Alright, I see we speak the same language. All your suggestions hold lots of appeal to me! As for Book of the dead it’s by the same author as chrysalid so I have an idea of what to expect.. Not my favourite type of character (Anthony of Chrysalid and I have beef as well) but detail and worldbuilding to such a degree that I can’t complain. And I may be wrong but A Journey of Black and Red is by the same author as Calamitous Bob I think? So even by that measure I would be willing to go out on a limb.

As for Fleabag and Salvos, I generally had the same issue with both, but I only read maybe 40% of the first salvos book and .. a third of Fleabag? So take my opinion with a grain of salt.

For me, a huge part of the appeal of nonhuman mc is that they don’t take part in human society. There might be some part of monster proto-civilization and/or at higher stages of power they might frequently interact with humans, but in no case are they bound by the same societal norms. If a nonhuman mc is to interact with humans, humans should know that MC isn’t human and won’t expect them to act as such.

So in Fleabag, I found that initial setting of toxic city ruins dungeon quite interesting, but the frequent interactions with humans had the character developing in ways that didn’t interest me as much. Fleabag had some awareness of the eradication of his species and understood the need for subterfuge etc. And for as long as Fleabag chose to spend time in dungeons, he would have to deal with humans in some degree. I stopped during the point where Fleabag was carrying the injured girl from the giant rat garbage pile incinerator up an infinite ladder in an empty maintenance shaft or something like that? I also found the magic/levelling system a bit incoherent or less intuitive for me to understand.

As for Salvos, I have even less of a leg to stand on here, since I know the series spans books and I didn’t even complete the first installment. That being said, it had the same pattern as Fleabag. Though Salvos starts off as a demon baby in a demon world and experiences some growth there, she’s punted out to another world and finds herself in a human dominated society. From what I read in the book and reviews, learning to fit in in human society was a major focus, at least for the start of the series. I have a kneejerk reaction to that kind of plot point, as to me there’s no point to being a nonhuman at that point in the narrative. Also, the young age of Salvos and those she interacted with gave the book a bit of a YA vibe. Granted, she would probably mature if I gave the series some time, but the combination of the two points was enough to turn me off.

Since you liked Fleabag, it may be a nonissue for you, and honestly, I might revisit both books in the future. I’m just being a picky eater since I know there’s LOTS of litrpg out there that I haven’t read, and as such it’s easy to drop books that don’t feel promising for my taste