Book picks similar to
The Houndsman by J. Pal


litrpg
fantasy
litrpg-gamelit
won-t-read-dropped

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


Alex Oakchest - 2019
    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. Over 500 pages of fast-moving fantasy, set in a brutal apocalyptic world. This is a mesmerizing story about one guy's quest for power and survival, with light litrpg/game-like elements and a focus on him learning how to use magic. 'Amazing - I love it because of how original it is. This is a hidden gem. The story is good and I'm enjoying the style.' - Early Reviewer 'A breath of fresh air. Isaac is not some over-powered or genius guy. He is just a dude trying to survive in the cruel world he was thrown in, and he is trying to make head and tail of what is going on.' - Early reviewer 'Enjoyable - I especially like the rationality of the main character and how he approaches problems. Unique, definitely worth reading.' - Early reviewer.

Heroes of Last Resort


JK Galioto - 2021
    

The Otherist: Arrival


William Dickey - 2017
    A day where boundaries between worlds were bent and nature’s most divine laws violated. To the humans remaining on Earth, it was the day where a million people vanished in an instant, carried away by columns of light descending from the heavens.To Isaac Stein, an ordinary 17-year-old boy, it was a fresh start. Isaac finds himself on an alternate version of Earth named Tautellus, an extraordinary world filled with magical beings thought to exist only in legend. Isaac struggles to establish new ties and harness his newfound mystical powers, but just as he begins to thrive in his new home, it is savagely ripped away by the invasion of a hostile nation.Driven to prevent others from meeting the same cruel fate, Isaac must brave the harsh wilderness, overcome betrayals, and wage war for his survival. In the meantime, he stumbles upon secrets of a long lost magitechnologically advanced civilization and their ancient enemy. An enemy that now seeds war and chaos throughout the land as they attempt to seize both Tautellus and Earth.

Adapt: The Scourge Wars Book 2


Derek Belfield - 2019
    The first clutch has hatched, and their forces have been reinvigorated for a conflict with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, their entry into the realm of Somnium hasn’t come without its costs. Far to the east, the Lord of Light’s mortal enemy, the Vallyr, have learned of their budding settlement. In an effort to wipe them out once and for all, Mors dal Ventrix, Patriarch of the Vallyrian Collective has summoned his army and sent them west. While the Scourge leadership is on the warpath, things aren’t so easy in their capitol city of Bastion. The Cult of the Leech saboteurs plague the city, a strange Prophet claiming to be from the Lord of Light has arrived, and the Scourge must struggle to recruit enough warriors to fend off the much larger Vallyrian forces. In book two of the Scourge Wars, Slate must accomplish one thing: adapt or die.

Factory Core - The Dwarven Secret Weapon: A Dungeon Core Epic


Jared Mandani - 2019
    Bursting out of the breach they created is a horde of powerful demons that only know one thing: to destroy. Fast-forward a few months and the war rages on. Unfortunately for them, despite their bravery, the dwarves are no match for the sheer numbers and ferocity of their adversary. In a last-hope attempt to save their kind, they decide to activate a secret project their engineers had been working on: a mobile factory made of bricks, brass, magical runes and soul gems. That sentient machine is not only capable of observing and learning from its foes, it can also produce the required weapons necessary to strike back. This Factory Core—as they call it—will need to build units and defensive mechanisms to repel the demon army and prevent it from razing the city. But this will prove to be an almost impossible task as the invaders, led by a vicious commander, have more than one trick up their own sleeve…

Mana Harvest: Sword to Ploughshare Farming LitRPG


Wolfe Locke - 2021
    A suggestion by a friend.His eventual pension and what he plans to do with it.A purchase.Specifically in the village of Haven and the plot of land reserved by the Kingdom.After a lifetime of fights and scuffles, its time for something new.Time to be...A farmer

Brambles and Thorns


J.T. Wright - 2022
    With a band of Adventurers looking to him for direction, whether he likes it or not, Trent Embra needed to figure out how to lead them.But how was he supposed to lead when there were so many things Trent hadn’t figured out for himself?An unidentifiable seed in his Storage, and whispers in his head, Trent points his team west towards the wilds. It was as good a direction as any. Maybe in uncivilized lands, Trent would learn what it meant to be an Adventurer and sort through what mattered most.

Extra Credit


J. Arthur Klein - 2021
    If you answered yes to the third, well… my mother taught me not to say mean things to people… even if they do deserve it!Money, as they say, is the root of all evil. Not having money that is. When budget cuts at the high school where JT teaches threaten his mortgage, he’s forced to seek an alternative source of income.Using the latest VR technology that lets the body rest while the mind is at play, our digital entrepreneur dives into the latest VR MMO game Argos Online with a potentially exploitative character build no one saw coming: the Kobold Necromancer.He’s got all of Spring Break to see if he can grind the system for all it’s worth… or end up Spring Broke in search of a new place to live with his wife and young son.YES: Stats, Cursing, Kobolds, Slice of LifeNO: Harem, Explicit, Pineapple on Pizza

ChronoTemplar


Burt Wrenlaw - 2021
    unless you're a pawn for an eldritch horror that: (A) can bend time, and (B) is a sore loser.Justin Thyme is not a good man, nor one destined for glory. He was meant to die in obscurity, yet another level 82 Templar that was just about to get chewed up by a horde of skittering monstrosities clawing at humanity's last enclave.One short conversation with a time-splitting monstrosity later, and Justin finds himself flung five years into the past—right when the Earth was first chosen to host the 9,947th Gladiatorial Games.Justin must now do all that he can to help save the world from crumbling under the twin pressures of monsters and murderers. But it's not all about grinding experience, gaining the most levels, and kicking the most ass. He can’t even stand out too much, lest he draw the attention of the other eldritch horrors observing Earth’s struggles for their amusement.No, it’s all about making the right connections, sowing the seeds of hope, culling the pests causing despair… oh, and exploiting the hell out of the System with his ‘borrowed’ ability to tweak time to his advantage.*ChronoTemplar is a dark, crunchy litRPG with lots of stats, skills and battles, for those who love action and complex characters.

The Idle System (A LitRPG series) 1-4 Box Set


Pegaz - 2019
    Inspired by classical LitRPG and Xianxia, it's a new take on the genres. Containing romance without harem elements, The Idle System isn't a novel for the weak of heart, but one for those enamored with planetary-levels of destruction. If the aforementioned tropes are to your taste, don't hesitate to buy this bundle.This volume contains the first four novels in The Idle System series: The New Journey, The Rogues, The Birth and The Sins, all of which are available separately.

Climbing the Dragon's Tower


Han Yang - 2021
    

A Fist Full of Credits


Tao Wong - 2021
    Veteran. Survivor.Hal Mason's still going to find surviving the System Apocalypse challenging.While bringing in his latest fugitive, Hal's payday is interrupted by the translucent blue boxes that herald Earth's introduction to the System - a galaxy spanning wave of structured mystical energy that destroys all electronics and bestows game-like abilities upon mankind.With society breaking down and mutating wildlife rampaging through the city of Pittsburgh, those who remain will sacrifice anything for a chance at earning their next Level. As bodies fall and civilization crumbles, Hal finds himself asking what price is his humanity. Are the Credits worth his hands being ever more stained with blood?Or does he press on - relentless?A Fist Full of Credits is the first book in a new series in the System Apocalypse universe. Written by debut author Craig Hamilton in Tao Wong's bestselling post-apocalyptic LitRPG universe, System Apocalypse - Relentless is another glimpse into what humanity will do when the chips are down and the monsters are crawling from the shadows.

Condition Evolution


Kevin Sinclair - 2020
    One with the power to repair his mind and body while he lives out his wildest dreams.What could possibly go wrong?It turns out fighting monsters and obesity is tough wherever you are! Then there’s the unrequited love. Weren’t the women supposed to fall head over heels with the hero? Not in Anatoli, a brutal and unforgiving land on the brink of apocalypse.If Shaun can survive this very real experience, he might just get to be a hero back in the real world!Warning, lots of profanity and gratuitous violence.

Gentleman's Wars: The Rules of Engagement


Andrew Karevik - 2021
    But when his family members die in the strangest of circumstances, leaving him sole in charge of the estate, the young man has to accept the harsh reality: someone is after them, and he’s next on the chopping block.Richard has no choice. The only way for him to protect his life and that of his younger sister is to enter the Great Game, that of the Gentleman’s Wars. But in doing so, he’s putting all his territories, his title as well as his very name in jeopardy.In a world where war has been abolished, gentries, duchies and baronies face each other on the battlefield not with armies made of wizards and warriors, but with gigantic proxies of metal and stone. Mighty automatons called Golems, which duke it out for sport but also for conquest.If that bold move might temporarily safeguard Richard against the mysterious assassin, it also throws him at the mercy of any would-be invader. The rules of the game are simple, yet ruthless: under the watchful eye of a Judge, the attacker must reach your Mana Sphere and destroy it to get his hands on your lands. Your job, as the defender, is to put up enough hurdles in the enemy’s way to slay his golems and prevent them from achieving their mission.The only problem is that Richard only has enough resources to buy a few units and erect the most basic of towers. He will need to use his strategic mind to make up for his lack of funds and repel anyone willing to come knocking on his door. As he’ll quickly learn, this is not a game for the faint of heart, and many a Gentleman might take interest in the territories of a weak new player like himself…

Manaborn 1


Cassius Lange - 2021
    Not really…I mean, I don’t remember most of it, thank goodness. Long story short, I was betrayed. Some people I thought I could trust invaded my sky palace, stole my women and enslaved my pet shadow hounds.I was destroyed, utterly. Or so they thought.Somehow, mana, the source of my previous power, brought me back. The backstabbing weasels think they are safe, barricaded in their strongholds. Here’s the horrible part. They willingly sacrificed their own flesh and blood for security. And they had the nerve to call me evil?Death wasn’t all bad, I guess. It showed me what was truly important. But before I can get around to living my second life, I have some retribution to dish out.Yes, some will call me unnatural. Others, evil. Blah blah blah.I call me the Manaborn.