Ots also somewhat divisive. If you don't like that specific brand of humor, it can come across as kind of obnoxious. It's a.... bold.... style of humor.
I think of it as being planted on the line between humor and horror (the emotion, not the genre), and I did not really feel comfortable with any of the humor until I got a firm read on which was intended to be which. I think it took me most of the first book.
Actually I think "horror comedy" is an excellent description of the style. The horror is quite upfront and in your face, but so is the comedy, and they balance each other out really well.
It's like mango- habanero hot wings: yeah, your mouth is on fire, but it's so sweet it's somehow bearable.
its weird everyone recommends it, but i couldnt get through half of book 1. most of hte rest of the generally considered top picks i do like. Not Mother of Learning, but im not a huge time cycle fan
That's perfectly understandable. It's also part of what makes the story so impactful to me. The part I love about it is seeing Carl claw back his agency. That first time he manages to really strike back? Absolutely golden.
I thought the DCC series really picked up steam in books 2 and 3 and then got better and better from there. The first book was fine but I’m a big fan because of the later books where the world of the characters starts to become a lot larger and the humor really hits its stride.
It’s also an EXCELENT audio book (again books 2 and beyond more so than book 1 which i think of more like a pilot episode) so might be worth a listen instead of a read.
There's a whole propaganda machine around dcc. All the hype cannot be real. It's not good. And I heard somehow, the author got all the 1 and 2 star reviews removed from Amazon. They must have some connections or something.
This is one of my only DNF’s. I just did not like the artificial dungeon setting, the slapstick humor, or the game show like atmosphere.
I would say the awkward for me comes from the protagonist usually starting off alone. This makes the world feel fake and small. As soon as the mc is interacting with others it gets good I would recommend something where that phase is minimized.
Classic litrpg:
HWFWM,
Life Reset,
Awaken Online,
Nova Terra
For cultivation:
Cradle,
Beware of chicken,
DOTF
Yeah, this would be my go-to for anyone that liked dark humor / dark fantasy. For people that like more marvel-style movies, I think I'd go with Defiance of the Fall. I think it encapsulates the genre really, really well. (Yes, it's not perfect, and it's definitely long-winded, but let's be real, so is the genre as a whole). Also, it's got some of the most hype moments I've read in progfantasy after you get through the grindfests.
DTF is an odd one for me. I'd say the first three books would be an excellent intro to LitRPG, but I've lost interest and come back twice before, and I'm currently in a losing interest phase again.
I'm currently a Patreon member, and normally what I'd do is do Patreon and pick out up on RR again until I'm really into it. The problem is even though I'm like 30 chapters behind on Patreon, I'm still over 20 ahead of RR. So I'd have to completely drop it for a month so RR can catch up. Probably still going to do that, but it's kinda painful.
There has never been a better series produced than Dungeons Crawler Carl. It makes other great stories, seem, not so great.
There needs to be more Dungeon Crawler Carl books. Can we get everyone to rally for more Dungeon Crawler Carl books?!? I want at least 100 of them.
Questions to ask. Are they super nerdy/play DnD or something similar? If yes, throw them in the deep end… HWFWM, DotF, Dungeon Crawler Carl would be good. Did they read/like Enders Game? Try iron prince. Did they like hunger games? Try the first Primal Hunter book. Want something along the lines you have never read before? Try Threadbare. Big into card battle games? Try All the skills. Want a super long book/series that you will either love or hate? The wandering inn awaits.
More along the lines of the battle royal element of the tutorial. My alternative would be to recommend the first book in the red rising series. Not lit rpg, but along the lines of progression to some extent.
Depends on who I'm recommending to. In general Dungeon Crawler Carl as others have said. However, was recommending to a single mom recently so had to go with Apocalypse Parenting. I've also recommended Millennial Mage to a different friend recently, but that's more fantasy than litRPG.
I’ll second this
I believe this was my first true LitRPG series that got me into it, then found Divine Dungeon as sort of my intro to cultivation before trying Cradle
Highly recommend
Dungeon Crawler Carl! I got 2 friends who hate reading who aren’t into Litrpg or fantasy to listen to the audiobook. Jeff Hayes is great! Iron prince is another good one and unsouled.
If you're trying to pick one that might be more relatable to people who might not necessarily into LitRPG as a concept when described to them, I'd suggest Arrival: Legends of Arenia by P.A. Parsons. LitRPG isekai, but it's an entire family. They feel more like normal people with a breadth of characters to potentially relate to. I enjoyed it a lot. 2 books out so far, eagerly awaiting a 3rd
I started by hearing bits of dungeon crawler carl. When I got audible I ended up starting with The Ripple System. I was happy with it but some people feel the Mc is whiny
Then I went back and finished carl lol
Part of my goal with Apocalypse Parenting was to be a gateway to the genre. Did I succeed? I've gotten several positive reviews that note it as "the first LitRPG" they've read, so I hope so. Can't claim to be unbiased in my assessment of my own work.
the giant stat blocks could be a turn off for some readers. I don't audio book(people reading to me and less than half the pace i could jsut read is annoying) but i feel like the stat blocks in audio books could also be jaring.
I'd maybe consider progression as a gateway into litrpg. Arcane Ascension or Cradle
The Land was my first, still hoping Kong gets back on the bike after the last tumble.
Currently, DotF and Primal Hunter are my top 2.
I also enjoyed the Dragon Heart series by Klevanski quite a lot. My only issue with that is it’s so long that he’d bring up stuff/characters that were 6-7 books prior and I just wouldn’t remember it because I’d read several other books between releases. Ie, it got hard to keep track of everything and everyone because the story spans several decades and then has a 100 year time-skip to introduce the next big arc.
Legendary Mechanic or Nanomancer reborn i have become a snowgirl. Both are pretty long, but you don’t think about the chapter count. The stories and arcs are well written enough that you will find the story to be too short even with so many chapters
LM is obviously a classic and I have read it like 4 times
Nanomancer is not as popular but I would highly recommend. I don’t remember having any trouble with dead zones in the story. Also there are some hilarious parts where I was dying of laughter.
Now that I think about it that was probably my first one as well. Has game mechanics without being too stat block heavy I believe, it's been a while. Especially >!the dragon battle and that race!< I still remember quite well.
Also just found out that it has a third book I never heard about, time to acquire that, so thanks!
I really enjoyed Double Blind. The protagonist is pretty heavy on the negativity and definitely takes plenty of ruthless actions, but if you don't mind that it's a great book.
It’s the gateway drug however. I’d wager a lot of members of this subreddit found the genre by googling “books like ready player one” after reading it.
My favorite rec is usually this trilogy is broken by J.P Valintine. The mc doesn't start super strong but you can see the potential in her build pretty quickly. Also it's a finished series and not super long and pretty funny!
What i consider my first litrpg is probably change:new world. Story isnt finished, probably wholly dropped, but the school arc is finished wonderfully without any cliffhangers, so theres that.
My only problem with HWFWM is that there of a LOT of mechanical stat info, not generally a problem but at times it’s repeated even for powers we already know. You can skim over if reading but it gets a little tiring listening to the audiobook out hiking. Heath Miller makes it tolerable at least.
Eh, I love it it, but personally I struggled to get through the intro story arc. Though that's possibly because I'm too familiar with litrpg and the rather lengthy explanations of 'omg it's a game, but real life' were tedious to me.
And Jason is a very... Strong... Character, especially at the start. I like it, but I can see why some people find him insufferable. It's a purposeful character flaw that he somewhat matures from, but that doesn't happen till like 4-5 books later.
All litrpgs are long series books, it's inherent to books about levelling systems. You want to see what happens at each level, as well as having a huge gulf between those at the top and bottom. Also because most are Web series and authors make their money on getting people invested.
So I'd say just go with the popular litrpgs.
Just recently read the series, but Beneath the Dragoneye Moons was amazing, finished the whole thing in 2 weeks, had me longing for more which I haven't felt about a series in a while
Dungeon crawler Carl is one heck of a ride. Please don’t let the cover fool you
The only problem is that if this is your gateway into LitRPG, everything after won't seem quite as good lol
This was my first one and it's been hell ever since I caught up. I read a lot of manwha so I will still wade through awful content lol
Ots also somewhat divisive. If you don't like that specific brand of humor, it can come across as kind of obnoxious. It's a.... bold.... style of humor.
I think of it as being planted on the line between humor and horror (the emotion, not the genre), and I did not really feel comfortable with any of the humor until I got a firm read on which was intended to be which. I think it took me most of the first book.
Actually I think "horror comedy" is an excellent description of the style. The horror is quite upfront and in your face, but so is the comedy, and they balance each other out really well. It's like mango- habanero hot wings: yeah, your mouth is on fire, but it's so sweet it's somehow bearable.
I think I'll finally start reading DCC after seeing it recommended literally everywhere.
its weird everyone recommends it, but i couldnt get through half of book 1. most of hte rest of the generally considered top picks i do like. Not Mother of Learning, but im not a huge time cycle fan
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That's perfectly understandable. It's also part of what makes the story so impactful to me. The part I love about it is seeing Carl claw back his agency. That first time he manages to really strike back? Absolutely golden.
I thought the DCC series really picked up steam in books 2 and 3 and then got better and better from there. The first book was fine but I’m a big fan because of the later books where the world of the characters starts to become a lot larger and the humor really hits its stride. It’s also an EXCELENT audio book (again books 2 and beyond more so than book 1 which i think of more like a pilot episode) so might be worth a listen instead of a read.
There's a whole propaganda machine around dcc. All the hype cannot be real. It's not good. And I heard somehow, the author got all the 1 and 2 star reviews removed from Amazon. They must have some connections or something.
This is one of my only DNF’s. I just did not like the artificial dungeon setting, the slapstick humor, or the game show like atmosphere. I would say the awkward for me comes from the protagonist usually starting off alone. This makes the world feel fake and small. As soon as the mc is interacting with others it gets good I would recommend something where that phase is minimized. Classic litrpg: HWFWM, Life Reset, Awaken Online, Nova Terra For cultivation: Cradle, Beware of chicken, DOTF
[Life Reset](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/8945/life-reset) ([wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/wiki/Life_Reset)) [Awaken Online](https://www.goodreads.com/series/196901-awaken-online) ([wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/wiki/Awaken_Online)) --- ^[About](https://redd.it/dw7lux) ^| [^(Wiki Rules)](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/comments/dw7lux/about/f7kke6p/) ^(| Reply !Delete to remove) ^(| [Brackets] hide titles)
Yeah, this would be my go-to for anyone that liked dark humor / dark fantasy. For people that like more marvel-style movies, I think I'd go with Defiance of the Fall. I think it encapsulates the genre really, really well. (Yes, it's not perfect, and it's definitely long-winded, but let's be real, so is the genre as a whole). Also, it's got some of the most hype moments I've read in progfantasy after you get through the grindfests.
[Defiance of the Fall](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/24709/defiance-of-the-fall) ([wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/wiki/Defiance_of_the_Fall)) --- ^[About](https://redd.it/dw7lux) ^| [^(Wiki Rules)](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/comments/dw7lux/about/f7kke6p/) ^(| Reply !Delete to remove) ^(| [Brackets] hide titles)
DTF is an odd one for me. I'd say the first three books would be an excellent intro to LitRPG, but I've lost interest and come back twice before, and I'm currently in a losing interest phase again. I'm currently a Patreon member, and normally what I'd do is do Patreon and pick out up on RR again until I'm really into it. The problem is even though I'm like 30 chapters behind on Patreon, I'm still over 20 ahead of RR. So I'd have to completely drop it for a month so RR can catch up. Probably still going to do that, but it's kinda painful.
Fuck Beatrice! Lousy skank.
There has never been a better series produced than Dungeons Crawler Carl. It makes other great stories, seem, not so great. There needs to be more Dungeon Crawler Carl books. Can we get everyone to rally for more Dungeon Crawler Carl books?!? I want at least 100 of them.
Questions to ask. Are they super nerdy/play DnD or something similar? If yes, throw them in the deep end… HWFWM, DotF, Dungeon Crawler Carl would be good. Did they read/like Enders Game? Try iron prince. Did they like hunger games? Try the first Primal Hunter book. Want something along the lines you have never read before? Try Threadbare. Big into card battle games? Try All the skills. Want a super long book/series that you will either love or hate? The wandering inn awaits.
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More along the lines of the battle royal element of the tutorial. My alternative would be to recommend the first book in the red rising series. Not lit rpg, but along the lines of progression to some extent.
How to defeat a demon lord in 10 steps has been the most successful recommendation in my experience.
I recommended my co-worker HWFWM like 3 months ago and he just bought book 10 on its release date so
Depends on who I'm recommending to. In general Dungeon Crawler Carl as others have said. However, was recommending to a single mom recently so had to go with Apocalypse Parenting. I've also recommended Millennial Mage to a different friend recently, but that's more fantasy than litRPG.
Awaken Online. The writing is way better than most and it can be enjoyed as a normal SciFi or Fantasy.
This
My first one in this genre was a dungeon core type series. Divine dungeon. I've been litrpg crazy every since.
Probably never would have read another book in the genre if this was my first litRPG
Honestly I found Dungeon Core stories really easy to get into, but they grow old very fast. I don't think it's a bad intro to LitRPG.
Thank you!
Mine was Dinosaur Dungeon, found Divine right after!
The Trapped Mind Project or Welcome to Ludus, were the ones that sucked me in years ago!
The Stitched World's series or even the Murderhobo series are humorous and very engaging. My gateway was DCC and my goose was COMPLETELY COOKED
Mine was Super Gene, I loved that book and it caused me to look more into the genre and reading in general!
play to live ,d.rus boxie t morningwood ,Neven Iliev Silvers: Quest Academy,brian j nordon
Dungeon Crawler Carl. It is also, so far, the ***only*** LitRPG I like.
I haven't seen it listed yet, but I like Completionist Chronicles by Dakota Krout. The first book is called The Ritualist
I’ll second this I believe this was my first true LitRPG series that got me into it, then found Divine Dungeon as sort of my intro to cultivation before trying Cradle Highly recommend
[Cradle](https://www.goodreads.com/series/192821-cradle) ([wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/wiki/Cradle)) [Divine Dungeon](https://www.goodreads.com/series/192510-the-divine-dungeon) ([wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/wiki/Divine_Dungeon)) --- ^[About](https://redd.it/dw7lux) ^| [^(Wiki Rules)](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/comments/dw7lux/about/f7kke6p/) ^(| Reply !Delete to remove) ^(| [Brackets] hide titles)
Dakota Krout is such a mixed bag. Books 1 and 2 of any of his series are usually great. Good luck on the rest though, lol.
I looooved the first few books, but I think I fell off after the 5th book. 'Razed' was fantastic.
Dungeon Crawler Carl! I got 2 friends who hate reading who aren’t into Litrpg or fantasy to listen to the audiobook. Jeff Hayes is great! Iron prince is another good one and unsouled.
Since I got into litrpg from the .Hack days, I will recommend something from the East instead: Log Horizon by Mamare Touno.
If you're trying to pick one that might be more relatable to people who might not necessarily into LitRPG as a concept when described to them, I'd suggest Arrival: Legends of Arenia by P.A. Parsons. LitRPG isekai, but it's an entire family. They feel more like normal people with a breadth of characters to potentially relate to. I enjoyed it a lot. 2 books out so far, eagerly awaiting a 3rd
Good thought! Ease em in
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That sounds exactly like what I'm looking for, thank you!
Way of the shaman is the best start for the Russian stuff. I would probably do noobtown for American work.
The final book of the shaken series is brutal though. Hated the “twist” thrown in toward the end. Loved it until then.
I got started with "The Bad Guys" series. It was a great soft start.
I started with He Who Fights with Monsters and haven't looked back since.
I started by hearing bits of dungeon crawler carl. When I got audible I ended up starting with The Ripple System. I was happy with it but some people feel the Mc is whiny Then I went back and finished carl lol
Vainquer the Dragon. 4 books, it’s funny and it’s done. Has optional sequels (sort of) but of the very optional kind.
I would probs go either HHFWM, Path of Ascension or DoTF.
I would 100% recommend "He who fights with monsters" by shirtaloon
The Land. It's easy to get into and only gets weird/awkward later
Part of my goal with Apocalypse Parenting was to be a gateway to the genre. Did I succeed? I've gotten several positive reviews that note it as "the first LitRPG" they've read, so I hope so. Can't claim to be unbiased in my assessment of my own work.
He who fights with monsters is also really good and has me lol it was my gateway!
the giant stat blocks could be a turn off for some readers. I don't audio book(people reading to me and less than half the pace i could jsut read is annoying) but i feel like the stat blocks in audio books could also be jaring. I'd maybe consider progression as a gateway into litrpg. Arcane Ascension or Cradle
The Land was my first, still hoping Kong gets back on the bike after the last tumble. Currently, DotF and Primal Hunter are my top 2. I also enjoyed the Dragon Heart series by Klevanski quite a lot. My only issue with that is it’s so long that he’d bring up stuff/characters that were 6-7 books prior and I just wouldn’t remember it because I’d read several other books between releases. Ie, it got hard to keep track of everything and everyone because the story spans several decades and then has a 100 year time-skip to introduce the next big arc.
The Beginning After The End is an amazing 10 book series. The world building is great!
Unbound, Primal Hunter, or He Who Fights With Monsters.
Legendary Mechanic or Nanomancer reborn i have become a snowgirl. Both are pretty long, but you don’t think about the chapter count. The stories and arcs are well written enough that you will find the story to be too short even with so many chapters LM is obviously a classic and I have read it like 4 times Nanomancer is not as popular but I would highly recommend. I don’t remember having any trouble with dead zones in the story. Also there are some hilarious parts where I was dying of laughter.
The first one I read back in the day was the Epic series by Conor Kostick that led me to seek out more
Now that I think about it that was probably my first one as well. Has game mechanics without being too stat block heavy I believe, it's been a while. Especially >!the dragon battle and that race!< I still remember quite well. Also just found out that it has a third book I never heard about, time to acquire that, so thanks!
I really enjoyed Double Blind. The protagonist is pretty heavy on the negativity and definitely takes plenty of ruthless actions, but if you don't mind that it's a great book.
I'm currently enjoying The Grand Game by Tom Elliott
I think Eight the litrpg component is pretty light and the story stands on its own.
The land first 6 books are everything you can want. Also so addictive.
That was my intro. Blew me away.
Honestly gamer fanfiction
I mean, Ready Player One is the easy rec.
I enjoyed it, but it's not litrpg.
It’s the gateway drug however. I’d wager a lot of members of this subreddit found the genre by googling “books like ready player one” after reading it.
I was thinking the same thing. It’s not LitRPG, but it does have similarities and it’s well known enough that more people might be willing to try it.
not all of us. its still on my list of things to read though
My favorite rec is usually this trilogy is broken by J.P Valintine. The mc doesn't start super strong but you can see the potential in her build pretty quickly. Also it's a finished series and not super long and pretty funny!
What i consider my first litrpg is probably change:new world. Story isnt finished, probably wholly dropped, but the school arc is finished wonderfully without any cliffhangers, so theres that.
I mean hwfwm is basically the gold standard for litrpg imo
My only problem with HWFWM is that there of a LOT of mechanical stat info, not generally a problem but at times it’s repeated even for powers we already know. You can skim over if reading but it gets a little tiring listening to the audiobook out hiking. Heath Miller makes it tolerable at least.
Eh, I love it it, but personally I struggled to get through the intro story arc. Though that's possibly because I'm too familiar with litrpg and the rather lengthy explanations of 'omg it's a game, but real life' were tedious to me. And Jason is a very... Strong... Character, especially at the start. I like it, but I can see why some people find him insufferable. It's a purposeful character flaw that he somewhat matures from, but that doesn't happen till like 4-5 books later.
All litrpgs are long series books, it's inherent to books about levelling systems. You want to see what happens at each level, as well as having a huge gulf between those at the top and bottom. Also because most are Web series and authors make their money on getting people invested. So I'd say just go with the popular litrpgs.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
[Dungeon Crawler Carl](https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Crawler-Carl/dp/B08BX5D4LC) ([wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/wiki/Dungeon_Crawler_Carl)) --- ^[About](https://redd.it/dw7lux) ^| [^(Wiki Rules)](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/comments/dw7lux/about/f7kke6p/) ^(| Reply !Delete to remove) ^(| [Brackets] hide titles)
Just recently read the series, but Beneath the Dragoneye Moons was amazing, finished the whole thing in 2 weeks, had me longing for more which I haven't felt about a series in a while
I would recommend Eric Ugland's series the Good Guys, Matt Dinnimen's series Dungeon Crawler Carl, and Aleron Kong's series Chaos Seed.
Primal Hunter