(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

UPDATE: There is a new livestreaming tag now! https://www.novelupdates.com/stag/livestreaming/... more>>

I am adding this tag to all of the novels on my lists instead but you can add the tag if I missed it and/or you find a new novel with it!

Novels with Broadcasting jockeys or livestreamers or video posting or YouTubers or vtubers 

Directory

Part 1 : https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/2172/

Part 2 < YOU ARE HERE  <<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 No promises though, so my descriptions may be outdated.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

I'm gonna sort this list from gaeey-est to straight-est/ "brotherhood" level lol (except of course those novels which I haven't read yet, just recommended by many . I will just put them on the bottom, in accordance with their NU ratings) - you may also recommend some below if I ever missed one or anything. This is all for our quest on finding these types of novels anyway lmao.... more>>

.

EDIT: On second thought, I won't put the ships anymore cuz some readers may put off reading it because they're spoiled as to who to focus on or that they're already suggested as to which relationships between 'bros' to invest on so yeaahh~~ Just gonna put some of my thoughts and its synopsis instead.  <<less

Here some of my favorite novels, i tend to like novel without romance, harem, ecchi, or tragedy tags. I also like stories with great side characters rather than just focusing solely on MC. So if you look for those harem seeking protag and usual face slapping novel then sorry~ this isn't for ya...... more>>

P.S (edit 12/21) i removed all novel with romance hints, enjoy~ <<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

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

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

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

Novels with adaptations are noted.

Recommendations are appreciated! <<less

Guaranteed no romance and no harem....if people who are fed up of the books with romance and harem than you are at the right place! ... more>>

This will be updated slowly as only those books will be in recommendations list which I have already finished reading and is completely translated  <<less

Guys I know you read this title a lot of times. But I am sure most of you will find my list and be like, I read some of these and they are great and you will try the rest.... more>>

Ps: Plz drop down in the comments and tell me your favourite novels that aren't in the list. (List and reviews will be updated cause quite a few are ongoing) and the pursuit of good stories are endless

Ps: I added a list of dropped novels in comments so U can avoid them.  <<less

I've been faithfully reading webnovels (Chinese, Korean, and English) for 10+ years. The list is based on my taste mainly neutral evil to neutral good personality MC and decently paced novel with less fillers than the standard webnovel. Most of these novels are written by well-experienced authors. ... more>>

"Well-experienced" meaning he/she has written over 2000+ chapters of webnovel before the novel was created!

I don't like romance, especially harem in my action/adventure novels but I make an exception if the novel is really good.

Starting from tier Decent-, they are not in order because these novels are just "decent enough" to kill your time.

I would not recommend rank 1-15 if you are a newbie reader because it's gonna spike up your standards in webnovels.

If you think that the novel is worthy enough to be put in this list, then comment below. I'll check whether I've read it or not. <<less

Sharing several years of my reading experience.... more>>

I was slowly creating this list for about a year. When I've got nothing else to do I was gradually expanding it and that's the result.

***

To make it more descriptive and clarify some things I've put what I consider the main focus of the story under the 'Main Tags' line.

I've also added some comments to express what I thought about most novels that I've read.
As a bonus I've thrown out here some things that people look for or try to avoid like romance and mentioned similar titles that I've read myself.

***

Tags' explanation:

Mature:
FL - foul language, G - gore, E - ero elements.

Romance:

'No Romance' - nothing worth mentioning/mc is a loner, No Romance(?) - I haven't seen any, 'Romance' - only 1 heroine, Yanderes - self-explanatory, Harem - if MC is in CONFIRMED relationships with
several love interests, not a japanese useless one.

***

'My reading progress' line is a show of my 'sincerity'. At least I know what I'm talking about cause I've read it till cXXX.

***

Rating:

10/10 - Perfection (for me).

9/10 - Not 10/10 but pretty close.

8/10 - Something good/worth reading

7/10 - Readable

6/10 - Read with caution / Only 'Readable' under specific circumstances

***

P.s I've read a lot of novels (more than 200), so I've chosen more popular titles, or at least novels that I've liked more than others. So very few novels here can be considered questionable or 'hidden gems'. <<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

A few hidden gems ... others not so much but all of them totally worth the read. List spans quite a few genre such as Fantasy, sci-fi, cultivation, management, mystery.... more>>

Not all novels in the list will have top ratings. In my opinion the best novels are rated around 3.2 - 4.5. Anything over is mostly BL or FL with some exceptions. Anything below is mostly tr*sh with minor exceptions of novels for people with very specific taste. 

PS: All my recommendations are based on MTL. I rarely read human translated versions ..  <<less

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

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

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

Novels I find Okay To Recommend... more>>

Includes: 

1) Brief description of Mc

2) Reasons not to read the novel/Reasons to read the novel <<less

The Best and most Entertaining CN Novels.... more>>

The kind of novels I HATE  :

1. No Romance

2. Slow paced plot

3. Lots of unwanted useless info which ruins reading experience.

4. Bland plot (Novels which fail to stir any emotion. Which feels like reading textbooks instead of Novels. Lol)

5. Lack of character interactions and a lot of forgotten characters.

6. I mostly hate Game settings (except one novel)

So these wont be there in my list

Above 40 will be extras which don't fit in the list <<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

if your bored read this list, it will entertain you trust... more>>

PS: Mount Tai

if you guys have anything to say, feel free to say it in the comments. This list is more inclined toward romance but it does have some books that are Action only or MC only and have no romance.

There is no order, almost all if not all books are pretty good to most people

this list does include BL but it's only like once or twice! <<less

Chinese novels with MLs that are well-received in the Chinese community, meets at least one:... more>>

1. Rank highly on novels websites like Qidian and Zongheng (mostly QI)

2. Are strongly recommended on novel recommendation websites (eg at least 1k recommendation upvotes or at least 7.8/10 or 4/5 ratings with 1k reviews)

3. Commonly recommended on forums, search engines and blog posts (eg zhihu, sohu)

Notes:

There are novels that meet the criteria but not included like Lord of the Mysteries and Perfect World. May add them in later.

I picked the novels according to what caught my eyes (mostly comedy) or have more well known donghua adaptations (eg soul land, btth) so there may be many novels not mentioned

*Well received may not always mean good or well written, they may just be wish-fulfilment, OP-MC novels that generally cater to many, therefore, highly ranked. (eg popular 'junk food' novels).

This list is used as a compilation for me to ‘try out’. I will update my reviews if I’ve read something here. While I may not have read the novels, I may have read/ watched the dongman adaptations. <<less

I really like ✓unique (world building/game rule/setting), ✓logical development, ✓solid plot, ✓all character in the novel have a life of their own that not serve for the purpose of the plot and finally a ✓logical MC. If there are at least two of these qualities, LINNIL APPROVE!!... more>>

I like to read various genre I don't care if it's ✮shoujou, ✮shounen, ✮yaoi or ✮harem, if only there is my require qualities~

This list order by my like, it not depend on the novel quality though. >wOb <<less

Tired of harem/romance ruining the plot? Check these out!... more>>

BTW, they're not in any particular order. <<less