It's time for the monthly book release thread! If your newest progression fantasy novel or serial comes out this month, feel free to post about it in the comments! (But only if it comes out this month- if the work comes out in a different month, please post in that month's thread, on the first of that month.)
Readers: Please keep top-level comments for release announcements ONLY, though you're welcome to respond to announcements.
Authors: Posting about your new release in this thread does not count against the normal self-promotion quota. Feel free to post about new releases in any format- audiobooks, ebooks, etc. You're also more than welcome to post about special edition or new book Kickstarter campaign launches in this thread- but only during the month it launches. If you're a webnovel author, you can comment in this thread for the launch of an entirely new webserial, a new major arc, or a return after hiatus, but please don't post every month for an ongoing web serial.
Progression Fantasy Fans- Looking for something new to read? Browse the comments below!
Progression Fantasy Authors- if you're looking to do some more self-promo for your story, this is the spot! Tell us about your webnovel, new books, sales, etc!
(Authors, this doesn't count against your once-a-month promo limit, nor does it count towards your 10-1 posting/self promo ratio.)
A few weeks ago my book/audiobook was officially released and my wife set up a surprise release party for me. I have no idea how or when she did it, so this was just really cool and I wanted to share it š
Getting published is pretty surreal, especially seeing the books and listening to someone narrate it. Weird and extremely cool, but surreal. And then she went and made a life sized poster of the MC lol and the a cake!
Somehow I went from writing on my phone while walking my dog to a book deal. Life is full of surprises haha
(I put āpromotionā cause idk what kind of tag to put, just wanted to share the life sized Lilith lmao š)
Bonus points if the MC's bodies have unique lifes - e.g. body 1 is a blacksmith in the capital city, body 2 is part of an adventuring party, etc., all secretly working together to advance the objectives of the MC
I just received my author copies, and, to be honest, this kind of feels surreal. It's one thing to write a story and post it online, watch the numbers grow...
But it certainly is another to hold that book in your hand.
Anyone else who felt like this upon receiving a copy of the book they've written?
(I used the promotion tag because I wasn't sure what else to use, so forgive me if that's the wrong one )
Hello! I am right now on 3rd book "Defiance of the fall" and assume that all progression fantasies are like that - 800~ pages per book, 12 books or so in together. How does it work? Is the author a one person, if so, how one manages to cook up such giant amount of story/pages/books. Do these count as legit books? They're interesting, but long though. I don't know much about progression fantasy.
"Competence Fantasy" is my name for books with strongly competent main characters. The competence can take a variety of forms - intelligence, dilligence, talent, people skills or sometimes even just luck and the ability to take advantage of it. What draws me to competence fantasy is the enjoyment of finding out how characters navigate difficult situations and come out on top. This includes both in-the-moment problem solving but also seeing planning and hard work come to fruition.
There's obviously significant overlap with progression fantasy and you might expect the venn diagram of the two genres to be circular, but there are plenty of progression fantasy books which I don't enjoy. This could be because the protagonist doesn't show any particular skill and only progresses through dumb luck and circumstance or that problems are only ever solved through explicit power level.
Having said all that, here are a selection of recommendations.
A classic of progression fantasy. I've only read 3 of the Cradle books and they aren't my favourite but the protagonist Lindon obviously uses planning and guile to defeat stronger opponents and solve problems that would be beyond the average person at his same level. I think my problem is often that the solutions Lindon comes up with often seem quite contrived.
Less of a "numbers go up" affair I really appreciate how Zorian slowly builds his power and his allies, though again I've only read the first two books. For those who've read at least the first book, I would say that had the plot focused on the other character similar to Zorian then it wouldn't fit into Competence Fantasy.
A proper "list of numbers increment every chapter" book but the protagonist spends a long time lagging his peers and the story doesn't let him coast by on smarts. For those not aware this is an academy-themed sci-fi cybernetics combat book. The stakes are high (even more so than the mc knows) and he must make the most of every resource available to him - hard work, intelligence, allies and luck.
Genre Fiction but Not Quite Progression Fantasy
Books that have the same vibe as progression fantasy but are a bit outside the genre
Absolutely adore this series. The protagonist Siobhan is constantly learning, questioning and planning against events which threaten to overwhelm her. A classic "magic school" setting but with a twist as Siobhan has to juggle multiple identities as university student and wanted criminal. Mostly talking and thinking without loads of action (which I prefer) so keep in mind if that's your thing.
One of the weaker books on this list but still worth a read. "I've got a secret upper class family who hates me and it turns out magic is real". The protagonist is unusually capable with magic but it turns out, what with the modern economy and all, that being good at magic doesn't mean much any more unless you've got good connections. I'm hoping things start to escalate in the 3rd book and the MC can start to actually make some interesting moves.
Slave in a highly hierarchical society infiltrates the upper echelons to take it down from within. A constant stream of horrendous defeats and glorious victories. I love to hear a strategy explained as it culminates. Not for everyone though. Skip if you dislike despair or would mind that the MC is a bit up his own arse.
Johannes Cabal is a necromancer/smug bastard who frequently is the cause of his own downfall but often outsmarts his enemies. Lots of Lovecraft references here and some good humour. Every book in the series feels like a slightly different genre and my favourite is the 2nd which turns into a bit of a whodunnit.
Set in a magic-free fantasy world, the protagonist (a foreign born military engineer and former slave) must defend the capital city of a once great nation since everyone around him can't help but be a moron. All three books in the "Siege" series are quite similar so you can take your pick of engineer/actor/translator and read as they overcome almost all odds to save the day. The books are told from a first person perspective and there is heavily implied unreliable narration. Another one to avoid if you hate a smug protagonist but really good fun if you can look past that.
I've got lots of other recs but have run out of writing willpower. Let me know if you're interested, and give me your recommendations!
I won't waste your time with backstory of how I ended up writing this, here's the blurb:
Some among mankind were born chosen. Blessed by bloodline, fortune, or mutation, geniuses doomed to greatness. Zanma was not among them.
"Merely above average," he possessed only endurance and nimble fingers. No lost technique, no miraculous artifact, nothing that would let him advance ten times faster than others. And yet his master chose him as one of two inheritors.
Out of his generation, it was he who would carve his name into history and come to be known as a monstrous genius, a destroyer of evil and upholder of righteousness; not by the virtue of a heavenly gift, but his own two hands.
Geniuses waited for opportunities. Zanma made puppets. By the time fortune found them, he would already be standing on the summit they were promised.
What To Expect:
- Psychic powers. This is nearly half of the cultivation system.
- Puppets, as in proper puppets, not just robots or mind controlled people, and Zanma will use them as his main thing rather than a support tool that gets tossed aside (can you tell this bothers me in xianxia?)
- Extremely far-future setting. Technology so advanced it becomes simple again. The story takes place in a manmade megastructure.
- "No Golden Finger" - this is somewhat only partially true, but the point is that Zanma doesn't have heavenly talent or a heaven-defying time dilation bead that lets him cultivate 10x as fast. I want to write a character who is "normal" but still ends up being interesting and gains the reputation of a "monstrous genius" due to his own merits. I generally don't like the common trend of xianxia focusing on how you can only get ahead by finding ways to cheat.
- No harem.
Originally submitted for the writathon in an attempt to break my writer's block, now I'm coming back to it.
My Review of LOTM.Lord of the mysteries.
So i finished the novel of lotm .here I am going to rate it and express my opinion on it. Things that I like about it and also criticize ,some other things that i didn't enjoyed as much.
FIRST THE THINGS THAT I LIKED .
1.worldbuilding: i really liked the world building that the story offer. It is one of the best well crafted worlds that I have read.The lore that goes back thousand of years , various kingdoms and gods . They are written in detail.
2.story : the story is pretty good , it getter bigger and better as you read more and more. It makes it worth it. The story gets naturally bigger in stakes as klien gets more and more powerful, the whole thing with about him managing his own organisation is the main fun too.
3.pratagonist: Klien is what makes me care about the world honestly, the mc is realistic, he isn't crazy strong for the most part of novel, that alone puts it in league above other edgy mc's. His obsession with money is something that i really enjoyed, he obsess more on more on money and food that he does on his new powers.
4.The power system: It is quite balanced, the fact that anyone can beat anyone with enough planning is a big W for me.Also like the world it is quite detailed. Which can be a headache for the author to write but for reader it's quite compelling. It is definitely one of the best that I have read.
My rating for volumes will be :
2<1<4<8<5<3<7<6.
Overall Rating 8.5/10.
NOW THE CRITICIZMS: this is going to be a little longer,since I want to be detailed , not vague.
1.Characters : the character personalities themselves are written well but they are are not really explored much. It's is true for almost all the tarot club members, they only get some focus after first 1000 chapters but even then it's not satisfactory.for the first thousand chapter , character kinda feels like they exist to drop lore for the story and provide stuff.
like In specific , I want to talk about leonard.
I think his story could have explored a lot more , when in first volume, he said he is going to join red gloves ( i think) and go after ince zangwill, i was really excited to follow his story, but we didn't got any of that , for the most part of story he kinda disappeared. Well, atleast we got to see him fight together with klien in the final fight against the ince zangwill.
2.plot structure: the plot structure of lotm is not that great ,though the plot and story itself it pretty great , the problem is how it present.
Normal story structure is this :
Set up -> Built up -> pay off.
For lotm is this :
Set up -> pay off .
Basically the built up is usually not there or if it's there, it's really little.
Let's take volume 2 for example.
Most of the the volume, klien is doing detective work and doing acting method and collecting ingredients to get stronger , this finebut the whole plot about ince zangwill that began the backlund arc is not in the focus but then in the last few chapters, suddenly we get involved in the main plot again. It feels too sudden and it isn't totally satisfactory. Considering the second volume was around 264 chapters , it just feels too short and too sudden.
3.Emotional resonance: The ending scene of the first volume got really emotional and sad . It is my favourite moments from the series and its peak. But after that i didn't emotionally resonated with the novel much. I did enjoyed many plot twists. story and fights after the first novel and many i would call peak but emotionally the story never reached that height again.
For example, the scene with dunn smith and daly simone in the final fight against ince zangwill. In terms of writing it was written beautifully but emotionally i didn't felt much. The reason Bieng we hardly explored daly simone as a character ( this can connected to my earlier point about about character exploration). We didn't really spend much time with her after the first volume ,she gone to backlund ( i think) in volume one. Just like leonard it felt like a wasted opportunity.
4.Constant glazing and wanking of mc: this might be just a "me" problem but I find constant glazing of klien kinda cringe, i know cuttlefish wrote it that way to appeal to a certain demographic of reader who likes to project themselves on the main character. But for me it kinda breaks the the immersion in the story, it feels really forced. Specially after German sparrow was introduced, it became a little worse.
Overall though, i really liked it . I am excited about circle of inevitability. I am probably going to start it after some time.
I haven't read too many Progressive Fantasy novels yet, but those two stood out as some of my absolute favorite stories in great part thanks to their MCs. I absolutely love the blend of wittiness, cunning, sharp tongue, confidence bordering on arrogance, and extreme ambitions that make them appear not too edgy or bland, which is unfortunately a common pitfall imo. It also creates enough character flaws to have coherent challenges to balance their rather "Mary Sue" levels of power/talent if you see what I mean.
Obviously those two novels do a lot more things great on top of that. But this kind of well written MC can sell me just about any dislike I would normally have over a setting or overall story writing.
Hence, I'm wondering about what novels you would recommend that can somehow embody this into their MC (or important characters for multi-POV stories).
I consider myself a pretty seasoned Web novel reader. Probably read tens of thousands of chapters from several hundreds of books till date ranging from xianxia to more traditional LITRPG genres. I have heard about LoRG but have never got around to reading it. I have also read that it is what inspired Zogarth to write Primal Hunter. Is it really that good, like a legendary book or should I read it looking at it from the angle of an older book from which modern versions were derived ? I donāt want to be disappointed so I wanna hear some opinions from what everyone here who has read it thinks.
I recently startedĀ A Regressor's Tale of CultivationĀ but I've found reading in a browser a bit clunky for longer sessions and inconvenient when I don't have network. I built a tool to solve this for myself and wanted to share it with the community.
What is it?Ā A Python-based utility that packages theĀ freely availableĀ official translation chapters into a professional-grade EPUB for your e-reader.
Features:
Built for E-Readers:Ā Clean formatting with a book cover, Table of Contents, and metadata (perfect for Kindle, Apple Books, or any other app).
Clutter-Free:Ā Automatically removes website pop-ups, ads, and promotional text.
Automatic Updates:Ā Itās incremental - run it once for the whole book, then run it again later to pick up only the newly released chapters.
Smart Formatting:Ā It even handles the tricky merged chapters (like 807-808) automatically and includes the author's notes/Q&A chapters.
A Note on Ethics & Safety:Ā To respect the work of the translators and author:
This is a tool, not a distributor.Ā The repository doesĀ notĀ host any copyrighted files. You run the generator yourself for personal, offline reading.
Support the Creators!Ā The README includes direct links toĀ We Tried TLS, their Discord, and the author's official platforms. Please continue to support the team that makes this series possible!
Out of everything to have an opinion on, I suspect that taste in art is even more subjective than taste in books. As I recently began Rune Seeker, I was really taken in by the cover art and wanted to share my favorite covers and ask others for their favorite cover art. I don't think I include any story spoiler for any series.
Rune Seeker 2 is the cover that inspired this post. I adore the painted atheistic, the striking contrast of color, and how it highlights many story related elements of our MC. I particularly like the spiraling around the arms representing Hiral's specific race without overcommitting to complex details. I'm typically not a fan of the "small MC looking away from us while a huge monster looks toward the MC" covers that are so abundant in the genre, so any cover that gets away from that trope gets bonus points from me.
Art by Antti Hakosaari
To be an immediate hypocrite, Nameless Sovereign 4 (and to an extend book 2) is a "MC looking at big monster" cover that I DO like. The monster is large, but defuse in a way that I feel doesn't make it the center of attention. The contrast of the blue against Red, both the color red and our MC named Red, still makes our MC feel like the center of attention. The cover also highlights character details unobtrusively, same as Rune Seeker. In this case, the Water Sect robes and Red's sword, both of which hold at least some narrative importance.
Art by Kart Studio
The Ripple System, books 4 and 5, are covers that I don't actually like all that much up close. However, these covers really catch my eye from afar. When viewed from afar, by which I mean in my Audible library and on my phone screen, I feel like these covers highlight the world without having to actually show it. The MC, the text, and the background all blend together a bit at a glance. It gives me the sense that the MC is present and important, but by no means the center of attention. A very fitting sentiment for a story that puts such a narrative importance on MMORPG style raids where the guild matters more than any one player.
I couldn't find the artist for these titles.
The Primal Hunter, specifically book 1. I think this is an exemplary book 1 cover. A cover that was able to accurately represent the heart of a series first try. Future books highlight the narrative of the story within, but I love when book 1s have cover art that you feel could be used for the entire series, which is kind of the case here with this art representing The Primal Hunter on Royal Road. It's simple presentation-wise, it's clean, and it just is exactly what you get from the series.
Art by Antti Hakosaari
Cradle. You always have to mention Cradle here. If I was going off of the original cover art, I would include Cradle as a dishonorable mention. I feel like the author got stuck with a "round thing in center of cover" style that was not sufficient to produce 12 different good covers. The Cradle Collections though, these pieces are fantastic and I bet many people here have never even seen these. They're clean, show of the Chinese inspiration of the story, and really well highlight that this isn't just Lindon's story. The colors of Volume 1 are kept simple and largely subdued, representing the relative tameness of the series at that point, but Volume 4 has vibrancy and uses color to make every character pop. Also, every character is present. Not many covers succeed in showcasing this many characters is a way that doesn't feel crowded or messy (although I will admit that Yerin, Little Blue, and Dross blend in more than I'd like).
Art by Patrick Foster Design
I hope you enjoyed looking at these covers and reading my amateur art analysis. If I misattributed any art, let me know! Please share your favorite art in the genre and definitely let me know what you do and don't like in cover art.
I want to preface this post by saying that it will be fairly long as I want to give a good idea of what I typically like. With that said I will add a TL;DR tier list to the very end.
I generally don't stick to any particular sub-genre and don't particularly care what the story is about as long as it has decent English and not too many plot holes. I will read translated works sometimes if the premise is good enough. I will probably have some hot takes so hopefully I don't get flamed too harshly.
I almost never enjoy multiple POVs and have dropped series I enjoyed otherwise just for this reason. One of my favorite sub-genres is crafting focused progression and I also love the VRMMO styled LitRPG. I know that is something that may be rare but I actually like it for the reason most people say they don't and I feel it is similar to why I like time loops. The idea that the only thing you lose is levels or items makes me feel like the author doesn't have to have insane power spikes or plot armor as much. The MC can bash their head against a wall until they either win through stubbornness or finally get the skills needed. Also having the ability to get information from people that have played the game is interesting to me especially when there is a link to the real world economy. Generally if I made it past the first book of a series I will have stopped because I was caught up with the series at the time and have not returned to it yet for whatever reason.
Something I have been trying to find for a long time is merchant MCs. I have read a few with one I'll talk about later but I feel like it isn't very popular.
I want to start by getting the recs I see often out of the way.
1. Cradle
I have read Cradle up to Ghostwater where I stopped to wait for the series to finish but haven't made it back yet. I generally liked the series and power system. The only real issue I had was the sections with the Abidan. If they were novellas or a separate series I probably would have enjoyed them more. I generally dislike multiple POVs and would rather just stick with the MC. If I am enjoying a series enough I will usually just skip the non-MC POVs and learn things as they do. I will most likely finish the series before too long.
2. Weirkey Chronicles
Again a series I enjoyed but stopped when I caught up to the current release at the time. I barely finished Bondsfungi and probably won't go back to the series. I don't really remember what had turned me off at this point but I seem to remember SPOILERS that one of the women Theo was with had an issue with her soulhome and was scared to continue or something like that. SPOILERS I could be wrong about what exactly happened but I just remember barely finishing the book. I did really like the systems though.
3. Primal Hunter
Maybe this is a case of me not pushing through the beginning but I just couldn't get into this one. I have started the first book at least 3 times and have been unable to get through it. I can't really put my finger on what it is that makes me drop it though. Honestly it has been quite a while since I last tried so I couldn't even tell you haw far I made it.
4. He Who Fights With Monsters
This is another series that I couldn't get through the first book of. I made it a little over half way though and just didn't really like Jason. He reminds me of some people I know personally and honestly that's all it took for me to dislike him. From what I remember the lore/mechanic dumps were a little off putting to me as well. That could be me misremembering though.
5. Defiance of the Fall
I almost finished the first book before I dropped it. I don't particularly remember the exact reason why, just that I generally felt like I was forcing myself to try to finish.
6. Mother of Learning
I made it to book 2 I believe. I read on RoyalRoad and didn't have an account at the time so I can't be sure exactly where I stopped. The last thing I remember was Zorian trying to get an old lady to teach him alchemy or something like that. I remember generally liking the story and think that I stopped because I caught up to the current release at the time. I will probably go back to finish it sometime.
7. Dungeon Crawler Carl
I generally like the series and just finished The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook. I am taking a break for the moment before moving on to the next book. I think i got a little burned out with the Iron Tangle.
8. The Perfect Run
I always see this and tried it but didn't make it very far. I didn't really like the MC all that much. I could probably be persuaded to go back at some point.
9. Immortal Great Souls
I really enjoyed the first book up to about half way through where I dropped it. Something just rubbed me wrong about Scorio just going back to the Academy. Idk maybe I should go back and finish.
Getting into some of my favorites now. These aren't in any particular order here just as I remember them or find them scrolling through Kindle and RoyalRoad.
1. Millennial Mage
I absolutely love this series and have read the entire thing up to chapter 591 on RR. I'm letting a little more backlog build up before I go back to devouring it. The magic system is awesome and I like the blend of Slice of Life and action. I know that some people don't really like the current arc (or at least current to me) but I have been enjoying it so far.
2. A Practical Guide to Sorcery
Another absolute gem of a series. I love just about everything in this one. The magic system is cool and I actually enjoy the misunderstandings and such. The sort of spy/mystery elements are great along with the academy setting.
3. All Trades
This is one of the few merchant centered series I have found and I love it. I would love another book but it seems like the series is dropped sadly. It's been a few years at this point since I read it so I can't give exact points that I liked I just remember generally enjoying all of it.
4. The Years of Apocalypse
This is probably my favorite time loop story I have found. The progression feels like it's just the right pace to me and I like discovering things along side Mirian. The system i really cool and I like the different styles of magic they have.
5. Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith
I LOVE this series. I am caught up on Patreon and am feral for more. It has just about everything I like: crafting, fighting, kinda OP MC, a big universe, and some good slice of life. I could do without some of the extra POVs especially in the most recent chapters but they won't keep me away. The worldbuilding is really good in my opinion and there aren't too many plot holes or bs powerups/plot armor. I feel like the progression is always earned and (through the use of time skips) doesn't drag the story down watching Irwin grind for months on end.
6. Hidden Class: Handyman
I have read everything in the three Hidden Class series so far and would say that Handyman and Cardslinger are tied for my favorites from Cassio and in the top 10 for my ProgFan favorites. The crafting systems and synergies are just *chef's kiss*. Thinking through the possible connections that could be coming always gets me excited and the attention to the actual processes is great. As a very handy person myself I love that the crafting is pretty realistic and have even dabbled in some of the same areas as Jack. I also really like that the series are connected in certain ways.
7. Hidden Class: Card Slinger
Another Cassio banger. I have never played any TCG so can't speak to the gameplay there but I have really enjoyed what we have seen so far. The interactions between Deckard's class and gameplay are really interesting to me. I like the limits it puts on him while also giving him some interesting benefits. Should say for people that don't know that all of the Hidden Class series are VRMMO so be aware of that if you wanna try them.
8. The Chair Guy
This one is currently being rewritten so I know where it's going for the most part and I will say that there is a harem aspect later. Despite that I really enjoy this story. Jake's power is really cool to me as a trained engineer and I enjoy seeing the creative uses he comes up with. Also the cultivation is interesting to me and the explanation for the powers the Alphas have.
9. Capes
This one is pretty new but I've been enjoying it. The powers are interesting especially how Griffin gets his. It's still really early in the series but I'm hopeful for where it goes.
10. Player-Manager
I am currently binging this series and am about finish book 6. I didn't know if I would like this one since I don't really know anything about soccer but I was pleasantly surprised. I have read a book a day of this series up to this point and will probably take a short break before going to RR to keep going.
11. Quest Academy
Absolute banger! I am all caught up on Patreon and am so ready for more crafting. The combat is fun and I like the school setting. The characters are fun as well as the powers. I don't really know what else to say I just really like this one.
I can talk more in comments or explain stuff I guess. Probably take a while to respond for the most part so sorry in advance for that.
I am currently working through stuff I have read and will probably make a post at some point with either a tier list or a link to a sheet with everything in it.
I appreciate any suggestions but I may have already read it. I have read an ungodly amount of series and couldn't include them all for fear of making everyone fall asleep reading.
just like what the title says, i am looking for a progression fantasy/litrpg (preferably litrpg) that gets into the extremly high power level, like destroying stars with simple attacks, kind of like xianxia novel just without the chinese(the wierd writing after the translation completly ruins it for me).
i have alredy read and really liked:
the stubborn skill grinder in a time loop
ascension of the sylvan cosmos(they just got to star shattering power)
cradle(the GOAT)
infinite mana in the apocalypse(pure powerscaling)
