Reviews and a new genre!

I’ll be starting a “in-progress review” in a moment here, but I wanted to write and tell anyone who reads my blog about a few new genre’s I’ve run into recently.

I’m a voracious reader of anything within the fantasy/escapist genre, not only for the creativity shown and allowed, but also because I love the idea of finding yourself suddenly in another world.

The fantasy genre has had two brand spankin new sub-genres come out in recent years, and I wanted to give a quick breakdown for what they are and how they work.

Progressive Fantasy: Progressive fantasy has to do with “cultivating”, and it is appropriately named as the protagonist and world they find themselves in have a “hard” magic system that involves gaining more power and progressing through a ranking system. The more power you accrue (or cultivate), the higher your rank becomes, and the more crazy stuff you can do. This genre has been around for a few years, but I didn’t stumble into it until about 4 months ago. Word of warning- there are a TON of authors self-publishing in this sub-genre as a LOT of their writing is absolutely horrible. The first review I’m writing is of one author’s five-book series who wrote with a blast of creativity and ended with a frustrated sigh.

LitRPG Fantasy: This fantasy sub-genre is similar to the “ISEKAI” anime style straight out of Japan. A normal (or sometimes slightly abnormal) person is sucked into a different world/universe/video game and taught the rules of his new living location. Often these have a “mana” system just like progressive fantasy, but they’re fully aware that the world has changed and the life they lived in normalcy is no longer meant to be. I’m a big fan of progressive fantasy, but I have a hard time reading a LitRPG book. While the anime version is interesting to me, and I absolutely love “That Time I was Reincarnaged As A Slime”, reading a book using the same methods isn’t appealing. Strange. Maybe I just haven’t pushed myself hard enough.

Three suggested series if you’d like to get started with Progressive Fantasy:

1. The Divine Dungeon (subject in my first review, 5 book series) by Dakota Krout
2. Arcane Ascension by Andrew Rowe
3. The Cradle Series by Will Wight