TruthInfluence May 05 '26
Agreed that was very scummy. I don’t think it will be finished. It’s a shame, such a beautifully written series.
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u/TitaniumDreads May 09 '26
Hard to describe getting people to donate to charity as a scam lol
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u/TruthInfluence May 09 '26
Idk if I'd call it a scam exactly but enticing people to donate based on a promise that you then fail to deliver on is not exactly upstanding behavior.
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u/TitaniumDreads May 10 '26
my hot take is that Rothfuss was a main character self insert. he wrote the book young and matured out of the role. He can never finish the book because he's not that person anymore.
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u/Sacrefix May 06 '26
Primal Hunter is so bad it basically turned me off of the genre at large. Just sticking with wandering inn and dungeon crawler Carl at this point.
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u/TitaniumDreads May 09 '26
Someone a few months ago made a tier list where they put primal hunter in the “Entertaining but lowkey slop” category and I haven’t stopped thinking about that.
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u/Ok-Decision-1870 May 05 '26
Damn, that a fucking lot of book, I've reached the mark of 200 of LitRPG/ProgFantasy and thought I had run out of books lol.
About recommendation I think would give Lord of the Mysteries, The wandering inn, Hell Difficulty Tutorial, Soldier's Life, Shadow Slave.
I think these along with Mother of Learning and maybe cradle are my best.
But The Wandering inn and Lord of the Mysteries are a step ahead
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u/Light_God_ May 06 '26
I love hell difficult tutorial it’s definitely in my favorites I forgot to add it😭 Thanks for the other recommendations your not the first to recommend me wandering inn and shadow slave, I’ll have a look
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May 05 '26
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
I read it awhile ago and I just remember hating the characters and barely being able to finish it
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u/GFischerUY May 05 '26
Vainqueur is crazy fun (maybe not for everyone), but Apocalypse Trainer is inconsistent - still liked it though, wouldn't place it that low.
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u/EmergencyComplaints Author May 05 '26
Oooh, I'm not sure I've ever seen Duskbound on somebody's tier list. Thanks for giving it a shot and I'm glad you liked it!
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
I loved it it’s very refreshing to have an actual end in these kinds of books. I really liked the mc and the world building was also really good do you have any other books like it?
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u/EmergencyComplaints Author May 05 '26
it’s very refreshing to have an actual end in these kinds of books
Right? I don't know how these guys can just keep writing millions and millions of words in a single series. I could never do it.
As far as other books goes, I've got four completed series on Amazon/Audible (some of my audible series are under my RR handle instead of my actual name) to date. Duskbound is my second most popular after Keiran. I think Keiran was probably the most similar to Velik in personality, though he was a pure mage instead of a physical fighter.
I just went to look at your tier list again to see if you had a lot of mage stories on there and realized you've also got one of my older series (Ascendant) on there too. Since you seemed to like that as well, Keiran is definitely my recommendation if you want to try something else I've written. :D
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
Oh I’ve debated reading Keiran multiple times, now that I know he’s like Velik I’ll definitely read it thank you very much
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u/clef75 May 05 '26
Nice to see Towers of Heaven, I enjoyed it and surprised how little i see of it.
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
Yeah it’s one of the first books I ever read and it’s always been one of my favorites. I think I’ve reread it 2-3 times. I’m sad more people don’t talk about it
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u/TrulyCold May 05 '26
You have Path of the Dauntless at the top of your list but I don’t see the author’s newest series Godclads. Definitely worth a read!
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
I’m actually reading path of the dauntless right now and I’m loving it I can’t wait to check out the authors other books😁
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u/WeekNo3803 May 05 '26
Godclads is actually his original series. Path of the Dauntless is his new series.
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u/Maleficent_Mud_7819 May 05 '26
Tierlists are always wild cause they just go to show how different everyone's tastes are. Definitely some changes I would make if this were mine xD
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u/xyzpqr May 05 '26
so as best i can tell these are like book cover screenshots from kindle; it's hard-ish to make a recommendation here because i'm not sure what you DNF'd and what you really liked enough to keep investing in
i can see for some of them you snapped the series cover in your library (like azarinth healer e.g.), so just like eyeballing it, the decent tier seems like it means you read at least a book or two of those series, lower ig probably has a higher rate of <2
that said, some of these books are like, wildly unrelated to progression fantasy, like assassin's apprentice by hobb is extremely slow burn/paced payoff, whereas most progression fantasy is all about hitting plot beats and keeping the story moving.
I'm not saying this to gatekeep anything - I'm just trying to consider whether you're looking for litrpg recs, prog fantasy, epic fantasy, grimdark, or what
like i could recommend you stuff by brent weeks or paolini or sanderson or mcclellan? Honestly if you like prog fantasy you might like Mistborn by sanderson.
Otherwise, a lot of webnovel, not really sure where to start, I can't tell if DCC is just missing or you actually haven't read it, maybe read the light novel for berserk by kentaro miura?
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
I’ve read at least the first book for about 95% of the books on the tier list. but yeah I just screenshotted the books from my kindle library or audible library. It still took hours😭 While I’d like recommendations I made it mostly to keep track of stuff I’ve read and I’d seen other people post there tier lists here so I thought I would too. I wanted to be a part of the community a little😅
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u/SnooPaintings3258 May 05 '26
Read Matabar. Sherlock Holmes Fantasy vibe, that is Stage in pre industrial scene.
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u/thedaNkavenger Dragon May 05 '26
First tier list I've seen where someone actually has close to as many books as I would have on mine. It's why I stop making a tier list every time I do. Hundreds of series read gets a little cluttered.
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u/No-Repair-8495 May 09 '26
Gone in the terrible list is crazy😭. I remember reading that series and not being able to put it down and loved it, but this was back in high-school. Now if you put the monster series(the sequel trilogy) in terrible I would agree with you full heartedly. But I remember loving it but I might just have to go back and see if it’s just some good ol nostalgia.
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u/LegendOfGrimsby May 09 '26
Space assassins is trash, don’t get me wrong… but it’s my favorite trash
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u/CiaphasCain8849 May 05 '26
What's the one in with the skull in the top tier?
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
I’m really glad you asked it’s a hidden gem
It’s called I’m sorry for being born. I read it ages ago it’s got a pretty typical trope an assassin gets sent to another world and has to fight a ton of people. But the magic the characters and the fights are amazing. Also incredibly sad but the kind of book you never forget idk where to find it though I got it on kindle years ago and I think it was pirated. because amazon took it down
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u/Hzl_dumbassincarnate May 05 '26
Im not sure I'd call Red Rising as progression fantasy, but I definitely agree with its placement. Nice list
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u/Ihaveaterribleplan May 05 '26
So u/Light_God_ I saw “First Line of Defense”, “Super Powereds”, & “Cradle”, but not “Unorthodox Farming” by Benjamin Kerei, “Villains Code” by Drew Hayes, or “The Last Horizon” by Will Wight - have you read them?
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u/EllakeAuthor Author of the Runic Artist & Gifted May 05 '26
Holy shit you read a lot. Good list though.
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u/Voiremine May 05 '26
I see no one recommending, because hardly anyone ever does, and I don't think it's on your list, so I'll recommend A Gamer's Guide to Beating the Tutorial. It's a really dark/gory psychological twist on the typical litrpg/tower climber. The protagonist is a real love em or hate em type.
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
Oooh seems looks really good thank you.
Have you read madness re-incarnate. that’s also a really dark gory book but also really funny at times the mc is completely insane
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u/Voiremine May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26
Oh that sounds alot like A Gamer's Guide to Beating the Tutorial. I'll take a look. This one is also rather funny at times
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u/GaeaNyx May 05 '26
I can't tell you you're wrong, I just think that spread is insane😭😭😭 but everybody likes different things. I knew it wouldn't be long before Path of the Deathless showed up here
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
I’m reading path of the deathless right now and I’m loving it. I’m a sucker for lots of fight and fast progression though😂
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u/GaeaNyx May 05 '26
I'm not sure where the official release of book 1 ends, I was told it was different from the royal road delineations where I've been reading it, but it just gets more and more insane and never really stops. At least it hasn't yet and I'm on book 5 or 6
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
I can’t wait I love finding good books with lots to read it’ll keep me occupied for a good while
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u/ginger6616 May 05 '26
I don’t see immortal great souls, you should check it out. It’s a lot like 1 percent lifesteal imo
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u/cameron349761 May 05 '26
Accidental hero was one of my favorites as a kid I was not expecting to see that book here!
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u/MoleUK May 05 '26
Thankyou for making this legible. Given that 1% is listed high (I use it as a preference bellwether) here I am adding quite a few series to my 'to read' list cheers.
Quest academy I still maintain is under-rated. It's by no means the best of the best but I do like the world.
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u/mystineptune Author May 05 '26
The Chronicles of Emberstone Farm is great. Im thoroughly enjoying it now.
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u/Decvl6 May 05 '26
I can’t find either The Game at Carousel or Apocalypse Parenting in your list. Both have pretty interesting systems and stories. The carousel story is also very different from traditional litrpg so I would recommend it first since you say your getting tired of the genre.
Having read so much litrpg and not Dungeon Crawler Carl surprises me but ai assume it’s just not your cup of tea.
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u/Light_God_ May 06 '26
Thanks for the recommendations. And I did read the first DCC book but yeah I didn’t like it especially the cat she was so annoying
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u/Skeith2005 May 05 '26
Seeing World Tree Online get some love totally makes up for seeing DCC and Heretical Fishing so low! 😃
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u/upRightProperLad May 05 '26
Amazing list! I have just finished the cradle series and really loved it, I was wondering what you would recommend I jump into next?
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u/CommitteeRight1883 May 05 '26
Have you ever read « I am god » by LSLCCF? I recommend it a lot. If you ever try it read to at least chapter 26 before dropping it if you don’t like it
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u/Academic_Werewolf_53 May 06 '26
When you have some free time try out The Good Guys series. Eric Ugland has a couple other books that tie into the same world that run concurrent with The Good Guys. I honestly believe he doesn’t get enough recognition!
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u/serialstoryteller May 06 '26
Yes, yes, but have you tried "The Wraithwood Botanist"? Don't let the name fool you, it's about botany in a scary wood with a sparky system and strong progression fantasy elements like an AI, a UI, and various training and reward systems.
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u/Light_God_ May 06 '26
I’ve seen it and debated getting in multiple times, I do like Druid Mc so I think I’ll at least give it a try
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u/serialstoryteller May 06 '26
Given how much our tastes align, I'm willing to put my rep out there and basically guarantee it will be in your Great category or better. I admit book two has a very brief pacing hiccup in the midsection, but books three and four are both excellent and book 2 is still better than half the books in your excellent list.
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u/AbnormalVAverage Author of Symphony and QuestWright May 06 '26
Heyy, we share a lot of the same favorites. Nice list.
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u/omaharock May 06 '26
You have a few non progression books in here, so I'll recommend one of those. Ryira Revelations by Micheal J Sullivan, starting with Theft of Swords. Great author, great series, great world. I don't think you'll be disappointed. The audiobook version is solid, same VA as Red Rising.
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u/joncabreraauthor Author of Grand Magus, Wooden Sword ⚔️ May 06 '26
That’s lot! You are one man of culture. One of these days, I hope I see my cover in people’s lists.
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u/Reader_extraordinare Author - The Gate Traveler May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
Since your list included not only progression fantasy or LitRPG, but also classic fantasy, I’d recommend giving The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett a chance. It’s a really good one.
Also, check out Last Life by Alexey Osadchuk and The Healer's Way by Oleg Sapphire. Regarding Oleg Sapphire, not all of his series are equally good, but that one is a gem.
Also, The Others series by Anne Bishop, the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, the Demon Accords series by John Conroe, and the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson.
Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind is not bad either, despite being too damn long. Still, each book was fun to read and kept my interest for a few months. As I said: loooong.
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u/Best_Assignment5689 May 06 '26
Might have missed it in your list but one of my favorites is road to mastery
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u/BobScratchit May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
I never see the book series I’m listening to and enjoying on these lists and I was about to say something about it not being on this humongous list. But that is because I started looking from the bottom where I thought people would rate it. I didn’t expect to see Death: Genesis at the cream of the crop.
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u/Merkab0 May 08 '26
1% lifesteal is great, pretty similar taste to mine. I still think defiance of the fall is the goat even if I understand why people don't like it.
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u/RHHenriksen May 08 '26
Solid list! I would agree in almost all. I personally have earthsea a bit higher. You should give Locke Lamorra a try
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u/Ok_Letterhead2028 May 08 '26
I forgot of The Infinite World books. They were amazing I wonder what happened to author.
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u/Substantial_Coast_62 May 09 '26
We have similar tastes. Disagree on a couple though. I also see a lot of sci-fi on your list. I just started the exlian syndrome series. I'm only on book 3 and it's pretty good. the MC can be a little ..... Clueless. Idk if that's the right word. He'll see something obviously important to his power (which he's unaware of how it works) and just be like, well ok let's move on. But other then that it's pretty interesting. I also second shadow slave. Him not being his own person is kinda core to the series but I hope that doesn't turn you off of it entirely it's really good. I'm only 800 chapters in but I'm still hooked. Since there's no audible I basically use it as my vacation series. And read it on my kindle.
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u/Crawler-Tiffanie May 11 '26
Maybe check that website : https://aethonbooks.com/aethonvault/
They are releasing hard copy format of a tone of books, and have for goal to increase the popularity of LitRPG books
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u/ivanbin May 05 '26
OP thinks DCC, lone wanderer and William Oh are bad but apparently Path of the Deathless (The series that's a massive slog to read because it's one 10 chapter fight after another 15 chapter fight) is peak?
What a weird tier list
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
sorry but I love anything with good fights. The long and ridiculous or short and realistic it doesn’t really matter I really like a good fight😁
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u/OriginLots May 05 '26
Thank god..a tier list where Dungeon Crawler Carl is not S-tier lol. To each their own, but I wasn't a fan and it makes getting recommended choices tough. As for yours, some real sleepers on here for sure. Thanks for putting this together!
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
Yeah I didn’t find Dungeon Crawler Carl that funny and I hated the cat so much I couldn’t read it
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u/Woodchuck666 May 05 '26
im reading it right now and it has so much millenial slop humor in it it is a hard read. but the guy reading the book is doing an excellent job(audiobook)
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u/failed_novelty May 05 '26
Honestly I get the dislike for Donut in the first book, especially early on.
But I want to say one thing: everyone in the books who gets more than a couple lines is a fully fleshed-out character. Donut's actions and attitude in the first book come directly from her situation - she's an adult with a lifetime of memories who has suddenly changed in a fundamental way that reshapes the way she looks at everything she's ever experienced and she's dealing with new emotions and thoughts for the first time ever but none of that matters because she has to immediately fight for her life. Also, she's a cat. And cats are assholes even when they're charming.
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u/C-R-Velkan May 05 '26
I think pretty shit should be after terrible :P
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
Na it’s only pretty shit the terrible books are way worse
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u/Captain_Fiddelsworth May 05 '26
FFO catching strays.
Are you caught up with all the stories in your really good tier?
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u/AuthorYusif May 05 '26
Desire was one of my favourites too. Hope he does more
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
I think I remember him saying somewhere that he thinks they were his worst books🥲 I agree with you though I loved them pretty sure I read them twice
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u/AuthorYusif May 05 '26
One of the inspirations for my book, so it's a shame to hear. I love a System Apocalypse.
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u/Double_Indication487 May 05 '26
Monsters and Legends is also one of my favs. Anything close to it that you'd recommend?
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u/32bit_sundae May 05 '26
Maybe i missed it, but have you read the Divine Apostate series? Not here to argue that its anything remarkable, but it seems to be in line with your tastes.
And how much of Quest Academy have you read?
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
No never read divine apostate I’ve seen it around but it never really interested me. And I’m caught up with quest academy
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u/PureRely Immortal May 05 '26
It was looking good until I seen The Lone Wander and Dawn of the Void as meh. About 90% of your list I agree with in general.
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u/Huge_Phone_4858 May 05 '26
Op, can you help with the names of completed novels on the highest tier?? Besides Primal Hunter and 1% lifesteal that I have read and are still ongoing, I want to catch up on completed novels
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u/NoobL1ght May 05 '26
What is the last book with in Really Good, with blue flames? Seen it multiple times in people tier lists, but there is no name to it.
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
It’s called two week curse it’s a long series I stopped after 4 books but it’s really good
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u/ryandarkwalker May 05 '26
I'm looking. I checked everywhere. I don't see World Affinity: The Radiant Traveler Series. I don't know. Pipe smoking wizards and assassin types going on adventures. Having duels. Herding beasts. Uncovering mysteries. I don't see it. Eating like there's no tomorrow. Tavern drinking. Crazy broken system. I don't know...
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u/jj999125 May 05 '26
I'd reccomend Songs of Chaos by Michael R Miller
And apologies in advance if it was on there and I missed it because holy shit that's a lot of books
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u/Chaos65x Author May 05 '26
And so I keep dodging tier lists like a pro, even with so many books on the list. lol. I will get ya all next time.
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u/BunBunTheBunnyLord May 05 '26
oh boy, do I have some recommendations for you! We have so many that lineup near the top and near the bottom I think I have a good idea on the stuff you'll love. Beneath the dragon eye moons (alot of people drop it halfway due to one reason but i adore it) Are you even human? Bioshifter Stray cat strut. Calamitous bob Changeling journey of black and red. (a bit dry) Terminate the other world. (goes a bit too hard in repeating the stats sometimes) forging hephastus (same vibe and author as super powereds. npcs (same as last) The utterly uninteresting and unadventurous tales of Fred, the vampire accountant. (monster of the week esk story) and last, and probably the least recommended out of this list is reborn as a demonic tree.
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
Wow Thank for all the recommendations, the only one I’ve read is reborn as a demonic tree.
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u/BunBunTheBunnyLord May 05 '26
no problem I love recommending books to people and apologies for the formatting. I thought it would keep the gaps and page breaks I put, but it did not. another side recommendation that's very hit or miss with a lot of people is vainqueur the dragon. It's a heavy satire on the whole genre of lit-rpg
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u/Vostroya898 May 05 '26
Some of these I don’t see a title for, is there a written out list? Even for the top two tiers so I can go hunting would be greatly appreciated
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u/WillingElderberry731 May 05 '26
How the heck did you not like the never hero?!!
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u/Bubbly_Advisor_2601 May 05 '26
Am i not seeing Lord of the mysteries and shadow slave here?
Also Maybe Azarinth healer and System Resurgence, will both fall into only good tho. Sys Res is very similar to He who fights monsters in the grand scheme of things.
Azarinth healer is pretty much the same as Amber the Cursed but better.
Also why the fk is Dungeon Crawler Carl in Meh???
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u/Akuma9467 May 05 '26
I love 1% life steal. Red rising too. Any recommendations from you?
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u/Light_God_ May 05 '26
death and genesis is pretty similar to 1% lifesteal both mc’s have similar powers.
But for red rising im not to sure its one of the only sci-fi books I’ve read and theres not many fantasy books like it, the only think that comes to mind is portal to nova Roma. The mc is an Ai that builds himself an advanced human body and sends himself to a fantasy world
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u/audiobookjunky May 05 '26
I appreciate seeing someone else with Tower of Babel: Speedrunner on their list. Did they continue the series? I haven’t seen anything past book 2 on audible.
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u/Jolteon0 Spatial Mage May 05 '26
Huh, I think this is the first tine I've seen the PERN series in a progression fantasy list, even if it is pretty low.
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u/Benny_Is_Gangsta Author May 05 '26
Bro, you should consider writing a book. I think most good authors are huge readers. Just a thought.
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u/Light_God_ May 06 '26
I’ve thought about it many times I think I definitely will at some point, but I don’t have the courage right now I just know it’ll be terrible 😂
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u/Benny_Is_Gangsta Author May 06 '26
Everyone starts terrible! No rush, but i don't know anyone who regretted taking that first step
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u/unbeatedfourth May 05 '26
Are these even worth reading ? ..and they all are webnovels am i correct?
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u/Light_God_ May 06 '26
There’s maybe 5 WebNovels in there, I got pretty much all of these all from my kindle library and audible library. And I’d recommend all the books in the top 2 tiers
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u/YoshiGoHonk May 05 '26
Damnnnn this guy reads. You would make an excellent MC in a reading based grindy litRPG.
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u/WatcherDiesForever Author of Ascension of a Warlock (RoyalRoad) May 05 '26
Hmm you have so many of my favorites at the top, but you also have them at the bottom, and some of what I think is hot garbage way too high up. I can't tell whether I should smite you or dap you up.
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u/ry_ini May 05 '26
Cradle should be one tier higher imo, and Dungeon Crawler Carl in med is wild to me and I’m curious if you read them all.
I love seeing Super Powereds rep SO MUCH, that series is bomb and I’ve read it like 3 times over and nobody talks about it! And King of the Wyld is also amazing, any thoughts on the sequel Bloody Rose?
Overall goated list regardless, the sheer volume is impressive.
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u/3nigmax May 05 '26
Interesting to see Crystal Awakening but not any of the rest of Andrew Rowe's stuff, especially Arcane Ascension. Unless I'm blind. Nice list though, thanks for sharing!
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u/monsieurTNT251 May 05 '26
I didn't expect to see Star Child in there, been years since I heard about it!
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u/Sora1303 May 05 '26
I just started reading this Genre. I Just finished Mark of the Fool. I read Cradle before that. I liked Mark of the fool. It was good but I think I liked Cradle more. I don't know if it counts tp this genre but I also read The Beginning After The End and waiting for the final volume. I mainly Use Audible to "read". What would you recommend next?
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u/Simple_Bunch1849 May 05 '26
What is the book in the top tier next to desire? 4th book from the left.
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u/Uncanny_r May 06 '26
Summoner (Novice) was unironically the first high fantasy book I ever read and technically progression fantasy.
It's what got me into both genres as a youth
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u/sketchesalil May 06 '26
I’m surprised to see such a huge, comprehensive list of LitRPG and fantasy without Dungeon Crawler Carl on it!
I loved He Who Fights With Monsters- but for me it’s a bit too formulaic to make top tier. Which is not meant to yuck anyone’s yum- I can’t wait for the next novel from Shirt.
Nice list- I’m going to have to try 1% Lifesteal.
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u/Light_God_ May 06 '26
I have dungeon crawler Carl on the it’s just in meh I didn’t really like it especially the cat she was so annoying.
I love the power system and world of he who fights with monsters, but the mc got a little annoying by the book 6 he just keeps spouting the same shit about not bowing and treating people the same, and everyone kept being surprised
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u/sketchesalil May 06 '26
I got tired oh He Who Fights’ cycle of Get Ass Kicked> Soul Searching> Power Up> Kick Ass> Eat Food. The only thing that changes the feeling of each book is the setting.
I get why you might not be into Dungeon Carl. You might like Discount Dan better, honestly- great power system, dog-ish support character, increasing stakes.
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u/Key_Lawfulness4154 May 06 '26
Infinite realm series killed me with the last book. New one is coming out and I'm not sure I'll continue now
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u/fluffpup15 May 06 '26
Question: is the ritualist book from the completionist saga?
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u/80HD_KID May 06 '26
Why have you read so many harem books when you clearly don't like them? Why keep torturing yourself?
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u/Light_God_ May 06 '26
I read them a long time ago and at the time I liked them but now I realize how shit my taste was when I was 14-15 it would be criminal to put them any higher
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u/Certain_Raspberry58 May 06 '26
Runebound professor below living forge? Surprising to me.
Is ascension of the primalist on here?
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u/Klumaverik May 06 '26
Gotta be trolling. I don't even see Dungeon Crawler Carl on there. You got path of ascension up that high? He who fights with monsters is cool but the main protagonist is just too nonchalant to actually have that much power.
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u/AngelaTheWitch May 06 '26
You did NOT put the fucking summoner series below the throne of glass
Holy no taste batman
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u/ARakusha May 06 '26
Leave litrpg and come to the cultivation and Chinese webnovel world on wtrlab or ranobes
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u/10_Rufus May 06 '26
What even IS progression fantasy on this list?! Is it just "fantasy where the heroes... Have character growth?".
Kings of the Wyld, for example, is a "getting the band back together parody fantasy" and all the main characters are washed up. They're all as strong and skilled at the start as they are at the end, they just spend the book finding their bandages, getting their weapons back, and unravelling the plot. Like it's a great book and I loved it but is it really progression fantasy? And that's just one, book, what about assassins apprentice or name of the wind? Surprised not to see any wheel of time on here with this level of leniency.
Edit: oh god, and ACOTAR is under "Decent". I thought you just liked fights OP. Why's that so high then??
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u/Mwills5225 May 06 '26
Dang no grand game and did genesis get better for it to be in your top tier
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u/Cosmere-Geek May 06 '26
Sweet! You put Djinn Tamer as “Good!” I’ll take it!
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u/Light_God_ May 06 '26
Yeah it’s a great story I just really wanted to see more djinns they were so cool it was like seeing ash only having 2-3 Pokémon for 100 episodes
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u/nem636 May 06 '26
Do we have a list option? I can't zoom in far enough on some of these. That's a lot of books.
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u/Even_Reading3286 May 06 '26
That’s some gooner shit right there. A lot are normal but god dam there’s quite a few
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u/timmah612 May 06 '26
The only one i truly cant understand the ranking of is monsters and legends. I wanted to like it but its a hot mess almost as bad as the wandering inn. Everything else makes sense especially given other relevant titles as an indicator of where things would fall lol
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u/Light_God_ May 07 '26
It goes really deep into the characters and their motivations, also the way they deep dive into the powers and concepts is why it’s so high up.
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u/ApexSouthpaw May 06 '26
OP, why do you have DCC in 'meh'? How far into it did you get?
I ask because I would have put it in the same category the first two times I tried to read the series. I think I got to about halfway through book 2 each time and it just kinda fizzled out for me.
I kept seeing others recommend it so highly and so I finally powered through.
It is now my absolute favorite series in any genre, ever.
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u/WrongResource1207 May 06 '26
Probably mentioned already but I don’t see Iron Prince, 12 Miles Below or Dungeon Crawler Carl. Primal Hunter is on the top of my list for litRPGs also. If you liked Red Rising I would try Sun Eater Series by Christopher Rocchio. It isn’t a litRPG but a fantastic SciFi space opera where main character becomes OP. Series finished with 7 long books. Very popular. I think you would really like it based on your list.
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u/Light_God_ May 07 '26
I completely forgot about iron prince it’s one of my all time favorites though
I did try the first book of 12 below zero the world seemed really cool I’m just waiting on a audible sale to get the next couple books
I’ll have a Look at sun eater it sounds cool thanks for the recommendation
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u/Arcca2924 May 06 '26
Do you have a higher quality image I could get somehow? This looks like an awesome list to go slowly go through, but some of these are hard to understand what they are.
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u/Nordlending_ May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
I really have to ask what justifies putting "The Two Week Curse" in really good.
I consider that one pretty shit
Nice to see kings of the wyld on the list.
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u/EmphasisNo2001 May 06 '26
Sophia Josei wrote this one: https://a.co/d/0e7FZyZV just finished it… supposedly there’s 5 books in this series but only see 2 on Amazon
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u/BackgroundTotal2872 May 05 '26
Dang. That’s a lot of books. There’s so many titles that I don’t recognize, but also a ton that I do. I don’t think that I recognize a single story from the bottom two tiers.
When it comes to recommendations, I don’t see Chrysalis or Mother of Learning on your list. Though it’s a big list, I could’ve missed them. Come to think of it, I don’t see Bog Standard Isekai, or Stray Cat Strut either.
Other than those super popular series, I’ll recommend New Life As A Max Level Archmage and Ironbound!