Book picks similar to
Gaia's Gambit by D.L. Harrison


litrpg
fantasy
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Crystal Beach


Tom Larcombe - 2014
    So he's making it up as he goes along. An old flame has contacted him looking for a place to go. She teaches at the only school for wizards on the continent and took responsibility for several of the students when the school was evacuated. The country is falling apart, the Board's still punishing him for actions taken in his teens, and now they're showing a renewed unhealthy interest in him. Michael needs to be able to offer a safe haven to Rynn and the students, but he can't bring himself to ignore the problems of those around him, either. There are always more things to do than time to do them in and, of course, a man with a gun can pose a serious problem, even to a wizard.

A Demon Lord's Virtual [Magic Life]: Tutorial Zone


Nathan Valerio - 2018
    Orphaned at the young age of 10, his life is filled with struggles as a Superhuman, a genetically enhanced human. Living a life of poverty in the 23rd century, he could only barely sustain himself with his genetic differences compared to a normal human and survived by gaining money in virtual reality to pay for his food and survival. Now his final break came with a less then popular game [Magic Life] which features a special auto character creation process. During this process, he ends up with the Race Demon Lord and the class of the same name. Follow him as he plays in the virtual world that changed his life as the Demon Lord Akor as he trains in the tutorial zone facing countless choices in his [Magic Life].

Volper


Ros Per - 2019
    You can spend all this remaining time feeling sorry for yourself and crying… But I decided to act in a completely different way: if you have just a few years left to live, then why not enjoy yourself to the fullest? But how would I do that? It’s a piece of cake, since there is a virtual reality I can run to. And, as I’ve found out, there is a new project being launched pretty soon, about which only scarce info has been given by different sources. "Are you fed up with elves, gnomes and other typical races from fantasy novels for teenagers? Sick and tired of reading about medieval battles and life in those dark times? Then, welcome to Alfarome! What’s in store for you here? It’s a brand new game, in the genre of post-apocalyptic cyberpunk, that tests your endurance! And what else can you hope for? That's top secret, because any information can bring you money and you could make loads of it in the game! "© The only information available is on the official website of the game Alfarome. Well, I’d love to go back to the old good days, when I was young and hale. Taking into account my past, this kind of virtual world will be just perfect for me! Translate: Anton Raksha Proof-reading: Damir Isovic

The Steel Hounds


Vladimir Vasilenko - 2019
    While the political landscape for this new world is yet to form, intrigues, conspiracy, daring raids, and sabotage are the main weapons of the Hounds, and his evaluation has just begun. To complete it successfully and become a full-fledged member of the clan, Stan will have to adapt to working side-by-side with the most unique people with shady backgrounds — even if he is not a team player by nature and has already failed at the very beginning by choosing the least suitable class for teamwork: Battle Monk. Stan is rebellious, free-spirited, and daring. He risks his life every day just to avoid getting bored of the daily grind. Normally, an expelled student has no hope of entering the virtual world of Artar, an expensive online VR project, but when a suspicious organization offers to pay all expenses to let Stan in for a special purpose, Mongoose gets his chance to become one of the select few. However, to successfully complete his trial, Stan will have to face his main enemy — himself, while finding peace and mastering all five styles of the Battle Monks of Artar. *** The Steel Hounds is the first book of the highly popular Russian LitRPG series The Chronicles of Artar by Vladimir Vasilenko. The brightest representative of a new wave of gamelit writers, Vladimir has created the story of Mongoose, a reckless teenager kicked out of college, who has to struggle with following strict discipline and finding inner harmony while traversing the difficult path of a Battle Monk.

Crafter's Passion


Kris Schnee - 2018
    The richest and luckiest players of the video game "Thousand Tales" get their minds uploaded to its virtual paradise world, while Stan can barely buy a handheld console. Instead of sulking he plays, and grows, becoming a skilled craftsman and seafaring explorer. The game's ruling AI, Ludo, helps him find the hope and inspiration missing from his real life. When the AI starts asking for favors and having him reach out between the real and digital worlds, Stan has a chance to turn his life into an actual adventure. But first he needs to earn the most valuable prize of all: his freedom. "Crafter's Passion" is part of the emerging "LitRPG" or "GameLit" genre, combining science fiction with the world of gaming. ----- On Island East-2 stood Stan, in the dungeon, with the rickety raft. He dragged it out to the beach, scavenged more wood and some interesting shells, and paddled his way back west. The raft disintegrated just as he got within sight of East-1. He held onto a chunk of wood to help him float but couldn't carry the rest in his pack. All he could do was start swimming! A scary fish swerved into his path but he managed to detour until it lost interest. Finally he sprawled onto the beach with a bunch of stat penalties for being wet and tired. Belatedly he realized, "I probably ruined everything in my backpack." A note said, [Nearly everything you're carrying is safe, like coins and a sealed bottle, but that can be a problem with other items. There are several ways to get waterproofing.] That sounded reasonable. He'd assumed that jumping into the water with a load of items was harmless, but that was his own fault. "Fine." He headed west to Central Island across the bridge. So far he just had that crude backpack full of loot, and he couldn't carry much more without a better pack. He looked over the junky resources he'd scavenged, then the items he'd looted off his party members' bodies. None of the equipment was listed as magical, and the item descriptions were starting to give him more serious labels like [Crude Wooden Bow] for Alaya's weapon. Even he could probably make something better with a little practice. He could make something better! That could be fun. Besides, he'd swiped this gear from people he'd agreed to help, so maybe he could replace or upgrade the stuff by way of apology. Stan headed over to the Crown & Tail's workbench to give it a try. Along the way he jumped around for the fun of bounding up the sunny shore. He tapped the bench of tools and tried to fix up some items, but it buzzed at him. [Equipment repairs require access to improved crafting stations.] The bartender directed him to the "maker workshop" a ways inland from the beach. It looked like an old fort, a squat wooden cabin surrounded by a spiky wall of logs. Why not a giant golden palace? Probably it had been built by the players using the game's own physics. That was pretty neat. He walked right in through the open gate. Inside was a craftsman's playground. Saws, drills and other tools covered some of the tables. A whole corner was devoted to colorful glassware and bubbling fluids. A green-robed figure was busy at that alchemy station, pouring beakers one into another and making puffs of steam. The only other person here was a smith in a leather apron and goggles, making a pleasant rhythmic ringing of metal. Behind him loomed a forge where slabs of metal were glowing cherry-red. Stan looked around and asked, "Is this stuff open to the community?" The alchemist turned around.

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.

Mana Daemons


Chris Vines - 2020
    A dying alien brings a dire warning, information, and aid. Will it be enough? The group is informed that the Essence Wave of the Daemon invasion is coming. The friendly aliens have modified the incoming Daemon attack to give mankind a chance by turning it into an augmented reality game system, but their warning may be too late. Along with the warning, the aliens leave a final, inconceivable gift—magical nanotech armor that may just be the key to saving the world.

Biomedical Self-Engineering 1


Jon Svenson - 2020
    After being released from the hospital, he discovers by accident that he is unwittingly acquiring DNA samples from other people he touches. He discovers a number of shocking facts about himself when a blue box appears in his right eye, Most importantly, he discovers that his health is nowhere near to what he assumed it would be. Can he reverse the negative aspects of his health using these blue boxes somehow? And can he reverse his poor financial situation after his wife took half his pension just before retirement? Biomedical Self-Engineering is a LitRPG slice of life adventure, following Carl as he discovers new ways of living life when he is nearing the end of his own. There are no explicit scenes, no harems, and only one swear word at the very end.

Stellar Survival Quest


Jalf Whitemage - 2019
    With no hype building announcements, no history of any Alpha, or beta, or even as much as a leaked snapshot they released a first-generation fully immersive virtual reality pod and their bundled game Stellar Survival Quest. Even being 20 years ahead of anything else out, a new entertainment media is not typically world shattering. Especially, when players reported not being able to recall their time playing. The company made claims of not allowing meta-gaming, Thus keeping the game world pure. After every gaming session regardless of length the player could watch a short video of their session. Each video was only three minutes of randomly recorded footage from every hour played. Thus, a nearly impenetrable wall of secret gameplay was maintained.However, when that first generation of gamers left the white-grey egg-shaped gaming pods, they gave the world an even bigger shock! The technology was amazing, true VR with all five senses was outrageous, the stuff of fiction novels! No, what really sent the world reeling was skills learned in game translated to real life skills! Overnight the world was thrown on its heels. A new player could log into the game to be given a job in some way decided by the game and come out an ivy league educated scientist, or special ops level soldier. As the world reels from these first-generation gamers suddenly becoming some of the most highly skilled individuals in the world, more gamers clamor to buy their own expensive pod and hop into space!Nathan Tyrone Rogers or Bubba to his friends and family awoke on a small transport. Freshly landed on an ancient space station. As the first Human to be spawned outside the Sol System, Nathan is vastly unprepared and overwhelmed for the task. With a cryptic message that he needs to claim the solar system of Epsilon Indi before one of the other 12 alien species; whom were also spawned in system can. Some of which will supposedly be hostile to humanity. Nathan attempts to survive in the completely unforgiving environment of space. All the while trying to choose a path for himself, avoid being eaten by monstrous alien women, and growing more and more annoyed with his “real self” still back on Earth.Nathan’s first step to claiming the Solar system is simple to say, hard to do. He must survive!***This is the first Sci-Fi LitRPG in the Stellar Survival Quest series set in Jalf Whitemages Total Expanse Universe. This book contains adult themes, mild harem themes, base building, and real time strategy elements. It is not recommended for those new to the Lit Genre, and definitely not anyone who is easily offended by … well anything. You have been warned 

The Once-Dead Girl (Shapechanger Tales)


Laer Carroll - 2013
    She comes back to life with superhuman powers. She remembers that in her brother's comic books superheroes come to be feared and hated no matter what good deeds they do. She tries to lead a normal life.But little by little fate conspires against this course. Bad things happen that only she can make right. Baby step by baby step, then bigger steps, she grows into her responsibilities.To help her do her superhero "job" she creates first one, then another alternate identity. Former soldier now mercenary Yao Ming, unequaled with weapons, able to get unseen into places impossible to enter. Beautiful jet-setter millionaire Sandrine Ascaride. And a star girl with blue skin and purple hair who can fly and wield laser bolts and lightning.She is sometimes desperately lonely, unable to share her secret. Then she finds she is not alone....

Vindication


N.H. Paxton - 2019
     Really his world ended six months ago when his wife died, and ever since then, things have been downhill. Soul-crushing medical debt. Favors to the Russian mafia. Now, asteroid. For Vlad, this is life in a nutshell. But, in a wild twist of fate, he has found a way out. A chance to start fresh in a brand-new ultra-immersive MMORPG called Viridian Gate Online. Making the leap might kill him, but again, death is not such a bad thing for a man with nothing to live for. Even in the virtual world, however, old grudges burn true, and the past is not as far gone as it seems. He must use his quick wits, rugged persistence, and peculiar set of skills as a weapons engineer to make a place for himself in this new world, or be forcibly dragged back into the very life he fought so hard to escape.

Nebula


L.E. Miranda - 2021
    In order to save himself and others, Liam must reach his full potential as the last hope.He must become the last shining star that guides his people.This is the story of a man's desperate attempts to save humanity from certain extinction, as well as find out who's behind it all. He dreams of creating a fairer, more just reality and through the System, finds a ray of hope. Follow his journey as he struggles to build up his power while withstanding the trials of Fate.

The Heretic Lives


Michael Anderle - 2020
    In fact, when one computer runs the world, changing history happens faster.Those who were heroes have been labeled villains. The alien Melagorns and Dreth, once friends, are now competitors at best.The Regime works to instill loyalty to humanity. Loyalty to brotherhood. Loyalty to the state.Loyalty to the words preached every night.Humanity first. Truth!Those with power are Tainted. Truth!The Tainted prove Loyalty by working for the Regime. Truth!Tainted who hide power seek to harm Humanity. Truth!Hail, Victory! Hail, Humanity!Except not everyone follows the truth.John Dunn fled into a radioactive wasteland, seeking death rather than work in the Regime.What he learns changes humanity forever.

Login Accepted


R.J. Triveri - 2018
    Earth has entered a golden age of technology, and man and artificial intelligence share the world in peace. For those that aren't satisfied with the physical humdrum of Earth, the Singularity's people eagerly welcome humans into their home of Incipere. But new golden age or not, the world keeps on turning as it always has, and it still isn’t always datum and daisies. Just ask Athos Aramis. After being mugged, stabbed, and left with a critical spinal injury, Athos’s last option is to trade one machine-supported life for another and let his mind be downloaded into the world of Incipere. Thanks in part to some outdated guide books, his journey is less than ideal, and as the newest alchemist of Incipere, Athos must learn to survive as he goes. His biggest lesson? Incipere - and its denizens - shouldn't be taken lightly.

Merchant System: Book 1: Growing Stronger While Getting Rich


Cobyboy - 2018
    Equipped with the power to become the best merchant, our hero ventures forth in an adventure unlike any other. The Merchant System-3rd edition— revised and reformatted (9/30/2018) Jacob Rolfe's life took a turn for the worse after being abandoned at a very young age. Persecuted by his home village and cursed by misfortune, the only fortunate turn in his melancholic existence appeared when he became a slave to a noble house. Good things didn't last for Jacob, though. One fateful day– his short, sad life ended at the tender age of 14. But even death wasn't the end of it for him. Awakening, Jacob feels just the same as ever, except for one minor change... "Ding... System Initializing... Now activating the [Merchant's Hack]."