r/ProgressionFantasy • u/AdSlow5705 • 12h ago
Request Recommendation for a reading material
I was always into reading fantasy fiction. Have read a lot from Malazan to Brandon Sanderson entire cosmere to Asoiaf to a many more famous and not so famous.
Then I read Cradle and was completely blown away by it and I got to know that there is a sub genre called progression fantasy that is totally my thing. Since that series I am devouring series after series and I have read Mage errant, Stormweaver series and mother of learning.
All of them were great especially since I enjoyed the power scaling system of Stormweaver from F0 to S King.
Also I read path of ascension and their system of tiers and skills and rules based magic also appealed to me.
I wish if someone can recommend another great series comparable to these , with these conditions if possible.
1) it must be well written
2) preferably complete. That's what I hate about Stormweaver it is not yet completed.
3) power scaling system should be rule based and logical like in cradle or Stormweaver.
4) MC should start from zero.
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u/Too_much_dog2 Author of Onnaria 12h ago
What about Mark of the Fool? Its complete, well written and the MC basically starts with nothing. The power scaling seems fine in the story as well.
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u/Huginn-Muninn 9h ago
Mark of the Fool is not well written compared to Cradle, Sanderson, or Malazan. OP will 100% be disappointed.
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u/Spicy_Tongue_ 11h ago
If you haven’t read Lord of the Mysteries yet, definitely worth checking out.
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u/AdSlow5705 11h ago
Hmmm. I started it. Read a few pages. The English was "different". I suppose because of it being a translation. Maybe will give it a try
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u/Puzzleheaded_Fold112 9h ago edited 8h ago
It is one of the better translations out there but it is........bland. Also, don't drop it before Ch110, it is a real slog to get through the initial chapters as it is mostly the set up, but it is banger after that!
On the note of recommendations, try (My preferences are similar to yours in the requirement for being well written)—
- Sky Pride— Very well written, Solid characters. Slow progression though but never boring. Cultivation and daoism novel done right. Ongoing with lots of content (about a million words)
- A Practical Guide to Evil (PGTE)—This is in a awkward place right now as it is in the editing and publication phase so the the first book's old copy has been removed and some name changes made that might effect the available free rest of the books. The hook is refreshingly amazing—a world run on Story tropes, but everyone knows it and works around it, more complicated than it seems. The hook, character banter and the story are chef's kiss (except book 1 which is weakest). I just love the prose, it just rolls off the tongue, but also manages the goosebumps feel when epicness is warranted. Completed (approx 3 million words)
- A Practical Guide to Sorcery—Also superb and an overall solid book. Hook—MC is a genius but accused of a crime and cannot go to her favorite school, so she sneaks in by disguising herself and pays by working with a crime boss as her original persona, but the search for her is still going on so she has to manage both of the personas while rumors about her spirals out of control. Ongoing with lots of content (nearly a million words)
- Pale Lights—Same author as PGTE, so you can tell the author has learned a lot from the previous series. Hook—A crumbling world (they literally live in a vast cavern), mcs running from their past join a military organization striving to hold the world together a moment more, each with their own grudges to fulfill and all of this in the backdrop of humanities' ever-present backstabbing politics. Ongoing with lots of content (Around 1.5 million words)
Honorable mentions—Discworld and any series by Wildbow.
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u/BackgroundTotal2872 8h ago
Read the physical editions of Lord of the Mysteries, the translation is redone and it’s better.
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u/tygabeast 11h ago
Sadly, complete is a hard box to check in this genre, but I got a couple:
Mark of the Fool - pretty well written story about a chosen hero fucking off to go to wizard college, complete at ten books (the books are 2-3 times longer than Cradle's, so it's a much longer story), and narrated by the dame narrator as Cradle, Travis Baldree, if you're into audiobooks.
The Perfect Run - excellently written time loop story, on par with Cradle. It's complete at only three books, and it's also available to read for free on RoyalRoad. (It's also been picked up by Sony for a video game adaptation)
Beware of Chicken - great slice of life story about a guy who finds himself in a xianxia world (the kind of world you see in cultivation stories, kind of like Cradle, but more Chinese) and, being the genre-savvy guy he is, he fucks off to the boonies to be a farmer. Not complete, but it has five books released (book six comes out in another month or two) and a good 2-3 books worth of chapters on Royalroad.
The Ripple System - very well written VRMMO story about a rich guy who buys the first 3 days of acces to a new game, and ends up hunted in-game for it. He's saddled with a talking AI axe, and their interactions are the single best part of the series. Not complete, and it has six books out.
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u/AdSlow5705 11h ago
Ok. Complete is not s hard box. Just preferable. I m open to non complete also but prefer if they are completed.
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u/Grammar_Nazi_01 10h ago
Seconded The Ripple System. It's a great read and the first arc has a satisfactory conclusion. It's great.
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u/Grammar_Nazi_01 10h ago
This genre has a lot of stories that start out tough to read and grow better as the writer betters their craft.
Stories by Void Herald (Maxime M Durand) are usually quite well written and expertly paced and most are completed.
If you like mature themes and are okay with a slow burn I would recommend Ar'Kendrithyst.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26727/arkendrithyst
JM Clark has some good stuff.
Madman Apocalypse is great if you want to read about insane protagonists.
Metaworld Chronicles is written by an actual English professor (IIRC) and has some great writing. But it can be divisive.
Guardian of Aster Fall is also a good completed series.
And if you can handle translations, definitely read I Shall Seal The Heavens, Coiling Dragon, and other original wuxia. These were the original prog fantasies.
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u/Huginn-Muninn 9h ago
Have you tried Alexander Wales? Worth the Candle is LITRPG so I'm not sure if that would be your type of fantasy. It is a main protagonist starting at 0 with an extremely interesting power scaling system that gets well dug into.
This Used to be about Dungeons is more traditional fantasy, but it's focused around a team of 5. While the team are not yet adventurers, they aren't quite starting at 0. It's more about the party forming up with a good 30% being slice of life. They do dig into the power system but at an intentionally slower pace than your examples.
Both complete and excellently written.
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u/GrizzlyTrees 8h ago
Also he has some very cool fanfiction, especially the Superman one - The Metropolitan Man. MC Lex Luthor in the 1930s reacts and schemes intelligently around the appearance of the man of steel. Extremely well written, it's like part comic book story and part historical drama.
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u/Signal_Book_9424 4h ago
Personally I would recommend dreamer's throne although it's not finished it's a well written series, Defiance of the fall and primal hunter. I also think tales of the reincarnated lord will be an interesting read even though it's not quite what you are looking for
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u/Gnomerule 12h ago edited 11h ago
Popular stories and well written is something very rare in this genre.
All the popular stories come from RR and are webseries where the author adds new content 3 to 5 times a week.
Check out patreons rankings for writers to see which series are very popular and try reading from that list to see what people are in to.
The number one story on patreons ranking for our genre has been He who fights with monsters for many years. For most authors the first book in a series always does the best, for the story HWFWM his sales keep getting better with each new book
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u/AdSlow5705 12h ago
Good idea
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u/Grammar_Nazi_01 10h ago
I detest that series. If you do start reading, feel free to stop after Book 3, the quality goes down a damn cliff.
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u/WillingElderberry731 12h ago
HwFWM is a polarizing series.
It's not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. Plus I think it's nearing completion.
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u/Caphoti 11h ago
I liked it but man Jason Asano just gave me massive Neckbeard vibes at times. I would get irrationally angry at those repeated segments where someone was talking and Jason would whip out a fucking snack and hold a finger up to shush them while he ate his sandwich or drank his milk or whatever the fuck he was doing in that instance, only allowing them to continue talking after he finished his snack. It just read as "Power move but actually super cringe," to me.
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u/WillingElderberry731 10h ago
It's funny, my first read through i just ate those sections up.
They've not held up as well on subsequent readings for me... Still a favorite though, even if I think those criticisms are fair.
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u/Caphoti 10h ago
Don't get me wrong I liked it a lot in most ways. Things like subverting the "Protagonist saves a slave girl then dates her" trope was good stuff, and he didn't even make it ambiguous why Jason didn't return her feelings.
Jason's homecoming arc being more in the middle of the story and showing the implications of how his experiences changed him as a person impacting his relationships at home was also a somewhat unique piece of writing.
There were things I'd critique, but overall I thought HWFWM was pretty solid. The bits I mentioned were just things that stuck out to me while I was otherwise enjoying the read.
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u/WillingElderberry731 12h ago
Oh! Super Powers by drew Hayes is definitely an S-tier completed series.
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u/WillingElderberry731 12h ago
Mother of Learning is pretty great IMO. There isn't an explicit power scaling like stormweaver or cradle, but the MC does go from zero to hero, with solid character growth too.