Fans pick 96 books like Beware of Chicken

This book is probably my favorite cultivation novel out there, and for good reason. If you’re not aware what cultivation is, it’s a system of fantasy and magic inspired by eastern Taoist philosophies and chinese stories about reaching immortality and feature a lot of those themes.

It’s an entire genre and one I enjoy quite a bit, and Cradle, to me, is the very pinnacle of this genre. The book manages to bring a very fresh and exciting tale of cultivation that’s also still quite friendly to new readers just getting into the genre. It’s well beloved by the fans of the genre and held in extremely high regard, and I personally marvel at just how well it executed the story and just how rich and exciting the setting was for the story.

Iron Prince is unique in this list (and among most progression fantasy books) in that it takes place in the distant future, on one of many planets in a galaxy at war.

Instead of mystical cores or game or system-imposed leveling constructs, individuals are given CADs (combat assistance devices) that largely do the same thing. 

What I love about the book is that the main character, Rei, is the ultimate underdog. He’s done everything he could to achieve success despite his shortcomings, only to get crushed by peers and a governing system that abhors weakness.

His determination to push on is one of my favorite traits in characters, and ensures that we, the audience, remain engaged, even as he learns to leverage his unique gifts. Smart and never boring, I can’t wait for the sequel!

Progression fantasy is a young genre, and currently divides into a handful of different categories, the largest of which are LitRPGs and Cultivation fiction.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is almost universally praised as the best of the former.

I love it because it takes an impossible situation—Earth being transformed into a dungeon-delving murder reality show for the rest of the universe—and somehow injects equal mixes of humor and pathos.

I love that the main characters, the titular Carl and his cat, Donut, are the perfect emotional counterparts to the subgenre’s traditionally crunchy numbers… levels, skills, spells, and increasingly overpowered items all exist but don’t overshadow the essential humanity at the story’s center.

The prose is great, and the plot is even better.

Thirsty for more buff orc lesbians? Legends & Lattes serves up a mug of warm, cozy queer fulfillment. Viv was an adventurer, but she no longer wants to be. Despite her battle scars and intimidating looks, she longs to open her own quiet coffee shop.

The journey to small-business success has challenges, but her determination to live on her own terms brews up a staff of misfits that become a queer-found family. This quiet, low-stakes novel is as sweet as an almond croissant and will leave you hungry for more.

Savage Dominion is just plain fun and worth the read. But you know how it’s even better? On audio, narrated by Luke Daniels. Seriously, pick up the audio if you can. Luke’s narration alone is worth every penny.

Here we have a big, dumb nerd who honestly wasn’t hero material but when a wolf shows up to ruin his already bad date, our man sacrifices himself. This doesn’t go unnoticed and he is given the chance to become an eternal, basically a demi-god. Only he ends up being one for the “baddies” according to the solar court. 

So Maulkin has to overcome everyone thinking he’s the devil, learn how this new world of his works, and all of that while being more brawns than brains in one of the funniest characters I’ve read in a good long while.

Bastion is a story about a demi-god who did nothing wrong and yet the whole world thinks he did.

The question is, did he?

We don’t know and neither does Scorio. He is brought to this world without a clue as to who he is and immediately put into danger. The second he gets out he is told he is a monster and they try to kill him.

What initially seems to be a simple quest for revenge and seeking more power grows into a journey of self-discovery. Not only of what Scorio is capable of doing but who he really is. All while fighting a system hell bent on keeping him down.

What can I say? I love a good underdog story.

Oh and this beauty legitimately feels like reading two books. Somewhere around the middle I swear the first book ends and the second one begins. 

It’s a… show more.

Set in a Western setting and with a system, it’d be easy to wonder why this book is on this list, but don’t be fooled by its appearances; this story has all the basics of cultivation inside it; it’s simply hidden at first.

This book takes place in a subgenre of books that are commonly referred to as System Apocalypses or LitRPG Apocalypses, where a system arrives on Earth, giving people gamified abilities and bringing monsters that cause an apocalypse to happen.

This one, though, takes place in what is effectively a broad cultivation multiverse and expands what the genre tends to be and can be while also effectively delivering on the core premises of what makes cultivation stories so exciting: the power system. It’s one of the most recommended books in this space, and for good reason. 

If Cradle is a refreshing take on cultivation done faithfully and to its pinnacle while bringing a new aesthetic to it, then this book does the opposite and dives right into the heart of the xianxia aesthetic, but it does so in a phenomenal way.

It’s nothing new, per se, but that’s okay because what is there is done really well. Honestly, I don’t have too much to say about this book besides just that you should go read it—it’s great. 

This last book expanded my view on just what kind of settings a xianxia story could truly inhabit. To Flail Against Infinity takes place in a sci-fi xianxia with space cultivators, planetary settings, and so many new, interesting, and fresh ideas. It expands the genre, mixes it with something new, and brings a fresh take on stories that can sometimes feel a little samey. It was a highly worthwhile read that left me craving more. 

I started this novel on the way home from a convention, and despite my intention of reading for a moment before having a well-earned nap, I just couldn’t put it down. RC Joshua’s descriptions of the drinks within are so captivating that I may or may not have spent hundreds of dollars on tea (and related accessories) the day after finishing this book.

If I wasn’t already addicted to boba (or bubble tea, as we call it in Australia), this novel would have further devastated my wallet.