Book picks similar to
Lost Archive by Isaac Winter


litrpg
fantasy
litrpg-isekai
pulp-fiction

Hunter's Bond


C.E. Keene - 2018
    The creatures that inhabit Apex are cunning, ferocious, and a massive challenge for even the most experienced hunter. In order to rank up in the Hunters’ Guild and participate in the most prestigious hunts, Simon will have to slay increasingly more threatening creatures and use what he gathers to craft powerful armor and weapons. But a fearsome beast stalks the jungle, untouchable even by the Guild. To have any hope of stopping her, Simon won’t just have to level up and hone his skills--he’ll have to put his trust in his fellow hunters. And for a lifelong soloer, that’s no easy feat…

The Star Dragon


Dante Doom - 2017
     Van Vanyushin doesn’t see the point in ever leaving the beautiful digital world of the game he loves—and for good reason. In the industrial wasteland he calls home, it is often the only way people can experience life’s simplest pleasures. But his allegiance to the game is tested when an ambitious CIA agent named Sang Ngo calls upon him to help as she goes undercover in the game to investigate Draco—the corporation responsible for creating the massively popular role-playing game Dragon Kings of the New World. Sang is a gifted hacker who feels nothing but contempt for those who waste their lives in what she sees as a false reality…but when people start dying in the game, she must find out why. Van, a talented gamer, is her guide to navigate the world, level up their newbie characters fast and get into some of the most dangerous areas of the game. He dreams of becoming a pro gamer sponsored by Draco one day, but his partnership with Sang threatens to expose secrets from his past that could jeopardize those plans. Now, they will have to put aside their differences to discover whatever—or whoever—is killing players, but the truth they find is darker than either of them imagined….

Devil's Deal


Dante Sakurai - 2018
    Rowan's body recovers but the treatment leaves his memories fragmented and his psyche shattered into something inhumane, irritable, and callous—and a tad bit lustful. When his doctor fails to notice this, his parents reluctantly sends him back to Westwind Highschool, resulting in the murder of Rowan's past bully. Rowan serves two years of juvenile detention in a psychiatric center and after his 18th birthday, he is offered a choice by a powerful corporation: Either spend the next decades in a psychiatric prison or play in their fully-immersive virtual reality game, Aeon Chronicles Online, and grow into the role of the world's next major raid boss that players must defeat. Will Rowan regain his old psyche? How will Aeon Chronicles' AI controller react to Rowan’s unique mind? Will Rowan receive help in a team-oriented game or is he alone? Find out in this 130k+ word, dark LitRPG novel! Warning: Contains gore, profanity, and traumatizing content plus some sexual content and romance.

Somerset


Aaron Oster - 2019
    You have been transported here against your will. The only way back is to reach level 100 and defeat the final boss. Please do be careful with your life, as it is the only one you’ll get. Have a pleasant match, and remember, we’re always watching… When Sam wakes up in a strange new world with a message floating before his eyes, he thinks he's hallucinating. However, he soon discovers a land filled with dungeons, monsters, angry gnomes, and even worse, talking dogs! Warning: Contains profanity and content that may not be suitable for children. This is a LitRPG book, containing multiple stat sheets, message windows, dungeons and epic loot.

Reborn: Apprentice: A LitRPG Adventure (Reclamation Book 1)


Luka Petrov - 2019
    Being an avid RPG player, Ed excelled at logic and reason, and when he enters the afterworld, he is met with a figure who offers him an appealing proposition, to reincarnate as Edward MacAra, a black magic user. The only stipulation, Edward must save the universe from being taken over by the Demon Lord, Abraxas. Abraxas is thought to be dormant, but he is slowly taking over the surrounding villages, and Gilmore is next. Ed risks losing his own soul in the process if he is not able to prevent Abraxas from claiming the universe. After deliberation, Ed reincarnates to the village of Gilmore as Edward MacAra, an 8-year old boy. Does Edward have what it takes to become a black magic user? Find out if Edward can save the village of Gilmore in Reborn: Apprentice.

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.

The Digital Frontier


Alex Mulder - 2015
     Now the fate of an entire world rests on his shoulders. MMORPGs had stopped being a part of Luke’s life years ago. That is, until he tried Yvvaros, an online sandbox role playing game only accessible through the latest in virtual reality technology. The game sucked him in almost instantly. Luke discovered a world with new stakes, rewards, and philosophical complexities deeper than anything he could have expected. The human experience exists on a spectrum. One person’s reality may be fantasy or even hallucination to someone else. One person’s sense of what’s important is even more subjective. As Luke quickly learned, it was hard to justify living in a world of rejection over a world of adventure, excitement, and connection. He began a new life in Yvvaros, just as vivid and maybe even more compelling than his existence in the outside world. Earth has already been explored, and the next frontier is closer to home than anyone could have imagined.

Janus and The Prince: A LitRPG Saga (The Nightmares of Alamir Book 2)


Noam Oswin - 2020
    Reincarnating as a worm in the madness that is Alamir, the man who spat in the face of a god turns and spits in the face of destiny.He ascends, from battle and bloodshed, to find favor in a Witch of the Night just as mad, if not far madder, than he. Baptized on the eve of the genocide of her people, he is bestowed the name Janus - and is reborn with the power to explore the road not travelled.The power to eat his cake and have it, to split the timeline as he desires, and pave his own path towards his chosen future.That chosen future, awaits his bony, skeletal hands.War cometh for the defiant. War between cosmic horrors and ubermensch, apocalypse seekers and twisted messiahs, reincarnated madmen and avatars of extinction -And the man who defied a god, stands in the center."Hero, villain, monster, savior, king, slave, good or evil - all irrelevant when the Nightmares of Alamir come midnight, wielding a dim lantern, rasping with a croaky voice as their unholy fingers rap against your door.""Now, tell the world... How shall you answer?"

Initializing


E.M. Hardy - 2018
    Because there was a reason why the young man had been hearing voices since he was a kid and why he had been fascinated by the majestic tombs made of limestone. By setting foot inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu, he will learn the truth; a truth that will send him all the way across the galaxy. Transported to a planet on the verge of a catastrophic invasion, Martin will be tasked with protecting this foreign world from the powerful beings about to land and harvest the souls of its unsuspecting inhabitants. To help him in this mission, Martin will be granted command over a production facility that can build basic defense mechanisms. However, that stronghold is too ancient and decrepit, and the units it can manufacture too lousy and clumsy; especially in comparison to the invaders’ powers which—as Martin could witness from the vision he experienced when his mind was captured—seemed godlike and completely unstoppable. Still, if Martin wants to ever go back home or even survive the war to come, he will need to search for a way to fight back. And that will go through finding how to upgrade his units and develop new weapons as well as combat strategies. He has to hurry. Because if dealing with that ominous threat wasn’t bad enough, he will have to compose with the nations comprising that strange world and which see his arrival as a danger to be stopped. Will Martin be able to have them hear reason, set aside their quarrels and cooperate before they’re all annihilated? Archeologist Warlord: Initializing is a dungeon core-like work of fiction belonging to the LitRPG genre, and the first book in a series to come.

Dead Man Gaming


A.J. Markam - 2018
    to a dead man gaming. New LitRPG! Ex-safecracker Jimmy Stanislavsky was just trying to help an old friend stay alive when the FBI framed him. But rather than send Jimmy to prison, the Feds have an interesting offer: play the world's largest virtual reality video game MMORPG as an Undead Rogue. Infiltrate the Russian mafia, who have set up an in-game crime empire while masquerading as orcs. And do it all within three weeks. Now Jimmy is racing against the clock - and the FBI's threats to put him behind bars for life. With the help of an elf, a druid, and a goblin he befriends in the game, he might just have a shot at completing the quest... or get killed by the Russian mob in real life. He got framed to play the game. For fans of litrpg, mmorpg, fantasy, and sword and sorcery.

Castle Manager: An Isekai LitRPG Progression (The Fantasy World of Dorbin Book 3)


Chad Opo - 2021
    

The Monster Spawn


Deckhard Davis - 2017
    He’s more than a little perturbed to discover that he is dead, but it’s not the end of the world. Due to him being in the army, he gets a 2nd chance at existence in a fantasy VR game called Adonis Rebirth. There, Nathan will get to live another life, one filled with heroic quests and epic adventures. A land packed with legend and glory, where anyone can be a hero. But there’s a problem with his transition into the game. His consciousness isn’t loaded into a player character, but instead is transplanted into a beast who lives in the bowels of a mountain. Even worse, he finds out he is the end monster in a new limited-edition quest, where the 1st to complete it wins a unique prize. Soon, hero players are going to come and kill him. He needs to find a way to survive the hero onslaught, all the while trying to discover how to reverse what happened to him. He needs allies, but it’s hard to make them when you look like Nosferatu's ugly brother. Nathan will have to master his skills and learn how to play as the monster - his 2nd life depends on it.

Versatile Mage: Volume I - The Old World is a New World


Chaos - 2018
    His usual school had become a place that taught magic, encouraging everyone to become a mighty magician, and outside the city, many wandering magical beasts and monsters attacked and preyed on humans. The world of advanced science that Mo Fan knew so well suddenly turned into one that praised magic. Despite this, his social status remained the same; one of the dregs of the society with a struggling father and a disabled step-sister who couldn’t walk. One thing had changed, however. This was a world of magic, and his ambition now burned bright with the knowledge that he could be something far beyond what his former world would ever have allowed him! From the lowly dregs of the street, one day he would fly under his own power! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the editor: Versatile Mage is a direct transmigration/world-hopping novel of the “magical student” kind. The twist is that the main character comes from a world of science, and suddenly his world changes to one based on magic instead of science, without changing what he has already learned! So he goes to school and instead of literature, history, math, and biology, they are teaching proper magical incantations, astronomy, magical theory, and talking about magical beasts as if they are real. However, he quickly realizes that this kind of world is built on individual power, not just wealth and influence, and it doesn't matter that he's a discredited kid from the lowest levels of society with a lousy record in school. He realizes his life can be totally turned around if only he can become a magician! Also, he could learn to fly… He throws off his slacker past and dives whole-hog into the reality of becoming a true Magician, the likes of which the posing natives of this universe have never seen!

Evolve (The Scourge Wars #1)


Derek Belfield - 2019
    When an assassin's bullet takes his life during his victory speech, he is conscripted from the afterlife by the Lord of Light, Lucidus. Slate is thrust into the game-like world of Somnium where he has been reincarnated into the body of a parasite and given one mission: evolve or die. If he can channel the monster inside and utilize his military and political experience to establish Lucidus' personal army, the Scourge, he might have a chance to evolve before his many enemies find him and send him to a permanent death.

Stolen Lives


Keith Ahrens - 2020
    All stats against them. It’s fight or die.When Caleb reported for his normal shift, he never expected to go from the front seat of his ambulance to a bloody battlefield in a medieval Fey Realm.Kidnapped and beaten unconscious, he wakes up with a concussion and a fresh tattoo. While this might not be totally unusual for him,having the tattoo project the image of his stats and equipment like an old school tabletop RPG kind of is.He finds himself thrown into a cell with three strangers who’ve also been abducted. Even worse, they’re all from different time periods due to the disjointed flow of time between the real world and this realm,hardly able to understand each other.They’ll have to learn to work together. Months of training will lead to a yearly battle they were kidnapped to fight in. It’s law.But Caleb has other plans. Outnumbered and under-armed, but lured by freedom, he can either stay and fight in the games, or try to lead the escape to the only gate back to their world. Either way, it’s live or die.