The best
Gaslamp Fantasy books:
Reddit reviews
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
The best of Gaslamp Fantasy books by number of unique Reddit comments:
Top Reddit reviews mentioning Gaslamp Fantasy books:
Hey, this is me! I self-published my first novel on Amazon just about a month ago.
It's called The Greencloak Wanderer. It's a cozy epic fantasy written in a heightened style, inspired by works such as Redwall and The Books of Earthsea. It would be awesome if you could give it a look!
Oh hello, may I interest you in The Half Killed by u/QuenbyOlsen
It has all those things! Strong female lead in a Victorian paranormal fantasy with romance elements! It's a very atmospheric book, in this alternate London there's an unprecedented heat wave and I could almost feel the heat while reading. Very beautiful prose, really unique story - one of the only Victorian books I've liked!
Every book has mixed reviews, especially once it hits "best seller" status and has a wide variety of people reading it, all with different tastes. Can you point to a single book that doesn't have some negative reviews? You will get mixed reviews here, too, since people here have varied tastes.
You can get free samples for nearly every book ever on Amazon. Here's the page for Strange & Norrell, which has both ebook samples and audiobook samples, so you can pick whichever you prefer.
https://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Strange-Norrell-Susanna-Clarke-ebook/dp/B003RRXXMA
in short. I'm a big fan of genre fiction. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, urban paranormal romance, all that jazz. Game of Thrones as I was reading it basically billed itself as this Fantasy Epic. Now I went into this before the show started.. the summer before so the buzz I had was just from book readers who regarded it as a beloved series. I read it and I kept waiting for the fantastic elements to appear. It opened with these special dire wolves after a preamble scene which hinted at a greater fantastic enemy to come. And the entire book just never delivered. I was four chapters past it and still expecting Sansa's wolf to show up and come back to life, because clearly those wolves were going to play an important part on the family's journey. Nah. I finished the book still in this "waiting" mindset.
After finishing I did something I don't often do. I said no. I'm a completionist. I try to finish the series I read. Notable exceptions include the Wheel of Time (simply because I don't want it to end.. it's that... BIG to me). And other series I've won on GoodReads but only have the first book and it's difficult to obtain the others for whatever reason. But Game of Thrones is maybe one of two book series that I've deliberately stopped reading. The other was just horrific. So bad it's made me afraid to try free Amazon books and I've had some of my best books have been from free Amazon.
That's like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Morrell, a huge, immersive fantasy novel filled with footnotes.
The paper magician has a similar premise.
Magicians can bond with and control one type of man-made material. Once you choose you can't change it.
There are plastic magicians, iron magicians etc.
The heroin is a paper magician, which is considered "less desirable" as paper is "weak". There's a lot of origami use...
I wouldn't really say I "recommend it", it's the sort of book where the entire story is centered around her feelings towards "someone she shouldn't be with" (her mentor...), so I personally didn't like it. But the basic premise seems like what you want so you might like it.
In my book Half a Mimic the MC has to use his mimicry ability to manipulate/impersonate others. He’s also living a double/triple life amongst a gang of dangerous thieves
Half a Mimic - The Cutthroat Chronicles (A LitRPG Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y1NNMR2/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_77NZ41JW3Q97PTGFA8K4
Welcome to Blade’s Rest is heavy on town building, it’s the whole focus of the book. It has a casual, slow-paced vibe if that appeals to you. Lots of crafting.
I also heard that the author is an awesome guy
Welcome to Blade's Rest (A Low-Stakes Town Building LitRPG) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VQ3ZBN9/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_YTQK38AQEFNWM9W2N9QN
Awesome, you’re asking about my favourite genre…which happens to be the genre I write in!
My book, Welcome to Blade’s Rest, is very much like this. I wrote it to be a relaxing read, so there are no bleak themes or world-ending conflicts. Just cosines and the joy of making something.
It’s about a guy and his buddies building a town from scratch, packed full of crafting, warm pies and cool beers, banter between a group of friends, and a sprinkling of weird and wonderful fantasy characters.
It’s a LitRPG book with some focus on Josh and his friends progressing their crafting skills, but my main goal in writing it was to create the book form of relaxing in a cosy tavern on a winter evening with a lovable gang of folks.
You can check it out below if that sounds like your cup of tea.
Welcome to Blade's Rest (A Low-Stakes Town Building LitRPG) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VQ3ZBN9/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_3HEKEMFKKM6H2C9Y5XY8
Half a mimic is out now!
Here it is: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y1NNMR2
Looking for a LitRPG adventure so great that you’ll forget the time, your chores, and maybe even your own name? Well, you found it.
There’s a reason that most mimics are sentenced to death.
What else do you do with folks who can change their appearance, their personality, and even their abilities in the blink of an eye? A mimic could pretend to be your own grandma and you wouldn’t notice. Except for the fact she stopped baking cookies.
So, if you catch a mimic and they won't agree to work for the empire, they have to be killed. It’s the only way.
Arch John Wild was a normal guy.
He lived with his father on a little farm in a house that they built by themselves.
And then he found out that he was a half-mimic.
With over 1000 followers on Royal Road, Half a Mimic is so good that it will pass in the blink of an eye, leaving you satisfied with a complete story yet desperate to read book 2…which isn’t far away!
Series or Standalone: Series, book 2 almost written
Genre: Fantasy & LitRPG
Sub Genres: Progression fantasy
Main character: A half-mimic, lovable asshole who is in over his head but is ready to work hard on his abilities
Other characters: A likable bunch of thieves who become a kind of found-family
Violence: Yes
Swearing: Yes
Number of mysteries: 3
Amount of double-crossings & betrayals: Lots
Beers consumed in the story: Too many
Beers consumed when writing: No comment
Should you read it right now: Yes
Half a mimic is out now!
Here it is: <strong>https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y1NNMR2</strong>
Looking for a LitRPG adventure so great that you’ll forget the time, your chores, and maybe even your own name? Well, you found it.
There’s a reason that most mimics are sentenced to death.
What else do you do with folks who can change their appearance, their personality, and even their abilities in the blink of an eye? A mimic could pretend to be your own grandma and you wouldn’t notice. Except for the fact she stopped baking cookies.
So, if you catch a mimic and they won't agree to work for the empire, they have to be killed. It’s the only way.
Arch John Wild was a normal guy.
He lived with his father on a little farm in a house that they built by themselves.
And then he found out that he was a half-mimic.
With over 1000 followers on Royal Road, Half a Mimic is so good that it will pass in the blink of an eye, leaving you satisfied with a complete story yet desperate to read book 2…which isn’t far away!
Series or Standalone: Series, book 2 almost written
Genre: Fantasy & LitRPG
Sub Genres: Progression fantasy
Main character: A half-mimic, lovable asshole who is in over his head but is ready to work hard on his abilities
Other characters: A likable bunch of thieves who become a kind of found-family
Violence: Yes
Swearing: Yes
Number of mysteries: 3
Amount of double-crossings & betrayals: Lots
Beers consumed in the story: Too many
Beers consumed when writing: No comment
Should you read it right now: Yes
Welcome to blades rest is focused on building a town, but there are also business within the town that get attention too
Welcome to Blade's Rest (A Low-Stakes Town Building LitRPG) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VQ3ZBN9
Welcome to Blade’s Rest (disclaimer: it’s my book) is heavily about town building, with the progression aspects coming from:
- the town growing and attracting new settlers/crafters/ shops
- the building skills of the MC improving
- the skills of allies (one is a forager, the other a hunter)
It’s light on fighting though. I wrote it to be a relaxing Sunday afternoon read rather than battles and stuff. It’s more of a ‘have a beer in the tavern with some new friends’ kind of book.
Anyway here it is - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VQ3ZBN9
Finished Welcome To Blade's Rest by Tom Watts. MC is one of three people hired by an MMORPG company to use the player rules to build a settlement. Not many players are doing it so they want to showcase some successes. It's a fun read, with at least 95% of the story happening inside the full immersion game. A lot of crafting and literal town building, plus interactions with the other players and assorted NPCs. Nothing world-shaking, but I look forward to a sequel.
Just started Exordium: An Epic Fantasy Adventure by Blake R. Wolfe. Doesn't appear to be litrpg. Set in a fantasy world a thousand years after an apocalypse. The MC makes his living and helps his sick mother by scrounging metal and artifacts from ancient ruins, but everything close to home has been picked clean. So he joins up with a team that's going to head further out, to where truly dangerous opportunities lie. Based on the back cover blurb he's going to succeed in finding something amazing, but also piss its guardians off. Good read so far.
I recently released Welcome to Blade's Rest with this purpose in mind. A nice, relaxing, low-stakes town builder LitRPG with no grimdark or assholes. It's mainly about friends building a town/community while drinking beer and eating pies and stews.
Welcome to Blade's Rest - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VQ3ZBN9
It’s for the US version - maybe your settings are converting it.
The link is here:
The Half Killed by Quenby Olson (/u/quenbyolson)
>Dorothea Hawes has no wish to renew contact with what lies beyond the veil. After an attempt to take her own life, she has retired into seclusion, but as the wounds on her body heal, she is drawn back into a world she wants nothing more than to avoid.
>She is sought out by Julian Chissick, a former man of God who wants her help in discovering who is behind the gruesome murder of a young woman. But the manner of death is all too familiar to Dorothea, and she begins to fear that something even more terrible is about to unleash itself on London.
>And so Dorothea risks her life and her sanity in order to save people who are oblivious to the threat that hovers over them. It is a task that forces her into a confrontation with her own lurid past, and tests her ability to shape events frighteningly beyond her control.
The Half Killed was an entrant in this year's SPFBO (Fantasy Book Critic's group).
Bingo Squares:
- An Author's Debut Fantasy Novel
- Horror
- Fantasy of Manners
The Half Killed by Quenby Olson (/u/quenbyolson)
>Dorothea Hawes has no wish to renew contact with what lies beyond the veil. After an attempt to take her own life, she has retired into seclusion, but as the wounds on her body heal, she is drawn back into a world she wants nothing more than to avoid.
>She is sought out by Julian Chissick, a former man of God who wants her help in discovering who is behind the gruesome murder of a young woman. But the manner of death is all too familiar to Dorothea, and she begins to fear that something even more terrible is about to unleash itself on London.
>And so Dorothea risks her life and her sanity in order to save people who are oblivious to the threat that hovers over them. It is a task that forces her into a confrontation with her own lurid past, and tests her ability to shape events frighteningly beyond her control.
The Half Killed was an entrant in this year's SPFBO (Fantasy Book Critic's group).
Bingo Squares:
- An Author's Debut Fantasy Novel
- Horror
- Fantasy of Manners
The Half Killed is creepy, atmospheric, and a slow burn (at least, this is what other people are saying.)
Dorothea Hawes has no wish to renew contact with what lies beyond the veil. After an attempt to take her own life, she has retired into seclusion, but as the wounds on her body heal, she is drawn back into a world she wants nothing more than to avoid. She is sought out by Julian Chissick, a former man of God who wants her help in discovering who is behind the gruesome murder of a young woman. But the manner of death is all too familiar to Dorothea, and she begins to fear that something even more terrible is about to unleash itself on London. And so Dorothea risks her life and her sanity in order to save people who are oblivious to the threat that hovers over them. It is a task that forces her into a confrontation with her own lurid past, and tests her ability to shape events frighteningly beyond her control.
It was also given a wonderful in-depth review here if you want a better idea of what you might be getting into.
And if you read it, I'll give you cookies. Or bacon. Or bacon cookies. (Cookie bacon? Now that just sounds weird.)
<strong>The Half Killed</strong> is a steampunk/gaslamp fantasy with seances and spirits and lamb fricasee (oh, my!) Readers have called it a "slow burn," compared it to the works of Neil Gaiman (...I don't believe them), and said it has atmosphere that leaks off the page.
Hang on, I'm trying to think of more things to say about it... Read it and I'll give you a cookie! A really good one!
The Half Killed is a gaslamp/historical fantasy set in Victorian-era London. The cover is scary, but that only makes it more fitting for Halloween, which is just around the corner! Buy lots of copies and drop them in kids' trick-or-treat buckets!
Goodness, how did I miss this yesterday??? (Oh, right. My stomach was trying to kill me. That's where I was.)
So, if you like historical settings, low fantasy, gaslamp fantasy, real settings that are slightly tweaked with magical and fantastical shenanigans, then maybe you'd like to check out The Half Killed!
Also, an entry in this year's SPFBO competition! (Will also probably get knocked out in the first slice-and-dice, but anywho...)
The Half Killed has Victorian London and a heatwave and dead bodies and spirits! (Oh, my!)
Dorothea Hawes has no wish to renew contact with what lies beyond the veil. After an attempt to take her own life, she has retired into seclusion, but as the wounds on her body heal, she is drawn back into a world she wants nothing more than to avoid.
She is sought out by Julian Chissick, a former man of God who wants her help in discovering who is behind the gruesome murder of a young woman. But the manner of death is all too familiar to Dorothea, and she begins to fear that something even more terrible is about to unleash itself on London.
And so Dorothea risks her life and her sanity in order to save people who are oblivious to the threat that hovers over them. It is a task that forces her into a confrontation with her own lurid past, and tests her ability to shape events frighteningly beyond her control.
It was on sale last week, but I guess we missed that. Ah, well. But it is available on KU, if you're so inclined.
Do you enjoy dark, Victorian-era, gaslamp fantasy? Then check out an entrant in this year's SPFBO, The Half Killed (which will be available on sale as part of a Kindle Countdown Deal starting on August 1st. So if you wait until Tuesday, you can grab it for only 99 cents!) (Or you can buy it now at full price, if you want.) (Parentheses.)
If you like seances, weird shadow spirits, an alternate version of Victorian-era London, and re-animation of the dead (okay, that last bit's slated for the sequel) then you might, possibly, if you're in the mood for it, like to check out - Free in KU! - The Half Killed!
I've never posted in the self-promo thread before, so here goes...
My gaslamp fantasy novel, The Half Killed, is available on Amazon. If you like seances, murder by demon, and corsets, then this might be the book for you!
"Dorothea Hawes has no wish to renew contact with what lies beyond the veil. After an attempt to take her own life, she has retired into seclusion, but as the wounds on her body heal, she is drawn back into a world she wants nothing more than to avoid.
She is sought out by Julian Chissick, a former man of God who wants her help in discovering who is behind the gruesome murder of a young woman. But the manner of death is all too familiar to Dorothea, and she begins to fear that something even more terrible is about to unleash itself on London.
And so Dorothea risks her life and her sanity in order to save people who are oblivious to the threat that hovers over them. It is a task that forces her into a confrontation with her own lurid past, and tests her ability to shape events frighteningly beyond her control."
Now I just have to get back to finishing up the prequel and the sequel before the end of the summer. Please send vast quantities of chocolate and maybe someone who wants to babysit four kids under the age of eight. I'll pay you in home-made cookies and... er... more cookies.