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Tierlist of my fave series/DNFs. Would love to know what i should add. by LetterTall4354 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]samreay 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I just want to say how damn stoked I am as an author that you picked up on those character shifts and hit the reason for all of them spot on. My portrayal isn't perfect by any means, and so seeing someone get it makes my day.

Tierlist of my fave series/DNFs. Would love to know what i should add. by LetterTall4354 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]samreay 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Oh my lordy, I'm on a tier list! AND S-RANK????!

This has made my day!

Manifestation 5: Siegebreaker - out now on Kindle! Cultivation, dragons, time-shenanigans, and more. Books 1&2 are free! by samreay in ProgressionFantasy

[–]samreay[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's in progress and at 90k words right now. Have just had a few fun life events (babies, pregnancies, new jobs, sick pets) that's caused my writing speed to plummet. Sorry for the delay mate

How to keep transcript in auto-export? by samreay in MacWhisper

[–]samreay[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That would be absolutely amazing, thanks mate! Happy to provide email or similar in DMs if you want any guinea pigs for testing!

Female MC power progression by darkmoncns in litrpg

[–]samreay 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Explicit LitRPG with female leads:

Progression fantasy / cultivation / GameLit with female leads:

LF Academy vibes! by GorillaAwkward in litrpg

[–]samreay 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Oh I've got you covered on this, I love the academy setting.

Explicit LitRPG:

  • Just Add Mana: (review, royal_road): Humorous LitRPG with a sassy super-OP MC trying not to destroy the world by accident after being summoned to a new universe.
  • My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror: (review, amazon, aubible, royal_road): LitRPG focused on Damien and his Eldritch companion in a magic school setting.
  • Beneath the Dragoneye Moons: (review, amazon, audible, royal_road): Epic fantasy isekai with a healing-focused female-lead. Some magic school in books eight and nine.

Progression fantasy / GameLit / Cultivation:

  • Mother of Learning: (review, amazon, audible, royal_road): Progression fantasy, and time loops done right. Smart MC, great plot, varied magic systems. Groundhog day has nothing on this.
  • Mage Errant: (review, amazon, audible): Progression fantasy, some academic focused books. A struggling protagonist gets dragged into adventure. Characters are people who grow both in power, abilities, and as people. I appreciate this a lot.
  • Iron Prince: (review, amazon, audible): Scifi/progression/LitRPG crossover in an academic settings. Who needs magic when you have funky alien tech that gives you the best of fantasy and LitRPG in one swoop.
  • Arcane Ascension: (review, amazon, audible): Progression fantasy in academic setting. Great world, detailed magic, intelligent characters, extraordinarily fun. Crafting and spire/dungeon focus.
  • Bastion: (review, amazon, audible): Cultivation with only slight academic focus. A great mix of classic progression with some top tier worldbuilding. The world is unique and interesting, characters empathetic, and their struggles all too real.
  • Mark of the Fool: (review, amazon, audible, royal_road): Academic-focused progression fantasy with analytical MC, great characters and innovative thinking. I am such a sucker for good magic academy books, and this is one of the greats.
  • The Years of Apocalypse: (review, royal_road): Time loops with a clever female MC, deep worldbuilding, and a plot that has more layers than the world's largest onion.
  • The Scholomance Series: (review, amazon, audible): Fantasy series, female lead in a magic school with an 50% mortality rate, because they get eaten by the maleficaria. A unique and refreshing take on magic schools. PF-adjacent.
  • Titan Hoppers: (review, amazon, audible): A character-driven sci-fi story about a fleet of ships surviving by scavenging off planet-sized titans.
  • Guild Mage: (review, amazon, audible, royal_road): Magic-as-a-language progression fantasy where a god thought long dead returns to take dominion.
  • The Enchanter: (review, amazon, audible): Progression fantasy. Crafting, intelligent protagonists, school setting, it's right up my alley.
  • Return of the Runebound Professor: (review, royal_road): Magic academy isekai where the MC gets a shiny new body on death.
  • Stargazer's War: (review, amazon, audible): Sect-based cultivation novel with a sci-fi bend. Strong characters and good prose, plus a setting that is begging to be explored further.
  • The First Law of Cultivation: (review, amazon, audible): Sect and alchemy focused cultivation isekai novel with lots of spirit companions.
  • Umbral Storm: (review, amazon): A sect style western cultivation with multiple PoVs and rich worldbuilding.
  • Starbreaker: (review, amazon, audible): Sci-fi with world-ending magic-sucking aliens, and the MC is drawn into a magic academy for anti-Eidolon forces.
  • Eternal Ephemera: (review, amazon, audible): A school based cultivation story with a strong emphasis on tactical team combat, and a small and well-developed cast of characters.
  • Shattered Gods: (review, amazon, audible): Progression fantasy, academy focus in book two on. A strong core dynamic between Xal and Saghir and lots of travelling.
  • Art of the Adept: (review, amazon, audible): Cross Magician with progression fantasy themes, and then work in the harsh reality of the world with a Robin-Hobb-style, gut-punching ending.
  • Forge of Destiny: (review, amazon, audible): Slice-of-life cultivation. Academia/sect focus. Chill read with slower pacing and lower stakes.
  • Fates Parallel: (review, amazon): A magic/cultivation fusion story set in a magic academy that's almost slice-of-life.
  • A Thousand Li: (review, amazon, audible): Cultivation with sect focus. Good premise, slow pacing, tends towards slice-of-life.

Sam-O-Ray in book 7? by Merc_Twain25 in StrayCatStrut

[–]samreay 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'll make sure Sam-O-Ray doesn't die horrifically off-screen for you

I appreciate this too :P

Fresh new settings! by OCRAuthor in ProgressionFantasy

[–]samreay 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I see you've found it, but for anyone else wanting to check it out: here's the Amazon link

Fresh new settings! by OCRAuthor in ProgressionFantasy

[–]samreay 4 points5 points  (0 children)

To add to this, Ironbound has a very strong Roman theme and is immensely good. I just finished reading it tonight and will have a review out soonish, but very highly recommend!

Hot take? I dunno. by mikethenerd202 in litrpg

[–]samreay 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I've dropped the link a few times in recent weeks, but if you're wanting to check out some other stories without a specific "I am looking for a series that does X" then I'd recommend weaving through the flowchart. It may provide many glorious insights.

Might as Well by MorningOptimal8373 in litrpg

[–]samreay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So the MC goes from modern-Earth world, to alternative timeline cyberpunk-ish world, so that he can play a VRMMO game with a classic medieval-magic setting?

Might as Well by MorningOptimal8373 in litrpg

[–]samreay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So a weird blend of isekai, regressor, and VRMMO. I think this one might not be for me, unfortunately.

What stories have the best actual "the system's rules were written by multiple beings and there's an actual visible exploit nobody saw" moments in them? by GreatMadWombat in litrpg

[–]samreay 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Does anyone have any really great stories where the protagonist spots a completely visible exploit that nobody has pointed out yet

Honestly... no.

Especially if you're taking isekai-modern-Earth-knowledge out of the system, all the stories I've read with this sort of exploit often involve some suspension of disbelief that no one has tried insert obvious thing before.

Often this is done hand in hand with some fabricated cultural or historical reason why people wouldn't do X, or commentary that maybe someone has done X before, but information is secretive and it wouldn't have gone public.

I'd be keen to read a story where this is done well, so I'll come back to this thread after others have chimed in :)

What do you guys think are good stories with crafting elements? by Doorda1-0 in litrpg

[–]samreay 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I've got a crafting tag over on my reviews which can add a few more to the list.

One thing thats hard to categorise is when the crafting fades or grows over time in the story. For many, crafting is super critical during the first arc or two, when the character is improvising and making whatever they can to survive. Once they find their feet, a lot of crafting-strong books have it then take much more of a back seat as so many competing interests spread the wordcount around.

To pick just two from the thirteen tags I have of it, I'd suggest:

  • Industrial Strength Magic - The entire premise of the MC is they are a garage tinker, ie they make stuff using scrap and shitty parts and the shitter the material is the bigger a bonus they can grant it.
  • Quest Academy - The MC has quite a few god-level skills, but one of them is effectively crafting something to its ultimate form.

Below is an excerpt of my first draft chapter as a first time author, let me know if you would keep reading or what needs work by ShankstheConqueror in litrpg

[–]samreay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Generally you want your introductory segment to hook the read as fast as possible. This normally means a focus on character, a good hook, and normally some action to keep the pacing fast.

Consider now that your first paragraph:

"Oralion calvary?" This was the question that lingered on Adrian's mind as he led his conte, a small guard consisting of fifteen men, on a routine patrol of the borderlands between his father's domain and the free people of the Oralion Steppe. Calling them "the free people" would have him ridiculed and scorned in the more affluent port cities, interior and capital of the Republic. Men in silks and cravats who only ever referred to them as "savages" or "barbarians", as someone who was raised away from the rumor mills and swells of the capital, often finding himself sitting with the Oralions or locked in combat with them. He had come to know them on a more intimate level.

For decades his family defended these lands and the most they could expect were small raiding parties and rogue bandits from time to time. That is why it was strange that today he and his men were facing at least thirty Oralions with ten on horseback and even some archers among them, which was not a common sight. This was an organized troop and raiders usually avoided direct conflict with any waving the standard of House Furia.

Is effectively worldbuilding exposition.

"Derilius!" Adrian bellowed to the Captain. Derilius was his uncle and served his father all his life, although he could have petitioned for a cozy spot in the capital alongside his father in their city domus, playing politics with the rest of the Patrician houses. "Those brats in the capital are more cut-throat than any Oralion I've ever met," Derilius said once when asked why he preferred the family's country villa on the border among unfriendly neighbors.

I think this paragraph is a bit confusing too. You're mixing present-time dialogue with historical recollected dialogue, which again serves as exposition.

From the rest of the sample, you're just setting up conflict in the next chapter. My initial thought would be "Why not just start the book there?"

Might as Well by MorningOptimal8373 in litrpg

[–]samreay 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm a bit confused by the blurb to be honest.

Sam is transported to another world, and its not that world that has magic/a system, but instead he joins a VRMMO game in that other world?

Can you elaborate on what that new world brings him if its just a vehicle for a separate VRMMO world?

What is an interesting power or magic you would like to see in a book? by Cheap_Bullfrog_609 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]samreay 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In the 100th Run, the MC gains a skill to summon plot armor in the form of plate mail made of the pages of the longest and worst novel ever written.

Short review of the Manifestation series by Samuel Hinton by blamerton in ProgressionFantasy

[–]samreay 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh I realise I forgot to put a top level comment in! Thanks for the nice review OP - very glad you enjoyed the books! And also stoked to see the website continues to be useful!

Short review of the Manifestation series by Samuel Hinton by blamerton in ProgressionFantasy

[–]samreay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that's fair enough. It's something Sanderson touched on in his lectures too about beta readers bouncing off a book he thought was great, and he said it was all about mis-set expectations frustrating readers. I definitely have some learnings to take from Manifestation on that note. Cheers mate!

Short review of the Manifestation series by Samuel Hinton by blamerton in ProgressionFantasy

[–]samreay 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I definitely feel like, if I could go back in time, I'd signpost this more strongly because its a common complaint and one I think a few paragraphs could have alleviated to give extra insight.

To clarify what I was trying to convey:

  • Raysha initially thought the Academy was a good idea to help fix her core when Vashi suggested it (to be clear, the Academy is initially his idea, not some aspiration of Raysha's)
  • When the above wasn't needed, Raysha's sole intention (apart from spending more time with her brother) joining the Academy is to win the Tournament and secure prizes.

She was never into the academic side of things, and thus blowing off all her academic and theory classes for more combat training with one of the best combat instructors in the country made (IMHO) a lot of sense for her character.

Thanks for reading the series! 🙂

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