Book picks similar to
Beta Life by David M. Zahn


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Edge of the Abyss (Respawn Trials, #1)


Andrei Livadny - 2019
    He had thought that he'd already experienced everything that a normal life had to offer. He'd thought he could clearly see what his future holds. Then a sudden phone call changed everything. The Edge of the Abyss was the first full-scale virtual reality, where he was asked to complete a simple task... and which turned out to be far from heaven.He found himself in a terrifyingly realistic digital world whose rules he didn't know. Seemingly simple tasks suddenly required him to make moral choices - while refusing to do them would take him to places where the barrage of respawns could send one mad...

Mageblood


Christopher Johns - 2020
    Gifts from the game gods for every person. The perfect magic for every user.Seth, a popular streamer, can’t wait to see what this new world has in store. It’s sure to be a blast for a guy who always plays a caster, and his friends are going to be right in the thick of it with him! The game boasts algorithms designed to read biometrics and brain patterns to find the perfect magical fit for the user—magic so personalized that no two casters will ever be the same. In fact, the game company is so sure they will always be right that you can’t remake your character.The unthinkable happened. The safeties and the guarantees failed, not just once but apparently only to them. The company has informed them that the system is infallible: there is nothing they will do. Players must use what they are given, so Seth and his team have no other choice—they need to grind it out and evolve their gifts in time to stream.Loading… Welcome to Mephisto’s Magic Online!

World's Strongest Farmer


Tyr Havolt - 2019
    However, getting what he wants isn't so easy when everyone's job class is designated by the gods and they have plans for the would-be farmer. A pestilence that hasn't been seen for two hundred years has discovered a way to pierce the fog wall and the world is going to need a hero. Will Raverek take up the fabled Hero job class and leave everything he loves willingly or will the gods need to get creative? How is a farmer supposed to save the world? A litRPG adventure where job classes are everything. Level up your job class and evolve it into something stronger!

Path of the Necromancer


Deck Davis - 2019
    In an RPG-like world, he makes his magic stronger by practising his spells and using them in clever ways. When he takes his first academy assignment, he finds trouble. Cut off from the protection of the academy and in a hostile land, he'll have to improvise if he wants to survive.  He needs to level up, learn new spells, and use them in creative ways. Necromancers have the power to cheat death...but that doesn't mean they can escape it.Read Path of the Necromancer now!

Initialization (Paths of Power #1)


Sean Barber - 2022
    700 miles, no truck and just his loyal dog to accompany him, can he survive in this new world? A world where The System spawns monsters and mutates plants and animals to absorb and refine essence? Let us find out.

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.

The Aussie Mana Apocalypse


Christopher J. Timms - 2020
    Then the monsters showed up.Isolated in the Aussie outback with his best mate Nugget, Nugget's sister Mel (who he definitely did not have a thing with), Mel's new latte-sipping boyfriend, and a British backpacker, why isn’t Keat panicked?Because Keat’s a gamer.And every gamer knows, there’s always a way to power level. (also...because he has a giant wombat).You’ll love this LitRPG Western, set in the Australian Outback, because it reminds us how people change on a gap year, and because it takes the piss. Get it now.

Planet Bound


R.A. Mejia - 2018
    Unfortunately, the transport ship he chose is attacked by pirates and he ends up stranded on an unknown planet where the very air is toxic to him. Now John has to team up with the ship’s AI and the two have to survive on this hostile alien world and figure out some way to get off the planet or get a message out for help. Can they overcome their dwindling resources, alien life forms, and hostile space forces? Or will they die together, planet bound? This is a sci-fi survival story with augmented reality, a snarky AI, upgrade mechanics, resource gathering, crafting, alien creatures, and space pirates.

Shards of Reality (Enter the Realm #1)


Timothy W. Long - 2017
     Walter LePointe and Oswald Blackwell just woke up inside of the online role playing game Realms of Th’loria. With no memory of how they arrived, Walt and Oz soon learn the hard way that living in an epic fantasy world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. As level 1 characters with no skills or experience, nothing can prepare them for their new lives as they prepare to Enter the Realm. "Timothy W. Long injects a stark degree of realism into everything he writes. His horror is more horrific, his heroics more heroic, I love reading his stuff." --Peter Clines, bestselling author of the Ex-Heroes series, 14, and The Fold "Reading Timothy W. Long is like being in a knife fight that doesn't end until the last page." --Nicholas Sansbury Smith, bestselling author of The Extinction Cycle

Martyrs (Legends of the Great Savanna)


Justin L. Lincoln - 2018
    Waking up in the Great Savanna, James struggles with a less-than-useful interface before he comes across two creatures locked in battle. The shoulder high grass allows him glimpses of a lion-esque creature fending off a torrent of scales and claws. Sneaking up to steal a better look at the surreal situation, James discovers two things. 1. Getting hurt in the game.... well hurts! 2. This noble race of lion-men, named Martyrs, have almost been decimated by the scaled lizard creatures. By unwillingly saving the life of a Martyr cub, James is adopted into their village. He grows to love the beauty of the Great Savanna and his adopted game brother, whose life he saved... That is until PATRICK arrives, and the tranquility of the game is shattered. James embarks on a mission for answers to his steadily increasing list of questions. On the top of that list, "What the hell happened to the human race, and where is my damn brother!?" LitRPG Categories = Town Building & MOBA

Reincarnation Trials: A LitRPG Apocalypse (Systems of Salvation Book 1)


Han Yang - 2021
    Four hundred years later, the Salvation Fleet returns, desperate to unload their overcrowded decks. Darcy - the AI mastermind who controls the fleet - uses simulated competitions called the Reincarnation Trials to determine who becomes a council member and who earns the right to join the first colony.Theo achieves Citizen status after a decade of arduous training and is thrust into the Reincarnation Trials. Ready to help humanity survive, he enters the Snagglewood competition. The theme is a western, where he defends humanity against the monsters invading its shores. While he strives for first on the leaderboards, the real world calls for his help.After being gone for so long, Earth transitions into a very dangerous place filled with narocks who call the overgrown jungles and forests home. Hidden among the terrors, pockets of humanity cower under the surface, most of them in urgent need of rescue.Will Theo and the Salvation Fleet persevere or perish? Download now.

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.

The SyStem: Multiverse


Jon Svenson - 2020
    He escaped Boston, with help from his mother, to head to the west coast and create a new life in Seattle. All that changes when he attends a party to celebrate his friend's new physics invention: a device that connects two universes together.Events quickly spiral out of control as Brett, and his best friend's ex-girlfriend, find themselves pulled by the device and end up in a different version of Earth, one that has been stripped of it's resources and population by an alien race. Will the Earth they came from share a similar fate? Can they escape the dimension they've been sent to and find a way back home? And do they want to escape after learning more about the universe they find themselves in? More importantly, can they change the SyStem that controls everything in that universe and many more?The SyStem: Multiverse is the first book in a series of the same name, where they fight monsters with psychic powers, deal with betrayal, survive on a barren world, and decide whether they will let things remain the same or take action to change their circumstances.Jon Svenson is the author of Biomedical Self-Engineering and other novels yet to be released.

Party Hard


David Petrie - 2018
    Now, instead of lying in bed dreaming about showing up late to class in their underwear, players step into a breathtaking world of fantasy and adventure. For most users, this is a dream come true. For players like MaxDamage24 and his sidekick Kirabell, it is about to become something else. After being fired, one of Noctem’s creators sets into motion a plan to bring the system crashing down. To stop the collapse, Max and Kira will have to gather their most trusted friends and embark on a quest that will push them to their absolute limits. Together they’ll face creepy dungeons, impossible bosses, and their own nightmares, all while doing their best to stay alive. With a mission this big, none of them will be the same after. The real question is… how much will they be forced to change? Only one thing is certain - if they want to survive, they’re gonna have to Party Hard.

Camelot Overthrown


Galen Wolf - 2017
     Christendom is threatened by the minions of the evil one Satanus, and King Arthur, king of the Britons, calls out for brave knights to come and defend the Island of Britain. Camelot Overthrown is the first book set in a future virtual reality fantasy role playing by Miskatonic Games. Join Gorrow as he rises up from Level 1, hones his knightly skills, upgrades his weapons, makes friends, and builds a village on his way from Squire to Knight. But his progress is threatened by the ever encroaching armies of Satanus, who threaten even Camelot itself. Gorrow must race to level so he has the skills to fight and defeat evil. And the financial resources to back up his fight. King Arthur sends out a call. If Camelot falls, surely Christendom will fall too? Then who will resist Satanus as his black tide threatens to overwhelm the medieval island of Britain?