"russian litrpg"

2012 · Vasily Mahanenko · 428 pages · LitRPG

The Way of the Shaman is one of the books that helped define LitRPG as a genre, and its strengths remain clear even as the field has grown around it. The prison-based premise gives the game world actual stakes, the shaman class offers a refreshing departure from standard warrior fantasies, and the progression is satisfying in the way that all good LitRPG should be. Translation roughness and a confined setting limit the first book's range, but readers who click with the premise will find a series that rewards investment.

2018 · Michael Atamanov · 460 pages · LitRPG

Reality Benders delivers an addictive blend of LitRPG mechanics and space opera that hits hardest in its early volumes. The concept of a game that turns out to be real galactic warfare is brilliantly clever, and the mix of politics, exploration, and combat gives readers plenty to chew on. Later books struggle with an overpowered protagonist and narrative drift, and the series conclusion left many fans disappointed. But the opening stretch, particularly the first three books, offers some of the most inventive sci-fi LitRPG available.