Book picks similar to
Nothing but Bones: The Wasteland by John Carrarn
litrpg
p-kronides
science-fiction
abandoned
Gaming the System
P.A. Wikoff - 2019
In this MMORPG penal colony, inmates PVP to gain EXP, loot, and most of all...survive. Seph has been sentenced to play in one of these virtual correctional facilities. Sounds fun right? Maybe for some, but there is no worse punishment for Seph, mostly because he isn't a gamer. Will he be able to complete his sentence with all the trials and objectives thrown at him? Trapped in a virtual world he cannot escape, Seph now has to step outside of his comfort zone and align himself with the very thing he's been rebelling against his whole life--the system. Game designer and avid gamer, P.A. Wikoff wrote this story as a love letter to a lifetime of gaming.
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?"
Gates of Thunder
Alex Kosh - 2014
It's a place where magic spells, enchanted artifacts, steam-powered machines, firearms and mechanical golems are a part of everyday life.Gamer Andrew Falk begins his journey in a small village on the border of Orcish territory. The locals are the keepers of many secrets, but their behavior is too realistic for characters in a game; so realistic, in fact, that Andrew starts to treat them as if they were real people. Maybe because of the way he plays, or maybe just thanks to good luck, he becomes one of a mysterious class of people known as "sliders,” and Elenia, the goddess of fate, sends him on an epic quest. But he quickly comes to understand that it's not just his stats as a gamer that are at stake here, but his real life. The virtual goddess turns out to be capable of affecting the real world in order to force Andrew to complete her assignments within the game.Now Andrew's going to have to turn Arktania upside-down in his quest for five ancient swords. But the "Loner" curse means that he won't have anyone to rely on but himself.
Judge, Jury, & Executioner Boxed Set (Books 1 - 4): You Have Been Judged, Destroy The Corrupt, Serial Killer, Your Life is Forfeit
Craig Martelle - 2019
Be one who judges and punishes the guilty. The first 4 books in the Space Opera Adventure Legal Thriller are here together for you in one boxed set!
You Have Been Judged, Book 1
Could she look herself in the mirror after meting out justice? She's about to find out. Rivka heads to space to be the Judge, Jury, & Executioner. Criminals have nowhere to go.You Have Been Judged...
Destroy The Corrupt, Book 2
No one runs a racket and gets away with it.
Not in the Federation and not when it steals business from The Bad Company. Punish the interlopers! But justice must be served. Is it a racket? Or are they just better at business?Send in the Magistrate to investigate and apply the law. What will Rivka uncover? What justice will she deliver?Keep pulling the threads. See what unravels. They keep leading her...
Somewhere. She knows she has to follow. Even if it smells like a trap.
Serial Killer, Book 3
Alien ambassadors are dying.
The locals are in over their heads. Or are they turning a blind eye?The Magistrates band together to learn about the law, each other, and even themselves. They still need outside help to solve the case. Who do they call?
And Barnabas stops by to refuel and spin a tale. More training for the Magistrates.
But duty takes them away. Another Ambassador is brutally murdered. Rivka takes her team to find the perp and end the violence.
Very little is as it seems.
Your Life is Forfeit, Book 4
Red has a price on his head. Rivka is determined to find those who put it there.
Criminals commit crimes. Career criminals do it in secret. They are good at hiding.Rivka’s latest case has her hunting fugitives. Red is on a mission to find them and make them pay for what they’ve done.Her search leads her through dark warrens of political intrigue and ecological disasters. All the while, Rivka is swinging the scales of justice, judging the guilty, and delivering punishment.Villainy and scum have toe-holds throughout the galaxy, but Rivka doesn’t mind stepping on their toes even when she’s not judging them. She considers it her job because no one is above the law.Is Rivka’s search sanctioned or has she gone rogue? Will the Federation back her play?
Magistrate Rivka Anoa is the legal eagle you want on your side. No better friend. No worse enemy.
Judge, Jury, & Executioner is a stand-alone series in t
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.
Life of Numbers
Seth Richter - 2019
Each person who has ever lived has five Numbers on their arm, defining the five primary attributes of that person. Throughout someone's life, these will increase with time and effort, and all of society revolves around these Numbers. What happens when this natural system of Numbers, the basis of all of society for all of history...changes?
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.
The Last Time Loop, Book #1: LitRPG Series
Anton Emelianov - 2019
Any kind of death annuls everything except his present knowledge and returns him to the past. It’s a good way to test all sorts of things. That is, it would be if not for one little thing... This loop has real Lords and it’s unlikely that they will be happy to find about an uninvited guest. And that isn’t his only problem; all of his memories of last year have simply disappeared. But the world around him changed in the meantime. Earth has been seized by the Velly clan and joined their Star Empire. Max has also discovered his gift of being a psychic. However, the latter isn’t that big of a deal. Everyone can be a level 1 “battery”; for everything else, however, it’s necessary to have some talent, money, and connections, which only complicates things further. A whole new world, great opportunities, and big troubles... Welcome to the Last Time Loop!
Beyond The Wall
Pwyll Duggan - 2019
Like one moment you’re drinking your coffee and the next you are naked in what looks like a medieval village. And worse, the coffee is gone. Must be a Monday. Paul Walsh really didn’t need this. Divorced, Wrong side of 40 and not exactly what you would call fit. Now some mystical force has set him up as today’s hope to save a village. Kill Monsters, Harvest their Souls and Power their Wall. A magical wall of black energy that stretches further than the horizon and up higher than the clouds. It keeps the monsters out and lets those selected thru. And he’s one of a thousand that have been selected to go forth in the last 3 years. New ones get selected only if the previous never returns by nightfall. No pressure. No pressure at all. Paul’s definitely too old for this sh.. At least there’s Orcs, Centaurs, Elves, Lamia, Harpies and the odd Spider. He also runs into the Dead, Night Ones, Dryads, Driders and Troublesome Nobles. To comfort him there are Fair Maidens, Noodles and yummy Rice Balls. Warnings and Minor Spoilers: This is an Isekai (Portal Fantasy) novel with Adult themes, Swearing and Graphic Violence in its many forms, set in a Medieval style Society, with cultural values to match. Adult relationships with Societal Harem themes that slowly disappear as the story progresses. Please Read with that in consideration. And watch out for the Snotters, they bite.
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.
Ash
Kirill Klevanski - 2020
"Ash" is the first of the prequels to the "Dragon Heart" series. It can be read as a stand-alone book.Even before Myristal went out, before the battle of the Heavens and the Earth broke out, before the Black General was imprisoned on the Mountain of Skulls, a wizard had wandered the endless expanses of the Nameless World in search of his past and his future. This is the legend of Ash, the Master of a Thousand Words, the Bloody General. What’s true and what is fiction is up to you to decide. But this is how his story was told to young children, so that they wouldn’t be afraid and have nightmares, back when the legends of the old world were still remembered.
The Otherist: Arrival
William Dickey - 2017
A day where boundaries between worlds were bent and nature’s most divine laws violated. To the humans remaining on Earth, it was the day where a million people vanished in an instant, carried away by columns of light descending from the heavens.To Isaac Stein, an ordinary 17-year-old boy, it was a fresh start. Isaac finds himself on an alternate version of Earth named Tautellus, an extraordinary world filled with magical beings thought to exist only in legend. Isaac struggles to establish new ties and harness his newfound mystical powers, but just as he begins to thrive in his new home, it is savagely ripped away by the invasion of a hostile nation.Driven to prevent others from meeting the same cruel fate, Isaac must brave the harsh wilderness, overcome betrayals, and wage war for his survival. In the meantime, he stumbles upon secrets of a long lost magitechnologically advanced civilization and their ancient enemy. An enemy that now seeds war and chaos throughout the land as they attempt to seize both Tautellus and Earth.
Ganked In Space
NM Tatum - 2018
When lifelong friends Reggie, Joel and Cody, fail to win the Virtual Reality Elite championship, they’re forced to find real work. The guys sign a pest control contract, ridding space stations of infestations.
ShimVens have been spreading rapidly across the galaxy.
The bugs eat through wiring, destroying space stations and ships.Reggie took the job because the pay was good and the work sounded easy. Cody and Joel are skeptical, but Reggie convinces them it’s easy work. Just spray the bugs and done, right?
Not exactly.
They soon learn these pests are deadly. They’ll have to rely on their gaming skills if they are to survive.
And they’re going to need better weapons. Oh, and a mercenary who knows how to kick ass.
These three immature guys go off to save the universe…all by accident.
Men in Black meets Ghost Busters. Intergalactic Pest Control will have readers hooked from the beginning.
--- Caution for strong language and graphic scenes involving lots of bug guts.
Unwritten Rules
Adam Horne - 2017
Unable to support himself and dependent on others to meet his needs, Kevin was slipping into depression when his best friend convinced him to play a new game called Genesis Online. The concept was simple: a revolutionary artificial intelligence controlled the game world and adapted it to the actions of the players. Even the developers didn't know what course the game could take as it evolved. Lured into the game by the prospect of earning real money, Kevin soon runs afoul of a man determined to control as much of Genesis as possible. He recruits other disenfranchised players to his side in his quest to find a way to prosper in the game. Can they stop the man who calls himself the king of Genesis from taking over everything?
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.