An updated tier list now that my reading pile has grown a bit (though I've probably still forgotten a few books I’ve read).

If you have any recommendations after seeing my questionable taste, feel free to drop them in the comments ;)

You can also check out the full list on my website—it has little commentary notes on a bunch of the books, plus a tier list maker built in if you want to throw your own together:
https://cancreate.org/tierlist/

Just wanted to let my other 4 followers know that I got banned until 25/10/2026 for manipulation with multiple accounts. This happened because my wife and son made accounts and let reviews and comments on chapters. That wasn’t a masterplan attempt to manipulate the rankings, but I understand why the activity was flagged. I’ll admit that my meteoric rise to 23,424th place was way too suspicious tho.

Has anyone else had their family support them a little too enthusiastically and accidentally trigger the manipulation rules?

Whatever the time, whatever the tale, remember to stay fun.

Hey people. I've usually spent quite a bit of time going over multiple popular tierlists on reddit to find myself something to read/listen, which led me to the idea for a personal app. It turned out very well I feel like, so I decided to make it public. Note - it works fully locally, it already has all of the data it needs. Its also free, open-source and requires no login.

I mostly just listen to those series on Audible UK, so matching that was my priority, but it covers the landscape pretty well, so shouldnt be an issue!

Try it in the browser: https://feanaroo.github.io/loot-table/

Or download it (Windows / Mac / Linux): https://github.com/Feanaroo/loot-table/releases

How it works:

You fill your own tierlist of series you've listened to, and it recommends what to listen to next, giving you reasons for each pick.

There's also a community ranking of the top 100 series, built from all those lists together.

How it works from the technical perspective:

- Catalog: Audible UK, searched by genre keywords, totaling 3600 in the end

- Tierlists: posts from r/litrpg and r/ProgressionFantasy going back to 2015, keeping only tierlists and threads like "what is your top 10". AI then went over all of those, doing some work like extracting the tiers (people name them differently), reading the images and expanding abbreviations to match those to stored series later

- Tags: AI model went through all series and tagged them all, choosing from a fixed list of 54 tags in four groups: setting, story, lead and tone

The score

score = 0.5·Q + 2·(N − 0.5) + A + 2·(C − avg C) + 1.5·(P − avg P)

- Q, community quality: a Bradley-Terry model, the method behind chess ratings, fitted on every "X is in a higher tier than Y" pair. Only the order counts, not the tier names, since one person's S is another's A. Each list counts the same however long it is. Every series also gets 10 virtual games against an average series, so something ranked by only two people can't top the chart.

- N, readers like you: each Reddit list is compared with yours on the series you both ranked, by the share of pairs you order the same way. Lists that mostly agree become your "neighbours", weighted by agreement and overlap. N is where your neighbours put a series: 1 = their top tier, 0 = their bottom.

- A, affinity: +0.5 for the same author as something in your S/A tiers, +0.25 for the same narrator.

- C, same kind of story: tag overlap (cosine similarity), with rare tags like "time loop" counting more than common ones like "visible stats". It uses the best match among your S/A/B series, minus half the best match among your D/F ones.

- P, popularity: being in hundreds of lists and having tens of thousands of Audible ratings is a quality signal too. It's on a log scale, so 10 → 100 lists counts as much as 100 → 1,000.

Holy hell, man😭 when they said this story was good, they weren't lying. Give that man Tryon his seat in the heater hall of fame 😩.

When Tyron started bumbing his heart with his mana strings, I was cackling like a witch in the middle of Solstice celebration😂 I thought for a second i was seeing Reverse Flash's apprentice. I love how RinoZ ends all his books, ey man keep up the wonderful work , let me get my ass on to book five

I saw a post that talked about this obsessive and almost fanatical obsession that these writers have with coffee, and their insistence on making coffee this mindblowing discovery when their mc's introduce it into their new world.

I have never noticed this before, but after I read that post, everything changed, oh my goodness it was absolutely everywhere.

I'm not sure how I never clocked how many times the same trope was used in so many different works, but it happens so many times it's actually unbelievable, I honestly despise it now.

I started reading Heretical Fishing and this one is a very serious case of that, everyone in the village is a coffee fanatic and it's just so unbelievably tiresome to read.

I mean it ain't THAT bad, but like wow, it's actually everywhere and I still find that hard to believe, crazy shit.

I’ve just read gifted by Ellake on RR which is about someone of reincarnates into a new lift on a fantasy world but starts gaming the system from birth. I’ve also read Ajak’s ascension and singer sailor merchant mage which are along a similar vibe. I was looking for recommendations for other litrpg’s along a similar vain.

Hi everyone. My first book System Error: Normal Life Not Found is out on Kindle Unlimited and the audiobook comes out on Tuesday.

The story follows a regular guy named Alan Fredrickson, whose life gets upgraded from spreadsheets and office emails to magic, monsters, quests, and a fantasy world where he's too lazy to read the FAQ.

It’s funny, chaotic, action-packed, and full of strange characters, ridiculous situations, and plenty of “what the hell is happening?” moments.

I’d love for anyone who's interested to check it out and maybe leave a review (or even just a rating) on Amazon.

It is available also available in Paperback and Hardcover.

COVER ARTIST: Get Govers

AI USAGE: No AI was used in the creation of the Novel.

I started this sub 12 years ago, because I love this genre. I love the books, I love the authors, I love the community. I have been here for the first couple years when there was noone, this sub had a membership of under a 100 people and I watched as other people found something I loved and they loved it too and the community grew. As we grew we needed mods to make the place run and I looked for passionate people with the interest and spare time to help mod this place. We had our fair share of drama, but I think we have done about as well as a mod team can over the years, we have had some excellent mods.

Tonight I was removed as top mod without whisper from anyone. My flair in the discord shows inactive on the mod list and that is how they where able to remove me, but I have been active behind the scenes communicating with the mod team in the discord. I have mostly left the post and comment moderation to the people I trusted.

This "level up disocrd" and my removal as discord owner was all done because a couple of our new mods, poeple who have only been members of the sub reddit for a couple years at most disagreed with the political views of one of the mods who has been here since the beginning. They removed him as a mod, demoted me and stripped me of permissions and are starting a new "discord" because the person they disagree with owns the current discord. They did this without a word to me or him, I found out I lost this sub when the post about the discord hit.

There are very few things I have done in my life that I am proud of. That I could "brag" about. This sub reddit, this community is one of the things I have done that I am most proud of. I am hearbroken at this turn of events and am probably going to step away from the community completely. If they allow this post to stay up, know it was an honor and a pleasure this last decade.

I just started book 1 on Audible. Jeff always does a great job.

Did you love it? Hate it?

Labyrinth of the Mad God 3 is out now on Amazon kindle!

Here's the link to book 1 if you haven't had a chance to check it out.

Thanks to everyone who has read the story or offered an insightful comment, suggestion, or correction. I couldn't do it without you and appreciate the support.

Cover Artist: Aethon Staff artist Mario.

AI Usage: No AI used.

Blurb Book 1

There are only two choices: Level up or die.

Nick is having a bad day. The System arrived and kicked off the apocalypse, and things only went downhill from there.

Taltos, who isn’t called the Mad God for nothing, kidnapped the Earth, hijacked Nick’s tutorial, and dialed the difficulty up to eleven. He’s just an ordinary guy with a Basic class and only a bathrobe to his name versus a lethal labyrinth formed from stolen worlds, mystic realms, and places stranger still.

Nick is in way over his head, but he’s determined to save his homeworld, rebuild human civilization, and protect the people he loves. Maybe even squeeze in some payback along the way.

But none of that is going to happen unless he can survive a month-long tutorial on the Searing Isle. A biome packed full of bloodthirsty beasts, deadly dungeons, and lethal magical weather.

The odds are long, and he has no choice but to go all in. But even when the deck is stacked against him, Nick always plays to win.

Blurb Book 3

Nick will conquer Darkstone Tower and save the Earth… or die trying.

Humanity’s champions have braved Blackmist Bog and defeated the River King, earning better classes for everyone along the way. However, the most dangerous step in the Fate of Earth quest lies ahead, where they will either win back their lost homeworld or ensure its destruction by Taltos’s hand.

Before Nick can return to the planet of his birth, he must climb Darkstone Tower, overcoming unique challenges on each floor. When he reaches the roof, a decisive battle the Guardian will ensue, with humanity’s future hanging in the balance.

Will he survive the tower’s myriad perils and carve out a permanent place for his people in the magical multiverse, or will Earth be reduced to spare parts for the Labyrinth of the Mad God?

I’ve been a fan of this genre for quite some time, and I’ve seen a large number of recommendations. I’m not after those, I already have plenty of stuff on my TBR list. No, what I’m after is the books that got y’all into the genre and why.

Mine was Accidental Thief by C. J. Davis. I really enjoyed the concept and the way he did things. Speaking of which, I might have to go back and reread that series again.

(I wasn’t sure about what tag to put on this post, so I just went with discussion, as it seems to fit the theme.)

I’m on the second book and I’m honestly kinda conflicted? The idea behind the book is great, it’s a great slice of life novel. Even for Alice of life I do find that there are some sections that feel too slow/unnecessary, but I can see how people can enjoy it.

You can also tell that the author doesn’t have much experience writing dialogue as sometimes the dialogue grinds. As in it has smt like MC is eating between heatings. “You need to heat it a second time” says Master. “I know”. Edric returns to the forge. Which honestly isn’t how that conversation would actually go but it’s how the author writes it.

You can also tell that it’s been a while since the author’s been 11, because an 11 year old is not speaking like an adult. Why does the 11 year old sound like a serious adult. An 11 year old does not use vocabulary like “exemplary” or “formalizes”. It’s a kid.

So yeah, if the Author sees this, idk if this is an early work and you’ve gotten better in the later books or not. Also it kinda feels like sometimes it may have AI written components? But also AI tends to write better dialogue so not too sure.

I will say it was funny when the author said that “this was the expressive thing (character) has done in 27 chapters” which honestly isn’t saying smt about generally how flat the characters kind of are but eh, still funny. On that note though, smt I’ve learned is that if you read dialogue of different characters with no context and cannot differentiate the characters based on how they’re saying things, the character is not written with enough depth. One author who I know does really well at this is Will Wight’s Cradle series. The dialogue, expressions, and intonations allow you to know which character is which without having read the book before.

Will continue to read as I do find it interesting enough, even if the dialogue does jar you out of the immersion at times. I hope there are no harems in the future and I fear for any love interest appearing.

I do appreciate authors spending time to write for people so that we get enjoyment so thank you sixthbell.

Hey all! Kind of new to this subreddit; I've gotten into some LitRPG and Progression fantasy stories over the past year or so. One thing I've noticed is, at least based on what I've found personally, not many of them actually delve much into party based dynamics. I figure this has to be off, but so many I've tried out are just "OP MC and party kind of follows them around" if they have a party at all. Not actual team work and party balance at all.

To be clear, by Party Dynamics I mean the typical "You have a Tank, healer, a couple DPS of various types in a party, do dungeon delves and/or go hunt monsters and defend towns" kind of stories. And not one where someone just does all 4 roles together because they're so strong. Examples of ones I've read that do this decently are Pinnacle Warrior by Ben Denton, the Beesong Chronicles by Benjamin Medrano, Beneath the Dragoneye Moons by Selkie Myth, and Cinnamon Bun by RavensDagger.

Azarinth Healer is an example of a story I got really into at the beginning but as the MC began to move off into soloing the entire world instead of working with teams and filling an actual healer/bruiser role, I got less interested.

It doesn't have to have levels/experience, it could be basic fantasy with RPG style or cultivation/xianxia or anything like that.

So, wanted to check to see if anyone had recommendations? I've listed some preferences below, but these don't have to be met; I'm open to pretty much anything that would fill that thirst.

High Preferences:
-Femme MC, bonus points if LGBTQIA+ but not required at all
-MC is not OP, or at the very least has a very slow buildup to being OP
-Character Development/Relationship building [not necessarily romantic] being a big part of team dynamic

Mid Preferences:
-I love healer stories, so if there is any focus on a healer that'd be cool
-Not a huge fan of stories that have heavy use of Slavery as a plot device, or SA type tropes [Looking at so many of the anime that fit this category otherwise lol]

Low Preferences:

-No AI use [Don't witchhunt for that in responses per the rules - just don't recommend if you know for a fact it has heavy AI usage for writing/editing/art]
-Generally prefer high fantasy type stories, but I'm 100% down for more modern/futuristic or "portal" type manwha versions of these tropes. These just tend to be the OP MC is why I tend to avoid them.
-If a story has multiple books, I'd prefer if they're all out :D but obviously beggars can't be choosers

Edit:
Due to ease of accessibility I have mostly read on Kindle and/or Royal Road books. I've done a few audiobooks from Audible and I had KU for a month or two, but I would rather buy a book outright than do KU to access it, and would rather have physical over ebook if possible. Adding this because autobot suggested this would be helpful.

Hello LitRPG! I have a self-promotion here for you, but I dislike promoting my own stuff so I'm hoping to add a little twist to it. I wanted to include character art I had commissioned for this series! If anyone else, author or reader, has some art they want to show off, I'd love to see it. Turn my self-promo into an art thread!

The first image is my cover, and the rest are characters in the series. Except for the last one, that's someone from my zombie urban fantasy (not LitRPG) series, but I like the art, so I'm showing her off too.

The first three images are by reddit user HomuraaO. The fourth character is by reddit user Kikuri-chan. The final image is by evedoodlez from Artisttree.

Now for the actual promo part:

Armed with a sassy system interface, a legendary golden thong, and fifteen mystery blessings, Ronald will reluctantly stumble his way through this hot mess of a world. All while dealing with duck-dragons, fine-dining McDonald's restaurants, and a curse put on him by the very goddess who summoned him. 

This world can be unforgiving. To survive, and find time to relax, Ronald will rely on his IRL save scumming ability and party of companions who are all convinced something is deeply wrong with him.

The world will need saving, and he is not happy about it.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/184650/reluctantly-isekaid-litrpg-comedy-weak-to-strong

COVER ARTIST: _Merlim on discord. The only changes I made was adding my pen-name at the top.

AI USAGE: None.

The following series are all on my TBR, but I want opinions on which I should read vs. listen to. Which ones have a can't-miss narrator that really brings the story to life, and which are great fun but better enjoyed with the good ol' eyeballs for whatever reason? Here's my current TBR in no particular order:

• 1% Lifesteal
• Book of the Dead
• Bog Standard Isekai
• The Legend of William Oh
• Chysalis
• Empire of the Vampire
• Cradle
• Path of Ascension

Thanks!

Budget Heroes: I Just Want To Afford The Inn, Damn It!

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/179619/budget-heroes-i-just-want-to-afford-the-inn-damn

COVER ARTIST: Kana (Character Artwork), Me (Cover Design)
AI USAGE: No AI used.

This is a story about what money does to people, and what people do for money.

Shinra never learned the true value of money. Born in wealth, he spent his days idly spending money and gambling away his parents' fortune. When he slipped through a crack in reality and ended up in the Fantasy world of Unreas and forced to become a Free Mercenary, he found himself alone, penniless, and barely able to afford a decent meal.

With his two equally-as-broke companions, the huge but soft-hearted half-giant Kon and the lazy, cynical half-elf Zenea, he'll have to struggle just to survive.

An economically-focused LitRPG in which your bank account is far more important than any XP bar.

If you're interested in banter, slow-burn progression and worldbuilding, party dynamics and non-OP protagonists, this might be the story for you!

Looking for an assassin mc. I'm thinking of Vlad Taltos (Steven Brust) and maybe Jake Thane from Primal Hunter types.

Needs to be available on audiobook and preferably a good production. 😅 My ears and brain cannot clash.

For reference I thoroughly enjoy, in no particular order:

Mage Tank

Primal hunter

He who fights with Monsters

Dungeon crawler Carl

All the skills

Life reset

"Regular" books:

Vlad Taltos series

Darth Bane trilogy (Star wars)

Pyramids (And the rest of the discworld series ofc)

And many more.

Humor and banter over grimdark, but hit me with what you got.

Thanks.

I have a friend who is a horror fan and is looking for Grim Darl LitRPG or just something bordering on horror. I tend not to think of my picks as dark. Please any suggestion would be welcome

This is the second book in my first series and it includes some massive swings forward for the main character as far as her progression goes. This book also had some of my favorite scenes to write overall so I'm excited to get the finalized version out there!

Cover artist: Miu Mirari House

AI Usage: None

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HMBJ6MQV

BLURB BELOW!

COVER ARTIST: LadyThanatos

AI USAGE: none

The Man Who Interrogated God releases today.

Detective Gideon Salt has problems. The corpse is speaking. The radio knows his name, and the voices in his head have started introducing themselves.

Assigned to investigate an impossible murder alongside the perpetually exhausted Inspector Mercy Vale, Gideon follows a trail of stolen memories, emotional trafficking, vanished investigations and prophecies that arrive before the crimes they predict. Every answer drags him deeper into the machinery hidden beneath Saint Cortona.

The Man Who Interrogated God is a dark LitRPG noir blending cosmic horror, philosophical mystery and psychological intrigue into an unforgettable journey through a city that remembers everything.

If you love games like Disco Elysium and Planescape: Torment then this book is for you. Have a wonderful day!

Amazon

Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, and more

Barnes and Noble

Hey folks, it's that time again! Book eight of Wish upon the Stars just dropped on Audible. About 13 hours of high octane wish action read by the amazing Neil Hellegers can be found right here !

Also, for anyone interested in starting the series from scratch, an omnibus of the first three books (a 30 hour bundle) can be found here for just one credit!

Cover Artist: Brian Flores

AI usage: none

Currently in book 8 but noticed that they always mention how expensive things are but never put a monetary value on anything.

The biggest example I can think of is when Jason buys the piece of land on Arnote from Pelli. They say Arnote is the wealthy elite island and Jason is rich but never give you an idea of the cost of the property. Do you think that land cost a diamond coin? A handful of gold? I just wish we got some sense of scale of the cost of goods/land.

When I say beast I mean like a werewolf or something of that nature. I tried to read " My Werewolf System" but it was painful. I did successfully read all of "Road to Mastery" and for the most part enjoyed it.

I am a frequent enjoyer of Oonga Boonga and I was hoping there were some good books with an MC focusing on animal like classes or unarmed ones. (Martial arts are fine)

The MC can be anyone or anything.

If anyone knows of any it would be a big help. 🙏🙏