"indie fantasy"

2018 · Andrew Seiple · 262 pages · Fantasy

Andrew Seiple's LitRPG comedy drops a halven girl with zero combat skills into a world that runs on RPG mechanics, then watches her talk, bluff, and prophesy her way through problems that most protagonists would solve with a sword. The class system is inventive, the humor is consistent without being exhausting, and Chase Berrymore is the rare non-combat protagonist who feels clever rather than helpless. The opening chapters take too long to find their footing, and readers unfamiliar with the Threadbare universe may feel like they've walked into the middle of a conversation. But once the story picks up speed, it delivers a smart, funny take on LitRPG that proves brains and words can carry a fantasy adventure just as well as stats and steel.

2019 · Jonathan Smidt · 400 pages · LitRPG

Bone Dungeon is a lighthearted dungeon core romp that delivers exactly what genre fans are looking for: a sentient dungeon experimenting with traps, evolving minions, and cracking jokes while doing it. Smidt's humor and the dungeon-building sequences carry the book through patches where the dialogue stumbles and the characters feel underwritten. It won't convert anyone who isn't already interested in LitRPG, and it doesn't try to. But within its niche, it's a fun read that moves quickly and doesn't take itself too seriously.