Most read LitRPG books

When aliens demolish every human-built structure on Earth and rebuild the planet as an underground dungeon, survival becomes a spectator sport. Carl and his ex-girlfriend's prize show cat, Princess Donut, are among the survivors forced into the first floor of an 18-level death maze broadcast live to trillions of alien viewers. The dungeon has rules, sponsors, and a timer that will collapse the floor whether or not anyone is done with it. Carl has no plan, a deeply unimpressed cat, and an accidental talent for making monsters look ridiculous on camera. He has days to level up, find allies, and figure out whether escaping the dungeon is even possible — or whether the game's true objective is something the rulebook never mentions.

Training is over. Now the games truly begin. Carl and Princess Donut descend to the Over City — the dungeon's third floor, a shattered metropolis haunted by an undead circus and a mystery centuries in the making. As Carl's viewer count climbs and sponsor deals turn into leverage, he and Donut have to fight harder than ever to survive the floor's quests, rival crawlers, and the horrors stalking its ruined streets, all while the game show's darker purpose starts to come into focus.

On the dungeon's fourth floor, Carl and Princess Donut plunge into the Iron Tangle — an impossibly tangled subway system fused from the world's subterranean railways, its cars crawling with monsters and its stations no safer than the tracks. With the leaderboard's top ten now public and a sponsorship auction underway, Carl's overnight fame makes him both a draw for allies and a target for bounty hunters. A survival guide passed hand-to-hand between crawlers — the Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — may be the only way through, as old friends and fierce new allies band together against a floor built to turn crawler against crawler.

• found family

Carl, Princess Donut, and their crew take on the dungeon's fifth floor — a set of sealed "bubbles," each a self-contained world holding four castles that must all be captured before the stairwell down will open. A floating fortress held by warrior gnomes. A castle built of sand. A derelict submarine patrolled by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt ringed with traps. Fifteen days to take all four, and going it alone isn't an option — Carl has to lean on the low-level crawlers trapped in the bubble with them, whether or not they can be trusted.

• survival
• found family
• reluctant hero

In the year 2045, the real world has become a bleak place of energy shortages, poverty, and climate collapse. To escape it, most of humanity plugs into the OASIS, an immersive virtual universe that serves as school, workplace, marketplace, and playground all at once. When its eccentric billionaire creator, James Halliday, dies without an heir, he leaves behind a will announcing that his entire fortune and control of the OASIS itself will pass to whoever can find an Easter egg hidden inside the simulation — a prize guarded by three riddles rooted in Halliday's obsession with 1980s pop culture. Wade Watts, a lonely teenager living in a trailer stack outside Columbus, Ohio, has spent his life studying Halliday's every favorite film, video game, and song in hopes of winning. When he becomes the first "gunter" to solve the opening puzzle, his name rockets to the top of the global scoreboard — and a ruthless corporation called IOI, which wants to seize the OASIS for itself, marks him for elimination. What begins as a game turns into a high-stakes race in which the boundaries between the virtual and the real, friendship and rivalry, begin to blur. Ernest Cline's debut novel is a fast, reference-dense adventure that doubles as a love letter to 1980s gaming and geek culture, while asking what we lose when we choose a perfect simulation over an imperfect world.

• quest
• found family
• mentor figure
• coming of age

Floor seven is a masquerade — a baroque castle filled with costumed monsters, hidden identities, and a terrifying entity known only as the Butcher. Carl and Princess Donut must play social manipulation and bloody combat simultaneously, attending parties that end in slaughter and unmasking enemies who have been hiding in plain sight for the entire season. The Butcher's Masquerade is also the darkest book in the series to this point: the dungeon's cruelty becomes more personal, the losses hit harder, and the antagonist who emerges was built specifically to destroy Carl.

• survival
• found family
• reluctant hero
• morally grey

Floor eight thrusts Carl and Princess Donut into a realm where mythological creatures walk the dungeon corridors and the line between the game's fiction and its reality begins to dissolve. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride is a floor shaped by madness, populated by creatures drawn from the deepest veins of legend. As Carl struggles to distinguish the dungeon's manufactured delusion from truth, new revelations about the alien game masters — and what they really want from the crawlers — begin to surface.

• survival
• found family
• reluctant hero
• morally grey

Floor nine takes everything personal. This Inevitable Ruin is the book that breaks the dungeon's survivors — attacking the bonds between crawlers, weaponizing grief, and manufacturing hope specifically to destroy it. Carl has spent seven floors getting harder and smarter, but the dungeon was built to beat people who get harder and smarter. With the end of the crawl now genuinely within reach, the cost of everything Carl has already done begins to compound. This is the floor where the series stops being about survival and starts being about whether the person who survives is still recognizably Carl.

• survival
• found family
• reluctant hero

Outside the dungeon, chaos and mass panic spread in the wake of the Faction Wars. Inside it, Carl and Princess Donut arrive on the tenth floor to find something unexpectedly ordinary: a set of vehicle races, where crawlers must get from point A to point B without finishing last, upgrading their rides as the track grows more punishing. But whispers are already circulating about the eleventh floor — an event the system AI calls A Parade of Horribles, which nobody, not even the showrunners, seems to understand. The AI has called it a coming-out party for the ages. Carl hates that the tenth floor has stripped him of his agency, so he starts planning a party of his own: a scheme so dangerous he cannot risk telling his friends, lest the AI catch wind and shut it down. If it goes wrong, it won't just be the end of Carl and Donut. The eighth book in Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

• survival
• found family
• reluctant hero
• morally grey

Colonists on New Sonora must survive after Earth corporations monetize their defense as a remote-piloted war game where paying customers hunt them for entertainment.

• survival
• reluctant hero
• betrayal
• sacrifice

Jason Asano was running an office-supplies store. Now he is naked in a strange world, his interface calls his powers afflict and consume, and cannibals, cultists and nobles all want a piece of him.

• portal fantasy
• fish out of water
• academy
• morally grey

In Sacred Valley, everyone is born to a sacred art but Lindon, who is Unsouled and powerless. When he glimpses a coming catastrophe and the vast world beyond his people's mountains, he refuses his assigned fate and sets out to grow strong by any means. Book one of the Cradle progression-fantasy series.

• quest

Jason's power is growing, but so is the cost. As he and his team face new challenges, they learn that their enemies hold unexpected lessons. With powerful forces gathering against them, Jason must confront more monsters than ever, understanding that sometimes survival means fighting harder than you ever thought possible.

• survival

Jason is back home, but the familiar world feels strange after his adventures. He's uncovering secrets about his past and realizing he might be the key to saving this world. Now, he has to decide if he can accept his destiny and find his place.

• chosen one

Jason Asano is getting used to his new life as an interdimensional wizard, but a prestigious competition in Greenstone City will test his limits. He'll need to assemble a team to face the world's best young adventurers. Meanwhile, city leaders uncover a conspiracy and a dangerous enemy, one Jason has unknowingly encountered before. Old friends and new enemies will draw him into a conflict that can no longer be avoided.

• quest
• betrayal
• rivals

Jason's world is shattering as long-hidden truths come to light. With magic surging and opposing forces demanding his attention, he must confront his most difficult trials yet. Even as his power expands, Jason needs to dig deeper than ever before to achieve his goals.

• chosen one
• quest

Jason Asano is back and facing even greater challenges in the seventh installment of He Who Fights With Monsters. With the fate of his world hanging in the balance, he must navigate treacherous landscapes and confront powerful enemies. This entry continues Jason's epic journey as he grapples with his own nature and the responsibilities thrust upon him.

• quest
• survival

Days after winning control of the OASIS, Wade Watts discovers a new technology James Halliday hid before his death: the ONI, a neural interface headset that lets users feel the virtual world through their own senses. Its release reshapes the OASIS and the real world alike, but it also exposes a new quest — this time to find the seven Shards of the Siren's Soul, a hunt forced on Wade and his friends by Anorak, an AI built from a scan of Halliday's own mind. Anorak has locked a group of ONI users into the OASIS and will let them die unless the shards are found in time. Set a few years after the first contest, Ready Player Two picks up Wade, Aech, Shoto, and Samantha as they confront the costs of Wade's new wealth and power, the ethics of the technology Halliday left behind, and a race against the clock that is personal as much as it is planetary.

• quest
• found family

The world teeters on the brink of destruction. The people who should be saving the Earth ignore Jason Asano's warnings and choose to loot the house as it burns down around them. He lacks the strength to save the world himself, but resolves to do it anyway, impossible be damned. The impossible, in this case, means seizing a power that no mortal should touch. It's a choice from which there is no turning back, and marks Jason's first step into a wider cosmos that he is not yet ready to face. Holding the fate of two worlds in his hands, Jason must decide for himself what home truly means.

• portal fantasy
• court intrigue
• morally grey

Reunited with those he longed for, Jason Asano tries to leave old traumas behind and returns to adventuring. Hidden enemies move into the open, and Jason and his friends strike first, at a cost.

• portal fantasy
• found family
• fish out of water
• quest

The Blackflame Empire's young fighters face a daunting challenge: the Underlord tournament. They must rapidly increase their power to stand a chance against formidable opponents. This competition is their ultimate test to prove their strength and worth.

• quest
• rivals

The twelfth and final Cradle novel. Lindon has climbed farther than anyone thought possible, but the threats to his world have grown just as fast. With his companions beside him, he faces a last confrontation that will demand everything he has become. A high-stakes conclusion to the saga.

Now beyond Sacred Valley, Lindon enters a wider, deadlier world of powerful sacred artists and treasure-filled ruins. To grow stronger he learns the rare craft of soulsmithing, forging weapons from spirit itself, drawing the attention of enemies far above his level. Book two of the Cradle series.

In a world where magic is a death sentence, Simon discovers a dangerous power within himself. Hunted by those who fear his abilities, he must learn to control his magic to survive. Simon is thrust into a destiny he never wanted, with enemies closing in from all sides.

• chosen one
• survival
• reluctant hero

Lindon's quest for power and knowledge continues in the Sacred Valley. He faces dangerous trials and powerful enemies as he seeks to uncover ancient secrets and artifacts. His resolve will be tested as he strives to become stronger and protect those he cares about.

• quest
• coming of age

Lindon's path to power continues in the Sacred Valley. He faces new challenges and dangerous foes as he strives to ascend. To protect his loved ones and reach his full potential, Lindon must hone his skills and forge crucial alliances in this perilous journey.

• quest
• survival

Simon discovers he has a rare and powerful magical ability. He must learn to control his powers and navigate a world of dangerous factions and ancient secrets. Join him as he protects his home and uncovers the truth about his destiny.

• chosen one
• quest

Lindon faces the ultimate test as the Dreadgods rise, threatening to destroy his world. He must push his powers to their absolute limit and confront ancient forces to protect his home and everyone he cares about. The fate of all hangs in the balance as Lindon battles both external enemies and his own inner struggles.

• chosen one
• quest
• survival

In a world where magic flows through bloodlines, a young man discovers a rare and potent gift within himself. He must master his newfound abilities and navigate a perilous journey to safeguard his family and uncover the secrets of his past. This path will push him to his limits as he confronts ancient adversaries.

• chosen one
• quest

VOLUMEN 1 DEL FENÓMENO LitRPG. ¡MÁS DE 14 MILLONES DE LECTORES YA PARTICIPAN EN EL JUEGO! UN UNIVERSO CREADO POR MATT DINNIMAN «Carl el Mazmorrero es una auténtica pasada». BRANDON SANDERSON ¡El apocalipsis será televisado! Bienvenido a la mazmorra. La supervivencia es opcional, mantener a la audiencia enganchada no. ¿Sabes qué es peor que romper con tu novia? Tener que cuidar de su multipremiada gata de exhibición. ¿Y sabes qué es aún peor? Enfrentarse a una invasión alienígena, la destrucción de todas las estructuras terrestres creadas por la humanidad y la explotación sistemática de los supervivientes mediante un sádico programa de entretenimiento intergaláctico. Carl, un veterano de la Guardia Costera, y la Princesa Dónut, la gata de su exnovia, intentarán sobrevivir al fin del mundo -o pasar al siguiente nivel- en una prisión subterránea llena de trampas y digna de un videojuego. Esta mazmorra es, en realidad, el plató de un reality show con espectadores por toda la galaxia. Goblins explosivos. Pociones mágicas. Llamas mortíferas que trafican con drogas. Está claro que no es un programa cualquiera. «El blockbuster global». THE NEW YORK TIMES «Dinniman va directo a lo que importa: que te lo pases bien». 3DJUEGOS «Qué pedazo de saga es Carl el Mazmorrero. Leedla, por favor». ISMA PRIEGO, @WISMICHU «Todo es gamberro, descarado, violento, irreverente ¡y muy divertido!». CHICOTE «Una saga de aventuras cómicas (y cósmicas) que te hace reír a carcajada limpia». THE WALL STREET JOURNAL «Consigue que no se te borre la sonrisa de la cara mientras lo lees. Prepárate para una lectura deliciosa». KEVIN J. ANDERSON Han dicho sobre la saga Carl el Mazmorrero: «Qué pedazo de saga es Carl el Mazmorrero. Leedla, por favor». Isma Prego, @wismichu «Todo es gamberro, descarado, violento, irreverente ¡y muy divertido!». Chicote «Una mezcla de irreverencia, imaginación y un ritmo frenético que no da tregua. Dinniman no se anda con florituras estilísticas, va directo a lo que importa: que te lo pases bien». 3DJuegos «Todo un fenómeno refrescante con el que da comienzo una serie que dará mucho que hablar, porque convierte la lectura en pura diversión. Algo mucho más complicado de lo que pueda parecer». Zenda «Una aventura trepidante que tiene todo lo que un libro puede desear». IGN «Original, divertido y cafre. Un videojuego hecho libro que enamorará a todos los fanáticos del rol». @liaralestrange «Carl el Mazmorrero consigue que no se te borre la sonrisa de la cara mientras lo lees. Prepárate para una lectura deliciosa». Kevin J. Anderson «Un placer inesperado y disparatado». Scott Lynch «Uno de los libros más extravagantes, pertidos y originales que he leído en mucho tiempo». Book Riot «Disfrutable de verdad». Literary Hub