Book picks similar to
Arena by Logan Jacobs


harem
sci-fi
science-fiction
fantasy

Stone vs. Viper #1


Alvin Atwater - 2018
    Yes, it exists, we just don't know it. There, he's declared the Stone, the main character. One day he must kill the Viper or else, goodbye Earth. This is the comedic tale of a young man vs. cliche anime tropes. Yep, there's nothing like random anime girls falling in love with you...over anything, crazy Yanderes, or that girl with the absurd charisma. But hey, at least he's able to level up, just like the RPGs. Will he find the true purpose of this cruel game or will the anime tropes consume him? The final boss awaits. ~A lover of character development... Warning: Edited by new series editor, Adam Luopa as of September 2019This book contains sexual content, sex scenes, monster girl quest references, sexual humor fit for anime fans, as well as other ridiculous fictitious events found in anime (and ramps up a lot after chapter 7). You have been warned. Not for the faintest of hearts! One more time: it is a comedy not for average mary-joe or morally sound. You have been double-warned and now know what you're getting into!

Ancillary Justice


Ann Leckie - 2013
    On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.

Iron Prince


Bryce O'Connor - 2020
    Reidon was born weak, sickly and small. Afflicted with a painful disease and abandoned by his parents because of it, he has had to fight tooth and nail for every minor advantage life has allowed him.His perseverance has not gone unnoticed, however, and when the most powerful artificial intelligence in human history takes an interest in him, things began to change quickly. Granted a CAD—a Combat Assistance Device—with awful specs but an infinite potential for growth, Reidon finds himself at the bottom of his class at the Galens Institute, one of the top military academies in the Collective. Along with his best friend, Viviana Arada, Reidon will have to start his long climb through the school rankings, and on to the combat tournament circuits that have become humanity's greatest source of excitement and entertainment.So begins the rise of a god. So begins the ascent of the Stormweaver.

One More Last Time


Eric Ugland - 2018
     A broken heart. He thought it was the end, and his gun sat ready to make sure. But an oddball offer from his last friend comes at the literal last second. Curiosity gets the best of him, and he finds himself sucked into iNcarn8, a game claiming to be a whole new life. Now as Montana, the larger-than-life tank warrior, he has one more last time to get his life right. One More Last time is the first book in The Good Guys, a LitRPG GameLit series. If you like fast-paced adventure, RPG mechanics, and sweet level progression with a deep magic and game system, this book is for you. It has notes of The Land and classic Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, and stars a lovable idiot of a main character who can’t seem to shake his dark past and find the quiet life he so wants. Pick up this page-turner today!

A Fire Upon the Deep


Vernor Vinge - 1992
    A Fire upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale.Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence.Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization.

The Praxis


Walter Jon Williams - 2002
    But the Shaa will soon be no more. The dread empire is in its rapidly fading twilight, and with its impending fall comes the promise of a new galactic order... and bloody chaos.A young Terran naval officer marked by his lowly birth, Lt. Gareth Martinez is the first to recognize the insidious plot of the Naxid -- the powerful, warlike insectoid society that was enslaved before all others -- to replace the masters’ despotic rule with their own. Barely escaping a swarming surprise attack, Martinez and Caroline Sula, a pilot whose beautiful face conceals a deadly secret, are now the last hope for freedom for every being who ever languished in Shaa chains -- as the interstellar battle begins against a merciless foe whose only perfect truth is annihilation.

Grayhold


Troy Osgood - 2019
    Forced back to level 1. What's next, permadeath? Sky Realms Online is the largest and most popular Virtual Reality MMORPG ever made. Set amongst the mystical, floating islands of Hankarth, it's played and enjoyed by millions every hour. Until something goes wrong. Unable to log out, players find themselves reduced to level one, and in the starting zones. They receive a cryptic message from the developers stating that for unknown reasons, they are trapped in the game and may have to live out their lives within the virtual world. Hall is one of the those trapped in the game. He’s been playing Sky Realms Online as a spear-wielding Skirmisher ever since the beta. And instead of panicking as many do, he decides to make the most of it; to play the game and live his new life, all while quietly hoping the developers will find a fix. It doesn’t take Hall long to find out that, while some aspects of the game are the same, the difficulty level is beyond anything he's ever experienced. Together, with a new party of trapped players and NPCs with canned answers, Hall will find out just how different Sky Realms Online has become, and how playing a game is different from living the game... Experience the start of this unforgettable Fantasy LitRPG Adventure today! It's perfect for fans of J.A. Hunter, Dakota Krout and Edward Brody. Also available on Audible, performed by Pavi Proczko, narrator of Eden's Gate and Continue Online.

The Cruel Stars


John Birmingham - 2019
    Fashioning themselves as the one true “Human Republic,” the Sturm cut a bloody swath across the stars, killing billions before finally being defeated and driven into the far reaches of Dark Space. Centuries of peace bred complacency. Everyone believed the Sturm had died out in the Dark. They were wrong.The enemy has returned and, with a brutal and decisive attack, knocks out almost all of humanity’s defenses. Now on the brink of annihilation, humankind’s only hope is a few brave souls who survived the initial attack: Commander Lucinda Hardy, thrust into uncertain command of the Royal Armadalen Navy’s only surviving warship. Booker3, a soldier of Earth, sentenced to die for treason, whose time on death row is cut short when the Sturm attack his prison compound. Princess Alessia, a young royal of the Montanblanc Corporation, forced to flee when her home planet is overrun and her entire family executed. Sephina L’trel, the leader of an outlaw band who must call on all of her criminal skills to resist the invasion. And, finally, Admiral Frazer McLennan, the infamous hero of the first war with the Sturm hundreds of years ago, who hopes to rout his old foes once and for all—or die trying.These five flawed, reluctant heroes must band together to prevail against a relentless enemy and near-impossible odds. For if they fail, the future itself is doomed.

WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior 1


Brandon Varnell - 2019
    Just when he thought death was going to claim him, he woke up in his old bedroom, in a city that had been destroyed decades ago, and found himself back in his 17 year-old body. Now he’s being given a chance to do things over again, to prevent the destruction of his home. But to change the past, Eryk has several daunting tasks ahead of him: Cultivate and become a stronger Spiritualist. Prevent the Demon Beast Invasion of Nevaria. Kill the Great Overlord of the Seventh Realm. Failure to accomplish his goals will mean more than just death. It will mean having to once more watch as everything he has ever loved is destroyed. Warning: In case you didn't get this from the explicit content warning label on the cover, this series is rated R18 for adult situations, graphic violence, nudity, sex, fully illustrated nudity and sex, and harem relationships. This series is not for the prude of heart.