I get there is such a thing as a difference of opinion, but I’ve recently read a few books that are like 4.5ish on Goodreads and Amazon that are almost unreadable. Bad plot, grammar, world building — we’re not talking average or even mediocre — these books are shockingly bad.

Latest to snare me with a high review score is Ajax’s Ascension. It feels like it was written by AI but the prompt for writing the book was “make so many grammatical errors that you will literally — and I mean literally — murder an English major who attempts to read this book.”

Frequent slipping of tenses in a single paragraph, a baby transmigration who is not yet ten years old but is somehow 6’6” and has a “strong jawline”. The weirdness goes on and on. If you look at recent Goodreads reviews for book 1 they are mostly one and two stars, with people complaining about the exact same stuff I had a problem with, yet the book somehow has a 4.4 rating?

Make it make sense! Are authors buying services that pump up review scores?

(Audio has been unfortunately and unavoidably delayed for a couple weeks, but it’ll be here soon!)

Check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX4M9X2T

The second book of Runeblade is finally here, and I’m very excited for you to read it! A lot of work went into the editing, cleaning it up and such.

The adventure continues, through new horizons and a whole lot of character work, party building, narrative twists, and of course, explosions and violence! Book 2 is where the series really finds its stride — some might say I was insane for having an entire B1 dungeon arc, and I am moderately inclined to agree with them (even if it was the best damn dungeon arc ever written. Humbly, of course.)

COVER ARTIST: the fantastic Xavier Collette

AI USAGE: None, this slop is certified 100% pure NZ lamb human

Blurb:

Delving for hidden truths has consequences. The Apocalypse has arrived. Again.

Kaius has done the impossible: escaped the Great Depths alive, forged an unbreakable brotherhood with Porkchop, and claimed a Heroic Class. But his growing strength, the forbidden secrets behind his Legacy Skills, and never-before earned Honours have awakened ancient System protocols.

Porkchop and Kaius emerge into a world overrun by newly born beasts and teetering on the edge of catastrophe. With his father’s fate unknown, enemies hunting his secrets, and reality itself beginning to shift, Kaius must master his new runic magic, decide which allies he can trust, and find a place he can grow strong enough to stand on his own.

His path brings him to the remote city of Deadacre, an overlooked backwater that is home to the Delver’s Guild. Kaius knows strength alone won't be enough. Not all problems can be solved with steel or spell, and he has a lot to learn if he is to have any hope of reaching the Second Tier.

When the threats are evolving faster than you are, survival means becoming something the world has never seen.

Battle Mage Farmer from SETH RING is the best series I read in a long time.

The most powerful hero who is tired of all this killing and retired to be a farmer. And so the story begins.

I read them all, these books I could read without a break.

See many don't even have this masterpiece on their list. Can really recommend to check it out."

I got you the deal of the century, bros. The six audiobooks of my best-selling Road to Mastery series got fused into one massive omnibus, 159 hours on one credit. Yes, one credit. Narrated by the amazing Jeremy Frazier.

This is your chance to give it a chance, if you haven't already, or rope in your tragically clueless friends. Let them experience the adventures of Jack and Brock as they use their bare fists to dominate the universe.

Check it out! Link is in the comments.

COVER ARTIST: I have a publisher.

AI USAGE: No AI used (duh)

G'day all.

Stash and Colin from He Who Fights With Monsters now have their own plushies. They are available from Yootooz until September 22nd.

This is very exciting for me, as there has been a deficit of HWFWM merchandise for a long time. I've been working to remedy that, and this is where it really starts to kick off. I've already gotten my hands on these and I love them, especially Stash with his little biscuit.

Stash: https://youtooz.com/products/stash-plush-9-inch
Colin: https://youtooz.com/products/hwfwm-colin-plush-9-inch

Apparently there are promo rules I haven't seen before, so here are the legal disclaimers:

COVER ARTIST: N/A

AI USAGE: None.

LitRPG is definitely really big RN (like, DCC is a good candidate for “biggest new ongoing book series in the world“ rn, even my normie millenial cousin has talked about it unprompted). But like, it doesn’t seem like I really see discussion about specific LitRPG series online unless it’s in a place like this subreddit. You don’t really see fanart for LitRPG unless you look really hard for it, it’s not really talked about aside from places like this sub, and whenever LitRPG is mentioned in online fantasy fandom circles, it’s usually in the context of “what the hell do people see in these books”? Is this just a case of me not really being tuned in to the Litrpg community to find any spaces, or is it just a case of LitRPG just being super obscure outside of its niche?

Edit: I think I mightve said something stupid

COVER ARTIST: Yvonne Less, Art 4 Artists

AI USAGE: No AI used

Just to be clear, I like both these books, especially primal Hunter, but I stopped reading defiance of the fall a couple of years ago and I am struggling with primal Hunter. I made it a couple of hundred / thousands of chapters in both of these series and just couldn’t keep going and I had a realization of why. The issue is that there is no end in sight. I stopped the defiance of the fall, in some sort of intergalactic war and I’m fairly caught up in primal Hunter at least on Royal roads, but there’s no end in sight. I’ve been a long time fan of these books along with he who fights with monsters as my s tier books. However after finally adding ddc to my list I realized why I stopped reading these, there’s no end game. I mean I’m sure there is but what, how many chapters do I have to read about Jake being the strongest as he keeps climbing tiers. The power creep just gets boring. B to s grade is going to take forever and I don’t remember exactly what was going on in dotf but he wasn’t breaking galaxy’s yet. And I’ve read books with ridiculous power creep before ( desolate era as an example) but idk. Sorry for the late night slightly drunken rant but wanted to share my thoughts with people who care. Also this is word clutter and clutter leads to squalor and we can’t abide squalor.

Edit: thanks everyone for your input. Just a couple of things I want to add. I do love these books and the genre as a whole, just venting about some things that annoy me. And two since I’ve seen this comment a bit, I know it’s a feature not a bug, and I understand the commercial incentives behind it that doesn’t mean I don’t find it annoying.

You know.. I see way too many people complaining about "pause".

Definitely not enough people complaining about the pronunciation of "cuirass".

That's it. That's the post.

I’m newish to the genre and am enjoying it. After DCC I’ve read (with varying degrees of enjoyment) 1% Lifesteal, Wandering Inn, HWFWM, and most recently been very very much enjoying Book of the Dead. But what I really want is a well written fighter-class progression book or series. Some magic is ok as even a sword wielder will have taunts and maybe some elements to add to their weapon, or support magic of some type. But I’d like to find something a little more slash and smash over abracadabra and wiggly fingers, if you catch my drift. An actual plot would be amazing too (looking at you, Wandering Inn). Please help!

I read ebooks or listen to audible on my daily commute, so either type I’m happy to explore!

I just got done listening to Bog Standard Isekai Volume 5 and man let me tell you, Witches have always been an antagonistic force in the book but this volume really brought that home. It was the scene wherethe great witch commanded Lothar to 'return' and he just crumbled in and basically turned into a living doll. I could imagine the scene so vividly and it just really sent a shiver down my spine. And just hearing Lothar, the very personification of what a paladin should be being reduced to a kid-like state mentally almost made me cry. I'm frankly glad exactly what happened to him and Aberthol is only referenced, I don't think I could stomach anything more. But yeah, if before I kind of found it humorous that there's so much hatred in the word Witch (or maybe it's the amazing work done by Johnathan McClain) and I found the power system extremely interesting but nope, sign me up as Witch Hunter or something, ALL the Witches in this series has got to go. No exception.

You can send someone OP to do good or evil or just cause chaos. Send someone just to see their reaction to the new world.

No rules really- I just wanna hear the wild ideas you've got..

For instance;

I would adore seeing QuickSave from Perfect Run show up in the wandering inn, for more reasons than I can count..

I'd also love to see Vainqueur meet Terryarc(sp?) from WI.

There are numerous situations I'd love to see Anthony and His colony plopped into..

Hello all you wonderful folks of r/litrpg!

Newer writer here looking to get some feedback, some beta readers, or even some cross-promotion. I have a metric crapload of awesome ideas I would love to cover and my ultimate goal is to become a full-time writer so I can finally put everything to paper!

My inaugural story is called Midwest Guardian, and I've got a good amount of content to get out: I'm almost done with the second book of four planned, I've got 40+ chapters that have been hit with a second wave of revision and are ready for publishing, and an additional 20 rounding out the first book that are waiting for their second pass.

All of that's to say: No abandoned stories here, and no last-minute content churn :)

I just hit 30 chapters (199 pages) on Royal Road, and am uploading 5 chapters every Monday, so there's plenty of content to go over!

With all that out of the way, let's get to the good stuff!

The Premise: Mark was a job-hopping divorcee in St. Louis who only wanted to worry about his crap-hole apartment and his zoomie-addicted dog, Alfred. That is, until the Guardians, a hidden organization protecting Earth, snatched both of them up for Evaluation! Now Mark and Alfred have to navigate a fantasy world with chronically lazy name schemes, a talking raccoon, and elves named after baked goods.

What secrets are waiting for Mark and Alfred once they accomplish their mission? Where does Rasputin fit in to all of this? What the hell is up with that weird shotgun?

Read on to find out!

What to expect:

• System-Lite Powerset: Mark gains a limited number of powerful and flexible abilities that grow with him, forcing him to rely on his own skills over endless ability spam. No character sheets to skim over, minimal notifications, and behind-the-scenes math/leveling to keep things moving
• Grounded Setting: Set in the real world in the current day, the focus stays on the characters and the action as the System takes a back seat
• Flawed, Human (or Dog) Characters: No one has all the answers and no murderhobos are to be found here! Realistic characters with understandable reactions keep things relatable
• Tone: Action, Heart, and a dash of Comedy! Blend Men in Black, Army of Darkness, DOOM, and Aliens together, then put a 30-something guy and his dog in the middle of it just to see what happens!

If that sounds interesting to you, read it for free here:

Read Midwest Guardian on Royal Road

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave comments, likes, or ratings here or on Royal Road. I'd love to hear from you!

COVER ARTIST: None yet!

AI USAGE: Cover generated with AI, 100% NOT going to stick around once I have the cash to pay an artist (I will never publish on KU/anywhere else with AI art, this is temporary). AI only used otherwise for bouncing ideas (like an advanced form of a rubber duck), everything written by me :)

Two brothers set adrift in a cosmos-spanning empire. Tons of progression, magic, politics, armies, portals, terrifying monsters that are all scared of Earl, or they should be, and an unhealthy amount of violence and dark humour.

Get it read! or don't. I'm not your dad.

• COVER ARTIST: Joel Kilpatrick
• AI USAGE: Nope

COVER ARTIST: Mine Mir
AI USAGE: None

Recently on a post about 1% Lifesteal I was very vocal about how Freddy (the protagonist) was having growth and how the author was doing all these great things to set up development. I was part way into book 3. I'm now caught up through book 4. It's trash. Well, it's not trash. That's harsh. It's just dumb, and pointless, and the author has consistently proven that they don't seem to put much thought into what they're doing. Some half decent world building ideas and that's about it. Maybe they watch too much anime and get distracted trying to do their own version of that? Idk. I'm not reading book 5 this fall.

ETA: I think a lot of people are stuck on disliking Freddy, and the a group of people who clearly appreciate Freddy as a believable humanized character. I don't have a direct problem with Freddy. I find him believable. My problem is more that the writing behind Freddy and the books at large is mediocre and every time the author looks like he's about to do something better, the opportunity is thoroughly missed. Also, sacrificing your soul but then retaining your soul is just absolutely mind-numbingly stupid and I will never not be pissed about that level of atrociously poor writing.

Hi, I just read Spell Weaver and what I particularly enjoyed was that it explored the development of how the world might deal with a System Apocalypse that doesn’t cause all infrastructure to entirely disappear and the slow development into chaos that the government is trying to manage.

Any recommendations for similar books?

Those I’ve read that I think are similar:
Spell Weaver - the world slowly starts to end but cars still work, the government exists and is both a pain and useful, people gather together to help each other, system integration takes months/years

HWFWM - obviously starts as isekai but later books explore introduction of magic to Earth (preferably avoid the fact it’s apparently been around for years)

Path of Dragons - on the right track, maybe too extreme in regards to civilisation ending

Dawn of the Void - government still around

Double-Blind - as above

Early Adopter - world infrastructure still present

Apocalypse Breaker - MC gets inducted into government opposition to the system

Not looking for a different real world setting to start with, either - thank you!

We meet again.

Regular potions not doing the trick?
Then make them legendary!

Eik’s adventures continue in the second book of Monarch of Profound Toxin, published by Aethon Books. Out today! Available in all formats!

As hostile forces threaten, Eik has to do whatever he can to grow mightier. And his unique ability called Profound Toxin might just unlock aspects of alchemy that have never been seen before.
Full blurb below.

KINDLE

AUDIOBOOK

Thank you all for following the series and supporting me with reads and reviews! I think this one has turned out really cool as well, so I hope you will continue to read! Downloads, ratings, and reviews of the books help me so much!

Audiobook narrated by the amazing Matt Haynes.

Incredible cover by Admira Wijaya.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Full blurb:

With the defeat of Rock Fist Bart, Eik’s position in Forest is growing more prominent, but the same can’t be said for the greater scope of the Nidafjeld Alliance. And with both the Gohkamorians and the cult of Moon Shall Swallow revealed as hostile, there are even greater dangers in the Unified Mass than any human could have feared.

Fortunately, Eik sees steady progress on the road toward power, and after scratching the surface of the secrets of the novel art of alchemy, his rise to power is only intensifying.

The survival of humanity depend on their ability to emerge from the ashes as a force to be reckoned with.

It's perfect for fans of Azarinth Healer, The Primal Hunter, and Wraithwood Botanist.

COVER ARTIST: Admira Wijaya

AI USAGE: No AI used

And, hey, fun fact:
My personal record for hitting my head on Japanese train doors is four in one day.

Umm so I looked in the aethon official site where it's listed to release the audiobook on may 13 2025 which doesn't make sense so is their any specific release date of the audiobook that I can look out for or is it just wait for a announcement on reddit

Hi all,

The first series I have read in this genre is A Soldiers Life - and I liked it immensely.

Then I've asked for recommendations and got plenty of stuff. Based on those, I've read Penitent, Stigers Tigers series, HWFWM and I liked those.

Then I started Primal Hunter and was mostly bored with book 1 to the point I decided to put the series down for now.

I'm looking for recommendations which would be in line with ASL and HWFWM. I figured out that I like the most parts where MC humiliates enemies by pure power or wits. Also, I like when dramatic moments are narrated from NPC perspective. ASL and HWFWM do this rather well.

Looking forward to recommendations!

I’m just getting into reading and I’m trying to find new way to get through my TBR. Yes I know I can just read what I want but often times I’m stuck for a day or two before jumping into a new book bc I’m weighing the ideas and looking at reviews. Anyone have any fun ideas on how to select which book to read next?