Reddit mentions: The best coming of age fantasy books

My native fantasy world litRPG recommendations:

Dante's Immortality has a strong zero to hero theme for a native to his fantasy world. The MC is worse off than a beggar at the start. Has some magic academy parts. Well written. Some of book 2 is on Royal Road but the author has been re-writing book two for a long time so it may or may not ever be completed.

Threadbare is a quirky litRPG story about a stuffed bear and his attachment to his girl and the friends he makes along the way. This story is full of puns, some clever and some more on the nose but I had a good chuckle several times and had a lot of fun reading this series. As lighthearted as this story appears at first, it does have some grimdark elements and tells a good story. The series actually has a conclusion which is rare enough in this genre so it gets major points for that.

The City and the Dungeon has one of the more interesting magic systems I have seen in litRPG. The characters are all native to the fantasy world. This series is a bit different in that it is written in the form of the MC retelling past events to his sister kind of like how Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles are written as a flashback. The story itself features old school dungeon diving party mechanics which I happen to really like. The fairly original magic system and strength ranking system are very interesting. I did find myself wishing that the author would give more details on stats, character builds, etc., but the plot skips events and advances too quickly. At the same time it over-explains superfluous details like various branches of dungeon religion theory and courtroom law procedures. That was my main complaint, but overall I enjoyed the story. Not sure on status of book 2.

Arcane Ascension This one is strongly represented on the r/ProgressionFantasy subreddit but has some light litRPG elements too. No user interface and on the soft end not having many stats. The world is a native fantasy world with tall RPG like puzzle towers that people try to climb. These books feel more polished and professionally written than most books in the litRPG genre. It is a hybrid story that bounces back and forth between school life (magic academy) and dungeon (tower) diving. I really loved the focus on the Tower exploration and the puzzle solving that was required. The magic academy part of the book is cool as well but I think for specifically litRPG readers it won't be the main appeal.

The magic system is pretty deep, with over 50 different "classes" of magic ability called attunements. For example, Guardian attunements are melee fighters who can strengthen themselves, while Elementalists wield Fire, Air, and Lightning. It is also possible to gain more than one class as well and we see glimpses of characters that are god-like in power while the MC, a first year student, is incredibly weak in comparison. The MC makes the most of his attunement though and crafts clever items to help cover his weaknesses and relies on his friends to fill the other gaps. Crafting magic items is a major focus for the MC which I found entertaining and satisfying.

Cooperative writing is another beast. I see you're just diving in to the project, so I don't want to comment on the content necessarily, but I am curious about the process. How long is a typical writing session? You don't outline or coordinate, but how long do you spend editing before posting? How firm does the next installment have to be before it's ready? I guess I'm circling around the question of, 'what is the objective'?

For years I participated on a collaborative writing forum very much like Ship of Moons. We would create stories from a premise, do very little to no coordination, and see what happened. In this case, it was more roleplaying, as authors had control only over their own characters. But it shaped my storytelling ethos, in that I didn't have complete control and the narrative could be swayed based on the input of others. The forum-based storytelling and world building can get taxing, as no one has any real investment in the outcome, and the quality can vary wildly.

I recently put out a book with a coauthor, so I fully understand some of what you might be going through - will go through. Watching someone take a different direction than you intended can be both jarring and liberating. It's glorious when your coauthor finds the choice route you didn't even see, but can be tricky when they deviate from the mood or objective you were driving towards. I ask about the editing process ultimately because at the end, the endless adjustments of the narrative make a better product. I can't count the times I've sighed over a drastic change my coauthor makes. Usually when I sleep on it, I come back to the edits and in the new light find them solid - necessary, even - and leave me wondering how I could have even foisted upon him the dogshit I originally wrote.

Anyway, best of luck, I'll toss you guys on my rss feed.

Just got here from AFDStudio's thread. Thanks for doing this.
If you're interested in Science Fantasy Space Opera with Music-based magic, you could try out my Dissolutionverse series.

Tuning the Symphony

Merchants and Maji

The Seeds of Dissolution

The first two are novellas, and have 10+ reviews already, but Seeds definitely needs some love! All available on Kindle Unlimited.
Or, if none of those strike your fancy, I have two more novellas coming out in the next couple months: a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery and a Jules Verne-inspired adventure. I'd be happy to send you an ARC of either/both for review, once I get the final edits done.
Thanks again!

The Giver (Lois Lowry) https://www.amazon.com/Giver-Quartet-Lois-Lowry/dp/0544336267/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537663349&sr=8-1&keywords=the+giver+by+lois+lowry

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Anne Fadiman) https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Catches-You-Fall-Down/dp/0374533407/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537663409&sr=8-1&keywords=the+spirit+catches+you+and+you+fall+down

Looking for Dei ( David A. Willson) https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Dei-David-Willson-ebook/dp/B078KNKC7D/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537663480&sr=8-1&keywords=Looking+for+dei

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See) https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Flower-Secret-Fan-Novel/dp/0812980352/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537663558&sr=8-1&keywords=snowflower+and+the+secret+fan

Moloka’i (Alan Brennert) https://www.amazon.com/Molokai-Novel-Alan-Brennert/dp/0312304358/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537663608&sr=8-1&keywords=molokai+book

I could recommend a dozen more, but these are a few of my favorites. Sorry I could not make the links pretty. Thank you for this fun contest, I love books so much!

Guardians of the Light has five star reviews on Amazon and Smashwords and is available for FREE at the following online bookstores:

Amazon

Apple Books

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

Smashwords

Seventeen-year-old Emerin has always known that there is something unusual about her. Constantly plagued by headaches that compel her to wander toward the surrounding mountains, she is unable to live the life that's expected in her small farming community. But a chance meeting with a strange creature changes Emerin’s life forever, leading her to question everything she’s ever known.

On the other side of the Riverlands lies Nebril City, a sprawling metropolis that is taking over the lands that surround it. But this growing city has a dark secret that threatens the security of everyone around it, and only a select few are able to right the wrongs that have been committed.

Now Emerin and her best friend Jalya, two naïve farm girls, must leave home for the first time to fulfill the quest that they have been given. They must restore balance to the spirit world of their land in order to save the physical world in which they live. To complete their mission, Jalya must find her missing brother and Emerin must find a part of herself that she never knew existed.

Acorna! because the first time I read it, I was in middle school and I had no idea what was happening in the story (because it's written for older audiences) but I loved it... I started making things up about Acorna and I loved the character and I started writing because of this book... it's a really good book

Amazon link for those who are lazy:
https://www.amazon.com/City-Dungeon-Those-Dwell-Within-ebook/dp/B078NXCKZ4/

I'd also second the recommendation of this book. my review on Amazon:

>This story is not like any other litrpg I have read, and that turns out to be a good thing for the book and probably the litrpg genre as a whole.

>What makes it a great story: A large cast of characters that feel real, they have their own unique motivations, and they grow throughout the story. The main character is going through some internal turmoil, trying to find his purpose in life, and how to deal with this inhuman environment of the Dungeon.

>What makes it a good litrpg: There is a system of game like stats people can get. There are raid parties, carefully thought out class builds, and a hunt for high level gear.

>What makes it different from most litrpgs:

>1. Very few tables / stat screens / item screens. There are still some, but it never feels overwhelming to see a stat screen. I find myself skipping a lot of stat screens in other litrpg books, or trying to pick through and find the important numbers that matter. That wasn't necessary for this book.

>2. No harem or badly done love story.

>3. The main character doesn't have some advantage that lets them abuse the stats system. They are leveling up like everyone else (though maybe with a bit more luck).

>4. It isn't afraid to skip through the boring parts. Some litrpgs almost insist on having every minor combat engagement cataloged or at least discussed. This story sometimes skips months at a time and just describes those months as grinding up levels. This is good, because it means the author was focusing on the things that advanced the plot, or times when the characters grew as human beings rather than all the times they grew as living video game characters.

>5. Good editing. I'm pretty oblivious to most editing mistakes, and can easily ignore them. But I will at least notice some mistakes in badly edited books. Didn't notice anything here. So take this difference with a grain of salt until some more people review the grammar and editing.

>Stylistically it just felt different from many other litrpgs I've read, and it was very refreshing. I'd recommend this book to litrpg fans, especially if they want a fresh take on the genre. But I'd recommend it to people who might have tried other litrpg books and been turned off by some of the common tropes of the genre.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

You need to read the novel by Denny Oneil. It's amazing!

http://www.amazon.com/BATMAN-KNIGHTFALL-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553096737

This is just a few that I know of:

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

Hold by Rachel Davidson Leigh

Collide by J.R. Lenk

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan

Teenage Rewrite by Brandon Williams

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

But you're right there aren't many books with male bisexual main characters.

ha! Tanith Lee wrote a sci-fi novel on this very subject, "The Silver Metal Lover," in 1981. It's now a trilogy.

I've been sitting on the [cover art for Volume 2](http://skysailsaga.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/DSKmLKaUQAI0Zig.jpg) for awhile now. The V1 ebook of Skysail is free today on Amazon, and I'd love to share it with you:


# Airships, Adventure, and a Memory-Centric Magic System

\> The life of an airshipman is violent and short, but every sailor still breathing in the clouds has a tale of Anton Mikhailovich.

\> Vasili, his fourteen year old son, never knew the man. The swashbuckling captain died mysteriously when the boy was five, leaving only tall tales and long shadows. His father’s remembrance ever looming, Vasili wants to leave his tiny frontier village and become a skysailing legend of his own accord.

\> A charismatic traveler arrives on an airship, a bishop with robes as worn as his smile. He comes to convey a funerary Telling of Anton some nine years overdue. Late but still timely, the traveler hints that his vessel may be looking for a new deckhand. He could put in a good word for the son of Anton.

\> The twinkling lights of home disappear over the horizon and the boy begins his own adventure, starting his own tale as he learns the truth of his father’s.

\> But the world and its skies are nothing like Vasili’s books. The serendipitous airship is the famed Apotheosis Break, Anton’s old ship, filled with beguiling shard hunters now at the end of their rope. They have already lost good men looking for Vasili. They may still lose everything seeking the forgotten legacy of Captain Mikhailovich.

​

Get The Apotheosis Break for Kindle on [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Apotheosis-Break-Skysail-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B01M9CZ909/), **free today** on, uh, *Cyber Monday*. It feels wrong typing that phrase out. I keep saying that Volume 2 will be out soon - and it will, depending on your definition of *soon*. The climactic chapters have undergone their fifth (+X?) complete rewrites. The ensuing ripple effects have been worked out, and we're at last onto a final product. I'm pretty sure, anyway.

Don't have a kindle? PM me. I'll send you a copy in a version of your choice.

You could mix smut and robots. :)

There's novelizations of some comics that had already been published from the 90s/2000s like Knightfall or No Man's Land, but I have no idea how they compare to just reading the actual comics they're based on. There's also The Sandman: The Dream Hunters which was originally a prose novella later adapted as a comic, that's the only one I know off the top of my head to have gone in that direction of adaptations.

>The City and the Dungeon has one of the more interesting magic systems I have seen in litRPG. The characters are all native to the fantasy world.

It's a bit different, since it's not a proper fantasy world. The MC is a native of Denver (yes, "our" Denver) that emigrated to the titular City to make a living for his family. The Earth is a post-apocalypse world - the Dungeon's monster spilled out in the world without high-level adventurers around, and the nations got their asses handed (we don't get to see that, just a handful of allusions here and there).

The author promised he'll get back to it after facing some major writer's block.

Throne of the Ancients (stonehaven league 6) is out

https://www.amazon.com/Throne-Ancients-LitRPG-Adventure-Stonehaven-ebook/dp/B07W584LKQ/

Contest (stork tower 6) technically came out last month (july 25) but didn't make it into last month's list

https://www.amazon.com/Contest-Stork-Tower-Book-6-ebook/dp/B07VLMMYCY/

The Grand Tournament (Tower of Power 3) is another late release (july 30) that was missed

https://www.amazon.com/Grand-Tournament-LitRPG-Adventure-Tower-ebook/dp/B07VXCXD2V/

also you didn't include a link to the july thread

Sean Russell's River Into Darkness series is kind of a cross between Jonathan Strange and a Victorian travelogue. I highly recommend his writing.

https://www.amazon.com/City-Dungeon-Those-Dwell-Within-ebook/dp/B078NXCKZ4

I haven't read it, but Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee has that theme.

There's a kids' book Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica Hughes that features an android in a parenting role.

Thaddeus Nowak - Mother's Curse

If you prefer LitRPG that feels like a proper adventure, as opposed to pissing around building mud huts in some little village, check out The Stork Tower series.

The first 3 books consist of the protagonist travelling all over the main fantasy VR world. I found book 4 disappointing, since all the action hyped at the end of book 3 never materialised. Thankfully book 5 picked up again and I have high hopes for book 6.

​

There are a fair number of scenes that take place IRL and in other virtual worlds in this series, so if you're not interested in that you might not like it.

Overall though I find this series to be vastly more engaging than The Land, which I find offensively overrated.

Contest, the 6th book in the Stork Tower series came out July.

https://www.amazon.com/Contest-Stork-Tower-Book-6-ebook/dp/B07VLMMYCY/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=stork+tower&qid=1565983944&s=digital-text&sr=1-3

The July thread missed it. People! We're dropping the ball on these things!

That's what happened in the original batman novel. All the villains were in it.

I think Knightfall and No Man's Land are the best. Here are some other novels available though:

Batman: Dead White

Batman:Inferno

Batman: Fear Itself

Batman:Rise of Sin Tzu (novelization of the game based on the animated series)

Batman: The Stone King

And here are some Justice League/ DC Universe novels that feature Batman:

Enemies and Allies

JLA: Exterminators

Helltown (Also features The Question)

Inheritance