Ritley
Bronze Baron of the Realm
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Figured it would be a better idea to have a thread dedicated to web serials rather than discuss new chapters in the what did you read thread.
This is a thread for discussion on the latest chapters, put everything in spoilers though so people looking for recommendations won’t have it spoiled doing so.
For those that aren’t familiar, web serials/novels are books that are written and released a chapter at a time. Some of the pros and cons are:
Pros:
There are a multitude of sites that you can find books on, typically they tend to draw certain genres:
Royal Road : Royal Road - primarily litrpg type of books
Webnovel : Webnovel - Your Fictional Stories Hub - site is mainly chinese translated stories, uses an horrific microtransaction system that prevents you from bingeing unless you pay up.
Wuxiaworld: https://www.wuxiaworld.com/ - also asian translation, more wuxia/xianxia power fantasies
Scribblehub: https://www.scribblehub.com/ - more international, fantasy / erotica oriented
Stories:
To start us off, these are the stories I have been reading or have read (the summaries are from the description pages for each story, in spoilers for space). Not including any I tried for awhile and dropped, since I’m considering these what I would recommend.
Completed:
Mother of Learning
This is a very good series that doesn’t add bloat and was written with a beginning, middle, and end in mind unlike most web novels. Overall a fun and very easy to read series.
Ongoing:
The Wandering Inn
One of the longest series by sheer word count, this series is a monster. The first volume has a lot of inconsistencies with the rest of the volumes, but overall I’d say it’s a fantastic series if you are looking for something to kill a lot of time. Most of the characters are great and the various plot lines are well done. It’s litRPG-lite, in that it does have classes, levels, and skills, but no character screens, HP or Mana, or Stats. No lengthy skill selections, characters sometimes get a skill when they level, usually not. I will say I’m enjoying the most recent volume less, as it seem the author has lost focus and just has too many characters running around.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Probably one of my favorites right now, has a good bit of humor and is very well written. The bosses they have to fight so far are all essentially caricatures of shitty humans (like KraKaren, a MLM scheme monster)
Blessed Time
Seems to take a page out of Mother of Learnings book, essentially his power is a 10 year Groundhog Day. So far the story arcs seem to be split up into those 10 year periods, and the ones so far have been pretty good without a lot of fluff.
He Who Fights With Monsters
Good writing and characters and an every weekday chapter. Set up with ranks instead of levels, there’s still a fair bit of skill descriptions but not nearly as bad as some others.
Infinite Realm
This one is very skill and stat description heavy. Main problem I have with it is that there are 2 main characters, and one is much more interesting than the other. For whatever reason it’s still really entertaining despite its flaws
Vaudevillian
This is one where everything takes place in a VR game, and it’s not a “serious” story. Main Character is just a dude that has fun role playing an old timey villain. Just don’t think too hard on the technology involved to actually create the game or how unrealistic pretty much anything that goes on outside of the game is.
Delve
Honestly this is one I’m about to drop but figured I would put it up here. Had a pretty strong start with a person who got dropped into a world he knew nothing about and couldn’t speak the local language. He picks a class and skills that no one in that world would pick and essentially makes it work. The problem is that the MC hasn’t advanced in forever, and the series has really slow chapter releases.
This is a thread for discussion on the latest chapters, put everything in spoilers though so people looking for recommendations won’t have it spoiled doing so.
For those that aren’t familiar, web serials/novels are books that are written and released a chapter at a time. Some of the pros and cons are:
Pros:
- They're almost all free. Authors will have patreons if you want to get chapters a bit earlier or just want to support them
- Most authors release new chapters 2-3 times a week. Some release daily. You can wait for a few new chapters to build up, or just make it a nightly thing to check for new chapters.
- Books are written in real time, and you can discuss what’s happening similar to how shows used to have weekly new episodes. Authors also typically take feedback on the direction the story should go, topics for bonus chapters, etc.
- Quality is completely hit or miss. Some people have good ideas but also have the writing talent of a Down syndrome monkey, some people have a good idea but burn through it in the first 30 chapters and struggle to keep the story entertaining, and a few manage to keep sustained quality over years.
- Seems like a lot of books get dropped before finishing once authors realize how much work it is to consistently put out good chapters multiple times a week it's don’t bother starting to read something until it hits over 30 chapters.
- The genre seems to be heavily skewed towards variations of litrpg, and most of them are awful
There are a multitude of sites that you can find books on, typically they tend to draw certain genres:
Royal Road : Royal Road - primarily litrpg type of books
Webnovel : Webnovel - Your Fictional Stories Hub - site is mainly chinese translated stories, uses an horrific microtransaction system that prevents you from bingeing unless you pay up.
Wuxiaworld: https://www.wuxiaworld.com/ - also asian translation, more wuxia/xianxia power fantasies
Scribblehub: https://www.scribblehub.com/ - more international, fantasy / erotica oriented
Stories:
To start us off, these are the stories I have been reading or have read (the summaries are from the description pages for each story, in spoilers for space). Not including any I tried for awhile and dropped, since I’m considering these what I would recommend.
Completed:
Mother of Learning
Zorian is a teenage mage of humble birth and slightly above-average skill, attending his third year of education at Cyoria's magical academy. He is a driven and irritable young man, consumed by a desire to ensure his own future and free himself of the influence of his family, whom he resents for favoring his brothers over him. Consequently, he has no time for pointless distractions or paying attention to other people's problems. As it happens, time is something he is about to get plenty of. On the eve of the Cyoria's annual summer festival, he is killed and brought back to the beginning of the month, just before he was about to take a train to Cyoria. Suddenly trapped in a time loop with no clear end or exit, Zorian will have to look both within and without to unravel the mystery before him. And he does have to unravel it, for the time loop hadn't been made for his sake and dangers lurk everywhere... Repetition is the mother of learning, but Zorian will have to first make sure he survives to try again - in a world of magic, even a time traveler isn't safe from those who wish him ill.
Ongoing:
The Wandering Inn
An inn is a place to rest, a place to talk and share stories, or a place to find adventures, a starting ground for quests and legends.
In this world, at least. To Erin Solstice, an inn seems like a medieval relic from the past. But here she is, running from Goblins and trying to survive in a world full of monsters and magic. She’d be more excited about all of this if everything wasn’t trying to kill her.
But an inn is what she found, and so that’s what she becomes. An innkeeper who serves drinks to heroes and monsters–
Actually, mostly monsters. But it’s a living, right?
This is the story of the Wandering Inn.
In this world, at least. To Erin Solstice, an inn seems like a medieval relic from the past. But here she is, running from Goblins and trying to survive in a world full of monsters and magic. She’d be more excited about all of this if everything wasn’t trying to kill her.
But an inn is what she found, and so that’s what she becomes. An innkeeper who serves drinks to heroes and monsters–
Actually, mostly monsters. But it’s a living, right?
This is the story of the Wandering Inn.
One of the longest series by sheer word count, this series is a monster. The first volume has a lot of inconsistencies with the rest of the volumes, but overall I’d say it’s a fantastic series if you are looking for something to kill a lot of time. Most of the characters are great and the various plot lines are well done. It’s litRPG-lite, in that it does have classes, levels, and skills, but no character screens, HP or Mana, or Stats. No lengthy skill selections, characters sometimes get a skill when they level, usually not. I will say I’m enjoying the most recent volume less, as it seem the author has lost focus and just has too many characters running around.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.
The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.
Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.
You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.
You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.
They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.
The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.
Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.
You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.
You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.
They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.
Probably one of my favorites right now, has a good bit of humor and is very well written. The bosses they have to fight so far are all essentially caricatures of shitty humans (like KraKaren, a MLM scheme monster)
Blessed Time
Some disasters can only be avoided if you know they’re coming, and even then, sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.
On Karell, you are either blessed by the gods, granted a unique power and the ability to gain experience and levels, or you are forgotten. Micah Silver was a boy picked for greatness. Chosen by the gods to bear a mythic power, he longed to take his place amongst the heroes and legends he grew up reading about.
Unfortunately his primary blessing only allows him to travel into the past by sacrificing his class, wealth, and levels. Even if Micah's unwilling, fate has a way of forcing you to take up your destiny, possibly at the cost of everything. Over and over again.
On Karell, you are either blessed by the gods, granted a unique power and the ability to gain experience and levels, or you are forgotten. Micah Silver was a boy picked for greatness. Chosen by the gods to bear a mythic power, he longed to take his place amongst the heroes and legends he grew up reading about.
Unfortunately his primary blessing only allows him to travel into the past by sacrificing his class, wealth, and levels. Even if Micah's unwilling, fate has a way of forcing you to take up your destiny, possibly at the cost of everything. Over and over again.
He Who Fights With Monsters
Jason wakes up in a mysterious world of magic and monsters. He’ll face off against cannibals, cultists, wizards, monsters, and that’s just the first day. He’s going to need courage, he’s going to need wit and he’s going to need some magic powers of his own. But first, he’s going to need pants.
Follow Jason as he makes a place for himself in a world that is strange, yet sometimes strangely familiar. He’ll meet crime lords and aristocrats, gods and monsters on his path from would-be victim to heroic adventurer. At least, he tries to be heroic. It’s hard to be good when all your powers are evil.
Follow Jason as he makes a place for himself in a world that is strange, yet sometimes strangely familiar. He’ll meet crime lords and aristocrats, gods and monsters on his path from would-be victim to heroic adventurer. At least, he tries to be heroic. It’s hard to be good when all your powers are evil.
Good writing and characters and an every weekday chapter. Set up with ranks instead of levels, there’s still a fair bit of skill descriptions but not nearly as bad as some others.
Infinite Realm
The world has ended, and those worthy of it have received the chance for a new life in a new reality.
Zach grew in power and thrived in the post-Framework world. He became a respected leader, a shining example of what it meant to be good. But as the world ended, he had only one thought: to punish the monster that had killed the world long before the Framework ended it. Yet not even with his incredible power was he able to stand against the World Ender. His arrival in the new realty, the Infinite Realm, gives him the chance to grow stronger, to find the monster again—and make it pay.
Ryun survived the chaos after the arrival of the Framework by pushing harder than anyone else. He grew in power until he became the most powerful being that had ever walked the planet; but he is hated by the world, called a monster by all others, the World Ender. As the world ends and he steps into a new one, where people stronger than him have lived for centuries, he finds himself lost and without purpose. The only thing that had mattered to him had been lost to him long ago. He truly was the monster that people considered him to be, and he now finds himself wondering if this new reality has a place for someone like him—but he had never been one for lying down and dying without a fight. One world fell to his power, and another might follow.
Zach grew in power and thrived in the post-Framework world. He became a respected leader, a shining example of what it meant to be good. But as the world ended, he had only one thought: to punish the monster that had killed the world long before the Framework ended it. Yet not even with his incredible power was he able to stand against the World Ender. His arrival in the new realty, the Infinite Realm, gives him the chance to grow stronger, to find the monster again—and make it pay.
Ryun survived the chaos after the arrival of the Framework by pushing harder than anyone else. He grew in power until he became the most powerful being that had ever walked the planet; but he is hated by the world, called a monster by all others, the World Ender. As the world ends and he steps into a new one, where people stronger than him have lived for centuries, he finds himself lost and without purpose. The only thing that had mattered to him had been lost to him long ago. He truly was the monster that people considered him to be, and he now finds himself wondering if this new reality has a place for someone like him—but he had never been one for lying down and dying without a fight. One world fell to his power, and another might follow.
Vaudevillian
Dylan is your average nerd. He works downtown for an architecture firm during the day and enjoys all manner of games and media in his spare time. But while Dylan likes all forms of sci-fi and fantasy, he really likes the genre of superheroes.
So when an indie company releases a virtual reality MMO where players choose to play as heroes or villains, Dylan immediately buys into it. He has a specific type of character he really enjoys watching, something that always makes his inner child laugh in delight. The Saturday morning cartoon villain.
Yes, those inept, bungling, yet highly dangerous villains found in so many of Dylan's cartoons as a child. He loves how they always come up with strange ways to conquer the world and how they get thwarted every weekend. He remembered laughing at every silly antic, every cliched shout of "Curses! Foiled again!" He loves it so much he decides to take this idea into the MMO.
But to grab a playerbase, the company has announced a promotion that players with a high enough reputation can get contacted to become permanent raid bosses in the game. Those chosen will be paid as if employees of the company. Serious players all hoping to live the dream of playing videogames all day rush to purchase copies of World of Supers!
What will happen when Dylan, someone playing the game for fun, clashes with these overly serious players?
So when an indie company releases a virtual reality MMO where players choose to play as heroes or villains, Dylan immediately buys into it. He has a specific type of character he really enjoys watching, something that always makes his inner child laugh in delight. The Saturday morning cartoon villain.
Yes, those inept, bungling, yet highly dangerous villains found in so many of Dylan's cartoons as a child. He loves how they always come up with strange ways to conquer the world and how they get thwarted every weekend. He remembered laughing at every silly antic, every cliched shout of "Curses! Foiled again!" He loves it so much he decides to take this idea into the MMO.
But to grab a playerbase, the company has announced a promotion that players with a high enough reputation can get contacted to become permanent raid bosses in the game. Those chosen will be paid as if employees of the company. Serious players all hoping to live the dream of playing videogames all day rush to purchase copies of World of Supers!
What will happen when Dylan, someone playing the game for fun, clashes with these overly serious players?
This is one where everything takes place in a VR game, and it’s not a “serious” story. Main Character is just a dude that has fun role playing an old timey villain. Just don’t think too hard on the technology involved to actually create the game or how unrealistic pretty much anything that goes on outside of the game is.
Delve
Delve is an isekai litrpg that follows an average guy who just happened to wake up in a forest one day. He wasn’t summoned to defeat the demon lord or to save the world or anything like that, at least as far as he can tell. The only creature there to greet him was a regular old squirrel.
Soon enough, he meets other people, only to discover that he can’t speak the language, and that not everybody immediately trusts random pajama-wearing strangers they met in the middle of the wilderness. Things generally go downhill from there, at least until the blue boxes start appearing.
Delve is a story about finding your way in a new, strange, and dangerous world. It’s about avoiding death, figuring out what the heck is going on, and trying to make some friends along the way. It’s not about getting home, so much as finding a new one.
Did I mention that there will be math?
Soon enough, he meets other people, only to discover that he can’t speak the language, and that not everybody immediately trusts random pajama-wearing strangers they met in the middle of the wilderness. Things generally go downhill from there, at least until the blue boxes start appearing.
Delve is a story about finding your way in a new, strange, and dangerous world. It’s about avoiding death, figuring out what the heck is going on, and trying to make some friends along the way. It’s not about getting home, so much as finding a new one.
Did I mention that there will be math?
Honestly this is one I’m about to drop but figured I would put it up here. Had a pretty strong start with a person who got dropped into a world he knew nothing about and couldn’t speak the local language. He picks a class and skills that no one in that world would pick and essentially makes it work. The problem is that the MC hasn’t advanced in forever, and the series has really slow chapter releases.
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