I enjoyed doing mini-reviews for all the LitRPG and Progression series I started reading last year, so I’m doing the same thing this year! This list includes only series that I started reading in 2023. So yes, of course I read the next Dungeon Crawler Carl and kept reading a lot of series I mentioned last year, but focusing on stories that were new to me A) gave a more interesting mix of books and B) let me review stuff that was a little fresher in my mind.
Since I’m also an author, I’m not going to give a numeric rating of each series. Instead, I’ll give a brief description of what it is and what types of readers I think might enjoy it, and which ought to steer clear. Not every book is for every person! I also listed the squares I think it fills on the R/Fantasy bingo sheet this year, although I’m sure I missed some, and I didn’t list easy squares like “self-published” or “first in a series,” as almost all of these would count for either.
Scroll down, or jump to a review:
All the Dust that Falls – Touch of Power – Valhalla Online – Industrial Strength Magic – Reborn as a Demonic Tree – Tree of Aeons – My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror – Isekai Assassin – Dawn of the Void – Heavenly Chaos – Heretical Fishing – Millennial Mage – I Ran Away to Evil – Trickster’s Song – Titan Hoppers – Eight – Saintess Summons Skeletons – Library System Reset – Apocalypse Assassin – Battle Trucker – Mage Errant – Hell Difficulty Tutorial – 12 Miles Below – Victor of Tuscon – Super Supportive
All the Dust that Falls by Zaifyr – Look, either you want to read about an isekai Roomba growing in strength, majesty, and power, or you don’t. I did. Is it silly? Yes. Is it slapstick? No. It has a silly premise and plays it relatively straight.
Good for: Readers looking for cozy books. Appropriate for younger readers or adults.
Bad for: People who hate a slow start or want something serious or gritty
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Multi-POV
Touch of Power by Jay Boyce – Girl with severe medical limitations is isekai’d and finds that not only has her body started working, she has access to powers most people don’t. Time to change the world!
Good for: People who want a cozy power fantasy
Bad for: People who dislike when things come easily to a main character
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Character with a disability, possibly? Her disabilities vanish quickly, but still shape her experiences and thinking.
Valhalla Online by Kevin McLaughlin – Girl finds herself trapped in an MMO. However… everyone else is dead in the real world and here by choice, digital ghosts immortalized in a virtual world. She’s convinced she’s alive. But… is she? How can she contact the administrators? And how did this happen to begin with?
Good for: People who enjoy a touch of mystery in their VRMMO
Bad for: People sour on VRMMO or unwilling to suspend disbelief (Really? There’s no easy way to contact the administrators?)
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Just the standard ones, I think.
Industrial Strength Magic by Macronomicon – The main character is the son of a superhero and supervillain who keep up their rivalry on cameras but have a loving relationship at home. He finally comes into powers of his own, but they aren’t quite what he expected. Making cheap materials stronger? That will take some work to get the most out of.
Good for: People who like superheroes and a slow build
Bad for: People who dislike love triangles, even amicable ones
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Just the standard ones, I think.
Reborn as a Demonic Tree by Xkarnation – Guy is reborn into the body of a tree in a fairly classic cultivation universe. He makes friends, grows in strength, and conquers those around him.
Good for: LitRPG or Cultivation fans looking for something different
Bad for: People who dislike lucky MCs. The tree basically has a gacha-style system. He doesn’t always get what he wants from it, but… it’s a luck-based sysem.
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Maybe for Character with a Disability? Hard to say. He’s very healthy for a tree, but kind of spacey and limited from a human perspective in some ways.
Tree of Aeons by Spaizzzer – Another guy reborn into a tree body! This one is kind of interesting in that the story takes place on more tree-like timescales, over the course of decades etc, and the tree eventually becomes leader of a small country built up arounds its protection.
Good for: Anyone who wants to read a Civilization-style LitRPG
Bad for: Anyone who likes lone wolf MCs. Anyone who needs a fast-paced story
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Maybe for Character with a Disability? Hard to say. He’s very healthy for a tree, but kind of spacey and limited from a human perspective in some ways.
My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror by Actus – A completed series following a kid who accidentally bonds to a dark elder force bent on the destruction of the world and has to keep it secret to keep from being killed. And also has to, you know, keep it from annihilating everything.
Good for: People who like a MC who uses trickery or subterfuge, and would like a progression fantasy with some romance
Bad for: People who are burnt out on magic schools
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Eldritch Creatures, Dark Academia
Isekai Assassin by Grayson Sinclair – Hitman from Earth gets isekai’d and more-or-less hired as a divine hitman.
Good for: People sick of goody-two-shoes MCs
Bad for: People who care a lot about the MC’s motivation. At least at the start of this series, he’s more or less going for power for the sake of it and because he’s required to.
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Criminals
Dawn of the Void by Phil Tucker – Earth is assaulted by escalating quantities of supernatural opponents. Everyone needs to work together to save the planet, but one homeless guy and the junkie he ran into in a bar are really going to have to turn their lives around when people start expecting them to be heroes.
Good for: People who like a character-focused narrative
Bad for: People who want an upbeat story. Shit gets heavy, yo.
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: I’d say addiction and PTSD count as mental disabilities, so… Character with a Disability.
Heavenly Chaos by Daniel Schinhofen – Guy from a lower class lucks into superpowers and makes it into superpower/dungeon crawler school. His lack of money and angry assigned roomie make things extra tough.
Good for: People who like magic school settings
Bad for: People who dislike school settings, love polygons, or slow-paced stories
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Not sure?
Heretical Fishing by Haylock Jobson – Rich corporate guy gets isekai’d and decides to pursue his one true love, fishing. By a stroke of luck, fishing is secretly the path to unimaginable power.
Good for: People looking for wish-fulfillment slice-of-life that doesn’t take itself too seriously
Bad for: People who can’t let go of questions like “Really? No one fished? Not even the starving people?!”
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Set in a Small Town
Millennial Mage by J.L. Mullins – World’s most stubborn girl is bitter about her situation and incredibly reckless in her efforts to fix it. Somehow, she doesn’t kill herself for the first two books until she starts working on her emotional/mental health.
Good for: People willing to push through a rocky start, people who enjoy limited powersets being stretched into creative uses
Bad for: People who cannot handle MCs being dumb sometimes
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Alliterative Title
I Ran Away to Evil by Mystic Neptune – Kind of cute story about a “useless” princess sent to assassinate the dark lord, and being so inept at it that he feels sorry for her and keeps her.
Good for: People who want to read a romance in a LitRPG world without the romance being the part that levels up
Bad for: People who want team evil to be evil, people who aren’t in the mood for sugary romance
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Romantasy
Trickster’s Song by Tom O’Bedlam – Main character is isekai’d into an out-of-the-way cavern that bears a shrine to a heretofore-forgotten god. He accepts the quest to find out what happened to the deity, thereby drawing the ire of worshippers of another god who are invested in being sure the first one never returns. He’s picked up as an unwanted add-on to a fairly unfriendly adventuring party and slowly fumbles his way from uselessness to power.
Good for: People who like weak-to-strong MCs and illusion magic
Bad for: People who don’t want an MC who starts confused and weak
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Bards
Titan Hoppers by Rob J. Hayes – A fleet of ships has lived parasitically off a massive mysterious power-granting machine: a Titan. When their Titan explodes, the fleet limps its way to another and tries to make a place for themselves before their scant resources run out. The Titans are dangerous, however, and Iro, a boy from one of the poorest ships, is accidentally sent on a resource-gathering expedition completely unprepared.
Good for: People who like large casts and unique settings
Bad for: People who hate multiple-POVs
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Space Opera, Multi-POV
Eight by Samer Rabadi – An elderly man is reborn into the body of an eight-year-old in the wilderness a magical world. Can he master his new skills and apply his real-world survival experience before the dangers here take him down? How does this new world change how he feels about his life in the old one?
Good for: People who like isekai characters with history and individuality, people who like learning about real-world techniques even in a fantasy setting
Bad for: People who want a solo power fantasy. Eight is very focused on allies and community after the MC meets any.
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Survival
Saintess Summons Skeletons by Mornn – Girl native to a magical world is chosen as a “saint” right as she fulfills the requirements to earn the necromancer class. The system, told to grant two classes at once, gives her a buggy mashup of both. With no roadmap for success and her country’s whole church out to capture her, can Sofia find a way to survive and thrive?
Good for: People who like power explorations and creative power use
Bad for: People who will set the book down at a boob joke, people who don’t want a story that’s goofy at times
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Alliterative Title
Library System Reset by KT Hanna – Quinn is summoned through dimensions to be the new keeper of the Library of Everywhere. Unfortunately, the library shut down centuries ago and has been deteriorating ever since. Can she get things working again with only the help of a dubiously-honest AI?
Good for: Look man, are you a bibliophile? Library magic system. It either had you there or it didn’t.
Bad for: People who don’t like the rules changing. The MC spends a lot of the first book being lied to, potentially by everyone. It makes the read a bit stressful as the reader doesn’t know who to trust. Also, while the grammatical errors aren’t rampant, they are present and I’d be remiss not to note that in a library-themed series.
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Just the standard ones, I think
Apocalypse Assassin by J.J. Thorne – Claire’s mom dies shortly after earth is overtaken by a magical apocalypse. Claire – along with a number of other children – are taken in by a group of unethical people willing to experiment on kids to get humanity stronger warriors. Well, now Claire’s on her own and out for revenge against that organization.
Good for: People who are interested in a more morally gray MC
Bad for: People who don’t like to see the MC make bad (in-character) choices
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Criminal, Alliterative Title
Battle Trucker by Tom Goldstein – Long-haul trucker is on the road when monsters appear and everyone is granted powers. She chooses to link herself to her semi truck and try to make it home using the two things she’s best at: trucking and foul language.
Good for: People who like a big, diverse cast & community-building stories
Bad for: People who want a solo MC effort, people for whom the vulgarity is a turn-off
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: I think just the standard ones
Mage Errant by John Bierce – Wow, this is a hard one to summarize. Uh, magic school misfits get into trouble and get out of it in ways that eventually lead to more trouble and maybe the end of the world, while having surprisingly healthy relationships?
Good for: People who are okay with a slow burn or enjoy magic schools
Bad for: People who want a fast-paced and focused plot
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Dark Academia
Hell Difficulty Tutorial by Cerim – People put up with an apparent sociopath because – thus far – he hasn’t killed himself with his insane build choices, but has managed to kill a lot of the monsters threatening their group. Rough start to the story, great worldbuilding.
Good for: People looking for a very ruthless MC
Bad for: People who want to empathize with the MC quickly
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: I am not a trained psychologist and do not feel qualified to diagnose Nathaniel, but something is clearly very off with him mentally. Character with a Disability.
12 Miles Below by Mark Arrows – The surface of Earth is a frozen wasteland, and the tunnels below are filled with hostile machines. In an accident, Keith and his father fall into one such tunnel and need to find their way out alive… despite the fact that Keith has never been anything but a disappointment to his father.
Good for: People who like unique settings and family relationships
Bad for: People who don’t like it if the MC stays weak for a while, people for whom editing hiccups are a dealbreaker
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Under the Surface
Victor of Tuscon by John L. Monk – Man is unethically summoned to a magical world by mistake and sold as a pitfighting slave. Can he survive? Reunite with the family he left behind? Take vengeance on the jerks who did this to him?
Good for: People who like exploring different fantasy cultures
Bad for: People who don’t like frequent setting changes
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Just the standard ones, I think
Super Supportive by Sleyca – Boy suffers tragedy as a child and is left with a burning desire to be a support hero… an unpopular choice, and one that he has only the slimmest hope of pursuing. When an opportunity arises for him to follow his dream he has to not only grow in strength, but also navigate the pitfalls of both human and alien society.
Good for: People who like the sound of slow burn superheroes, people who like MCs with unique motivations
Bad for: People who want completed books (it’s still on Royal Road)
R/Fantasy Bingo squares: Just the standard ones, I think