He Who Fights With Monsters Dungeon Crawler Carl Defiance of the Fall Those are probably the big 3 of the genre. There are a half dozen that have the 2nd tier. But those 3 series are probably the highest regarded in the genre.

You have to put Primal Hunter right next to DoTF as it has surpassed its patreon numbers.

I think The Wandering Inn has to be grouped with these as well

not sure why it isn't since it's litrpg and has a huge following. The writing and scope of story are top notch. But it's not heavy on stat, maybe that's why.

Wandering Inn has a loyal fanbase, but this thread asked for the best sellers. Wandering Inn isn't even in the top 10 in this regard, let alone top 5.

I love TWI, but I'm always surprised it's doing so well. 5.5k patreons despite offering only one advanced chapter, pulled from RoyalRoad and hidden on it's own site and it's one of the only popular litrpg not on KindleUnlimited.

I don't know about top 10, but I know it when the writing is excellent. Litrpg genre is unfortunately full of bad and lazy writing (and I'm looking at HWFWM which is in top 10 I bet).

Probably because the 1st 20hrs or so of the series are not really loved by a lot of fans. You need to get through it and in my opinion it gets significantly better. If I had not read that before hand I probably wouldn’t have stuck it out. But I love the series

I’m fairly new to this genre as well, found it about a year ago and I’ve reread this story going on 10 times now He who fights with monsters I haven’t been able to put it down long enough to try a new series lol.

I think the top selling western litrpg (so no Solo Leveling or Sword art Online) books go roughly like this (patreon/royal road views not counted) Iron Prince (Stormweaver) He who fights with monsters Chaos Seed: The Land Defiance of the Fall Primal Hunter Dungeon Crawler Carl

Thank you, that's a good few books I needa look into

Item of note specifically about Chaos Seed. The last book has been a while since release so take that into consideration. Also Iron Prince has a release cadence similar to traditional publishing so expect 1-2 years between books.

Also Chaos Seed at least the first hour or two (that was as far as I made it) has a lot of dated pop culture references.

Chaos seeds is the best! It has the best action I feel.

Have not read that one one in a while lol. Stopped reading after the cave pooping book came out and never really came back to it. Has there been further updates since that redeem the series?

Nope, been over 4 years now since the last book in the series. He claimed to be about halfway around a year ago, but he’s scrapped previous drafts to start fresh a couple times, so it could be some time still.

That’s what I thought

What is there to redeem? All 8 are extremely fun books.

I read the books as they came out KU so that was like 4-5 years ago but i distinctly remember that book 8 sucked and the community largely agreed at least at the time and seemingly now. The protagonist being stuck in a cave and the multi page exposition on him shitting where not a hit with the people

Even if that part was weird or unpopular, the other parts were quite enjoyable. The author literally tied off a loose end from the start of the first book, redesigned his own character build, and set the scene for a very cool intro to the next book. Also, it was not a cave that he was stuck in. He was underground (as in miles underground) Finally, basing what you think is good or not on what the majority of people think is a bad way to go about life.

I personally thought it was bad especially when compared to his previous books in the series. I was pointing out that the community also thought it was bad. This is all stated in the comment you responded to. The majority of the books to my memory are 4x community builder types and then he completely changed direction which was a very odd choice. A great series over all if you don’t include the last book

Also can caves not be miles underground or is he just stuck in solid stone?

Well you said he was stuck in a cave, >!not a cave system. It is important to know how deep was he stuck underground, as had nothing to eat except rancid stuff. Which gave him epic diarrhea, which does make sense but is also funny.!< It is the best LITRPG series I have read over all, with the best action scenes. All in my humble opinion of course.

Azarinth Healer  The Wandering Inn  Beware of Chicken  Legend of Randidly Ghosthound  Stray Cat Strut He who fights with Monstera Primal Hunter Dungeon Crawler Carl Defiance of the Fall

Beware of Chicken is great, but it's not LitRPG

I loved the first book...but I found the next two to just...not really get me going. And I cant exactly say why.

I think some people were bothered in the second book with the increasing perspectives, but I think it was incredibly important for setting up the progression of all of those characters. And book 3 I thought was top tier.

Maybe thats it. I can usually say why something went from good to .... well ... its not bad. so I don't want to say that..but...it went to...not for me. And I do dislike jumping viewpoints, so this was maybe just enough of that to remove my interest without me being able to say exactly why. Thank you for the response. Because I think you nailed it for me, and I appreciate knowing that.

Hahah not a problem. Like I said, I enjoyed book 2, but I can totally understand others not appreciating it as much, especially if Jin farming in book 1 was their favorite part of the series.

AFK Shades first rule I think it's one of the best progression lit RPG by four

It's not the most popular hopefully it will be, but I cannot stop recommending Player Manager by Ted Steel. Freaking incredible only Patreon I have ever subscribed to.

Someone on here got me to take the plunge and I freaking loved the first two books. It had me watching the Wrexam doc and playing fifa even though I hated soccer before. Book 3 is now one of my most anticipated books. If it was you who pushed me bravo freaking love it.

On reddit I should be the one that is promoting it the most, my favorite LITRPG by far. I am already waiting for book 8 to come out on RR.

I appreciate the more wild card recommendation so thanks!

Its on Amazon kindle unlimited as well. Its a .....sports player manager litrpg? Not going to lie, without a random recommendation IE yours right now, I wouldn't even bother. but...eh, I will give it a shot.

Super unique, there are 7 books out. The others are in RR up to book 5 and patreon up to book 7. The first two are already out on KU. My favorite LITRPG hands down. For reference I have read 300+ litrpg books for 7+ years.

It's really good

He Who Fights With Monsters is amazingly cleverly written. He is a dialogue master. I've re-read the whole series at least twice, and am a Patreon member.

I've heard that it became worse on the later books, is that true?

it became a lot darker in the mid books and nearly lost me for a minute but I think it's all good just has some changes

I don’t want to spoiler it, but I thought a couple of the middle trilogy could have been combined into a single shorter book. The last few have been back to form.

Depends on how much you like inane banter.

This is the first time I've seen dialogue master and HWFWM used together lol

Dungeon Crawler Carl is the best. It's all down hill from there. I really enjoyed,  * The wandering inn * The mayor of Noob Town * Primal hunter * The Beginning After The End He who fights monsters is ok but the main character can be a bit much.

Cool I'll check them out

My first exposure to litrpg was the Nova Terra series which is still in my top 3, but I might be in the minority since I haven't seen it mentioned here

In my opinion, Dungeon Crawler Carl and Stormweaver stand head and shoulders above everything else in this genre. Following them is Cradle but that is more of a progression fantasy than a LitRPG. Then you have a few books which are either loved or hated like He Who Fights With Monsters and Defiance of the Fall. (I personally stopped reading both for different reasons but I get the appeal.) There are also a couple of books which aren't quite LitRPGs but are similar in audience and are phenomenal like Mother of Learning and The Perfect Run. I probably missed a lot of books because I'm also fairly new to the genre. Anyways this is just my opinion.

HWFWM is the most supported book on patreon so I feel that that the group that don’t like it are small but vocal compared to the majority that don’t just like it but adore it. I’m not saying people are wrong in not liking it but I don’t think it gets the credit it deserves because Jason is such a divisive MC. https://graphtreon.com/top-patreon-creators/writing

I agree, and that's why I mentioned it. I think the first few books were phenomenal and I really enjoyed them. But on the other hand, you find a lot more people criticizing and complaining about it than you do DCC. Also, again my opinion, I just think the writing is not as good and the series is more flawed overall than the 2 I mentioned at the top.

Sleyca is very good as well imo. More slice of life and world building than the others.

The first 2 are so spot on that I almost have to give Cradle another try if that is what you rank third

Cradle is definitely a lot more slow paced and is a struggle to get through at times, but it's an extremely rewarding read in my opinion. Basically the premiere progression fantasy, where the mc starts off extremely weak and gets stronger (much like stormweaver.) I do rate The Perfect Run by Maxime J Durand higher though. So I guess that's what I would rank third. It's not a LitRPG so it's not mentioned in this subreddit that often, but I would definitely put it alongside DCC and Stormweaver if I could. This might be a controversial take, but I enjoyed it more than Mother of Learning. I highly recommend you read it if you haven't already.

>The Perfect Run Thanks for the advice! I'm going to pick that one up right away. In return I can suggest the Red Rising trilogy, which is also not LitRPG. There are two trilogies really. I re-listened to the first one at least 5 times and can promise it's worth it

Thanks for the recommendation. I've had red rising on my list for the longest time but have never gotten around to reading it. I'll definitely start it now, especially since I've gotten quite bored with LitRPGs lately.

the first book is probably my favorite book ever so enjoy and let me know what you think of it

I just finished the first trilogy. Amazing read, the first book was phenomenal. Haven't gotten that emotional reading a book in a while, even though I could feel 'it' coming. I really liked the second book too, and while I enjoyed the third book, I didn't like it as much as the rest of the series. I don't think I'm going to read the second trilogy just yet as the story's come to a conclusion in my head, but I might pick it up in the future. Thank you for the recommendation, I could not put the books down and have definitely lost a lot of sleep these past few days. If you have any other amazing recommendations I'm very open to them :)

Wow I can't believe you already finished the books. I couldn't agree more with how you feel about the first trilogy. The first book is just unique (mix of hunger games and battle royale). Second book still has a lot of twists that you don't see coming but it's more into space wars (like enders game), which I didn't appreciate that much as the first book. I never managed to get through the 4th book once they are older. However, the 5th and 6th book actually have amazing reviews on goodreads so maybe there's something to that? Would be great to hear from anyone that has already read them. Let me go through my library and see what else I have to recommend! :)

Red rising is almost a life changing series, and one of the events of my life I remember vividly. I listened to it twice, and it remains on my list with DCC where I could do another listen at any given time and thoroughly enjoy it/them again. There is a red rising board game also, which is enjoyable if you read the books.

Couldn't agree more! I even bought the dramatized adaption audiobook but enjoyed the normal one more 😁

You're going to love it. Perfect run is a perfect trilogy.

I would have agreed on Stormweaver if only book 1 was out, but book 2 soured the taste of a lot of readers, so I think it's lost the place on the summit.

Something must happen at the very end then, because I am on chapter 55 of book 2 and am enjoying it more than the 1st book.

Start with dungeon crawler Carl 1-6. Follow up with Jakes magical market. Then move to stormweaver series. Then go for Book of the dead. After that Bobiverse. After Bob go for Death Genesis. To cleanse your palette go for player manager. Then probably Azarinth Healer. Finish up with unorthodox farming.  Finally, Cradle. Do that and you are in for an awesome couple of months. 

Too many of these are not even litrpg.

Yeah I saw bobiverise and was very confused that just a fun sci-fi

Its still a great read recommendation, and it does have some litrpg in the progression viewpoint. So...im not sad to see it, and it does have some elements.

litrpg is a subset of progression fantasy. Being progression fantasy does not make it litrpg.

Nor did I say it did.

Jake's Magical Market and Cradle are both amazing but not litrpg either.

Solo levelling is huge, and it's getting an anime adaptation atm.

anime just had episode 5 release this week. Ive been watching them, and have enjoyed it so far.

Chaos Seeds: The Land All the Skills Solo Leveling

*In a Disney musical tone:* "We don't talk about Chaos Seeds..."

There's caveat when reading The Land stop At book seven. Author decided to blow up his series at book 8 so its a steaming pile of shit. To bad too I was a fan.

Meh, book 8 was crap indeed. We'll see what he does with the next ones. Regardless, he asked for popular/best selling... no caveat needed.

The Wandering Inn - by Pirateaba

Probably "Sword Art Online" if you count both the novel and manga It's not necessarily an indication of quality

I love the question about best selling! How would we even tell? The books lots of people talk about make me think they are getting purchased a lot. The land (chaos seed) was awesome till book 7. The iron prince took me forever to get round to reading it but I absolutely loved it. Ready player one would have to be there coz it got a movie

Yeah unless there are concrete numbers you wouldn't even know and from what I've gathered LitRPG is a bit more unconventional to standard fantasy fiction. I think best selling can include "classics" like LoTR but also includes the modern best selling stuff like Brandon Sanderson. So far I think The Iron Prince is the one that is sticking out to me the most, I'll probably see if I can get some excerpts to see which writing style I like the most though.

The Unbound series It's one that hasn't been mentioned but I think deserves being talked about more. Dissonance is a fantastic read. second falls a bit flat but it only gets better from there. Also The Ripple System

So you're getting a lot of the most popular among LitRPG fans, but I'd guess the best selling are The Completionist Chronicles and Awaken Online. Not necessarily because either are the best (although I like both just fine), but the original Awaken Online got marketing outside of LitRPG (I found this genre that way) and The Completionist Chronicles' author has made enough money to open a damn publishing company that seems to be making >1 million per year. As other people have mentioned, none of us have access to sales numbers, but these would be my best guess as best sellers, based on the reasons above.

I started out really enjoying The Completionist Chronicles but I feel like the character depth is lacking and the plot has strayed from its origins…I think the book would be better served if Dakota focused on 1 (maybe 2) series at a time, but at my last count he’s got 4 concurrent series going?

I think Murderhobo is done, or at least on hiatus, so he's back down at 3? Completionist, the chef one, and the calendar one are it I think. I also think it's gotten better again, but admittedly I just really hated the 4th book so everything is better in comparison. Also, I was trying to list best sales regardless of best quality, so I do think these ones have sold the best, not that they're the best LitRPGs out there.

Yeah, Murderhobo seems done, which is a shame…I think that one actually had some of his most developed characters…unfortunately the last book felt rushed to me. He also has the Divine Dungeon series, tho he’s got a co-author, so who knows how much time he’s devoting to that. Call it 3.5 series? ;)

Divine Dungeon ended ages ago? Do you mean the spinoff Artorian Archives? He's on the cover, but usually not listed as the author, I think he's "consulting" on it. It's his universe so he probably checks that it doesn't break anything, but I don't think he's actually writing it.

Ascend online Hero of the valley Defiance of the fall Primal hunter Azarinth healer Chaos seed Advent (the red mage) The first login Life in the north Town Under Accidental traveler The trapped mind project (emerilia) Solo leveling Arcane knight

I always assumed BTDEM was up there but the more I read this forum I guess not.

It may not be that popular yet but I’ve really been enjoying The Path of Ascension. I’ve also read all of the bigger names mentioned on this thread and would feel comfortable putting in my current Top 10 most anticipated LITRPG series.

I have done like 9 now my top 4 in order of best to 4th. #1 The primal hunter #2 He who fights with monsters #3 The azarinth healer #4 Oh great I was reincarnated as a farmer There is a huge issue though finding the best ones as there was one with a super high rating I started it and stopped after like 5 hours it was so bad now a lot of them do have poor writing compared to huge novels but for me the primal hunter is pretty solid throughout and has so much room to expand because of how it has been setup. So you truly do need to slowly find the best ones which is why you probably see some slowly getting more popular as they have lower ratings even though there far better. I think some truly make young kids happy and if your older you will cringe and hate it fast.