Transmissions

Best VRMMO LitRPG: What Keeps Them Logged In

Somebody puts on a headset and doesn't come back. Four VRMMO and trapped-in-the-game books, sorted by what's keeping the hero inside. Ten thousand players log into Sword Art Online on its first day and find they can't log out. Anyone who dies in the game dies in real life, and so…

Best kingdom-building LitRPG: who runs the place

Best kingdom-building LitRPG: who runs the place Kingdom-building LitRPG hands its hero a settlement and makes them keep it alive. Four books, grouped by who ends up in charge and how they got the job. Oren is a powerful guild leader until his second-in-command curses him into a …

Best cultivation books, sorted by what the climb costs

Cultivation is a ladder with named rungs, and every book here charges a different price to climb it: talent, rank, money or standing. Four places to start. Lindon is born Unsouled in Sacred Valley, forbidden to seek power in the sacred arts. That's where Will Wight's Cradle begin…

Best crafting LitRPG, sorted by what the work gives back

Crafting LitRPG is about the work: forging and enchanting, and getting better at both. Four books, sorted by what the work gives back to the crafter. In Jared Mandani's True Smithing, Angus Bjornson was a master blacksmith until one accident too many left him disabled. His kids g…

Best dungeon core books, sorted by what the dungeon wants

The protagonist is the dungeon, and the heroes are the ones walking in. Four dungeon core books, sorted by what each dungeon wants from its visitors. In a dungeon core book, the main character builds the hallway the heroes die in. Here are 4 to start with, sorted by what the dung…

Best Cozy LitRPG: Where to Start and Why

The shelf people reach when they're burned out on everything else. Four books, what each is actually for, and who should walk past the whole thing. Ask a cozy LitRPG reader how they found the shelf and you'll usually get a story about burning out on something else. That's worth k…

The LitRPG subgenres, explained.

Cultivation, dungeon core, cozy, kingdom-building, VRMMO, system apocalypse. What each shelf actually promises, and which one fits what you already like. The genre has a naming problem, and it costs you a month. Someone tells you they love LitRPG. So you go find LitRPG. What you …

Books Like Silo

Books like Silo: what to read now that season three is over Ten episodes, one finale, and season four is the last one. Three novels that do what Silo does, sorted by which part of it kept you watching. Season three of Silo wrapped on September 4, which leaves everyone in the same…

Books like Defiance of the Fall and The Primal Hunter (sorted by what you're really reading for)

Zac Atwood was on a camping trip. Jake Thayne was at work. Three read-alikes for people who came for the moment the planet stopped being the same kind of place, plus one with my name on it. Both of those series open on an ordinary person having an ordinary day, and then the Syste…

Books like He Who Fights With Monsters (sorted by what actually hooked you)

You've caught up on Jason Asano and now you're waiting like everyone else. Three read-alikes sorted by which part of HWFWM you were really there for, plus one I have a stake in. He Who Fights With Monsters is a dozen books deep with another on the way, which is a wonderful proble…

Cradle vs Dungeon Crawler Carl: Which One Should You Read First?

Two of the biggest names in progression fiction. Two completely different rides. Here's how to pick your entry point — spoiler-free — based on what you actually want out of the next thing you read. If you've spent any time looking for your next progression read, you've hit both o…

If you loved Squid Game or Alice in Borderland

A reader's on-ramp for the Integration Era Every good death-game story runs on the same cold engine. You get a number. The number decides where you rank, your rank decides whether you're worth keeping alive, and none of it arrives with any more feeling than a spreadsheet updating…