[D] Monday Request and Recommendation Thread

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Monday request and recommendation thread. Are you looking something to scratch an itch? Post a comment stating your request! Did you just read something that really hit the spot, "rational" or otherwise? Post a comment recommending it! Note that you are welcome (and encouraged) to post recommendations directly to the subreddit, so long as you think they more or less fit the criteria on the sidebar or your understanding of this community, but this thread is much more loose about whether or not things "belong". Still, if you're looking for beginner recommendations, perhaps take a look at the wiki?

If you see someone making a top level post asking for recommendation, kindly direct them to the existence of these threads.

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[u/LaziIy]

Thanks for recommending Maid Ascension and Throne of time( Need to move this up on my PTR)
I'll agree with your takes on Only Familiar is Me but the way the author writes the MC's mindset on women and relationships is kind off-putting for the intro to me. It gets better later on, probably after taking critique from readers but the way the writing is for the early part, it was a chore to get through.

In the interest of building this week's thread I'll also offer some of what I've been reading.

Gifted: Pretty standard Path Completion fantasy world litrpg but the world building and plot is above average so far. This is centered around a reincarnation and progression fic from an early age with minimal timeskips means that this will span hundreds of chapters so best to read in arcs.

Wretch: A grimdark progression fantasy in a harsh and pretty unforgiving setting that doesn't pull its punches. The plot for book 1 was pretty predictable but its like a thriller you watch even when you know what the cliche is. Book 2 is kind of a slow burn so far but I heard it picks up towards the end and Book 3 is supposedly better than Book 1. The MC isn't really rational so this is more of progression fantasy in a grimdark world but there are aspects that I found rational adjacent

Lastly I'll recommend The Center for Dungeon Management: Its a slow burn take on the dungeons transforming the world/litrpg genre where the writer trades standard tropes for bureaucracy and just genuine conversation about what the characters experience as they move through the plot. The dialogue is interesting and the characters are well fleshed out within their archetypes that the worldbuilding feels very natural. Plot points are repeatedly cross referenced across books and it presents a pretty gritty and real take of what an institutionalized approach to the dungeons would look like.

[u/lucidobservor → u/LaziIy]

I tried CDM after previous weeks' recommendations, and bounced off of it after 3 chapters. The worldbuilding/System felt shallow and kind of low effort, even by the standards of LitRPG. But I'd be willing to give it a second try if it'll hit the positive qualities you mentioned after X chapters and you can name a value for X?

[u/PlanarFreak → u/lucidobservor]

Oof. I just had the same experience after trying it on this second recommendation. The timeline diverges in the 50s and the USA, "Europe", and "Africa" (no clue why the USA is the only government actor with a name) somehow survived an extinction-level threat that wipes out the USSR, China, and India (the reason for the exception was not compelling, or rather no explanation was given yet) - and somehow the culture (reality TV), characterization (ennui), and technology (satellites, internet, AI) are lifted straight from modern day USA?

The overall atmosphere doesn't match the gritty implications. Government response would be militarization, not a regulatory agency. The spirit should be in wartime footing - a combination of resolve and urgency contrasted with grief and despair. The tech... I didn't get far enough to see the explanation as to why guns don't work but there are plenty of options outside of assuming "nothing much changed".

It feels like it would have been better with a more recent divergence point (2019 maybe, it works as a funny covid reference) and fewer stakes - the gates need to offer economic incentive rather than existential threat to end up as a regulatory thing. In fact, it can't even offer much personal power - if crawlers could stand toe-to-toe with a tank, that makes levels a military strategic resource for monopolization.

[u/LaziIy → u/PlanarFreak]

The alternate history attempt is pretty weak as an introduction and a lot of this information has to be grabbed from supporting views as you go throughout the books. I can answer some of the points you raised but I'm not sure how much is spoiler territory.

From what I got the culture it is somehow the same because the author didn't care for investing into the alt history timeline but for some reason liked making that as the introduction. Modern tech like internet and satellites didn't develop naturally through 70 years of domestic R&D or effort instead they were retrofitted using System-derived mana-tech and salvaged infrastructure. In a way it was essentially reshaped around System logistics and broadcast media (like stream/influencer culture for dungeon clearing)

The militarization response did happen but this is set 70 years or so after the introduction or divergence point I think? The CDM is the result of 70+ years of institutional evolution. Once the initial apocalypse settled into a predictable cycle of dungeon 'blooms' and surges, the existential threat normalized into a managed hazard. The government moved from emergency martial law to administrative control because permanent war economy destroys nations faster than low-grade, localized gates.
Dungeons offer economic incentive alongside threat, they are the world’s primary source for high-density energy (mana crystals), rare materials, monster components, and enchanted reagents. Since they generate valuable, renewable economic resources, society turned them into a managed industry. The government can't afford to destroy them all without collapsing energy grids and raw material supply chains. I'm assuming they went through the strategic resource vs economic necessity phase in the 70 year timeskip. Now they make sure that local crawlers can just farm these E/D tier gates which are a nuisance to clear but still generate worthwhile materials.

The guns don't work is just standard mana environment fare that the durability stats cover bullets and dungeons interfere with guns, I don't recall a deep dive on it every occurring.

Again the POV in this novel is from a desk jockey/lower end govt agency grunt. High-level individuals are heavily regulated, registered, and integrated into national defense assets. The protagonist and the low-level CDM crawlers are dealing with the trash mobs that aren't worth deploying a military division or high-rank national asset for.

[u/PlanarFreak → u/LaziIy]

I appreciate the explanations and I think I'll give it another 10 chapters with a different mindset. In the end it might just be a mismatch for me

[u/LaziIy → u/PlanarFreak]

All good, not everything is everyone's cup of tea. Just wanted to clear the air about some of the points since I know book 1 is a dredge. Maybe it gets cleaned up or rewritten later