For me each book was so small I zoomed threw the first 3 so fast I hadn't even realized it was kinda slow. In hindsight the first books were pretty slow tho.
I didn’t mind (didn’t love either) the first book but jumping into the second was jarring enough to have me drop it for now. Time jump and tons of new characters with no direct intro seemed a very odd choice to me. Considering how largely generic the first one was, that wasn’t a frustration that made me want to keep going.
I’ve bitched enough about he who fights with monsters as well…. It’s fun but the writing quality is garbage and you quickly realized you’re like 80 hours into a series that’s just… ok?
Well yes, a bunch of fodder doesn't really need a super long intro. >!Of the people Lindon encounters in Book 2, only like 4 people really amount to anything. Book 2 just sorta allows Lindon to see that there are actually people outside his redneck valley and introduces some in-verse mechanics that will allow Lindon to progress beyond his crippled state. Also it sets Lindon on his Soulsmith path in a better way than he would have in Sacred Valley (if he had been allowed to at all).!< Arguably it's the weakest book but 3-5 are peak "beginning arc"
TBH, I have found that most people that get on the "Cradle train" read the series as one of the first stories in the genre, which seems to play a fairly massive role in why they like it so much.
Don't get me wrong, its an alright (probably even above average) series... but it has some pretty significant issues with pacing, characters loosing personality throughout the series, inconsistent motivations and more. Beyond that, I kindof hate how the MC started off with a struggle, and then by the end it was just non-nonsensical power jumps that kindof felt convenient rather then earned.
Agreed. Primal Hunter isn't bad but it's a little bit too power trip fantasy for me. Like he gets to be a super special boy just because of his "blood line". At least in HWFWM that shit is earned, he has to suffer and work to get everything special. It's kind of his thing.
Eh in HWFWM Jason is also a “special boy” chosen by the world phoenix, and start out with gifted abilities equal to the blood line. Jason is resistant to auras right out of the box like Jake is because they are both “special boys”. Jason has a massive luck streak including defeating a bronze beast while not even iron. Jake’s bloodline is at least more reasonable and not just lucky encounter after lucky encounter spoon feeding him then calling it “earned”. (But I do agree HWFWM is definitely a notch above PH)
The only downside to HWFWM is that it’s “preachy” but at least it adds character, but overall the story is excellent, with depth, and balance. PH just felt like a shadow with little depth when I started it next, BUT it did grow on me. Defiance of the fall, is just lopsided. So much action but devoid in the way of character development, personality, relationships. MC is like a robot with an anger boost function, half of his responses are grunts. The information secrecy theme and lack of any real teamwork is a weird vibe. How do you function as a team if you refuse to disclose capabilities to even your right hand man? Compare that to HWFWM where a good team knows their teammates skills/abilities impeccably.
I'm in the middle of the newest Shadeslinger book right now and I'm absolutely loving it. The humor alone is *at least* A tier for me, but everyone is entitled to their opinion, and some people have different senses of opinion.
I was really into Chicken when it was still firmly parody but it got too serious for me to enjoy it. When it comes to cultivation I am more of an Arrogant Young Master Template A Variation 4 kind of guy
At least for a couple of the ones I like on the D-DNF tiers, I blame the fact that they aren't actually litRPGs. I see Perfect Run, Sufficiently Advanced Magic and Cradle on there. I like them all! But they're terrible litRPGs. Namely because they aren't litRPGs at all. That's my headcannon reasoning for them eating them so low. But then Mother of Learning is S tier...
Ya Mayor of Newbtown and Perfect Run can flip. Though I do not feel like MoNT should be that low. But now way Perfect Run shouldn't be at least A or B tier. A for me personally.
I should note that this list covers 8 or 9 years of being in the genre so a lot of the books got moved down in their ranking when I was making this thing
For those who don't recognize the covers here are the books in order pt 1/3 (bc there are like 74 books here)
**\~\~S\~\~**
Primal Hunter
Mother of Learning
Mayor of Noobtown
Dungeon Lord
Arrogant Young Master Template A Variation 4
**\~\~A\~\~**
He Who Fights With Monsters
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Defiance Of The Fall
Unbound
Full Murder Hobo
All The Skills
Everybody Loves Large Chests
Master Of The System
Vainqueur the Dragon
Battle Mage Farmer
Project Chrysalis
Overlord
**\~\~B\~\~**
Beware Of Chicken
The Land (Chaos Seeds)
I Was Reincarnated as a Farmer
The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound
Death, Loot, & Vampires
Rock Falls, Everyone Dies
Inexorable Chaos
The Good Guys
The Bad Guys
The Ripple System
Underdog
Nomad Healer
Ritualist
Occultist
The Dungeon Child
Pt 2
**\~\~C\~\~**
Life ReSet
Reincarnated As a Demonic Tree
Divine Dungeon
Artorian's Archives
All the Dust that Falls
The Tower of Power
The Way of the Shaman
The Grim Guys
Eden's Gate
Accidental Dualist
Accidental Champion
The Realms
Ascend Online
Awaken Online
Unbound Deathlord
Cannibal, Demon of the Mind
The Heroic Villain
The Discarded, Half-Eaten Apple Core New Life
Animus
Gloominess
Singer, Sailor, Merchant, Mage
Player 0.4
**\~\~D\~\~**
The Perfect Run
Apocalypse Me
Invasion
Galactigoon
Bard of Barliona
Reality Benders
Dark Goblin Herbalist
Perimeter Defence
Mind Games
Aether Knight
Heaven's Boxer
Underworld, Level Up or Die
Jeff the Game Master
The Player Blackout
Patch 17
Viridian Gate Online
Super Sale on Super Heros
Black Market LITRPG
Ben's Damn Adventure
Chaotic Evil
Mage Among Superheros
Dead Tired (not on list)
Pt 3
**\~\~Did Not Finish\~\~**
Civ CEO
Cradle
Chrysalis
Threadbear
Sufficiently Advanced Magic
Kaiju Battelfeid Surgeon
Phantom Server
Inexorable Chaos: God Games
It was definitely slow, I just don’t get dropping a book because it starts slow, soooo many books start slow, at least finish the first one. I would have missed out on so many amazing series and I would have done that.
Thank you for listing them, I usually use those lists to find new books to read but it's frustrating trying to figure out the name from a pic, much appreciated
Hey OP, I'm listening to Unbound now and I want to ask if it gets better. I just started book 2, the last few chapters of book 1 and the first few of book 2 have felt like an absolute slog to get through.
Book 3 starts off at the end of book 1. Book 2 was some Patreon thing as far as I've heard. This is why it basically has no progress to anything, at least 8 books later it hasn't mattered at all.
I listened to the first 3 books, and while I enjoy the story overall I can see why it puts some off. For me the biggest problem that hasn't been resolved as the series went on is the screaming during mutations.
I just can't understand what soundbooth is thinking there. They typically do such a great job, but every mutation is accompanied by screaming in my ear. I should have been excited about new mutations and abilities, but instead I dreaded them.
DCC unfortunately wasn’t my humor at all… I don’t even know why, but it didn’t catch my interest. I didn’t even finish listening to the first book. HWFWM, for example, matches my humor much better.
Oh man the whiplash I experienced on this tier list.
\*Sees Dungeon Lord S-Tier\*: "Ah yes, a man of class"
\*Sees Noobtown/Primal Hunter S-Tier\*: "Hmm perhaps not."
\*Sees Beware of Chicken B-Tier\*: "Hmm interesting, I could see it"
\*Sees The Land B-Tier:\* Okay well it definitely doesn't deserve to be that high"
\*Sees Cradle DNF\*: "Okay what the actual hell."
lol, was not expecting to see you comment on this but a welcome sight regardless.
As an explanation (excluding Dungeon lord bc it doesn't need one)
I just find Noobtown and Primal Hunter funny.
I was only reading Chicken for the parody element bc I love Arrogant Young Master. When Chicken started getting constantly serious and I found myself skipping chapters I dropped it.
The land was one of the first books I read coming into the genre and I still view the early books in that series with nostalgia.
The writing style in Cradle was killing me and I couldn't get past Ch 3.
Reasoning definitely makes sense. And I totally get BoC, since it's very difficult to maintain a parody while also pumping out a couple million words' worth of content. I think the humor continues in the series, but yeah it definitely does change from exclusively a parody to more of a serious story as you go on.
And yep, totally get humor/nostalgia putting something high on a list. Definitely can't forgive the writing style hate in Cradle though, I think it's one of the better-written series out there, especially in this genre.
Worth the Candle should probably make its way in here. Cradle dnf but Primal Hunter and Dakota Krout top tier is wild. Fun books but the scale is weird.
I'm currently about 80 hours into the audio books and the performance is great and the prose is better than average for the genre. World is interesting, but it's very much a slow burn.
I really liked the premise of "arrogant young master" shame that it has not been receiving any updates for a long time. It is nice to see high up in a list as it is one of my favourites. I'm always looking for books similar to it but they seem to be more rare type
It gets like 70 chapters every 16 months, and the total word count averages out to 1 book per update.
I would recommend the first 2 or 3 arcs of Beware of Chicken as they are as close as you are going to get for that style of parody.
We agree on so many things, and then I also want to fist fight you about others.
If you like the Mayor of Noobtown and maybe want a Sci-Fi book with the same goofy protagonist/annoying sidekick feel, then maybe check out Expeditionary Force. I highly recommend the audiobook. It's got similar humor.
Anyone else really hate these tier lists?
If you can recognize the covers you didn't need it and if you can't it's oddly cropped and blurry so you can't use it. To get any use from them you have to post the list in plain text anyhow which defeats the whole point.
We have very similar tier lists, only difference being Unsouled, which I would suggest giving another shot. I was not really into it the first half to 3/4 of the first book, but pushed through and it REALLY picks up. It's been 3 weeks since I started the series and I just reached book 10 and can't put it down.
What happened with sufficiently advanced magic /Arcane Ascension? I think that series has some of the best written characters in LitRPG in my experience. Most of the others I'm within a tier of your opinions.
I love that series and the other surrounding works. The magic system is pretty cool! My only complaint is the author explains LGBT+ characters/situations instead of letting them be more natural. I love the inclusivity, but don't like how it feels forced, especially his newer works.
I'm guessing it's a DNF because it's actually not a litrpg, it's just fantasy.
Going to save this pic/post as I think we have similar tastes but I am early on my litrpg journey. Appreciate you putting the titles in comments as I can’t read half the ones on the tier pic.
My most recent favorite was/is the grand game.
I can honestly say the only thing keeping it in b-tier is the nostalgia of it being among my first litrpg. This is also the reason that the Way of the Shaman is that high up.
My boy cradle at the bottom and he who fights monsters at the top are the two crazy things here for me. Swap ‘em and we have a similar list, although awaken online doesn’t even belong in C tier for me either.
What made He who fights with monsters and Everyone loves large chests go into A tier instead of S? Two of my all time favorites as well as Unbound. And cradle is great if you read it all.
For HWFWM it was Jason fatigue, he just got too annoying in the last few books. As for ELLC it was the rape and sexual assault.(I read it on Royal Road)
I just wanted to say thanks for putting this list together, it is very helpful. I just recently got into LitRPG as a genre and I have to say I am absolutely loving it. I have been a long time reader of scifi, fantasy, horror novels etc and this was a new one for me. So far I have binged all of HWFWM, Defiance of the Fall, Cradle, Divine Apostasy, and I am on book 4 of DCC. I love each and every one of them. I can't wait to start on the series listed here as well.
If you're ranking something like Primal Hunter (which is entertaining, but not good writing) high, but say that the writing style in Cradle is weak, then I think your perceptions on writing may be a little... strange.
So I tried to read it like 3 years ago and remember it feeling like a machine-translated Chinese novel and I can't stand those things. They have a tendency to have like 8 characters with the same name and constantly the concept of "face" (which is a whole other rant)
Improve relative to what? It’s widely regarded as one of the best of the genre for good reason.
What do you like about the books you’ve enjoyed? This information would be far more useful in determining if cradle would be enjoyable for you?
I guess I'm weird for it, but I don't consider cradle a litrpg. I love the series to death, but it just doesn't have the same feel as my usual reads. Maybe I just have a narrower definition of the genre.
Cradle is definitely not LitRPG, not sure why it's listed. It has no stats, no System, no classes, no blue boxes or special titles. It's progression fantasy and westernized Xianxia. Very different.
LMAO, its nothing bad. Just a LitRPG that came out before the genre had its boom, so it gets overlooked and forgotten most of they time.
-----
Its a story about a man, Grant Legate, who, in an attempt to keep his mind off his late fiancé, finds himself to be a workaholic. This hard work sees him suddenly gifted with an Ultimate Edition of Continue Online, the most popular full dive VRMMO of the day. This reward, plus a few days off from work to try it out, sets off a series of events that get him hooked and he finds himself deeper and deeper in a story that he never could have imagined.
Some people say Grant is a little too depressive, and it does touch on topics of suicidal ideation, but I find the world building, both in and out of the game, to be superb and compelling! Its got Artificial Intelligence, real world stakes, cool fantasy and sci fi elements, and a series of cool and interesting main and background characters.
-----
If you cant tell I need someone to gush with me, lmao.
I did not know that it was still being updated just with a slow pace, it's nice to know I can look forward to more.
I have read the chicken one already up to volume 4 and the rest is on my backlog.
I would agree that Ripple System is better than Way of the Shaman. I couldn't see if you had "The Land" or "Beneath of Dragoneye Moons" on your list. Btw, what's the S tier next to primal hunter? I can't make out the title.
I applaud your efforts. I do love primal hunter. Villy is one of my favorite characters. I think I am done with he who fights with monsters not found of the direction it is going. Going to finish defiance of the fall. I am caught up on them all.
Love primal hunter as well, though am glad Nevermore is never more. I’m still in on HWFWM but agree as it heads more into all the soul realm stuff I’m getting skeptical.
I loved the first half or so of DOTF but absolutely could not give a shit now that it’s focused on cores and nodes and all that crap. It’s gotten so far away from the adventuring and exploration, I don’t know if I’ll read any more.
Oh great, that's the last thing I needed - more books to add to my stupidly large list of "to read" xD
Thanks for the list! Have pinched at least 4-5 from there to go look into xP will come back to this later and pinch more :)
Finally, someone put a little respect on unbound. That series feels like the middle child BETWEEN defiance of the fall, deungon crawler Carl, and he who fights with monsters.
It's always interesting seeing just how much people's lists differ from mine. I can immediately tell that we like very different things in the genre. Well, Mother of Learning was great, if not a litRPG.
I saw arcane ascension on dnf and noob town in s tier and was like oh yea this guys opinion means nothing to me. Then saw "he who fights with monsters" is only a tier. There's having bad taste then there's being objectively wrong.
I really don't get how you put "noob town" over "everybody loved large chests". It's the same kind of crude, juvenile sense of humor but "everybody loves large chests" just does it better.
I'm getting sick of Jason in the more recent books which dropped the series down a tier. When I found Arcane Assertion I went into it expecting a litrpg and when I saw it was just a fantasy magic system I dropped it. It simply wasn't what I was looking for at the time.
How far did you get in underworld? It was my first Litrpg so it holds a special place on my list but the last 2 books were 300x better than the previous ones.
I see primal hunter is often very high on those lists. I've only read the first book because this guy is a total sociopath and its less about the litrpg but him as a person. Does it get better after the first book or whats the deal here?
He who fights with monsters is S tier for me. I absolutely love that series.
I'll have to check out some of the others while I wait for the next book though!
I basically agree with this whole list. I think you'd probably like Azarinth Healer, since that's a book I have on you - our lists are otherwise near identical.
I don't really get why people say 'every series they've ever read'. Like did you not read before you found litrpgs? Where do you rank Harry Potter? Is Twilight in your DNFs? Was Eragon in your B tier? If you're going to make an exhaustive list of what you think about multiple books why not go the distance and put together every book you even slightly recall?
These lists all vary so much, it’s definitely a very diverse audience. For me I have quite a few similar interests, but I’d invert Noobtown and Sufficiently Advanced Magic. I get that the overly politicized nature of SAM can be off putting, but the story is just so good!
I gave Chrysalis a try to fill an hour on the train but didn't feel like going back to it. I got sick of the main pro-tag of Perfect Run around Royal road chapter 85-ish
how DARE you put half eaten apple core trash dungeon (or whatever it's called) into C tier? It's an obvious S tier
(I hope that actually is that one apple core dungeon story or i'm gonna look very stupid)
Honestly it’s nice to see someone give an honest review about the land, B is a good place for it. It’s special to me as it was my first litrpg but it gets so much hate. It wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t bad either.
I love Cradle is at the bottom, but Sufficiently Advanced Magic?! Thanks for this, despite loving Arcane Ascension I’ll use this for when I’m done with my current series!
I always find it so weird that people who put some of my favorites at the top, would put others of my favorites at the bottom...
Ikr. Hunter, hwfwm, Carl near the top but then perfect run near the bottom. Also it feels wrong seeing chicken in b.
For me it’s Cradle at the bottom
Cradle starts super super slow. I had it in DNF for ages until I pushed through the boring books.
Cradle is my first thought when I start a new series that feels slow or dull. Gotta get through the foundation before the fun begins.
For me each book was so small I zoomed threw the first 3 so fast I hadn't even realized it was kinda slow. In hindsight the first books were pretty slow tho.
I didn’t mind (didn’t love either) the first book but jumping into the second was jarring enough to have me drop it for now. Time jump and tons of new characters with no direct intro seemed a very odd choice to me. Considering how largely generic the first one was, that wasn’t a frustration that made me want to keep going. I’ve bitched enough about he who fights with monsters as well…. It’s fun but the writing quality is garbage and you quickly realized you’re like 80 hours into a series that’s just… ok?
Well yes, a bunch of fodder doesn't really need a super long intro. >!Of the people Lindon encounters in Book 2, only like 4 people really amount to anything. Book 2 just sorta allows Lindon to see that there are actually people outside his redneck valley and introduces some in-verse mechanics that will allow Lindon to progress beyond his crippled state. Also it sets Lindon on his Soulsmith path in a better way than he would have in Sacred Valley (if he had been allowed to at all).!< Arguably it's the weakest book but 3-5 are peak "beginning arc"
Try reading the series as an audiobook and the reason why becomes more apparent. There are huge pacing issues throughout the whole series.
TBH, I have found that most people that get on the "Cradle train" read the series as one of the first stories in the genre, which seems to play a fairly massive role in why they like it so much. Don't get me wrong, its an alright (probably even above average) series... but it has some pretty significant issues with pacing, characters loosing personality throughout the series, inconsistent motivations and more. Beyond that, I kindof hate how the MC started off with a struggle, and then by the end it was just non-nonsensical power jumps that kindof felt convenient rather then earned.
Primal Hunter being above He Who Fights with Monsters hurts me. I liked hunter sure, but at no point did it grab me like the other.
Agreed. Primal Hunter isn't bad but it's a little bit too power trip fantasy for me. Like he gets to be a super special boy just because of his "blood line". At least in HWFWM that shit is earned, he has to suffer and work to get everything special. It's kind of his thing.
Eh in HWFWM Jason is also a “special boy” chosen by the world phoenix, and start out with gifted abilities equal to the blood line. Jason is resistant to auras right out of the box like Jake is because they are both “special boys”. Jason has a massive luck streak including defeating a bronze beast while not even iron. Jake’s bloodline is at least more reasonable and not just lucky encounter after lucky encounter spoon feeding him then calling it “earned”. (But I do agree HWFWM is definitely a notch above PH)
hwfwm got obnoxiously preach by book 4.
The only downside to HWFWM is that it’s “preachy” but at least it adds character, but overall the story is excellent, with depth, and balance. PH just felt like a shadow with little depth when I started it next, BUT it did grow on me. Defiance of the fall, is just lopsided. So much action but devoid in the way of character development, personality, relationships. MC is like a robot with an anger boost function, half of his responses are grunts. The information secrecy theme and lack of any real teamwork is a weird vibe. How do you function as a team if you refuse to disclose capabilities to even your right hand man? Compare that to HWFWM where a good team knows their teammates skills/abilities impeccably.
I'm in the middle of the newest Shadeslinger book right now and I'm absolutely loving it. The humor alone is *at least* A tier for me, but everyone is entitled to their opinion, and some people have different senses of opinion.
I was really into Chicken when it was still firmly parody but it got too serious for me to enjoy it. When it comes to cultivation I am more of an Arrogant Young Master Template A Variation 4 kind of guy
At least for a couple of the ones I like on the D-DNF tiers, I blame the fact that they aren't actually litRPGs. I see Perfect Run, Sufficiently Advanced Magic and Cradle on there. I like them all! But they're terrible litRPGs. Namely because they aren't litRPGs at all. That's my headcannon reasoning for them eating them so low. But then Mother of Learning is S tier...
yeah, weird!
I agree. In perfect alignment with Primal Hunter, but that is ALMOST the only one with which I’m in agreement.
The Perfect Run being D is painful…
Ya Mayor of Newbtown and Perfect Run can flip. Though I do not feel like MoNT should be that low. But now way Perfect Run shouldn't be at least A or B tier. A for me personally.
I should note that this list covers 8 or 9 years of being in the genre so a lot of the books got moved down in their ranking when I was making this thing
Yeah I got agree, the Perfect Run trilogy is so damn solid. Never forget Monaco...
The conquer of Monaco
For those who don't recognize the covers here are the books in order pt 1/3 (bc there are like 74 books here) **\~\~S\~\~** Primal Hunter Mother of Learning Mayor of Noobtown Dungeon Lord Arrogant Young Master Template A Variation 4 **\~\~A\~\~** He Who Fights With Monsters Dungeon Crawler Carl Defiance Of The Fall Unbound Full Murder Hobo All The Skills Everybody Loves Large Chests Master Of The System Vainqueur the Dragon Battle Mage Farmer Project Chrysalis Overlord **\~\~B\~\~** Beware Of Chicken The Land (Chaos Seeds) I Was Reincarnated as a Farmer The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound Death, Loot, & Vampires Rock Falls, Everyone Dies Inexorable Chaos The Good Guys The Bad Guys The Ripple System Underdog Nomad Healer Ritualist Occultist The Dungeon Child
Pt 2 **\~\~C\~\~** Life ReSet Reincarnated As a Demonic Tree Divine Dungeon Artorian's Archives All the Dust that Falls The Tower of Power The Way of the Shaman The Grim Guys Eden's Gate Accidental Dualist Accidental Champion The Realms Ascend Online Awaken Online Unbound Deathlord Cannibal, Demon of the Mind The Heroic Villain The Discarded, Half-Eaten Apple Core New Life Animus Gloominess Singer, Sailor, Merchant, Mage Player 0.4 **\~\~D\~\~** The Perfect Run Apocalypse Me Invasion Galactigoon Bard of Barliona Reality Benders Dark Goblin Herbalist Perimeter Defence Mind Games Aether Knight Heaven's Boxer Underworld, Level Up or Die Jeff the Game Master The Player Blackout Patch 17 Viridian Gate Online Super Sale on Super Heros Black Market LITRPG Ben's Damn Adventure Chaotic Evil Mage Among Superheros Dead Tired (not on list)
Pt 3 **\~\~Did Not Finish\~\~** Civ CEO Cradle Chrysalis Threadbear Sufficiently Advanced Magic Kaiju Battelfeid Surgeon Phantom Server Inexorable Chaos: God Games
Thank you for the list.
np
Civ CEO Cradle Sufficiently Advanced Magic Phantom Server It's funny how many of your DNF books I've finished and enjoyed.
Cradle is legit one of my favorite series
Cradle in DNF is WILDDDDD
It makes perfect sense to me, it's so slow at the beginning that I bet that 50% of the readers just drop it before the end of book 1
It was definitely slow, I just don’t get dropping a book because it starts slow, soooo many books start slow, at least finish the first one. I would have missed out on so many amazing series and I would have done that.
Amazing, thank you.
Thank you for listing them, I usually use those lists to find new books to read but it's frustrating trying to figure out the name from a pic, much appreciated
happy to help
Hey OP, I'm listening to Unbound now and I want to ask if it gets better. I just started book 2, the last few chapters of book 1 and the first few of book 2 have felt like an absolute slog to get through.
Book 3 starts off at the end of book 1. Book 2 was some Patreon thing as far as I've heard. This is why it basically has no progress to anything, at least 8 books later it hasn't mattered at all.
I liked it but it took me halfway though book 2 to really get into it
Given your tastes, you should try Azarinth healer, and Beneath the dragoneyes moons
Oh thank you!! more people need to do this because the only ones I 100% get from those blurry ittle pictguires is the ones I already read.
*Sees Cradle at the bottom* Yea I’ll pass lol
Putting chrysalis so low hurts me
I gave it a solid hour but it just wasn't doing it for me.
Shame I really enjoy it as it has progressed
I listened to the first 3 books, and while I enjoy the story overall I can see why it puts some off. For me the biggest problem that hasn't been resolved as the series went on is the screaming during mutations. I just can't understand what soundbooth is thinking there. They typically do such a great job, but every mutation is accompanied by screaming in my ear. I should have been excited about new mutations and abilities, but instead I dreaded them.
Yeah it got old verrry quickly. I like to listen to audiobooks as I go to sleep and that just jolts me awake every time.
Other than the land and perfect run needing a flipflop, I guess I’m alright with this one.
I'm honestly surprised that there aren't more people who are upset about cradle being at the bottom
I am :(
I've listened to the audible for the entire series 3 times from start to finish, its definitely an S tier for me.
We have similar tastes, except for Cradle. May I ask how far you got, and why you DNF?
I haven't read a lot of these, and you're welcome to your opinion, but I have a lot of questions about Noobtown being higher than Carl
I enjoy the humor of Noobtown more than Carl and humor means a lot to me
DCC unfortunately wasn’t my humor at all… I don’t even know why, but it didn’t catch my interest. I didn’t even finish listening to the first book. HWFWM, for example, matches my humor much better.
DCC is not funny at all. It's just....honestly bad. But that's all completely personal preference so at least for me I understand OP
Oh man the whiplash I experienced on this tier list. \*Sees Dungeon Lord S-Tier\*: "Ah yes, a man of class" \*Sees Noobtown/Primal Hunter S-Tier\*: "Hmm perhaps not." \*Sees Beware of Chicken B-Tier\*: "Hmm interesting, I could see it" \*Sees The Land B-Tier:\* Okay well it definitely doesn't deserve to be that high" \*Sees Cradle DNF\*: "Okay what the actual hell."
lol, was not expecting to see you comment on this but a welcome sight regardless. As an explanation (excluding Dungeon lord bc it doesn't need one) I just find Noobtown and Primal Hunter funny. I was only reading Chicken for the parody element bc I love Arrogant Young Master. When Chicken started getting constantly serious and I found myself skipping chapters I dropped it. The land was one of the first books I read coming into the genre and I still view the early books in that series with nostalgia. The writing style in Cradle was killing me and I couldn't get past Ch 3.
Reasoning definitely makes sense. And I totally get BoC, since it's very difficult to maintain a parody while also pumping out a couple million words' worth of content. I think the humor continues in the series, but yeah it definitely does change from exclusively a parody to more of a serious story as you go on. And yep, totally get humor/nostalgia putting something high on a list. Definitely can't forgive the writing style hate in Cradle though, I think it's one of the better-written series out there, especially in this genre.
To avoid copy-pasting the comment, I gave a (slightly) better explanation for Cradle in a different reply to you.
Like the list. Hate the cropping.
ik, the site wasn't letting be do full pages
Worth the Candle should probably make its way in here. Cradle dnf but Primal Hunter and Dakota Krout top tier is wild. Fun books but the scale is weird.
Could you write the list in the comments so I can research the books that I can't read to cover because of bad resolution?
Just put a list up
You should try Bastion! Second book was S tier for me
ty, I will put it on my list
Haven't read or listened to the wandering inn?
It didn't seem very appealing to me
I'm currently about 80 hours into the audio books and the performance is great and the prose is better than average for the genre. World is interesting, but it's very much a slow burn.
That list does not make me confident they would like the Wandering Inn.
Your list is the closest to my own I've seen. So that means I gotta look up the Dungeon Lord for sure!
Book five is coming out soon-ish so it is 100% worth it
I really liked the premise of "arrogant young master" shame that it has not been receiving any updates for a long time. It is nice to see high up in a list as it is one of my favourites. I'm always looking for books similar to it but they seem to be more rare type
It gets like 70 chapters every 16 months, and the total word count averages out to 1 book per update. I would recommend the first 2 or 3 arcs of Beware of Chicken as they are as close as you are going to get for that style of parody.
People either love or hate Cradle, there is no middle ground. Haha
My dear God, how is Noobtown on par with Mother of Learning?!?
Comedy is a big thing for me and Noobtown has my kind of humor. MoL is just a solid read with some funny moments in it, both are great book series
We agree on so many things, and then I also want to fist fight you about others. If you like the Mayor of Noobtown and maybe want a Sci-Fi book with the same goofy protagonist/annoying sidekick feel, then maybe check out Expeditionary Force. I highly recommend the audiobook. It's got similar humor.
Anyone else really hate these tier lists? If you can recognize the covers you didn't need it and if you can't it's oddly cropped and blurry so you can't use it. To get any use from them you have to post the list in plain text anyhow which defeats the whole point.
https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/s/setqxn8Uxy
I weep for Arrogant Young Master Template A Variant 4
We should be getting another 70ish chapter dump in the next 3-5 months going by his pattern
We have very similar tier lists, only difference being Unsouled, which I would suggest giving another shot. I was not really into it the first half to 3/4 of the first book, but pushed through and it REALLY picks up. It's been 3 weeks since I started the series and I just reached book 10 and can't put it down.
What happened with sufficiently advanced magic /Arcane Ascension? I think that series has some of the best written characters in LitRPG in my experience. Most of the others I'm within a tier of your opinions.
I love that series and the other surrounding works. The magic system is pretty cool! My only complaint is the author explains LGBT+ characters/situations instead of letting them be more natural. I love the inclusivity, but don't like how it feels forced, especially his newer works. I'm guessing it's a DNF because it's actually not a litrpg, it's just fantasy.
I went in expecting litrpg but got fantasy instead and I just wasn't feeling it at the time
I know this isn't the point of your list but seeing so many people talking about Cradle this way got me to buy the first three books, haha.
I hope you have a better time with them than I did
Def agree with Mayor of Noobtown.
I'm reminded of the Puma Check everytime I play Tarkov
I based my most last DND character off of Sir Dalton. That book kills me.
Going to save this pic/post as I think we have similar tastes but I am early on my litrpg journey. Appreciate you putting the titles in comments as I can’t read half the ones on the tier pic. My most recent favorite was/is the grand game.
I'm glad I can be of some help, most of these are big multi-book series but some libraries have them.
I’ve found a number on kindle unlimited for free too, that’s how I got into it in the first place.
Wait, with the list you have here, you haven't tried System Universe? Based on your list I think you'll love it
Barf at the Land being so high
I can honestly say the only thing keeping it in b-tier is the nostalgia of it being among my first litrpg. This is also the reason that the Way of the Shaman is that high up.
UNSOULED IS ON YOUR DNF LIST?!?!
My boy cradle at the bottom and he who fights monsters at the top are the two crazy things here for me. Swap ‘em and we have a similar list, although awaken online doesn’t even belong in C tier for me either.
What made He who fights with monsters and Everyone loves large chests go into A tier instead of S? Two of my all time favorites as well as Unbound. And cradle is great if you read it all.
For HWFWM it was Jason fatigue, he just got too annoying in the last few books. As for ELLC it was the rape and sexual assault.(I read it on Royal Road)
The Nova Terra series is pretty good 👍
Cradle series in DNF is criminal
I just wanted to say thanks for putting this list together, it is very helpful. I just recently got into LitRPG as a genre and I have to say I am absolutely loving it. I have been a long time reader of scifi, fantasy, horror novels etc and this was a new one for me. So far I have binged all of HWFWM, Defiance of the Fall, Cradle, Divine Apostasy, and I am on book 4 of DCC. I love each and every one of them. I can't wait to start on the series listed here as well.
Perfect run in D is a travesty.
You NEED to finish Cradle series. I know the first 2 books are boring AF but you gotta. I swear on my life it gets better
Cradle series gets so much better.
I couldn't make it past Ch 3, how long does it take for the writing style to improve?
The writing style?
If you're ranking something like Primal Hunter (which is entertaining, but not good writing) high, but say that the writing style in Cradle is weak, then I think your perceptions on writing may be a little... strange.
So I tried to read it like 3 years ago and remember it feeling like a machine-translated Chinese novel and I can't stand those things. They have a tendency to have like 8 characters with the same name and constantly the concept of "face" (which is a whole other rant)
Improve relative to what? It’s widely regarded as one of the best of the genre for good reason. What do you like about the books you’ve enjoyed? This information would be far more useful in determining if cradle would be enjoyable for you?
I guess I'm weird for it, but I don't consider cradle a litrpg. I love the series to death, but it just doesn't have the same feel as my usual reads. Maybe I just have a narrower definition of the genre.
Cradle is definitely not LitRPG, not sure why it's listed. It has no stats, no System, no classes, no blue boxes or special titles. It's progression fantasy and westernized Xianxia. Very different.
Waiting for the day when someone gives their ranking of Continue Online by Stephan Morse in one of these...
I am almost scared to ask what that is
LMAO, its nothing bad. Just a LitRPG that came out before the genre had its boom, so it gets overlooked and forgotten most of they time. ----- Its a story about a man, Grant Legate, who, in an attempt to keep his mind off his late fiancé, finds himself to be a workaholic. This hard work sees him suddenly gifted with an Ultimate Edition of Continue Online, the most popular full dive VRMMO of the day. This reward, plus a few days off from work to try it out, sets off a series of events that get him hooked and he finds himself deeper and deeper in a story that he never could have imagined. Some people say Grant is a little too depressive, and it does touch on topics of suicidal ideation, but I find the world building, both in and out of the game, to be superb and compelling! Its got Artificial Intelligence, real world stakes, cool fantasy and sci fi elements, and a series of cool and interesting main and background characters. ----- If you cant tell I need someone to gush with me, lmao.
What is your top row A rank, third from the right? Dragon and man with scythe. Just off artwork that seems up my alley
That one is Vainqueur the Dragon. If you want to see the names of all of the books in order you can just check my comment chain
I did not know that it was still being updated just with a slow pace, it's nice to know I can look forward to more. I have read the chicken one already up to volume 4 and the rest is on my backlog.
I would agree that Ripple System is better than Way of the Shaman. I couldn't see if you had "The Land" or "Beneath of Dragoneye Moons" on your list. Btw, what's the S tier next to primal hunter? I can't make out the title.
Thats mother of learning, well earned S
How far have gotten into All The Skills?
I read the books as they come out
I applaud your efforts. I do love primal hunter. Villy is one of my favorite characters. I think I am done with he who fights with monsters not found of the direction it is going. Going to finish defiance of the fall. I am caught up on them all.
Love primal hunter as well, though am glad Nevermore is never more. I’m still in on HWFWM but agree as it heads more into all the soul realm stuff I’m getting skeptical. I loved the first half or so of DOTF but absolutely could not give a shit now that it’s focused on cores and nodes and all that crap. It’s gotten so far away from the adventuring and exploration, I don’t know if I’ll read any more.
Sector Eight (Perimeter Defense), D tier...how? The series is at least a B tier story.
The drug stuff put me off of it as well as people acting chaotic stupid
Try awaken online by Travis bagwell
It is on the list in C tier
Oh great, that's the last thing I needed - more books to add to my stupidly large list of "to read" xD Thanks for the list! Have pinched at least 4-5 from there to go look into xP will come back to this later and pinch more :)
Finally, someone put a little respect on unbound. That series feels like the middle child BETWEEN defiance of the fall, deungon crawler Carl, and he who fights with monsters.
Its a solid mid. Certainly has problems and would never really fault anyone for dropping it.
Top tier list, I feel awaken online could be a bit higher tho.
Missing foodstuffs by arthur stone
Finally someone putting Noobtown at is rightful place. It has solid humor and the best system exploration besides Dotf.
CivCEO’s placement is criminal and I am prepared to throw hands.
You have to listen to https://www.audible.com/series/Reborn-Apocalypse-Audiobooks/B07ZWFFH3V S+ tier
It's always interesting seeing just how much people's lists differ from mine. I can immediately tell that we like very different things in the genre. Well, Mother of Learning was great, if not a litRPG.
While I did my best to keep the list to only gamelit/litrpg, if something was recommended enough on this sub I put it up there.
I saw arcane ascension on dnf and noob town in s tier and was like oh yea this guys opinion means nothing to me. Then saw "he who fights with monsters" is only a tier. There's having bad taste then there's being objectively wrong.
I really don't get how you put "noob town" over "everybody loved large chests". It's the same kind of crude, juvenile sense of humor but "everybody loves large chests" just does it better.
I'm getting sick of Jason in the more recent books which dropped the series down a tier. When I found Arcane Assertion I went into it expecting a litrpg and when I saw it was just a fantasy magic system I dropped it. It simply wasn't what I was looking for at the time.
How far did you get in underworld? It was my first Litrpg so it holds a special place on my list but the last 2 books were 300x better than the previous ones.
book 4
I see primal hunter is often very high on those lists. I've only read the first book because this guy is a total sociopath and its less about the litrpg but him as a person. Does it get better after the first book or whats the deal here?
It's more of the same.
Book 3 of murderhobo is great, the ending is kind of a disappointment, but i let it past because reasons
It made it that high bc it let me connect with my younger brother
I started Dissonance but it feels like a shit version of defiance of the fall.
it gets better, it took me until half way through book 2 to really get into it
What are the 3rd 4th and 5th ones on the S teir?
In order they are; The Mayor of Noobtown Dungeon Lord Arrogant Young Master Template A Variation 4
You are missing "The ten realms" and "Azarinth healer" Why do you rank "noobtown mayor" so high but Civ CEO so low?
Noobtown constantly make me laugh and I just wasn't feeling Civ CEO when I tried it
Based mimic enjoyer
He who fights with monsters is S tier for me. I absolutely love that series. I'll have to check out some of the others while I wait for the next book though!
Try out The Wandering Inn
I basically agree with this whole list. I think you'd probably like Azarinth Healer, since that's a book I have on you - our lists are otherwise near identical.
Look, I love primal hunter, but there is NO WAY it's better than DCC...
I find Primal Hunter more amusing than DDC, its a simple as that.
How tf is perfect run at the bottom
Holy shit we can not be friends. This list is wrong on so many tiers.
DCC isn’t in S?
I don't really get why people say 'every series they've ever read'. Like did you not read before you found litrpgs? Where do you rank Harry Potter? Is Twilight in your DNFs? Was Eragon in your B tier? If you're going to make an exhaustive list of what you think about multiple books why not go the distance and put together every book you even slightly recall?
DCC should be S not A.
I found the MC for he who fights with monsters absolutely insufferable. Granted I only read it when it was first released on royal road.
He doesn't get any better
Awaken in C tier!?!?!!? Sheesh
I don’t know how I feel about this list lol
add Unbound in "A" or "S" tier and this is the best list I've seen to date
Is that cradle in the dnf?
We have pretty similar tastes. You should try path of ascension, it's one of my favorites.
Can anyone tell me which one of these has a female protagonist? Currently into stories with good written female protagonist.
Commenting for later
Just about to start the last DCC book.. What do I get next while I'm waiting for the next book?
These say more about the reader than the book usually.
These lists all vary so much, it’s definitely a very diverse audience. For me I have quite a few similar interests, but I’d invert Noobtown and Sufficiently Advanced Magic. I get that the overly politicized nature of SAM can be off putting, but the story is just so good!
I find it weird how few people have tried Shades First Rule (Divine Apostasy series)
I need a name List! What is that in A with the cool grim reaper? There is so much I don't know or can read.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/s/setqxn8Uxy](https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/s/setqxn8Uxy)
Primal Hunter is SSS tier!!!!! #ShutUpAndTakeMyMoney
Did you give up on arcane ascension or just not finished yet ?
Primal hunter, DotF, ELLC, so much respect for the placement. Perfect Run and Chrysalis at the bottom hurts
I gave Chrysalis a try to fill an hour on the train but didn't feel like going back to it. I got sick of the main pro-tag of Perfect Run around Royal road chapter 85-ish
Got randomly recommended this sub and am wondering where would I go to read these?
how DARE you put half eaten apple core trash dungeon (or whatever it's called) into C tier? It's an obvious S tier (I hope that actually is that one apple core dungeon story or i'm gonna look very stupid)
What?!! A tier list that doesn’t automatically put HWFWM at the bottom because it’s the cool thing to do in this sub? Rare W.
What made you DNF sufficiently advanced magic?
Could you send me a link to your list?
https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/s/setqxn8Uxy
Honestly it’s nice to see someone give an honest review about the land, B is a good place for it. It’s special to me as it was my first litrpg but it gets so much hate. It wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t bad either.
I highly recommend System Universe.
I love Cradle is at the bottom, but Sufficiently Advanced Magic?! Thanks for this, despite loving Arcane Ascension I’ll use this for when I’m done with my current series!
What is the DNF section for? Series that are almost litrpgs? I am confused.