Just a few updates.
Been playing Everquest's TLP server with my brothers. Really fun. My brother just got crack, so we're all happy.
Dark Souls remastered is a bit silly. I'm running my SL 20 sorcerer that can only have +5 weapons through to get Dark Bead and blow up some lowbies. Basically just have to down Four Kings and Artorias. Shit is hard. The online community is huge right now. It's seriously the best its ever been in any Souls game because it actually fucking works for once.
New Path of Exile league comes out Friday. I took Monday off and am working from home on Friday. Doing some 10 hour shifts so I can get off work earlier, too.
Will Wight's new book also comes out Friday and the first three books in that series will be free on Amazon. If you like Wuxia at all, you should read it.
Jumping on the current top comment with copy-pasta from a comment I just made below in hopes people will see it in time.
I had an issue where I couldn't actually obtain "permanent" copies of the books because I have Kindle Unlimited, and Amazon was only giving me the option to borrow them. But I discovered a work around.
Go to Amazon and log out of your account. Then search in Amazon for "Will Wight box set" (Or here is the URL for the first box set: www.amazon.com/dp/B076G8DVN6/ ) Since you are logged out it will now give you the option to "buy" for $0.00.
Digital List Price: ~~$9.99~~ Kindle Price: $0.00 Save $9.99 (100%) Buy Now with 1-Click
Once you click on the link to "Buy Now", log in to make the purchase for $0.
Rinse and repeat for box set 2 and 3. Hope that helps! I worked for me. :-)
I had the same issue. But I discovered a work around. Go to Amazon and log out of your account. Then search in Amazon for "Will Wight box set" (Or here is the URL for the first box set: www.amazon.com/dp/B076G8DVN6/ ) Since you are logged out it will now give you the option to "buy" for $0.00.
Digital List Price: ~~$9.99~~ Kindle Price: $0.00 Save $9.99 (100%) Buy Now with 1-Click
Hope that helps! I worked for me. :-)
Wonderful series. For anyone reading this post who isn't a fan yet, here is where you want to start. The next book, Wintersteel, is likely coming out later this year and we're super excited about it.
Ha I assumed you were here asking for this specifically to hold you over between Cradle releases. It's an amazing series. Also it looks like the Kindle Box Set (first 3 books) is totally free right now! Long ass Amazon URL
For me book 1 was "Good enough to keep me interested/reading, but not extraordinary." Then I kept going, and it's now possibly my favorite series.
By the way, in case you are not aware, the Cradle: Foundation ebook (which is the first 3 books of the series in a single ebook) is free for the next few hours, be sure to get it before the deal ends, so you can see for yourself if it's for you without having to spend a dime. Here are the links:
The first 3 books in the Cradle series is free on Amazon until Thursday.
I noticed a distinct lack of Cradle in your list, so... that. Plus the rest of Will Wight's catalogue. I particularly liked the House of Blades series.
I don't know if he's ever been nominated for a Hugo, but Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space series is great (as is the rest of his bibliography).
If you've read Beware of Chicken you know that at the beginning the MC gives thanks to "Shizuko" for instructions on how to grow rice; the manga / web novel he's referring to is Sengoku Komachi Kurou Tan, and both are great if you can find them (it's not hard but is probably piracy I guess?). It's a fairly standard "transplanted into the past, now I gotta uplift" story, and the MC is believably hypercompetent (her grandfather is essentially Japanese Norman Borlaug and has ensured that she knows the history of agriculture inside and out).
If you liked Katalepsis but want something from the perspective of a friendly eldritch entity, you might want to try Eldritch Entity on a Journey of Self Discovery - it's kinda like Cinnamon Bun, except the main character is a friendly outside context problem. It's very new, though, so beware.
If you feel like a dungeon core story, NoDragons is back with OASIS CORE, which is set in the same world as Thieves' Dungeon.
Similar to a previous comment of mine, but if you're getting into the genre and want a broad spread of high quality books that cover much of the range. of the genre, I'd recommend
Or, if you have specific things you might like more (I don't have too many morally ambiguous recs, sorry), but for other themes:
If you liked the passionate characters and lots of fights, check out Iron Prince, Bastion, Dungeon Crawler Carl.
If magic schools are your jam, check out Arcane Ascension, Mark of the Fool, Mother of Learning, The Enchanter, The Scholomance Series.
If you want some very long series with hard numbers (so mostly LitRPG systems) where getting strong is the main focus with lots of cliffhangers, check out He Who Fights With Monsters, Defiance of the Fall, The Primal Hunter, Path of Ascension, Outcast in Another World, The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound.
If you want some more non-Chinese takes on cultivation, check out Soul Relic (disclosure, I wrote this), The Weirkey Chronicles, Seventh Bridge to the Heavens, The Tower Unbroken.
If you want more traditional cultivation, check out Forge of Destiny, I Shall Seal the Heavens.
If you want some VRMMO style takes, there's Awaken Online, Somnia Online.
I've got these listed out here with tags you can filter on, and please note there are hundreds of titles I haven't read yet - this is all just things I've personally read.
Well definitely continue MoL, it's one of my all-time favourites. It's been quite a while since I've dropped a full list of recs in this sub, so brace yourself. If any of these catch your eye and you want some more details, let me know.
Here's a mix of progression fantasy and LitRPG very roughly sorted by how much I personally loved each series. I haven't listed anything I didn't enjoy reading in general, so the bottom of the list is not "things I disliked," everything on this list I think is worth checking out.
the first 9 books of Cradle are available for free right now:
Cradle, Foundation: Box Set (Cradle Collection Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076G8DVN6/
Okay, analytic MCs, including the ones you listed already for completeness, with some more thrown in.
Analytic personality characters but the series doesn't have that analytic focus common to the others:
Generally, we'd cross into LitRPG as soon as you introduce hard numbers, attributes, classes, levels, etc, into the work. Andrew Rowe's Arcane Ascension series blurs the line a bit as he puts hard numbers to the amount of mana each person has.
If you want a westernised cultivation story (based on Chinese spiritual arts), Cradle is the most well known (and my favourite) progression fantasy series (review, amazon).
If you're instead a fan of more analytical MCs with a heavy focus on smart problem solving and preparation, check out Arcane Ascension (review, amazon) or Mother of Learning (review, amazon).
For more passionate characters relying on their sheer grit and determination, there's Iron Prince, which is a scifi/litrp crossover set in an combat focused academy (review, amazon), or Bastion which is a cultivation novel which follows the journey of Scorio, a reincarnated warrior in a collapsing society (review, amazon).
If you want to explore the LitRPG genre more, I'd recommend checking out either Jake's Magical Market (which starts of as a card-based magic system, review, amazon) or Dungeon Crawler Carl (review, amazon), which follows Carl and (his exes) cat, Princess Donut, as they descend into a multi-layered planetary dungeon that's streamed as the universes most popular reality TV show. I love both of those books.
If you have other non progression fantasy series you like, let us know and you'll get better recommendations. There's also classics outside the genre that are pretty close like Brent Week's Night Angel Trilogy*.
Okay, so I'll include the big titles in here in case you haven't read them:
This is a super common (and aggravating) trend in many PF and LitRPG books I read as well, for when the author wants to make the MC smart and innovative but does so by simply dumbing everyone else down.
The last one I read through, The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound, review here if you're interested has Randidly showing an entire world how to do basic business and make money.
Prior to that, there was Rogue Dungeon (review), which has the MC seen as a radical genius because he proposed insane concepts like "Let's work together".
If you want MCs that don't fall into this category, but do focus on intelligent MCs, my top recs are pretty standard here, but they are:
For other good ones which are totally free of "Everyone else is a moron so I look good", also check out
The 1st 3 books of the series are free on Amazon temporarily
Artwork on the collection covers show Yerin:
https://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Foundation-Collected-Book-ebook/dp/B076G8DVN6
In terms of Progression Fantasy, the most commonly recommended series are Cradle, by Will Wight, and Arcane Ascension, by Andrew Rowe. I'm even pretty sure Rowe actually coined the term Progression Fantasy, and he hangs around here under the name u/Salaris.
Here are some other recommendations, in no particular order:
P.S. It's not progressionFantasy, but if you like Eragon you might like The Bartimaeous Trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud. I used to love both Eragon and Bartimaeous growing up.
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites. I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites. I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.
some of the more popular ones:
Cradle: journey of a young man as he grows to become ever more powerful, first 3 books are free on Amazon right now:
https://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Foundation-Collected-Book-ebook/dp/B076G8DVN6
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Riyria Revelations, starting with Theft of Swords, follow the adventures of a warrior and an assassin with a mysterious past.
https://www.amazon.com/Theft-Swords-Revelations-Michael-Sullivan-ebook/dp/B005N6MDBA
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If you like RPG computer games, there is a whole section of fantasy and SF books categorized as litRPG or gameLit which are easy to pick up and are fun to read. Some examples:
-Awaken Online
-Limitless Lands
-Everybody Loves Large Chests (can also be read for free online)
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/8894/everybody-loves-large-chests/
Will Wight's "Cradle Foundation." Free on Amazon today. https://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Foundation-Collected-Book-ebook/dp/B076G8DVN6
If you want something that will blow your freaking socks off Will Wight and his Cradle series is a real page-turner that will not be put down. New book in the series drops today in fact. They are quick reads, but you crave more. He is a very active writer that puts out at least 2 books a year.
Here is a link to the first 3 in a one book combo on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Foundation-Collected-Book-ebook/dp/B076G8DVN6/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1MBWR16VTSBMH&keywords=will+wight+cradle&qid=1569439728&sprefix=will+wight%2Caps%2C414&sr=8-3
The audiobooks are fantastic as well but are hard to commit a credit to because they are pretty short.
I highly recommend this to EVERYONE!
If you want something a bit more difficult, in-depth, and rich take a look at the Malazan series. This series has a history that goes back millennia and spans planes of existence! However this series is very difficult to read, and Steven Erickson has a writing style that can take some getting used to. First book is Gardens of the Moon: https://www.amazon.com/Gardens-Moon-Book-Malazan-Fallen-ebook/dp/B002KYHZLQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1569440277&sr=8-1
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Yeah, Sanderson writes phenomenal books. We can all agree to that. Very cool guy too. I am lucky enough to have some signed first editions!
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites. I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites. I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.
Here's a link to the first boxset.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076G8DVN6/ on Sandersonin The Stormlight Archive ohella paras sarja tällä hetkellä eihän se mitään Tolstoita ole mutta todella koukuttava.
My favorite book series is getting a new book.
Cradle by Will Wight. r/iteration110cradle
I'll probably give it a shot, but I admit, I don't understand the appeal of covers like this, especially for the first in the series. To me, it's far too...how do I put it? Try-hardy? On the nose? Edge lord-y? It looks like what you'd get from having a professional artist basing their art on a rebellious 14 year-old's sketch. "Look how COOL and BADASS and MURDER-Y I am!!!11"
Even the Arcane Ascension covers give me a little bit of that vibe, but this one is clearly going way over the top. It immediately puts me off, much like the harem LitRPG covers that are always [One badass dude in the middle + a hot chick of a different species on either side] I greatly prefer cover styles like in Cradle Foundation and Path of Gold: clean and understated - https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Will-Wight-ebook/dp/B076G8DVN6/
But hey, if it works for everyone else, more power to ya.