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

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

(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

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

Book list, novels where the main characters are completely bad and ruthless (I don't want mc that justifies h24 why they do bad things but just mc that assumes and have no moral or human conscience).... more>>

No romance, to add a new book in my list of books mc need to enter in one of this 3 categories.

If the novel have romance I wil say it, not much author write full evil mc.

Absolute Neutral : Absolute neutral has two definitions : a person who is not inclined to commit wrong doing but who if need be does not hesitate to get his hands dirty after all profits is above all selfishness comes first. Second, he has no emotions he is ruthless no desire only the most rational and mechanical thought.

Neutral Evil : Neutral Evil, he will be very prone to do evils but which must benefit him in some way and will never think emotionally but rationally. Killing people for betterment ect.... have no regrets about the harm done even if the people are innocent.

Chaotic Evil : Chaotic Evil, simple and precise, he commits immoral acts for no reason and has no moral boundaries or conscience, he shamelessly spits on them, he just wants to do evil without reason and commit unparalleled atrocities only for his perverse pleasure.

Don't hesitate to recommend books that I didn't added.

If you want more evil novel, translated or not join this discord :https://discord gg/rawnovelcommunity <<less

Caution: bear the risk of having your taste being too sky-high standard.

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

Novels which are still in MTL (high-readability, guaranteed minimum brain cell mortality) and not yet translated:... more>>

- Bulgarian Empire (same author of Holy Roman Empire)
- Holy Roman Empire (60 chapters translated, the rest just go to MTL, high quality MTL is the reason translators didn't bother to translate it in the first place)
- Rise of Rurik (thank you Zurdonx for recommendation)
(More will be updated later) <<less

Isekais are fun reads when done right, cringey when generic, and horrible when done wrong.... more>>

Sorted from Best to Worst with the ratings being pretty biased.

Honorable Mentions: The Beginning after the End (NOT ON NU) {4.35/5} It's cool, that's all I can really say.

THE LIST NOW HAS A SECOND PART IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW: https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/8455/ <<less

A list of novels I like so I don't forget. Not in order. I try to not make this similar to FIEND's and other people's list but there aren't that many decent ones with no romance y'know. ... more>>

Some novels : Since The Red Moon Appeared, The Damned, Supreme Grandpa, Is That A Wisp?, Spending My Retirement In A Game.

P.S. I still haven't differentiated quick transmigration and world hopping so I could be mistaken about some. Thank you for understanding. <<less

Here is the list of the best translated novels you can find, be it Japanese, Chinese or Korean. (This list is based on my taste and subjective opinion and our opinions and taste might differ). Although I tried to rank it, but you should READ all these novels nevertheless, that's a MUST. ... more>>

This list mainly features novels from two genres : ACTION (mainly cultivation novels) and ROMANCE (preferably tragic romance which leaves deep impression on you) and excludes YAOI/BL (not a big fan of those)

If any novel isn't on this list, its because :

1. I haven't read it yet. (Believe me, I have read 300+ big-ass novels if not a thousand)

2. I didn't like it. (It may be good, just didn't suit to my taste)

Apart from this, if you are looking for ORIGINAL novels, you should give the following a try :

1. The Beginning After The End - By TurtleMe

2. The Author's PoV - By Entrail_JI

3. Supreme Magus - By Legion20 <<less

I love novels with exciting action and a survivalist story especially ones with female leads! That's what this list is. It's ordered from most to least liked novel (I rated them too) and at the end are novels I've yet to read.... more>>

----

~P.S. Worm is a webnovel that features a dark story centering a girl with certain powers and her dangerous adventures. It's not on NU (cause it's not a translated novel), but you can find it on parahuman's website 

Also, Survive Romance and 7 seeds are good survival manga <<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

For all the dark-themed novel lovers, Who are tired of those Plot armor Mc, who are almost brain-dead and use their lower body to do the thinking. This list will give you an entry to some fine dark novels. ... more>>

These are just some of the novels. Join us to get links to more good raw novels which are confirmed to be good and readable.

Feel free to recommend the series. And I will add them to my list if they are good.

Join our discord for more dark novels:- https://discord.gg/WDqa2GbbFg <<less

No description.

goldmine of misunderstanding novels. mostly focus on comedy stuffs... more>>

tag explanation
conscious = protagonist intentionally create misunderstanding
comedy = misunderstanding is funny
amusing = the suffering of that guy... kukuku
realism = the world is alive, its rules are serious, because it's not just opera stage for protagonist.
.

.

-List from scribblehub-

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/108367/the-queen-of-darkness-does-not-want-to-be-the-villain

misunderstanding&comedy&amusing

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/234170/there-is-definitely-something-wrong-with-my-viewers/

misunderstanding&comedy

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/122738/i-see-kai/

misunderstanding&comedy(kinda get dark)

.

i hate royalroad's UI so i don't use that site. so please comment if you have misunderstanding novel from there that you want to add. <<less

Noice Novels...they are not in order

Novels that fall under the category/theme that shows the 'Dark' side of humanity and the Main Character must also be on [~Neutral to Evil Faction~]... more>>

Since this is gonna be a collection of known novels that I obviously not read yet... I will 'automatically' rank them based on their current 'Star Ratings' [Of course feel free to debate which should be higher on the list and which should not, As we all know... ratings can sometimes can't be trusted]

Novels with no description means only one thing of these two; either I have not read that Novel in question or I have no time to add one <<less

Characters who have self-serving personalities or tendencies, and may or may not show it in interactions, actions, emotions, intent, and thoughts. Or just that the character has a willingness to do things that aren't compatible with our modern and diverse views regarding morals, ethics, principles, and ideals of good. Of course these books have different tones and also handling of this subject.... more>>

The list was created with much subjectivity, as I won't put protagonists whose good qualities overshadows all their impactful grey actions and evil actions, which is important to me regardless of whether they are truly good or evil. -> Different examples of who I won't include are Song Shuhang (kindness), Klein Moretti (principles and heroic actions), Kim Dokja (altruism), and Chen Ge (goodwill and generosity).

Work in progress. Of course I have read these, I will simply state if I did not. Most are good novels but I will add some non-favorites, which is purely my opinion because I have a personal standard of quality.

UNRANKED

Let me not bother about my face and recommend my list for top quality novels I've enjoyed:  https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/16488/ <<less

I hate harem. Why? Because most of the time it leads the story to a direction that's not pleasing. And most of all I don't... more>> fantasize about having thousands of girl on my lap.  Hell I'm not even interested in romance . Anyway this list contains novels that have zero harem and maybe it will have novels that have romance, but almost all of them are not focused on romance
So enjoy (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧ <<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

I feel really bad when I start reading a good novel thinking that it's quite good and doesn't have useless & annoying harem  it turns... more>> out to be one. It's seriously annoying. This list contains novels which aren't harem . Mc have only one wife/gf or none at all. Let's start( uh..... I'm quite new to nu so don't mind my listing style & they aren't in order) <<less

Some are abandoned.... more>>

Notice the absence of anything other than JP.

Avoid translations by "Estelion's Secret Imouto". <<less

...

GENRES: either Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Historical, Horror, Martial Arts, Mystery, Psychological, Sci-Fi, Slice of Life, Supernatural... more>>

A compilation of my favorites (CN, JP, KR) in alphabetical order.
*read the comments for additional recommendations (original novels)
*will update when I find and read new interesting ones <<less