Sturgeon's law: 99% of everything is terrible.... more>>

I know many people say that there are no good novels on this site, and it oftens feels like the top lists are filled with overpowered MC's, undeveloped harems, 2D characters, and lacking plots.

There are some novels that stand out, however, whether that be for their plots, characters, or translations.

This is a list for my personal 1%. It is ranked in order. <<less

I  prune this list often with  better replacements. Last page has the "updates"... more>>

1. Charm of the soul pets 2. Mechanic 3. Overlord 4. Throne of magical arcana 5. Mage Adam 6. shrouded sea scape <<less

Major hurt/comfort simp. ... more>>

Been hurting all my life with no one to comfort me so reading a hurt/sickly MC being worried/doted/cared for/loved on really soothes my soul or something twisted like that. I'm trying to find meaning behind all the suffering. Hmnn yeah that sounds about right, I wanna read meaningful suffering.

SSSSE (Self Sacrifice= sacrificing themselves for others/a greater good) (Self Suffering= is hurting/carrying burden/enduring hardship on their own) (Exposed= other people find out leading in increased positive action/attention towards them and or it affects other people in some way so there is meaning to the suffering)

Absolutely love the vomiting blood and everybody worries trope. MC in pain? It's okay baby it's all worth it there will be people that will take care of you or make up for it. Fluff stuff. Spurting blood is fun and all but psychological hurt also rubs me right, stuff like taking blame then the other party regretting and making up for it? Angst stuff. Mmm working too hard or getting hurt in place of others is also nice.

Romance. No romance. Straight. BL. Some I read using mtl.

tl;dr I just wanna talk about the novels I've read but highlight the heart abuse scenes :)

*Recommendations are welcomed but not always accepted to the list ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

If you decide to follow, I'll warmly say; Welcome to the cult  <( ⓛ ω ⓛ *)> <<less

A hundred and three novels starred by male protagonists that you might like with NO HAREM.... more>>

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《 Good 'Male-Protagonist-no-harem' novels but unlisted in NU 》

↠The Beginning After The End

↠The Author's POV

↠ Mother of Learning

 

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THIS IS NOT ARRANGED BY RANK

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p.s.

I haven't read all of these books and only a few of them. I wanted male pov books that didn't have a dozen of females flocking hence after tons of reading genres and tags and a h*ck amount of reviews making sure there ain't no imposter in here I've finally formed a hundred (and two) "MALE PROTAGONIST WITH NO HAREM" READING LIST!!!! TADA ~ ~~

You're welcome ;D

Oh, and If you guys wanna recommend books and found out there's an imposter among us (diz books) please tell me- tell us! and even more so if you wanna recommend a good book ANY GENRE you know about please please please..? *with sparkling eyes* 

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⤜ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ⇻ <<less

Note: All novels are rated above 4* and you can be rest assured to find some hidden gems here >o^... more>>

Okay, let's be realistic everyone~ ^v^ Human beings are not of the same mold, shape or size hence everyone's bound to have different preferences in some kind of form. Therefore, here I dutifully present to you my collection of novels that have had made the most impression on me and I can only hope that you may find THE ONE from this list.

PS. I personally love good quality reads that has a decent plot line and good character developments, as well as great translation work lest I have to destroy my brain cells haha Xd <<less

No romance, no harem. Just MC with their brotherhood/sisterhood or found-family ^^~.... more>>

Novels with adaptations are noted.

Recommendations are appreciated! <<less

2nd List -
https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/50277/... more>>

3rd List -
https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/61691/

I am doing this list for people like me who enjoy family and friendships or gets entrained by MC building there organizations directly or indirectly—
(Unedited) They are all in alphabetic orders, # or A-Z

There will also master-follower relationship or master-disciple relationship being recovered or building up between them…

And some overstate themselves even though they are OP or haven’t released their power-

There are no romance nor harem but there might be people around them having favorable impressions on them or bad reputation trying to be fixed or just leaving it…

I will try to put on novels that I’m sure there isn’t any romance nor harem and have already read them so to be double sure and some are recommended to me and had told me there isn’t :>

Any that are involve with the tag romance is explained in the bottom ^^*

Loving family for the beginning, knowing, and get transmigrated in a novel or another world ✌️

MC - Main Character
OP - Over Powered
OG FL - Original Female Lead
FL - Female Lead
OG ML - Original Male Lead
ML - Male Lead
BL - Boy’s Love
GL - Girl’s Love
GB - Genderbend <<less

PT. 2 IS NOW POSTED!... more>>

https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/62065/

*please recommended more like this to me*

Korean Novels about men who have either reincarnated, got a second chance, or transmigrated, woke up in another body, into noble sons, side-characters, villains, or extras. They sometimes have animal companions, and definitely have loyal followers.  <<less

Bl, bg, and no romance.  Genre’s pretty diverse.  I consider all of these top tier yummy food with good plot and fleshed out characters.  Not... more>> all of these are complete but some are good enough for me erode my brain and mlt.  Hope u all find smth u like.  (List incomplete) <<less

Sequence is CN- JP- KR- Fluffy- (Comedy)- Exceptions- To-reads. Not ranked by number. 
My descriptions varies greatly from a gist, polished review, impressions, or explains key points.        ... more>>

[Flexible Preferences] 
A. Protags are somehow mostly male but I read both!- interesting, has compelling qualities, flawed with development
B. Entertaining, Distinct, & Creative
C. Steady premise, no TERRIBLE plot hole 
D. Romance: good execution, pacing, build-up, & evokes emotion; no bullsh!t drama & brain-dead denseness
E. Vital, relevant, fleshed-out characters
F. Comedic & Fun
G. Danger, Wars, Battles, Strategy, Tactics, Trials, Fights, Thriller, Suspense
H. Lore, Culture, Kingdom, Worldbuilding 
I. Political Intrigue, Schemes, Mind Games, Manipulation, Mystery
J.  Pure tragedies rarely - it hurts!
K. No BL/GL(yet?)
L. Can be R-18 
M. Polygamous-like IF great story | even if you're averse consider my recs. ;)

[Criteria]
1. These are (mostly) 4/5 stars in story, translation and enjoyment according to my flawed evaluation that is mainly 3/10 objective, 7/10 subjective.
2. I have perused the novels or adaptation before sharing my thoughts.
3. Writing must be consistent, coherent and engaging and the ending must at least not be sh!t. Clichés to a point are fine however it needs to be purposeful & executed well. 
4. I will keep adding books that are promising, satisfying, translated.  <<less

Even if he pretend he is not! ... more>>

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.

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Hmm... I hope I'm not delusional... <<less

My favorite ML/MC <3

Stories with a close friendship/relationship between two male characters that is not romantic in nature.

this is mostly just male mc without female leads like "love interests" or harems :)... more>>

Korean Novels #1 - #25
Chinese Novels #26 - #53
Japanese Novels #54 - #70

* There might be some s*xual tensions towards side characters but mostly it views the improvement of the main characters
* Novels like this just focus on the plot and battle towards mc's main goal and shenanigans but most of the novels here are my male protagonist 'to be read' and I hope you guys find something that suits your tastes <3 so yeah happy reading ^^)/ <<less

No description.

IN THE PROCESS OF FIXING THIS READING LIST! C= C= C= C= C=┌(;・ω・)┘... more>>

this list has the novels for those who want:

- romance novels (comedic undertone, light reading, lots and lots of FLUFF) 

- no romance novels (where romance doesn't bu*t into an amazing plot and makes you want to dry heave)

- misunderstanding novels (specifically ones that evoke laughter or amus**ent)

warning: all of these novels have (or will have) my opinion and terrible descriptions !! 

i hope you have fun reading 

(*￣▽￣)b <<less

these novels aren't ranked. all are good and i recommend all of these for you guys to read. there's no (or some may have a little) romance here,  but no harem. ... more>>

♡ contains action, adventure, fantasy, horror, mystery, cultivation, supernatural, slice of life, world hopping etc...
♡ cn, kr, jp <<less

A collection for my sadistic side lol—the title of the list basically sums up what's listed. ... more>>

ORDER DOES NOT CORRELATE TO MY SPECIFIC THOUGHTS TOWARD THE BOOK!

SSMC = Self-Sacrificing MC

Misunderstandings = MS  <<less

Here's a list of novels you might enjoy if you, like me, want to read some good stories that don't force an unnecessary & underdeveloped romance subplot where it isn't needed.... more>>

So these stories will have minimal to no romance, and I despise the harem trope in general. On the other hand, I'm a sucker for good bromance/brotherhood/friendship/found family stories. I also won't add any series to the list that I haven't personally read.

I decided to create this list because I've seen many similar 'no romance' lists on the site from which I've gotten many great recommendations to the point they have now become my go-to sources for new novels.

- - - - - - - - - - -

I'll be trying to organize the list based on how good I personally think the books are, but I'm only really certain about the first 4 being my favorites, the list then gets quite ambiguous, but I personally really like everything on the first page.

In the descriptions, I'll include how many chapters of the series I have read as well as how much romance there has been up until where I've read, as well as additional thoughts/opinions/warnings that I might have about the series.

I'll try to update the list whenever I find another good series to add. If you know of any series you think I'd like based on my list I'm more than open to suggestions! 

UPDATED JAN 1ST: Added 'The Nebula's Civilization' to the list. <<less

(There's a second list, just add a 2 to the name of this list and you'll find it) ... more>>

There are too many novels with cliché romance and harems with annoyingly useless girls. Reading them gets extremely tiring. There are too few novels with absolutely no form of romance or harem. Here are some novels I've found to not have romance/harem or have an harem/romance theme that didn't affect the plot of the novel to the point of it being annoying. 

Feel free to recommend novels that fit the criteria, arigatou^o^

P. S. I haven't read all the novels in this list so I might not be accurate in judging them. And there are some I've read but didn't finish and the novel ended up having romance or harem elements in a later chapter, please feel free to correct me anytime you see that I wasn't accurate. Arigatou minna-san <<less

Just stuff I liked with no romance (since that stuff annoys me, esp w/ op mc) - romantic subplot = removal
- some unread + under review ,,, going to update when I’m free lol... more>>

Mostly stuff like transmigration / new body possession / traveling back to past

list 2: https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/69296/ <<less

A list I would've loved to have when I first started reading WNs. Most of these are beginner novels, mix of genres, and not ranked.... more>>

I haven't gotten to the end and most are still being translated, but they're definitely more plot-focused. If it turns out there's romance in one, I'll just remove it :shrug: <<less

Novels that have no lasting romance or love interests. There will be no smut, harem (if MC attracts some people, I don't mind until it becomes a major part of the story or MC becomes interested in them), or ecchi, and BL/GL also count as romance. The list includes a personal rating and (often rambling) review/description.... more>>

Of course, it's also about my tastes, so this list will be mostly fantasy and action novels (op mc will be a common feature). I am a wordy person so I also don’t mind wordier books, too... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The list is in no particular order, but novels with <100 chapters and on hiatus/slow updating (less/around as often as 1 chap/month) will go in the back, starting at #33. This is because I assume people are looking for binge reads like me.

DISCLAIMER: The list is subject to change and revision - my impression changes as I think about them/read more. I cannot guarantee a novel has no romance later. I'll try to update this rec list as I read. No promises though, so my descriptions may be outdated.

~
Similar lists (insert after the "viewlist/" in the URL): 68396, 3797, 46727, 20556, 7097, 25820, 47958, 19335, 48107, 50847, 29345, 44031 <<less

why do you even look for knife bro. treasure your life more. treasure your kokoro more. QAQ... more>>

Warning:
- I don't read BE (some might be BE-ish tho :haroldface:)
- I only add titles where I've experienced the knife, or know there would be knife for sure (ex: mudaoli's novel)
- degree of knife sharpness varies for each person. you might agree with this list, you might not. 
- I have low pain tolerance :haroldface: 

my scale of pain, ranged from 'not really hurts' to 'it haunts me every time I see kite': 
1-3: wooden rice spoon (getting hit by one hurts okay)
4-6: paper cut (hidden but suddenly you feel pain)
7-8: knife. be wary. 
9: you're almost ascending via 刀道
10: machete. you've already reached godhood of 刀道. congratulations.  <<less

I thought how about list all novel without harem that is good for reading in the free time, then here I was, make it. Basically I put ALL GENRES in one list, BUT they don't have harem tag. Ah, ofc the mc is male. And unlike the other lists, I don't arrange the novels based on its stars. But at least, I put them according their origin (kr-cn-jp) ... more>>

If anyhow you guys found a title with harem inside and I put it here, please tell me. Thank you! <<less