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PaperclipPerfector  13d ago (text post)   2605 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 25, 2025

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So, what are you reading?

Still on the Iliad, Dialectic of Enlightenment and McLuhan's Classical Trivium. Trying Individuals and Institutions in Medieval Scholasticism.

A little over halfway through Cryptonomicon. Very, very enjoyable so far.

Oh man, this guy gets to read the second half of Cryptonomicon for the first time.

I'm always in torture arguing with myself about whether it's too soon to read it (yet) again. I think it's been every 3-4 years.

Right?! I kinda feel like in retrospect, Cryptonomicon and the Baroque cycle were peak Stephenson, and were it not for the whole LitRPG phenomenon, I'd probably be doing more re-reads of my favorite works of his. Hell, if it weren't for Fall, I'd probably still be gobbling up whatever he chose to write!

While we're at it I'll bother you for some litrpg recs. Been toying with writing one and want more inspo.

Dungeon Crawler Carl was my gateway drug to LitRPG and it's must-read series in my book. Others that I have highly enjoyed include 12 Miles Below, Noobtown, He Who Fights Monsters, The Menocht Loop, The Dungeon Slayer, and Oh, Great, I Was Reincarnated as a Farmer. Some of these aren't, strictly speaking, LitRPG in the sense that they talk about and/or expose game mechanics in any sense, but they're all good. There are a couple more series that I left out that I don't think were categorized as LitRPG and there are a few more series that I've read but didn't continue for various reasons, a big one unfortunately being genre fatigue.

Wow, haven't read a single one of those or even heard of most. DCC is definitely a big name but several people have independently warned me against it as apparently the author is prone to long, smug /r/atheism style rants which I've had more than enough of elsewhere. Will look into the others though. Lots of time for audiobooks on the road so I tend to rotate among history, age of sail fiction (currently enjoying the Master and Commander series), business nonfiction, and litrpg.

So let's see, my main recs would have to be:

  • Worth the Candle: Probably no introduction needed. Perhaps the best litrpg ever and a masterful treatment of the genre.
  • Bog Standard Isekai: Fantastic but still early in writing with lots more to come. Wouldn't have started if I'd known it was unfinished, but glad I did.
  • Cradle if it counts. Also needs no introduction. Audiobooks are good.
  • The Elder Lands: Rating this so highly because while it's not amazingly-written it's pretty good and very much to my taste; especially the setting which is fairly gritty low-magic base-building with realistic politics, but only two books are out currently. Excited to see where it goes.

Honorable mentions:

  • Primal Hunter: Pretty good writing, worldbuilding, and characters. Not finished but there's a ton already written including 12 audiobooks out. Somehow I find the audiobooks way more entertaining than reading the text, which is unusual for me.
  • Mother of Learning: Absolutely adore it, but not sure if it counts as the genre.

Ones I sorta enjoyed but wouldn't necessarily recommend:

  • Awaken Online: Just generally falls short of what it could be. Often left wondering why the characters don't do the obvious thing.
  • I'm Not the Hero: Passable in every sense.
  • Isekai Magus: At least the first three(?) books. These aren't great and the constant horny harem stuff gets a bit tiresome (mainly because the MC's ethics about it make zero sense and also because he has bad taste in partners IMO) but when the main storyline is fun it's a lot of fun. The first three books (I think) form a fairly complete arc with the MC going from lost wanderer to building himself a small kingdom and struggling to defend it against vast forces. All well and good. Then I guess the author ran out of ideas and transports MC to a new world to basically start over, abandoning almost all progress and characters. Totally lost interest.

Just not good:

  • Ultimate Level 1: Low-quality in many ways but has some fun moments. This one got some extra points from me because the MC uses a spear, which I like, but I didn't even finish the second book.
  • Legend of the Arch Magus: Interesting premise and sometimes worldbuilding but it's not handled well. Fun if you're in the mood for a perpetually OP MC stomping people who underestimate him. Finished two books and lost interest.
  • Arcane Ascension: Just not great but I didn't even finish the first book so who knows.

DCC is definitely a big name but several people have independently warned me against it as apparently the author is prone to long, smug /r/atheism style rants which I've had more than enough of elsewhere.

Are you sure you're not mixing up DCC with "He who fights with monsters"? This doesn't sound like DCC and sounds very much like HWFWM, and is likely the second largest LitRPG series out there.

Must be; thanks!

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