Light LitRPG

The Keepers of Limbo (The Range Book #1): LitRPG Series

Yesterday Altai was a war hero. Today he is a prisoner who chose exile to Rhapsody instead of death. This planet, the Range, knows no mercy. Here, thousands of prisoners fight each other for a place under the strange, cold sun. Here, the leftover alien biomechanisms and out-of-control Terran war machines roam in the ruins, and human life is measured in virtual experience that can be exchanged for armor and implants.

Surviving in the Limbo slaughterhouse, upgrading to the tenth level and getting into the Green Zone is all any dead man can hope for. Except not everyone succeeds. Altai will have to make a lot of effort just to take a breather, and remaining high in the audience’s favor is something worth striving for. After all, the Range, among other things, is the most popular reality show, one of the few where everything is real, and death...death only raises the ratings.

Everything is Worth Killing: Isaac's Tale (An Apocalyptic LitRPG)

Two wingless, rock-spitting dragons. Dozens of warmongering ogres. Hundreds of dynamite-wielding gnomes.

And one normal guy in the middle of it all.

Bad mornings. We've all had 'em. But what if you woke up in a post-apocalyptic land filled with wizards, dragons, and ogres? Not only that, but you woke up as a prisoner of a clan of mages who don’t even speak your language? What if these guys expected you to know magic, but left you to figure out for yourself how to cast it?

These are the problems Isaac must solve. And what's he going to do when death knocks on his door?

He's going to blast a fireball through the letterbox and send death running.

But first...he just needs to learn how to even cast a fireball.

Follow his journey through a land filled with creatures that want to kill him, and watch as he refuses to let them. Accompany him into a land of mystery and danger, where life is tough and learning spells and skills takes work. A land where Isaac is determined to stop being the prey and become the predator.

This is his journey to make allies and friends in this new world. A journey through battles against slaver ogres and wingless dragons and gnome dictators. Through experimentation and adaptation, where he learns that killing one enemy helps him against the next. It’s also his journey to find a warm, comfy bed.

This is the tale of a someone who used to be a normal guy. It's Isaac’s tale of adapting to a world where everything is worth killing.

Dark Wizard's Case

Alexander Dumsky, or Alex Doom, was a dark wizard. At the age of seventeen, he was convicted of a litany of crimes so long that even the seasoned investigators, judges, and prosecutors involved in the case could only shudder.

Not a single attorney could be found to defend him in court.

But four years later, Alex was released from prison to become the Professor of Dark Magic. They'd thrown him into the deepest hole they could find, one built for the sole purpose of holding wizards, and then they let him back out again...

Why him? Why then?

Oh, you're not surprised to hear talk of wizardry? Well, then you probably know that the Magic Lens, which was invented in 2032, let humans see and use magic again.

Rise of the Necromancer: A LitRPG Series

Cast spells, have fun, bring the dead back to life. Being a necromancer has its perks.

Jakub Russo recently graduated from the Queen's Academy of Magic. He is a necromancer - a wizard who can bring the dead back to life - and he's still trying to prove himself.

Disaster strikes while he and his friends are traveling through a desert, and he wakes up alone in a land where danger lurks in every shadow. Using his necromancy magic and survival grit, he needs to save his friends and get to safety.

Can he pull off this impossible rescue when he finds himself up against a band of not-so-nice slavers, ridiculously giant insects, and an old warrior bear looking for revenge?

Well, if a necromancer can't cheat death then nobody can.

Blood of Fate (World 99 Book #1): LitRPG Wuxia Series

The body of young paralyzed Luca, a boy killed by cruel bullies, becomes home to an interdimensional traveler. This is the ninety ninth world for this traveler who has spent an entire life in each of his previous worlds. And now he is out of lives, his previous misdeeds leaving him with a negative balance of points and preventing him from reincarnating anew. Once he realizes that he must spend his final life in a poverty-stricken family in a backward world, he awakens the consciousness of the deceased Luca and ends his own physical existence, leaving all his abilities to his heir.

One such ability is the use of the Wheel. Every traveler can spend points to spin the Wheel and gain a special talent, a superpower, or... a deadly illness. Luca spins the Wheel and gains the superpower of metamorphosis. Now he can regenerate, recover from deadly wounds and even take on the shape of other beings. The young man takes on the form of the Emperor: to avoid death, help his family and, finally, to bring order to the Empire!


Luxury Cafe Owner

Alan Pender, a bored, 20-something, college graduate with a degree in general studies woke up the day after graduation and suddenly realized his degree was useless and he had to get a job. As he walked around looking for help wanted signs, a series of unfortunate accidents occurred resulting in him entering a coma. When he woke up, he discovered he'd been granted a mysterious system. Moreover, the system finally provided him with some direction about what he should do with his life. Follow Alan as he explores his new found calling!

The Crafter (Book 1): Legacy

As a ten year old orphan, all Wick ever wanted was money, power, and well, what else was there? Enough is never enough. His father's death left him only with a glass amulet, his trusty spade, and two level one skills. Six months in the backwater city of Outlast, Wick has finally decided to make his move for a brighter future. It may cost him the beating of his life, but he lives by the Sprawler's Code: The strong live long, but the bold get the gold.

Follow Wick on the beginning of his new life as he explores new powers and manipulate anyone foolish enough to get in his way.

Story Does Contain: Male Lead, Fast Pace, Slightly Overpowered Protagonist, Greedy Protagonist, Right of Passage, Multiple Magic Systems, Mystery

Story Does NOT Contain: Harem, Ultraviolence, Horror, Mopey Protagonist

Eight-Bit Bastards: Level One

When you’ve maxed out your level, done every quest, and defeated every enemy, there’s not much left. So after seven centuries of immortality, Sean wants nothing more than to die. Afterall was touted as a paradise, an afterlife where anyone could pursue their interests, from archery to zookeeping. The gaming was the stuff of legend, but for Sean it had grown stale.

But when a woman from a past life informs him of a real, flesh-and-blood descendant that has hacked his way in, Sean finds a new purpose. The AI doesn’t take kindly to interlopers, and parks the intruder in the one realm so buggy that even the oldest, most powerful denizens of Afterall steer clear of it – the Bitrealm.

Sean must enter a land created for the original gamers, people like him who cut their teeth on some of the first video games released to the public. Will Sean brave the pixelated wilderness of Bitrealm to rescue his lost kin? Or will he fall victim to the force that has been making people vanish? One thing’s for certain, he can’t do it alone. He’s going to need a few members of his original guild.

He’s going to need some Eight-Bit Bastards.

Earth Force (Relict Legacy Book 1)

On the first day, a mist descended from the heavens blanketing earth.

On the second day, a cryptic message, ‘Infusion commencing’, appeared in the corner of everyone’s eyes.

On the third day, the sick were healed and the crippled walked again.

On the fourth day, celebration and joy spread across the globe.

And on the fifth day, the warping began…

There was no warning.

A mist descended from the sky, disabling all technology and causing a weird message to appear at the corner of everyone’s eye. The situation grew even worse as animals and people started to warp, transforming into terrible monsters that prey on the livings.

Within months, human civilization had crumbled. Unable to fight the seemingly-indestructible beasts, the survivors are reduced to cowering in reinforced shelters. Waiting for the end to come. Helpless.

All seemed lost until a few brave souls discovered the secret of their new reality: the Tec and how to use it to level up.

Together they represent humanity’s last best hope for salvation. But they first must find the answers to the mystery of their new existence.

Their journey will require them to quickly adapt to alien technology, operate strange spaceships, and even befriend an extra-terrestrial merchant with an Inferiority Complex.

The City and the Dungeon: And Those who Dwell and Delve Within

The City is an immense metropolis of crystal spires and wondrous magic. Beneath is the Dungeon, a vast underground world, and a source of endless treasure guarded by grotesque and deadly monsters. No one knows where the Dungeon came from, or why.

Any who would dare face the dangers and riches of the Dungeon must first be transformed into a delver, a quasi-immortal creature whose every attribute is defined by numbers. Yet the "immortality" offered is but illusionary, for without consuming the crystal found only within the Dungeon, a delver will inevitably die.

One young immigrant braves the Dungeon to remit money to his family, only to find much, much more. Friends, power, and secrets of the Dungeon.

Perhaps even love.

My Opinion: 353 pages, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited; Available as an Audiobook

Review written by Ray Johnson for the Audiobook version of the story:

I don't get to say this very often about a LITRPG book, but this one really stands out. It pretty much avoids a lot of the repetitive things that occur in other books of this genre. I like that. It tells a story, but doesn't slavishly follow conventions set forth by others in this genre. Plus, the characters, even the background ones, are all interesting and the story is compelling, which leads us into a fantastic tale that you are lucky enough to be able to read.

The main character, Alex Kenderman, decides to start out as a dungeon diver, and the whole system is sort of based on different crystals. The crystals follow the color wheel, red, orange, yellow, blue, etc. Players all have auras that grow stronger and change colors as they level up, and in order to survive they need to eat one crystal per day. Bit of a warning, the book does start just a wince slow, it does need to build up some steam, but once that boiler pops you will be going full bore down the rails without any brakes. Seriously, it picks up and never looks back. I think it helps that you aren't bogged down by the characters having to farm XP, as Schmidt smartly kinda skips that part of the storyline. A wise choice. Another issue is that the sheer number of characters can be a bit overwhelming, but unlike some books you will know the players as they start to standout. That is the crux of it, the story is more character driven than anything else. The plot is good, and the gaming stuff is there, but it is the characters that hold your attention and keep you listening.

So, what is so different? For one thing, the protagonist is not overpowered or have special abilities that no one else has or can get. He is just a regular joe; leveling as he goes along. Oh, and no Uber-powerleveling either. I also liked that you weren't over whelmed by game mechanics, stat screens, damage reports, etc. It doesn't hurt that the characters are all likable and hold your interest. Additionally, I think that the game system itself is well thought out that allows for some cool class building. This story has a feel like WOW insofar as the characters try to get gaming gear and go on raids. One benefit, and I talk about this a lots is that there are not as many stats thrown at you as the book moves on. The story rolls and you aren’t being smacked in the face by numerous reports of status changes every fifteen or so pages. So you might say that it looks less at stats than it does world building. Another thing that is usually problematic is the fact that there are huge jumps in time throughout the book, during which new classes might have suddenly been added or other things. Normally, this would bug me, and to a slight extent it did, so I have to chop off some points for that, but the fact is that it worked in the story. The story still flowed nicely and you just sort of roll along with it. Finally, one odd aspect is that there is often a lot of build up about bosses or monsters and then when the fight comes it is practically over before it starts. I’m talking a few paragraphs rather than pages.

Doug Tisdale Jr. does a great job narrating and living the story out for you. He took me a few minutes to get used to, but once I settled in I was impressed at his skill and versatility. I know him best from the Days of Future Past series by John Van Stry where he did some incredible work. Like I say he has a lot of skill and versatility and he held my interests but there were points that he seemed rushed or was upping the pace unnecessarily. Also, he does a great job with voices, but could inject a little more emotion into the tale. I think he did better in the Days of Future Past series, which is odd because that is an earlier work. I’d say he did a 7 out of 10 on his part of the book.

Final score is a 7.9. I enjoyed it, but I think the fighting scenes could have been better fleshed out and that there is a weakfish ending that isn’t as strong as the rest of the story. Coupled with the slow start and I have to consider that while the book is fun and captivating it isn’t perfect.

Score: 7.9 out of 10

The City and the Dungeon: And Those who Dwell and Delve Within

https://amzn.to/2X94SVA

Code of the Necromancer : A LitRPG Series (Book 2)

Cast your spells. Earn EXP. Bring the dead back to life.

Death fears the men who can use magic against it, but what are those guys scared of?

Well, necromancers are only human. Jakub Russo has a big heart but a dark past, and when he's banished from the magical academy for failure in his first assignment, he finds himself needing new allies, new spells, and new weapons.

A world of secrets and spells awaits outside the academy doors, and Jakub knows that one day, he'll master them all. If he can find his own code, he'll become the best necromancer who ever lived.

This is book 2 in the Necromancer series. It can be read as a standalone, but I recommend starting with book 1, Path of the Necromancer.

Viridian Gate Online: Nomad Soul: A litRPG Adventure (The Illusionist Book 1)

If you had to choose between your life and your dreams, would you ever wake up?

Alan Campbell thought he’d gotten his dream job working on a revolutionary VRMMORPG with Osmark Technologies, until the project was canceled. He has one weekend to dive into an untested world full of intrigue, violence, and corruption to prove that Viridian Gate Online works, but the AIs running the game have their own plans for his soul.

Set a year before the events of “Viridian Gate Online: Cataclysm,” The Illusionist: Nomad Soul takes you back to when VGO was just a game, or so it seemed.

From James A. Hunter—author of Viridian Gate Online, Rogue Dungeon, and War God's Mantle—and D.J. Bodden, author of The Black Year Series, comes an epic new entry into the Expanded Universe of Viridian Gate Online that you won't want to put down!

Shattered City: (A litRPG/LitFPS book) (Call of Reality Book 1)

Roland never wanted to be in the Army. He didn't want to be penniless either. The Army wanted him though.

Roland Mellors couldn't find work. The second industrial revolution had left anyone without high-level qualifications poor and unemployed. When he tries to get just one beer to drown his sorrows he ends up in a recruitment office with an offer he can't refuse.

Shattered City is a LitRPG/LitFPS story. It is the start of a series that follows Roland as he tries to fit in within the army. That army has decided to use a full immersion virtual reality game to fight its wars. He enters the game world to fight and work off his new contract.

Will Roland survive in this virtual world of war or will he suffer for his entire career?

Find out in this first installment of the Call of Reality series.

Radioactive Evolution

How far would you go to change humanity's fate?

Jared Cartwright has spent the last two years delving into the twisted, scarred wastelands of an earth ravaged by nuclear war. The rich and powerful have taken to the oceans and skies on floating utopias, escaping destruction and leaving the rest of humanity to fend off the mutated creatures that roam the earth.

To face his new reality, Jared must become an apex predator if he hopes to survive. He must evolve beyond human limitations to confront those that left mankind to die.

Jared’s quest takes a new turn when he discovers dragons are real.

Save Point: Upload (Book 1 - Sci-Fi litRPG Series)

Adam Harris’s name has just appeared on a top secret list of extraterrestrial origin. Unbeknownst to him, he’s one of a handful of individuals capable of implementing a Save Point, a static moment in time he’s able to revisit over and over upon death.

It’s a good thing, too. Brain cancer was turning into a real drag…

The government owns the list though, and they’ve wasted no time snapping him up. According to them, he has thirteen days in an alien realm to learn as much as he can before the inevitable, at which point his memories, Skill Progressions and Weapon Proficiencies will endure despite his body resetting.

Then it’s rinse and repeat.

But there are unwritten rules to the game he’s about to play, and unseen forces acting in judgment. Adam will have to learn the hard way that dying is the easiest thing he’s going to do today.

Siphon (A Touch of Power Book 1)

Jade has spent her life fighting boredom in the terminally ill ward. Surfing the net or reading, she always envied the ability of others to go out and experience the world. She knew her wish to live a normal life was far beyond her reach, but after waking up one morning without the sounds of her life support, she opens her eyes and finds herself with a weak but healthy body in a magical world.

As blue game-like system notifications fill her vision, she knows that she'll have to adapt quickly in order to survive… but this is all she ever dreamed of, so Jade is up to the challenge. She will soon realize that you need to be careful what you wish for.

This is Andara, where her true adventure finally begins.

ERDE ONLINE - INSIDE: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel

Enter to play, win to escape.

It seemed like harmless fun at first, when Justin entered the world of ERDE Inside. He quickly discovers that the real game is trying to save his own reality.

Justin Schwartz is obsessed with ERDE, one of the most popular franchises in the world. The most recent iteration of the game has been in development for a decade, and is called ERDE: Inside, a virtual world that lives and breaths independent of its creators.

As part of a massive PR campaign, OMEGA-DEGA starts a contest for people to join the open beta of ERDE: Inside. Obsessed with getting in, Justin exploits the system to win a slot in the beta, but his actions don't go unnoticed. A hacker called Pnutxebra spotted Justin's exploit and blackmails the leadership of OMEGA-DEGA. Either they allow Justin into the game and trap him there until he finishes the Son of Schwarzvald questline, or Pnutxebra destroys ERDE: Inside so thoroughly they can't recover a decade of work.

Let the game begin.

The Wandering Inn: Volume 1

(This novel is the e-book version of the free web serial. You may read the entire ongoing story at wanderinginn.com free of charge.)

“No killing Goblins.”

So reads the sign outside of The Wandering Inn, a small building run by a young woman named Erin Solstice. She serves pasta with sausage, blue fruit juice, and dead acid flies on request. And she comes from another world. Ours.

It’s a bad day when Erin finds herself transported to a fantastical world and nearly gets eaten by a Dragon. She doesn’t belong in a place where monster attacks are a fact of life, and where Humans are one species among many. But she must adapt to her new life. Or die.

In a dangerous world where magic is real and people can level up and gain classes, Erin Solstice must battle somewhat evil Goblins, deadly Rock Crabs, and hungry [Necromancers]. She is no warrior, no mage. Erin Solstice runs an inn.

She’s an [Innkeeper].