The Goblin's Shadow


Kyle Vauss - 2017
    He makes a side-living levelling up and selling characters to order. When he gets an order for a Shadow Walker, a class he’s never played before, it seems strange. Things get even stranger when, just as he’s about to kill a goblin NPC, it talks. Tom and Gabber the goblin embark on a quest to get Gabber to safety. They're pursued by Crawford, a creature hunter with an immense knowledge of the game and resources to match. He’ll never give up, never stop, and Tom must use his courage, skills and ingenuity to outwit him. This starts an epic quest of swords, magic, and monsters, while an unlikely friendship develops. Tom can’t let the hunter catch Gabber. Unlike the players, if the goblin dies, he won’t respawn.

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.

Core of Fear


Jonathan Brooks - 2019
    Caught after a record-breaking streak of murders, he was executed by lethal injection by the state, while thousands of his victims' grieving family members watched. That should’ve been the end of his emotionless and unfeeling existence – but it wasn’t. Sent to Hell – where he enjoyed himself entirely too much – he was singled out to become a Spirit Core, an invisible spiritual entity that eventually ended up back on Earth. At first unfamiliar to him, his new incarnation slowly revealed itself to have its own set of rules, following something not unlike the video games he used to program back when he was alive. At its root, he was tasked with invoking fear upon his new victims – but there was just one problem. Having never felt any emotions before, he had no idea what that meant. Contains LitRPG elements such as level progression and statistics.

Winter's Breath


Carrie Summers - 2020
     From bestselling LitRPG author Carrie Summers comes a new saga about survival on a wind-swept coast. Jace, a backcountry ranger assigned to patrol the wilderness of North America, was hiking when abruptly he was somewhere...else. Wind battered his thinly-clothed body, and the salt air from crashing waves immediately soaked him to the skin. Nothing looked familiar. And then the strange game messages started appearing in his vision. With no explanation for how he arrived here, Jace must nonetheless learn to survive in a merciless environment, crafting everything with his own hands. He must learn the art of combat and how to control the powerful abilities that surface in his body. Northblood, they'll call him. A blessing and a curse. On the bright side, he's totally buff. And there's this hot redheaded game tester who was pulled from her old life and shoved into his. Things could definitely be worse. Tales of a Northblood: Winter's Breath starts a brand new adventure.

Hatchling


Kaye Fairburn - 2017
    Her life revolves around shoemaking, dying, respawning, and more shoemaking. When Margot discovers a secret hidden in her family's basement, she realizes she has a chance to break that cycle. Now, with newfound abilities she'll have to learn to control, Margot must brave a harrowing journey ahead of her to defeat the Stronghold targeting her town. Hatchling is the first book of Wyvernette, a fantasy LitRPG series.

Reborn as a Baron Lord:


Han Yang - 2020
    

Warden


Alex Knight - 2018
     Playing as a unique class while surrounded by aliens, pirates and warring guilds, he and his squad are tasked with protecting new players and enforcing the rule of law. But Kaiden has other ideas; he is intent on proving his innocence. The keys to his freedom lie hidden in the game’s seedy underbelly. And as he’ll soon discover, the bloody trail that led to his arrest is more twisted than he could have ever imagined.

An Old Man's Journey


Gregory Allanther - 2021
    He'd lived a good life, been a decent man, but now that his wife was gone he was... Lonely.Until his old friend Bert introduced him to Crossroads, the new VR sensation. In this virtual world he can move without pain, explore new lands, and most importantly - see his family again. For as long as he can hold their interest, in this fast-paced modern world of instant gratification and VR thrills.The solution: Build a place his family wants to visit. Armed only with a magic stick with game-breaking powers that should be nerfed, Charles sets out on a journey to find a place to call his own. Along the way, he will be mistaken for an NPC quest giver, become the antagonist in epic questlines, and attempt to teach the next generation proper behavior - even if he has to beat it into them.This is the story of one man's search for belonging in his second virtual life. A search for a place to belong, and what it takes to get there. It's also a hilarious romp through online fantasy cliches that will appeal to fans of Ready Player One, The Wandering Inn, and slice-of-life comedies.Because at the end of a man's life: What's more important than family?"Hilarious!" "Amazing!" "Few things better!" - Royal Road readers.

The Cadet


D. Rus - 2016
    A UFO appears on Earth’s orbit. Ignoring all contact attempts, it showers the planet with priceless artifacts. Choose: perfect health, ten million dollars, or seven years in prison as per the new amendment.The night of the Meteor Shower, Paul and his friends run around the city, engaging in quick fights with citizens gone crazy, trying to obtain one of the artifacts.But is it really selfless help the mysterious aliens are offering? What awaits a human who holds a precious crystal in his hand? Where will he wake up tomorrow? What if the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes will be the blinking line of text: “Loading location: virtual training ground Kubinka-Digital. Welcome, cadet! You’re now space fighter pilot!

Tech Duinn


Ryan DeBruyn - 2020
    A prison planet designed for blood sport. The Sovereign Empire’s power was a lie.Brutally trained his entire short life to be a Sovereign Elite and defend the Empire, Azrael instead finds himself a prisoner. Not even eight years old, and without system access, Azrael is abandoned on Tech Duinn. He must rely on his hunting trainers to keep his identity secret. There is no doubt that if people learn his last name, he would wake up in the arena… if he woke up at all.While fleeing the takeover of Mur, the group discovers how deep despair can drag them. Soon, only the praise of the bloody mob in the Arena Pit Dungeon keeps them alive. Surviving seems impossible, yet Azrael vows to not only live, but to find a way off-world.Azrael lives only because of applause. Others will die for it. Death or escape is the only way out of the cycle.

Zenith Academy 1


Cassius Lange - 2021
    To everyone else, I’m JD—a struggling artist, working my fingers to the bone for my shot with one of the big comic book companies. Oh, and I work nights, managing a dive called Judson’s Bar and Grill. I know, the dream life. Things were boring, disappointing, even. Until one faithful night, when everything changed. Why? Where do I start? First: An odd woman showed up in a booth while I was trying to close for the night. Rude, but on its own, not so weird. She was dressed in a kimono and had a sword in her lap. That part? Getting a little strange. Second: It turns out she’s a mistress at a magical academy and had been looking for me. Right? Please pick up on my sarcasm. Except, she proved it, and with just a few violent swings of her very real sword, ensured I both didn’t have a job any longer, and more or less had to follow her into a scary, glowing portal. Where did it take me? A surreal place called Zenith Academy, and a life I’d only ever dreamt of. There I’ll learn how to cultivate mana and wield magic-like powers. And that is just the beginning. The tower imbues cultivators with visual prompts and game-like stats, making my new life feel like something straight out of a choose your own adventure novel. But it’s not all for nothing. Evidently, they’ve been fighting a war for thousands of years, and I’ve just been drafted. <>

I AM GAMER II


Gabriel L. Rathweg - 2018
    Then a legendary Native American god, Coyote, to be exact, sent him back in time to 1400's North America. Now he's living in the past, kicking ass, and taking names. Rejoin Moon Flower, Freak, and the rest of the crew, as they save history, by rewriting it.

Persephone Falling


Skyler Grant - 2017
    A noble scion of the Olympus Corporation living a pampered existence in the center of art and culture for the orbital colonies. Then it all came tumbling down around her. Life on Earth is a struggle against a dying world that most escape via elaborate games in the Network, the virtual world evolved from the internet. For them, the virtual is better than the real. But power has its privileges even in the virtual space. People are being trapped within the Network, unable to leave, subject to whatever depredations the wealthy make them suffer over and over again. When there are fates far worse than death, how far can you fall before hitting the bottom? Note: Contains LitRPG elements in the Network that include things like levels and game mechanics. This novel has a strong and smart heroine, brutal violence, and foul language. If any of this offends you, you’ll probably want to keep browsing.

Alpha Zero


Arthur Stone - 2020
    Those who cannot grow stronger, die. No empty child has ever reached a year of age, yet I am now thirteen.It has been a long and miserable thirteen years, where the best I can manage to do is walk with difficulty. Sometimes, I cannot even manage that.My clan has paid dearly for every minute of my life. And money is not so easy to obtain, here at the edge of civilization.Perhaps I might have lived in this state for many years. A cripple, strong in mind but feeble in body. But when some unexpected guests came to our estate, everything changed. I would die at last – or, I would learn to survive on my own.

Treasure Forest (The Gold Farmer #1)


Liam Arato - 2016
    However, one new job appeared that was humans-only; gold farming in VRMMOs (Virtual Reality MMO). Ken worked as a gold farmer in the popular fantasy VRMMO Avantheim Online. However one day, while gold farming in AO, he was suddenly teleported into another VR world, where he soon realizes that he and his NPC allies are far stronger than anyone else in this new world. 2nd Edition, first published November 15th, 2016.