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Books like Dungeon Crawler Carl
Game systems, absurd humour and underdogs levelling up.
He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon
A sarcastic hero in a magic system with stats and loot. A long, popular LitRPG series.
+ The first book is humorous and entertaining, with a loudmouthed, non-vanilla hero whose trolling is hilarious and a well-built world.
− The first book meanders, favouring quantity of content over quality, with a good deal of filler. (summed up from EPIC)Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer
A hacker finds the file that controls reality and hides in medieval England as a wizard. Silly and fun.
Columbus Day by Craig Alanson
A soldier and a rude, all-powerful alien AI. The banter is the draw.
+ A thoroughly enjoyable space-marines romp with lots of action, technology, humour, fun characters and a not entirely predictable plot. (summed up from Yevgeniy Brikman)
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
A treasure hunt inside a giant game world, packed with pop-culture references.
+ Ridiculously fun, large-hearted and hard to stop reading.
− Gaming nostalgia crowds out depth, and later reassessments were much harsher. (summed up from Wikipedia (reception))Unsouled by Will Wight
The start of Cradle: a weak outcast fights his way up, with a satisfying power progression.
+ Masterfully paced, with an intricate magic system and a rich non-Western setting; hard to put down.
− Feels like the prologue to a bigger story, with a couple of brief info dumps. (summed up from r/Fantasy (Reddit))
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