No description.

(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 bromance, boys love,and Shounen-ai . This is not the place for anti gei people!!! I WILL ALWAYS ADD NEW NOVEL IF I FOUND ANOTHER... more>> ONE,SO DON'T MISS IT!! And check my other lists ♡(˃͈ દ ˂͈ ༶ ) <<less

A list of all the things I’ve read since I made a NU account. Most of them ended up being mid. If you want my recommendations, see my other list “The stuff you binge read all night”... more>>

What I tend to like: Strong Characterizations, Character relationships, good world building, excellent writing, great dialogue, realistic romancing (basically mature, not in hs anymore romance)

What I tend to dislike: Shounen (too formulaic and limiting on the stories they’ll tell), Harem (if not for realistic/fit into the story reasons), Romance where the reasons the characters like each other are unrealistic/wish fulfillment/s*upid (I’m looking at you, popular/hot/charismatic girl dates the wet mop of a child cause the plot needs to happen)

Current tropes I have beef with:

1. Girl was protected/saved/impressed once by wet noodle mc in early elementary school, so she’s obsessed with him in high school. Such a lazy plot device and it feels like every damn KOREAN/JP novel has some variation of this. These authors need to talk to real women instead of writing this elementary crap. <<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

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

Get that harem sh*t out of here.... more>>

A BL reader's curated guide (with comments) to exciting non-BL stories with either no M/F romance or very little late romance. And NO idiotic, horndog MCs!!! <<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

·····

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* 

·····

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

i like them for very specific reasons. (i often edit my reviews/switch orders, as a heads up)

I want to scout for novels that are everything EXCEPT romance to cleanse my brain. I'm over the usual, and shallow love affairs. Blame my age. ... more>>

*currently under construction* <<less

Title says it all, the stuff that I find to be the creme de la crem of East Asian novels (kr, JP, cn)... more>>

I’ll also throw in some guilty pleasures that I enjoy, but they’ll be marked with a comment.

What I tend to like: Strong Characterizations, Character relationships, good world building, excellent writing, great dialogue, realistic romancing (basically mature, not in hs anymore romance)

What I tend to dislike: Shounen (too formulaic and limiting on the stories they’ll tell), Harem (if not for realistic/fit into the story reasons), Romance where the reasons the characters like each other are unrealistic/wish fulfillment/s*upid (I’m looking at you, popular/hot/charismatic girl dates the wet mop of a child cause the plot needs to happen)

Current tropes I have beef with:

1. Girl was protected/saved/impressed once by wet noodle mc in early elementary school, so she’s interested in him in high school. Such a lazy plot device and it feels like every damn KOREAN/JP novel has some variation of this. UGH IT’S PAINFUL LEARN HOW TO WRITE FEMALE CHARACTERS.

2. When the characters are 10-12 but act like 16-20 year olds. Like…… fantasy doesn’t explain smol boy/girl holding 100lb sword or being Sun Tzu from birth (unless you’re Sun Tzu who got isekai’ed)

If you’re curious why something you’ve read isn’t on this list that you think should be, please check my other list which logs all the novels I’ve read and if it’s not there, suggest in the comments :) <<less

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

Novels with adaptations are noted.

Recommendations are appreciated! <<less

All of these are, IMO, must-reads. Hands-down some of the best novels here. I've also included my own personal ratings and opinions of each of these novels. Well-written stories, great plots, characters, etc. I have relatively high standards for these to be my favorites, so these are all really high quality. I can't recommend them enough! coincidentally, all of them also have very high ratings (4.3-4.8)... more>>

Actively being updated. I haven't finished writing reviews/ratings for all of them yet, but I will in time. Meant to be ordered by highest personal ratings -> lowest personal ratings, but haven't had time to fix it yet. These are also my own opinions and feelings regarding each novel, so they won't be particularly eloquent, and you can definitely disagree. It's just me rambling.

Also added some ones I haven't read but will read and I know i will love. Feel free to recommend any danmei too!

...somehow, this also turned into a list of danmei I also want to read, not just a review of the ones I've read. I really can't control myself from looking for good danmei. Though, I'm sure I'll get to reviewing all of these someday <<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

!PLEASE READ!:    
ORDER: Alphabetical... more>>

Go check @sonialu 's list < Impression? Quality? Worthy? Check. >  To see summaries for these books. 
All types of genres in here (mostly horror, thriller, mystery, Romance) 

Rest assured my dear action fans 

There might be some BL novels included.  A LOT but don't worry there is also BG, GL ... if i can find it

~.~ !   

There is a lot of BL at first, but keep going and you'll see BG and GL ( if i can find it ) <<less

1st List -
https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/44031/... 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

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

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

Stories that involve idols groups from managing them, a more romance-focused one or being in an idol program! A review will accompany each to give you an idea of what it's about and a tag if it has any cp/romance and what type! List is done randomly as I am trying to remember the ones i've seen!... more>>

Feel free to comment below if I missed out on anything! I'll check it out and add it to my list if it fits! <<less

Yup! I am a Fujoshi and the fantasy novel I've read should not have ROMANCE!! ... more>>

LET'S GOooOOO ~~(^ 0 ^)~~ 

SOORY! I lieD~: some of them are bl <<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

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

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

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

No romance, no harem, fun to read, mc is male... more>>

*If you know another novel with those criteria, please tell me

*Other novel that i recommend but no one has translate it yet, i put it in the comment section <<less