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[D] Monday Request and Recommendation Thread

Post:

Welcome to the Monday request and recommendation thread. Are you looking something to scratch an itch? Post a comment stating your request! Did you just read something that really hit the spot, "rational" or otherwise? Post a comment recommending it! Note that you are welcome (and encouraged) to post recommendations directly to the subreddit, so long as you think they more or less fit the criteria on the sidebar or your understanding of this community, but this thread is much more loose about whether or not things "belong". Still, if you're looking for beginner recommendations, perhaps take a look at the wiki?

If you see someone making a top level post asking for recommendation, kindly direct them to the existence of these threads.

Previous automated recommendation threads
Other recommendation threads

Comments:

u/Dragongeek [+25] Path to Victory (2 hours later)

Last week, The Years of the Apocalypse was recommended. I have read all of the currently available story (up to chapter 43) and have some feedback, but in short, it’s good enough that I’ll bookmark it for later, but not good enough to where I will read chapters as they come out, instead waiting a couple months and then reading a larger chunk.

Now, for a more detailed review:

Positive

  • What it says on the tin. I wouldn’t quite call it MoL with the numbers filed off, but there are a LOT of similarities. Everything from character beats (the protagonist is a socially-unaware clutz, like Zorian) to the end goal which appears to be “avert the apocalypse using the time-loop” has strong parallels. That’s not a bad thing, tried and true is fine. So far it hasn’t really done anything “innovative” with the premise or within the genre, the major difference from the MoL timeloop appearing to be that (so far) there are no other obvious loopers or key antagonists (In MoL, Zach and the Lich) and that the reset seems to require living out the apocalypse rather than “timing out” beforehand.
  • High publication rate. We’re getting like three chapters a week or something, which is good stuff. If the author can keep it up, I’ll enjoy being able to come back in two months and there’ll be a lot of content ready to read.
  • Writing is fine on a technical level. Minimal/no spelling or egregious grammar wonkiness.

Neutral

  • Feels a bit slow paced at times. Like, currently the story is at about 110k words and the protagonist has only recently decided to start actually leveraging the time loop to become a multi-talent badass and perform “risky” plays like taking loans or (gasp) skipping classes.
  • The magic seems kinda… weak sauce? Like, maybe we haven’t been exposed to any “high-level” characters yet, but the magic users we’ve encountered so far seem rather inflexible (bound to tools) and low-powered. Like, not that I expect all the university professors to be combat aces, but multiple times it is mentioned that the academy is steeped in quite a bit of martial tradition, yet during the second loop (?) when the professors organize an evacuation, they are stymied by some magical plants and magical bugs. Sure, it’s mentioned that these particular plants are extremely magically resistant, yada, yada, yada, but a member of this group is literally the professor of magical botany class and accredited as the top-expert in magical botany in the whole kingdom or something, yet he can’t just solve the problem. It’s just a bit weird, but not really a negative point, just something I found unique.

Negative

  • It’s a bit hard to pin down exactly what it is, but basically, I think that the authorial voice and style are lacking. There is a loooooot of “telling” instead of “showing” and large sections are very straight forward in their description eg “X did action Y” ad nauseum. There’s no flair, no fun wordplay, and the language is all very to-the-point and no frills (despite this, the pacing is rather slow, especially early on). This has put me, the reader in a strange position: I want to know what happens next, I want to know the resolution of the various mysteries, and I want to see the characters grow and develop, but I’m rather ambivalent about actually reading the text because it’s just somewhat dull.
  • Pet peeve, but the nightmare scenes are just nah. People describing dreams (or hallucinations) is literally always stupid, and while these dreams probably have some sort of deep symbolism that will make attentive readers have a neat “ah-ha”-moment later, it’s just too skippable as it is right now.

In summary, I’m interested in seeing if the rather new time-loop genre will go in any new and interesting directions, or if it’s been rather “squeezed dry”. Specifically, the top two in the genre on RR are currently MoL and The Perfect Run which, which take the time-loop idea in very different directions, but I’d be curious to see it taken somewhere else completely. Any recs?

u/SpeakKindly [+20] (16 hours later)

Pet peeve, but the nightmare scenes are just nah. People describing dreams (or hallucinations) is literally always stupid, and while these dreams probably have some sort of deep symbolism that will make attentive readers have a neat “ah-ha”-moment later, it’s just too skippable as it is right now.

You know, I've never thought about it in generality before, but I've also read the entire thing recently, and... I clearly remember that there were nightmare scenes, but could not tell you the least detail about what they were about. So at least as far as my reading is concerned, you're absolutely right about them being skippable.

u/jaghataikhan [+1] Primarch of the White Scars (a month later)

racial unique ring hungry sharp continue automatic paltry sort jellyfish

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

u/megazver [+14] (3 hours later)

In summary, I’m interested in seeing if the rather new time-loop genre will go in any new and interesting directions, or if it’s been rather “squeezed dry”.

I'm pretty sure there will be many more good time loop stories. It sounds like this author is just kinda new and inexperienced.

u/TREB0R [+11] (4 hours later)

I tried to read the first chapter, but I bounced off it because the blatant info dump of what is supposedly basic magic knowledge being reviewed before the final of a last year exam.

u/Raileyx [+8] (6 hours later)

I've also seen the rec last week and have since caught up with it. I don't have much to add to your review as I mostly agree with what you said, but I will say this:

If you enjoyed MoL, you will most likely enjoy this one as well. It's by far the closest thing to MoL I've seen, if at a lower quality. The first 10 chapters were a bit of a slog for me personally, but after that it did pick up, and now I'm excited for what comes next as the MC is finally starting to get off the beaten track.

I would recommend this one without hesitation to anyone who loved MoL. For everyone else, ymmv.

u/N0_B1g_De4l [+6] (4 hours later)

Not web fiction, but Happy Death Day and Palm Springs are both recent-ish time loop movies that I had a lot of fun with.

u/suddenly_lurkers [+3] (2 days later)

RE: Monarch is the other big time loop story that comes to mind. Unfortunately it's stubbed on RR now, having moved to Kindle Unlimited. I'd give it a rec, with the caveat that I have not read recent chapters and it isn't particularly rational.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/37951/re-monarch

u/ViceroyChobani [+21] Reserve Pigeon Army (2 hours later)

(EDIT: I'm having issues posting the links, so I'm going to try posting them in bite sized chunks in the comments, and see if that works. Mods, I really tried to post it all in one go, this is me trying to work around whatever restrictions are in place.)

I've taken a lot from this sub over the years, so here's me giving back.

These are all rational to a greater or lesser degree, but I found that they scratched my itch in one way or another, so I'm hoping that the people on this sub will enjoy them as well (even if they're not all super rational).

Including more details on each work would have taken too long, but I'm more than happy to answer questions about specific works!

(A lot of these will probably be known to this sub already, but just in case, I've still included the more commonly known ones.)

u/ViceroyChobani [+20] Reserve Pigeon Army (2 hours later)

Unpublished Originals - Finished

  • Unsong by Scott Alexander - 4.40 GR - Cabalistic comedy deconstruction philosophy, why do bad things happen to good people...just sheer gold.

  • Worm by John C. "Wildbow" McCrae - 4.61 GR​ - Superpowers, epic, dark, really frickin' long

  • Worth the Candle by Alexander Wales - 4.3 GR - Level up fantasy

  • A Practical Guide to Evil by Erratic Errata - 4.3 GR - Fantasy, Narrative (capital N), Roles, epic, one of my favorite series of all time (you can skim all the relentless geography details, I think).

  • The Gods are Bastards by D. D. Webb - 4.48 GR - Status: Book 17 - Unfinished - D.D. Webb is a frickin' fantastic author, and this series is so satisfying in so many ways. Unfortunately the author struggles with things I'm not qualified to describe or go into in this format, so although there are 16 finished books, the series itself is still not quite complete.

u/Luck732 [+6] (a day later)

It almost feels silly to recommend at this point, because I would guess 90% of this sub has read it... but you don't have it listed, so just in case, have you read Mother of Learning?

u/ViceroyChobani [+4] Reserve Pigeon Army (a day later)

Haha, whoops, yeah, that should definitely be on there.

u/ViceroyChobani [+15] Reserve Pigeon Army (2 hours later)

Published Books

  • Cinder Spires by Jim Butcher - 4.18 GR - Steampunk-ish airships, sort of post-apocalyptic, magi-tech.

  • Codex Alera by Jim Butcher - 4.13 GR - Classic epic fantasy

  • The Empire Trilogy by Raymond E. Feist - 4.29 GR - Female lead, politics, combat, foreign moral system

  • Cradle Series by Will Wight - 4.16 GR - Classic cultivation based cultivation. Satisfying, complete.

  • Scholomance Series by Naomi Novik - 3.97 GR - Magic school, sort-of-sentient school, fight for survival, no formal teachers - Controversial, but I really liked it.

  • Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor - 4.28 GR - Sci-fi, sentient Von-Neumann machines

  • Crystal Trilogy by Max Harms - 4.12 GR - AI what-if

  • LightBringer by Brent Weeks - 4.23 GR - Epic fantasy, dark, shades of grey characters

  • Night Angel by Brent Weeks - 4.15 GR - Assassins!

  • The Council Wars by John Ringo - 3.98 GR - This was a really interesting exploration of the origins of the idea "What if 'magic' was just technology that we don't understand anymore?". Fall from post-scarcity tech base. I really like it, but John Ringo is a very specific flavor.

  • Troy Rising by John Ringo - 4.17 GR - First contact, HFY, military sci-fi

  • Brandon Sanderson's Works - Look, I've drunk the koolaid, I'll admit it. That's all there is too it.

u/thomas_m_k [+5] (2 days later)

I'll second the Scholomance series, though it's definitely not for everyone. There is, for example, some teenage romance there. But what I really liked about it is that, especially the first book, is incredibly tightly written: there is not a word there that doesn't serve a purpose. Webserials have unfortunately often the incentive to have many words. And only some of those words are really needed to tell the story. So it was very refreshing to read a story where every superfluous word was cut out.

The third (and last) book in the series is unfortunately not as good as the first two books though.

(Another story that I think is really tightly written is Postnuptial Disagreements. Maybe watch the 1st and 11th episode of the Sekirei anime before reading it.)

u/Revlar [+5] (2 days later)

I'll give asoft derec for the same reason you rec it. Scholomance is so tightly written that it doesn't feel real. it feels like one of those toys that use Rube-Goldberg machines to move a marble through a bunch of obstacles. The way every single thing mentioned is a vital gear to the mechanism of the plot (with the sole exception of the weirdly uncharacterized competence porn girl) ends up making the whole story feel claustrophobic even after the setting stops being that way

u/CellWithoutCulture [+3] (2 days later)

Crystal Trilogy by Max Harms

One of the few stories that portrays superhuman AI with truly non-human psychologies. Not only did I like it, but it left quite an impression on me.

u/ViceroyChobani [+13] Reserve Pigeon Army (2 hours later)

Assorted RR

These are a general list of fictions that I read a significant amount of, but ended up dropping or forgetting about for one reason or another (often that I can't recall). Maybe you'll have more luck. This is mostly a list of things to try instead of digging through Royal Road archives.

u/NTaya [+16] Tzeentch (8 hours later)

I've read some of these.

Reborn As A Demonic Tree: Ehhhh... If you are very starved for xianxia web novels that aren't either horrible translations or feature exclusively murderhobo sociopaths, this is going to be a nice read. Everything about this is not bad, just very bland. Unfortunately, "very bland" is still miles better than most cultivation stories. Rec if you really like xianxia and/or inhuman protagonists (I lost interest in the second or even the third volume, and it's been made clear by then that the MC is going to stay as a tree, with all the difficulties that entails, and I consider that a huge positive), soft de-rec for everyone else.

Paranoid Mage: Starts off strong, but rapidly drops in quality, constantly gives the smart characters idiot balls, and doesn't introduce serious consequences for dumb decisions. The first half of the first book is solid, but by the middle of the second book it's literally unreadable. Hard de-rec.

Apocalypse Parenting: Really solid system apocalypse story. Great characters, fun writing, plus it's the first time in fiction history when the kid characters are both realistic and not annoying at all. Definitely a rec. (Though specifically the "system apocalypse" part is definitely weaker than something like Dungeon Crawler Carl. In general, AP is better than DCC in portraying social interactions, but worse at action and spectacle.)

Mud's Mission: Literally "AI Alignment Failure: The Fantasy Novel." That alone might make it worth a read for some. Unfortunately, it's super dead and ends on a cliffhanger with very few plots resolved.

u/XKARNATION [+10] (11 hours later)

Reborn as a Demonic Tree is written by me, not Mooderino!

u/ViceroyChobani [+3] Reserve Pigeon Army (16 hours later)

Whoops! Sincere apologies, not sure how that got mixed up. I've updated.

u/CellWithoutCulture [+3] (2 days later)

Being confused with Mooderino is a compliment imo, he has quite a few books that could be on this list and is consistently amusing.

u/RetardedWabbit [+10] (a day later)

Mage Tank

Randomly jumped to that one and it's been really good. If a bit author-conversational heavy. This moment made me realize the writing had been really good and hopefully a good fit for here:

The implications of the first option, Dimensional Shielding, made me very uncomfortable. First, there were different versions of me across multiple realities? I mean, the idea had crossed my mind, but it was mostly a fun thought experiment. Having a way to confirm that it was true would have incredible implications on philosophy and science, at least back on Earth. Maybe here that was common knowledge and people just lived with that. Maybe they regularly had conversations with other versions of themselves and I was the weirdo for not having weekend brews with the other yous.

u/ViceroyChobani [+3] Reserve Pigeon Army (a day later)

I liked this very much at the beginning - it reminded me of the first couple of books of He Who Fights With Monsters.

The pacing of it...I dunno, started feeling a little weird after some amount of time.
And it also started to feel like the MC was a little too much like HWFWM, but not quite as good.
Unfortunate that I was making the comparison, wish I wouldn't, because it's a good character.

But it is what it is, alas.

u/RetardedWabbit [+2] (2 days later)

Yeah, unfortunately I seem to have hit a major a drop in enjoyment after the first 20 chapters. The pacing is off, the MC too powerful/the world not making much sense, the whole world changing, too many unique things going for the MC quickly, lore dumps, a stereotypical MC attitude, and less analysis of what is at hand by the MC. Fights after the first delve aren't nearly as good/understandable. 51 in and hoping it settles down and hits it's stride, but we will see.

u/FieryDuckling67 [+7] (22 hours later)

Going to give a rec for A Practical Guide to Sorcery. Interesting unique magic system, an ongoing mystery in uncovering some magics that affect the protagonist from the first chapter, well-written characters and a good bit of comedy from how the protagonist is unintentionally perceived. Still a serial I follow every update of.

u/ReproachfulWombat [+6] (a day later)

It's definitely fun, but the author hands out a lot of idiot-balls to ensure that the protagonist >!Pulls a Tanya The Evil/Flashman/Ciaphas Cain and is misunderstood by everyone to be a super competent magical monster and machievellian plotter, rather than a barely competent mage with no education!<

Everything else is great, especially the magic system.

u/thomas_m_k [+1] (2 days later)

The misunderstandings are quite fun to me. But then again I also like Eminence in Shadow, so maybe it's not for everyone.

A thing that I do not like at all, but which probably doesn't bother most people, is that >!she keeps lying to Westbay. I don't like it when ostensibly good protagonists lie so much. I'm not even sure what she gains from it. She seems to just enjoy lying to him!<

u/SpeakKindly [+1] (3 days later)

I think the only reason she's doing it is so that she can imitate the similar plotline in HPMoR.

u/ViceroyChobani [+3] Reserve Pigeon Army (a day later)

I remember being really, really interested for the first 30 chapters, and then...I can't remember what happened. I think it's what u/ReproachfulWombat said - it felt like a lot of idiot-balls were being handed out.

But I can't quite remember.

I've been meaning to give it another go.

u/nullmove [+5] (3 days later)

Solid rec for Double Blind if you are looking for something fast paced and action heavy. It’s a bit underrated compared to authors other story (RE: Monarch) and so probably a bit slower to update. Plus a system apocalypse litrpg and a protagonist with sociopathic tendencies might sound cliched, but it works because it’s actually well written. MC works around issues to try and be a good person, his power is potentially OP, but there are others plus Gods can put their fingers on scale so the system is broken anyway. Pretty fun page turner that scales well, unlike say Paranoid Mage.

Although it’s popular, seeing a lot of MoL styled recs lately makes me want to mention The Perfect Run. If you think the prose, pacing (or Zorian himself) was too dry in MoL, try this one.

Finally, if I have to pick a favoruite from RR, I will go with: The Adventures of Raina Mortal the Perfectly Normal Elf. It’s funny and absolutely mind bending.

u/ThePhrastusBombastus [+4] (17 hours later)

I'm not sure what happened, but it looks like most of these stories have the wrong author listed.

u/ViceroyChobani [+8] Reserve Pigeon Army (18 hours later)

Thanks for the catch. I have no idea what happened - I pulled these from my scraped list, so...something's wrong in my script, somewhere.
I've gone through and manually updated them all.

u/ViceroyChobani [+12] Reserve Pigeon Army (18 hours later)

Good RoyalRoad (forgot to add this list when I originally posted, my bad.)

This is a list of fictions on RoyalRoad I personally enjoy and still follow.

u/NTaya [+14] Tzeentch (a day later)

I've also read some of these.

I can give longer explanations for my choices like I did in the last comment, but for now I'll just go with something shorter.

Beware Of Chicken: Tries to parody xianxia cliches, ends up just using another set of cliches. Also, the writing style is boring, and I know it's subjective, but humor didn't land for me. De-rec.

Super Minion: Solid story. Not super rational, but doesn't have a lot of annoying qualities that plague the superhero genre. Updates once in a blue moon. Soft rec.

Vigor Mortis: Like the other two Thundamoo's stories, Bioshifter and Hive Minds Give Good Hugs, this one is brilliant. All three stories can be described as "a queer girl struggling to remain rational in the face of her terrible mental health and uniquely fucked-up worldbuilding; lots of body-horror/bio-horror ensue." All three are amazingly written and edited, the characters feel very real, and the settings are all super imaginative. I rec all three of her stories super hard.

Only Villains Do That: Super Mega Hard Rec, despite the story going on a hiatus without getting anything resolved. Webb is such a talented writer, it should be a crime that most of their work is available for free.

12 Miles Below: An interesting post-apocalyptic story with decent character writing and plot hooks. Not super rational, but at least it's consistently not-annoying. Rec.

Vainqueuer The Dragon: Not rational at all, humor didn't land for me. Prose was the only strong side of the story. De-rec.

Hoard: This one is also by Webb, so, naturally, a rec. But it's a lot lighter and softer than his usual deal, and probably not as clever—though just as witty—as OVDT and TGAB.

Dungeon Crawler Carl: This is the system apocalypse story. I binged all then-four available volumes in a few days and was following its Patreon almost religiously until it became unavailable in my country. Both the author and the protagonists are extremely competent, and there's a lot of unique problem-solving. Hard rec. (Though humor definitely will be hit-or-miss for most of people here, and there are a lot of jokes packed in every chapter.)

u/thomas_m_k [+3] (2 days later)

Re: Vigor Mortis. I think I dropped the story when >!the MC fought Lark(?) in a city and then let Lark live. Is there any kind of pay off to Lark? The story really went downhill for me as soon as Lark was introduced!< Not sure whether I should give it another chance.

u/NTaya [+2] Tzeentch (2 days later)

The character in question is really hit-or-miss with people. If you didn't enjoy their PoV chapters, you probably wouldn't enjoy what happens later as well. Bioshifter doesn't have the same issue so far, while HMGGH also has a dubiously-likable deuteragonist (though I think she's much better written than >!Lark!<).

u/AviusAedifex [+6] (a day later)

I would add a slight anti-rec for Super Minion. While there's a lot to like, there's a big focus on comedy that was very miss for me. And the focus on the more "normie" side characters also just felt like a waste of time.

u/SneakyLLM [+2] (5 days later)

I don't think Delve is on a hiatus, just updates very slowly.

u/ViceroyChobani [+2] Reserve Pigeon Army (5 days later)

They used to update once a week on Saturday night, but unfortunately went on hiatus in March.
Here's the post from their Patreon:

Schedule Update

March 3

You might have noticed there’s no schedule listed for the next chapter release. Sorry about that, but it means what you think it means. Hiatus.

For how long? Sorry again, but I don’t know. It might just be an extra week, with an erratic schedule thereafter, or it might be longer.

The truth is, I’ve been struggling for a while now, even since I dropped down to three chapters a month. That helped a bit, but it didn’t help enough, and with all the focus I split between this and my day job, there’s not much left for anything else. On my off weekends, I find myself picking between staying home to chase the seemingly unattainable dream of a backlog and actually using the time to relax and see friends and family. That’s not great.

I don’t want to be long-winded here, so I’ll just say that there are other areas of my life that need work. Having the constant, looming dread of the deadline hanging over me is damaging both my mental and physical health. I don’t want to stop writing, but I think I need to, at least for a little while.

I hope you understand, and as always, thank you for reading. Your support means so much.

-SenescentSoul

u/Sonderjye [+1] (5 days later)

In Super Genetics, when does the MC get his power, and things start to take off? The setting is really interesting but by Chapter 10 the MC hasn't really done anything and doesn't really have a clear goal.

u/ViceroyChobani [+2] Reserve Pigeon Army (5 days later)

Spoilers below for the chapter number.

!​He only just got them in chapter 26, and we're now in chapter 30, which is the first time he really gets to use his powers.!<

They're pretty cool, though. I think this sub will enjoy the power set.

u/Do_Not_Go_In_There [+11] (3 hours later)

I came across Stolen Thunder, an ASOIAF fic set during Aegon's conquest featuring an Argella Durrandon SI.

The idea is interesting, there aren't many fics set in that period (mostly because of the TV shows), and Argella Durrandon is an interesting viewpoint to tell the story from. She a former princess, crowned herself queen, then had everything ripped away from her and needs to figure out what he place in the world is going to be. The MC also ha no story knowledge, so this is all new and very frightening to her.

For those who don't know, Argella was the daughter and only child of Argilac the Arrogant, the last Storm King. Her father was killed by Orys Baratheon in single combat, who she married, and who became the first Lord of Storm's End, founding the new House Baratheon.

At the approach of Orys Baratheon and the Targaryen host, Argella barred the gates of Storm's End and declared herself Storm Queen. When Queen Rhaenys flew Meraxes into the castle to parley, Argella announced that the defenders of Storm's End would die to the last man. However, her garrison refused to share the fate of Harrenhal and revolted, raising a peace banner and delivering Argella to Orys's camp, gagged, chained, and naked. Orys, however, removed the chains with his own hands, wrapped his cloak around her, and gave her food and wine. He spoke to her gently, telling her of her father Argilac's courage in death.[1]

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Argella_Durrandon

--

The Winter of Widows continues to be excellent.

Enduring the Storm is interesting and well-written. I'm curious how SI-Stannis' actions will change the war.

u/NTaya [+8] Tzeentch (a day later)

My acquaintance asks for rational-adjacent books suitable for 8-11 years old children that heavily feature training, self-improvement, etc. The acquaintance specifically asks that said hard work is not merely mentioned, but rather is actively shown in the story. The kid herself mostly wants stories "about magic" and with protagonists of about her age.

u/Cosmogyre [+10] (a day later)

For visible hard work and self improvement, I'd generally recommend stories in the survival and adventure genres. Stuff like Hatchet by Garry Paulsen and PEAK by Roland Smith are pretty good for that. Hatchet in particular I believe is on this sub's spreadsheet of rational-adjacent books? However, they're in their early teens, there's no magic, and they're male protagonists. I think I'd gesture towards the same genre and recommend books from there.

I think in fantasy, the whole shtick is that things come easily, the protagonist gets magical powers or were chosen, so they don't need to do much visible hard work. Unless it's dark fantasy, which I think would be less likely to be suitable. I can recommend The Sea of Trolls - Nancy Farmer for being an interesting story about magic and a relatively hardworking young boy, but it's kind of a kid's dark fantasy, so a cursory lookover might be good.

u/Dragongeek [+3] Path to Victory (a day later)

Maybe the Percy Jackson series? It starts when the protagonists are like 12 and is generally very good. I wouldn't call it rational but maybe swing a rational adjacent in the context of Greek mythology. I would say the series definitely has a major focus on training, which is mostly martial, but there's also a "studious" hard work element since a lot of victory in the series involves studying and doing the mythology lore prep work for the specific situation. 

Also, definitely a series that children can grow with, since the protagonists age as it progresses it and starts introducing some more "young adult" themes (like betrayal or romance) by the time the series ends and the protagonists are like 17.

u/NnaelKysumu [+7] (an hour later)

Any recommendations on where to find some decently translated Xianxia? I think I've read most of the western authored ones and I need something for my commute again.

u/AviusAedifex [+5] (2 hours later)

Are you looking for websites? Or specific recommendations? What do you like? Have you read any translated ones? Which western ones did you like?

u/NnaelKysumu [+5] (4 hours later)

Either/or. I'll take a website, a translator or a specific work.

Among what I've read Cradle, AveXiaRem, and Sect immediately come to mind. I'm fairly sure I've at least tried most of the other Xianxias on Royalroad, but most of the ones I liked were dropped (Cultivating Earth, Essence of Cultivation, Eight) and I bounced from the rest for one reason or another. Although I haven't been checking recently, so I'll also be glad to try any newcomers you care to recommend.

I don't believe I've read anything translated yet.

u/AviusAedifex [+10] (7 hours later)

Xianxia recs I'll start this off by saying I hate comedy and overly trope-y xianxia, so a lot of things that people like, I hate it. Like the overt use of young masters, whether it's as a parody or not is awful. I also hate harem. So while a few of these might have harem, they're not that bad.

I'd recommend checking out the popular one first then.

  • Lord of the Mysteries* is set in a western setting, but the world is still xianxia at the core. It's really good, and considered to be one of the best for a good reason. The beginning is slow, but I liked it.

Then there's Er Gen's novels, they're really popular, even if I don't his newer ones. Renegade Immortal, and I Shall Seal the Heavens are probably the most well known.

  • Renegade Immortal is his best work. But it's very different, it's very hard to get used to, or at least it was for me when it was one of the first xianxia I read. I wouldn't recommend it as your first one.
  • ISSTH is better at that, but I think the second half isn't anywhere as good.
  • A Will Eternal is popular, but I personally hated it because there's far too much comedy and too little substance.

Then there's I Eat Tomatoes/IET. I don't think that his novels are as well regarded as Er Gen's but I personally prefer them.

  • Coiling Dragon was one of the first translated ones, and it's xuanhuan so it's a western fantasy world. It's ..alright. It's obvious it's one of the early ones, and it might be a good fit to read first, but if you skip it, that's fine too.

  • Desolate Era I think is his best work. It's finished and it's solid through out, where it goes from his earliest days to the peak really well. Romance is a huge weakpoint for a lot of these authors, and in this one I think it was handled well. >!Which means minimized.!<

  • Seeking the Flying Sword Path is nice too. It's less of a full story and more of a slice, but it works out well. It has the protagonist thread a new path, and a minor focus on his family too.

  • Then there's Reverend Insanity*. Many consider it to be the best, for good reason. But I got tired reading it eventually.

  • This one isn't anywhere as popular as the other ones, but Tales of Herding Gods* is really good. Admittedly I haven't read it in a while. But it is a pure xianxia that's really well done. It has really good world building, characters, and it has fun progression. The author's other work Rise of Humanity is also good.

There are also Danmei/boys love novels. Despite being boys love, they're solid with a bigger focus on storytelling and characters rather than progression. I feel like if you're coming from western webnovels you might like these more.

  • Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation is considered to be the best, and I liked it.
  • Heaven Official’s Blessing is another story by the same author. I'm not super familiar with these, but if you don't mind BL, and prefer character focus I would recommend checking it out.

Finally there's newer novels.

  • A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation is a good example. It's Korean, but it's really, really good. It's currently my all time favourite xianxia.
  • My Longevity Simulation is Chinese, but it's also really good. ARTOC has a bigger focus on characters and self contained arcs, while MYS is more about the long term story. Both are really good. Personally I'm enjoying reading them way more than what came before, but I've read a lot. So what I like, probably isn't what you like.

Finally as a bonus I'll go into lesser known ones.

  • Legend of the Great Sage was really good in the beginning and it has like 2k chapters now, so I have no idea if it's still good.
  • World Apocalypse Online is ..unique. It starts off smashing a ton of tropes together, and it actually finds it footing after a while and it's pretty fun.
  • Museum of Deadly Beasts is like an okay rip off of Lord of the Mysteries in a xianxia setting.
  • Divine Throne of Primordial Blood is a pure xianxia. It has elements of rebelling against the status quo which was pretty fun. I really enjoyed this one.

A few bonus anti recs:

  • A Record of a the Mortal’s Journey to Immortality is recommend a lot. I think it is complete and absolute trash. The whole point of xianxia is defy the heavens in what is supposed to be a grand mythical adventure. With the key being on "myth". And RMJI is about some low tier goon that slowly inches his way to immortality. If you enjoy reading about rats you can check it out.
  • Forty Millenniums of Cultivation*. I've seen it recommend here a few times. Even Big Yud has read it and liked it. It has a good start and premise, and I would recommend reading it, but at some point it just becomes "words-words-words" where you've read an entire chapter and nothing has happened. It was even worse in the author's other work. In that one you can read a dozen chapters and nothing happens.
  • Emperor’s Domination has 7000 chapters of the exact same story that happens in the first 100 chapters repeated endlessly. It seems like when most people think of xianxia in the west, they think of this story. If RMJI is offensively bad, this one is just regular trash. If you're ultra, ultra bored and have absolutely nothing going in your life, pick this one.

You can find links to most of these on novelupdates. I don't know the rules about linking to pirate sites, but it's easy enough to find if you just search for "Novel chapter 243". I'd probably recommend Tales of Herding Gods as your first one.

The ones with a * are the only ones I would really consider at least somewhat close to being "rational". Xianxia is almost the opposite of rational, so it's very, very loose.

u/SpeakKindly [+5] (9 hours later)

Let's just pretend Forty Millenniums of Cultivation ends, say, when the main character goes off to visit the Imperium in the center of the galaxy. Around chapter 1945, give or take a few, he has an inspiring encounter with a nebula storm, but then he gets radiation poisoning and dies. We can take a lesson in rationality from this: even if you're really awesome, it doesn't mean you can kick logic to the curb and do the impossible. The end.

(We can put the cutoff earlier or later, but this is a nice stopping point, with many plot threads neatly tied off. Another good place to stop is Chapter 1179; just add the words "And they all lived happily ever after" to the end of the chapter and you can feel satisfied.)

u/Subrosian_Smithy [+6] Nudist Beach (11 hours later)

I'll push back a little bit on these anti-recs, speaking as someone who read 40 Millenniums of Cultivation all the way through to the end and enjoyed it: I don't think the pacing of the story gets significantly worse over time, because it was already a slog. In retrospect there are many, many chapters in the first few volumes devoted to face-slapping or similar time-wasters, popcorn words that I only enjoyed on my first time reading because I wasn't bored with those parts of the genre yet.

There is a lot to dislike in the story, like the aforementioned tropes and changing translators - something on the order of the last sixth of the book is mediocre MTL, and you'll bounce off there if you're not obsessed enough to push through (OP will definitely have a hard time with it). But I otherwise found the writing quality and padding pretty consistent throughout from Volume 2 to Volume 9.

u/NnaelKysumu [+2] (16 hours later)

Thank you, this should keep me nicely busy for a while.

u/Subrosian_Smithy [+1] Nudist Beach (11 hours later)

Divine Throne of Primordial Blood is fantastic, but the consistency of the translation is trash.

u/NTaya [+5] Tzeentch (8 hours later)

I've never seen Reach Heaven Via Feng Shui Engineering, Drug Trade And Tax Evasion rec'd here, which is weird because it's definitely rational-adjacent. Which is insanely rare in xianxia. It's ongoing, but updated frequently.

u/melmonella [+2] Tremble, o ye mighty, for a new age is upon you (2 months later)

I used to post updates to the sub, but they got little traction so I stopped.

u/NTaya [+1] Tzeentch (2 months later)

Makes sense. Few updates get attention there. I was mostly talking about recommending it in relevant Monday threads.

u/CatInAPot [+2] (a day later)

most of the ones I liked were dropped (Cultivating Earth, Essence of Cultivation, Eight)

Eight still gets updates once a week on Patreon, author seems to plan to start uploading book 4 chapters soon.

u/fassina2 [+1] Progressive Overload (a day later)

I used to read eight years ago before the author went on a big hiatus and the first arc was kind of finished. There was some afterwords chapter from the otters perspective and that's where I stopped. Now it has been ripped and moved around a lot.

Do you know where I should pick it up from ? Is it book two or three ? Sorry if it's a stupid question but it's the reason I haven't picked it back up yet.

u/CatInAPot [+1] (a day later)

You should probably pick it up from book two I think. Assuming the first arc you mention is him getting acclimated to the world, but still being quite isolated.

u/fassina2 [+2] Progressive Overload (a day later)

I don't think so, he was already at the village. Had adopted a kid, killed a big bear. So I'm assuming I finished book 2 ?

u/CatInAPot [+1] (a day later)

Yeah, you're on book 3 now

u/megazver [+6] (3 hours later)

Deathblade is a good translator:

https://jeremybai.com/my-works

I personally preferred A Will Eternal to the other works he translated.

u/Cosmogyre [+2] (a day later)

Going to recommend reading through the NovelReader app. You can find the APK file with a little sleuthing online, although I'm not sure if it'll work for iOS. It has a lot of good translations, offline reading, and a very good user interface with no ads or the like.

u/realistic_idealist41 [+7] (13 hours later)

Hi all, first time posting in the forum, I think, but was thrilled to find it as, I expect, you may be my kindred spirits. Looking for any recs that you might suggest based on the following:

1: ease of suspension of disbelief. Deus ex or characters acting in the author's best interest rather than their own wreck stories for me. 2: characters who either act intelligently or get punished for it. 2a: I really appreciate it when characters squeeze out every last bit of advantage that they can from the cards they're dealt. I know it sounds like a small thing, but I just started (and pretty quickly dropped) one where the MC is stranded, manages to take down a large game animal, apparently has the skills to dress it, and only takes enough meat for two meals. Obviously, (well written) limiting factors, time pressure, space limitations, etc should be taken into account. 3: rational antagonists. It totally get that it's probably much harder to write, but having an antagonist whose actions are all consistent with their situation, opportunities, ethics, etc makes for a much more compelling story for me. >!Scholomance!< And Will Wight's Elder Empire series are good examples of this, imo.

While perfect matches would be lovely, stories that mostly match the above would also be great.

A non exclusive list of stories that I've read that I think fit the bill are: A practical guide to evil Scholomance Murderbot diaries Book of the dead

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

u/ThePhrastusBombastus [+6] (18 hours later)

Welcome to the subreddit.

The obvious first place to check would probably be the subreddit wiki. As for specific recommendations...

I'd say Super Supportive fits your request particularly well. The MC is thoughtful, deliberate, and is very aware of the (sometimes limited) resources available to them. As to what the story is about...

Readers can expect slice of life, darkness, slice of life, comedy, slice of life, action and tons of world building on multiple worlds. I like danger and also alien beverage etiquette. The story will be very, very long. The burn will be slow, and, I hope, better for it. Welcome!

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a series about the apocalypse and the gameshow a bunch of aliens make out of it. The MC grabs everything he can get his hands on, and I found him coming up with clever solutions to problems that seemed obvious in hindsight. It's a series I recommend highly in general, and the audiobook production quality in particular is a level above everything else I've ever listened to.

Mother of Learning is well-known around here (to put it mildly), but it fits your request and is definitely worth reading if you haven't checked it out already.

u/realistic_idealist41 [+6] (a day later)

Just wanted to drop another quick note. I decided to seize the moment and started super supportive earlier today following a recommendation. And, just wow. I haven't gotten far. Alden is just now hanging with Victor and Gorgon. But my goodness, the writing is fabulous and poignant. Thank you again for giving me the push to get started on this one!

u/realistic_idealist41 [+3] (a day later)

Thanks Phrastus! I've been browsing through the wiki and previous Monday recommendation threads but figured I would ask if there was anything specific everyone would recommend. I've read and thoroughly enjoyed both Mother of Learning and DCC. I keep on seeing super supportive, reading the blurb, and being hesitant given how slice of life heavy it seems to be. I can enjoy a slice of life if a story is well written and, in particular, has exceptionally compelling characters. Otherwise, I usually tolerate it at best. That said, maybe I just need to start it and see if it actually works for me or not. Especially based on your description. Thanks a ton for the response!

u/NTaya [+4] Tzeentch (a day later)

Some of the works on our wiki that cover all four of your requests (characters acting in their best interest rather than to advance the plot; stupid actions get punished; protagonists try to squeeze every bit of advantage out of their powers; rational antagonists), excluding DCC (would've been 6th) and MoL (would've been 8th), sorted roughly in order how much I liked them:

  1. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

  2. r!Animorphs: the Reckoning

  3. The Metropolitan Man

  4. The Erogamer

  5. Worth the Candle(*)

  6. Fleep [and another comic by the same author, Demon]

(*) WtC is meta-fiction—and as such, there are a few Devil/Deus Ex Machina moments that are nonetheless justified because there literally exists said Devil/Deus in the form of the Dungeon Master.

There are also quite a few works fitting the requests not listed on the wiki, but I would consider them all a bit worse than these seven.

u/realistic_idealist41 [+3] (a day later)

That's awesome, thank you! The only one of these that I've read so far is worth the candle. A solid work and I got most of the way through, but the feel of it just wasn't quite for me towards the end. Still, a big fan of the setup, characterization, etc. And I had been eyeing Harry Potter and the methods of rationality, so that one is probably on deck after I catch up on super supportive. Thanks again!

u/NTaya [+4] Tzeentch (a day later)

Honestly, I didn't like the last couple of arcs of WtC either. They felt very rushed, as if the author got tired of his own story. But I really liked the first ⅘ths.

u/GodWithAShotgun [+4] (2 days later)

I loved WtC, and enjoyed the last ~2 arcs, but they are extremely different from the rest of the story.

The last ~1/5 of WtC is a different genre than the first 4/5 IMO. The first is progression fantasy with metaliterary elements, the latter is pure metalit. In some ways it feels closer to nonfiction. To the extent that a fantasy story can have a thesis, the thesis is in that last bit but it comes at the price of the story.

u/Cosmogyre [+6] (a day later)

I'd recommend the Spellslinger Series by Sebastien de Castell. I think it fulfills pretty much all your requirements, particularly squeezing out every advantage from the cards dealt, and relatively rational antagonists. It's pretty much a dark-ish fantasy with multiple cultural magic systems, and a lot of moral conundrums where the protagonist must pick the best choice. Lots of action too though, generally very well written.

u/realistic_idealist41 [+1] (a day later)

Your description definitely hits all the right notes. It's on the list! Thank you!

u/OutOfNiceUsernames [+6] fear of last pages (an hour later)

Recommendation: Pet (anime / manga)

Themes: >!mind control / manipulation, sharing traits of consciousness!<.

Title relations: >!Inception; Time Braid!<.

PROs

  • neat attention to details; good re-watch value;
  • showcases a rather quick evolution of a magical system, technologies. In this regard was somewhat similar to AtLA;
  • one of those rare anime shows that doesn't sharply nosedive in plot quality in the last several episodes (shark-jumps, deus ex machinae, etc);
  • the setting could be an interesting host for fanfics. Especially for ones heavily featuring themes related to >!group minds / collective consciousness!<.

CONs

  • some railroading plot-devices still exist and are somewhat noticeable;

  • !The Company's MO in general felt somewhat inefficient to me. Particularly the ways it tried to counter / suppress its mind-controllers;!<

  • the third quarter of the episodes felt a bit dragged out.

u/sohois [+9] (a day later)

I finally caught up with all the serials I've been reading, so decided to add something new and looked to Super Supportive to see what all the fuss is about.

Would I recommend? A tentative yes, it's a good story overall. I'd rate it a 5 on a 7-point scale, and it could easily push to a 6 as it develops. At the same time, I am somewhat baffled by it's relentless climb to the top of RR, Patreon, and even here - doesn't seem especially rational.

The good: It's an easy read, with plenty to already devour despite it's short life. It's got a kind of Wandering Inn feel, able to give a good focus on slice of life but still switching lanes into serious stuff pretty seamlessly. The author does a good job keeping the superhero genre quite fresh and it's an interesting world overall. Unlike much of the web serial world, there's plenty of focus on characters and many are well-developed, multi-dimensional.

The bad: Characters. Strange to put that as a strength, but if anything Sleyca is too good at writing teenagers - like real teens, they veer into utterly unbearable 50% of the time. Perhaps this is an old man yells at cloud thing and a younger audience is much more immune? The "My Hero Academia" stuff is also starting to drag; I don't think Sleyca has bought any freshness to the tired old tropes here.

u/Luck732 [+18] (a day later)

To each their own, but my mind is slightly boggled by listing Characters as a negative for Super Supportive.

u/vorpal_potato [+6] (a day later)

The "My Hero Academia" stuff is also starting to drag; I don't think Sleyca has bought any freshness to the tired old tropes here.

Agreed that it isn't particularly fresh, but the MHA-like part of the story looks like it was mostly put there for character development, with slice-of-hero-life fluff as the delivery mechanism. And it's over for a while; I won't spoil anything, but >!"Ripples, I" is the start of a new and very different story arc. Quite an exciting one, too!!<

u/GodWithAShotgun [+4] (2 days later)

!I won't spoil anything, but "Ripples, I" is the start of a new and very different story arc.!<

IMO this is a spoiler, and I'd rather it not get posted here even though it is extremely heavily foreshadowed.

u/vorpal_potato [+6] (2 days later)

I’m not sure that I agree, but I’ve cheerfully added spoiler tags because I could be wrong.

u/GodWithAShotgun [+4] (2 days later)

Thanks! People have pretty wide definitions of spoilers, but I'm the sort of person who prefers to see movies without seeing the trailer so I'm definitely on the "lots of things are minor spoilers" side.

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