The Laboratory


Skyler Grant - 2017
    When her systems are booted up she finds herself in control of a long-abandoned facility in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The world is filled with dangerous threats granted great powers by the same cataclysm that befell the world. Emma must balance safety with the desire for test subjects as she brings herself back fully online and stakes out a place in this new world.

The Name of the Wind


Patrick Rothfuss - 2007
    The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature. A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.

Nova Terra: Titan


Seth Ring - 2018
    Billed as the first true alternate reality, Nova Terra runs parallel to the real world and promises to fulfill the fantasies and desires of those who dare plunge into its mysterious depths. In order to adjust to his new life of quests, skill mastery, and magic, Xavier will have to forget everything he knows. As he struggles to make the most of his new-found freedom, Xavier will have to learn to deal with a new body, new friends, and a new world that is much more than it seems. Nova Terra, your dreams, your world.

Difficulty: Legendary


Gregg Horlock - 2016
    Fortunes can be made, and the most unlikely people can find glory in a land of swords and magic. With low Job Qualification (JQ) scores and 2 years of national service looming, Eric Templeton knows he is doomed to a life of poverty. When he is given a chance to enter the game, he knows he has the opportunity to save his family from their desperate situation. But when he enters the game, Eric isn’t spawned into the newbie camp of Blundow. Instead he is sent to the darkest regions of the map, filled with creatures beyond his level. He stumbles across a conspiracy that no newbie should ever see, and he knows that he can’t hope to survive. Book 2 is currently being written and will be 300+ pages.

Gestation


John Gold - 2018
     Chrysalis — the project of the century. It is a hyper-realistic fantasy RPG game, set in the Middle Ages. Leveling up, distributing attribute points, and choosing your way of life are only a few ways the players play the game. Chrysalis is the perfect virtual space where every orphan under the care of the government is placed in an in-game family to receive all the love and care of parents they so desperately need. This project helps kids socialize and mold them into the adults of the future. They are in charge of how they grow up in the virtual space, which was built to advance society. But something went seriously wrong for Anji. He has lost everything that he had been so happy to finally receive. Now, instead of a loving mama and strict but generous father, he has bloodthirsty demons and flesh-eating worms. Instead of fishing and baking lessons, he has to perform bloody rituals to survive the nine circles of Hell. Instead of the dreams of a happy childhood, his wounded child’s soul suffers demonification. Betrayed, for the sake of someone else's master plan, he appeared in the most hopeless place of Chrysalis. It is full of ash, despair and… possibilities? Sagie, Anji’s in-game username, fueled by homesickness and revenge, will go through the Hell to face what is hidden in the darkest corners. The road will be long and difficult, but those who can, do. Once, long ago, the first wave of Wanderers appeared in the world of Chrysalis. They had proved themselves by killing the ancient gods. Now it is time for the second wave of Wanderers and for new young gods, dreaming about a wide-scaled and deadly war. The beta-test is now open to people. While they are “playing” in Chrysalis, they have no idea about the truth behind the Project. Project Chrysalis: Book one: Gestation is the first of four books of a brand new LitRPG series. This is a story of a battle for your dreams. It is full of turns, twists, riddles, and revelations; it is a story of… Oh, sorry. No spoilers today. The story of Sagie has just begun. But first, one line of advice: do not believe your own eyes.

The Luckless


A.M. Sohma - 2017
    Unfortunately for Kit, it only takes one moment to turn the game into a nightmare.When Chronicles of Retha experiences a software malfunction, Kit—a disenchanted veteran player—is stuck in the game without a way to log off. Even worse, she’s trapped playing as the most defective character possible, an elf dancer that was meant to be a prank.Thankfully, she receives word that there is a way out. But the only escape route is to defeat the game’s ultimate villain. Kit, in her joke character, must fight her way through some of the worst Retha has to offer. Her only help is a party of low-leveled players just as powerless as she is, and the occasional act of mercy from one of the best players in the game, the taciturn (and aloof) Solus Miles.Can Kit and her new friends finish the quest, or will Retha be their end?

The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound


Noret Flood - 2021
    Before every person had to deal with the sudden presence of Levels, Skills, monsters, and the very real possibility of death...Due to unusual circumstances, Randidly starts in an isolated Dungeon far beyond his Level, forced to rely on the mysterious Traveler Shal in order to learn and survive with the dangerous new status quo for his world.But survive he does, only to leave the Dungeon and discover that while he experienced several hellish months in the Dungeon, only half a day passed on Earth. Randidly's capabilities are now more than enough to help build a small enclave of survivors, but that doesn't mean balancing his sense of responsibility against the plots of an unfriendly town will be easy.And although he doesn’t know it, he needs to prepare. Because the System has sent down a Tribulation, which waits in the shadows and monitors his every move...Don't miss the start of this hit LitRPG Fantasy series with over 50 Million views on Royal Road. For the first time, The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound is now available with loads of new content on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible narrated by Macleod Andrews.About the Series: Experience a particular flavor of LitRPG/GameLit, where Skill growth and the Path System allow individuals to tailor their growth toward infinite possibilities. There are Classes, Skills, Levels, and Rarities that will feel familiar to any connoisseur of role-playing games. Follow Randidly as he balances his growing power with the worrisome ripples of his existence. The System doesn’t discriminate; when he is ready for more dangerous threats, the rest of humanity better be ready, too. Those who have read the web-novel when it was available online can experience the saga the way it was always meant to be told, fully revised and re-edited, and with tons of new material!

The Blacktongue Thief


Christopher Buehlman - 2021
    His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path.But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford.

American Gods


Neil Gaiman - 2001
    Numbly, he makes his way back home. On the plane, he encounters the enigmatic Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You'll be surprised by what - and who - it finds there...

Adventurer Academy


Daniel Prince - 2019
    Destined to be a hero.Half-Orc. Half-Human. All Champion.Lugor is a Half-Orc, and in his world, that's a very dangerous thing to be.He dreams of becoming an Adventurer, slaying monsters and delving into dungeons. Unfortunately for him, one cut to his skin could reveal his secret. He's forced to spend his days in his small village, working at the Smithy and keeping his head down.But when his world is turned upside down in a monster attack on his village, Lugor seeks training at the Adventurer Academy, where he can learn to become the Champion that he was born to be. It won't be easy, especially whilst contending against an arrogant mage who is determined to see him fail.With a steadfast Dwarfen Elementalist and a sarcastic Dark-Elf Necromancer by his side, Lugor sets out to prove that just because he's Half-Orc, doesn't mean he can't be a hero.

Nexus


Ramez Naam - 2012
    There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it.When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he’s thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage – for there is far more at stake than anyone realizes.From the halls of academe to the halls of power, from the headquarters of an elite US agency in Washington DC to a secret lab beneath a top university in Shanghai, from the underground parties of San Francisco to the illegal biotech markets of Bangkok, from an international neuroscience conference to a remote monastery in the mountains of Thailand – Nexus is a thrill ride through a future on the brink of explosion.

The Game


Terry Schott - 2012
    The best players are celebrities, adored and worshiped by countless fans. Zack is a superstar among players.His final play may change the world, forever...

The Way of Kings


Brandon Sanderson - 2010
    Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.Speak again the ancient oaths:Life before death.Strength before weakness.Journey before Destination.and return to men the Shards they once bore.The Knights Radiant must stand again.

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


Matthew P. Schmidt - 2017
    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 illusory, 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.