No Romance or Harem, We want Quality Stories
No Romance or Harem, We want Quality Stories
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.
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.
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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.
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.
152 Followers
Created: Mar 8th, 2023, Updated: Jan 1st, 2024
Created Mar 8th, 2023
Updated Jan 1st, 2024
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[Ch.161] No Romance.
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[V3.Ch.4] No Romance.
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[NEWLY ADDED][Ch.97] No Romance.
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[Completed] Minimal Romance. ... more>>
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[Completed] No Romance.... more>>
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[Ch.464] Technically no Romance.... more>>
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[Ch.836] No Romance.
Comments (18)
I really liked your list. I appreciated it a lot. I have a couple of questions. Do you happen to know any bromance or brotherhood novels without romance? I don't mind subtle ones like "After Becoming Tryant," a CN novel. I just like a dominant MC without any specific indulgences. I am curious if you happen to know where you found the rest of the chapters. The number of chapter comments you've made exceeds the number of chapters that are being released in new updates. Thank you and have a nice day.
@Yulip Hm, I haven't read 'After Becoming The Tyrant' but it's definitely on my Plan to Read list now considering all the positive reviews I'm seeing. Thanks for letting me know about it!
As for bromance series without romance... 'Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint' is definitely up there, the same with 'tr*sh of the Count’s Family'(I'm not up to date) & 'What Happens When the Second Male Lead Powers Up'. 'The Hero Returns' have some brotherhood feel to it, but it's not until later in the series. I guess 'The S-Classes That I Raised' is also pretty bromance. Can't really think about any other ones from the top of my head, I've added all the ones without romance that I've read on the list.
Which series are you talking about in the second part of your comment? But generally, the ones I've read further than the currently available translations would be through Machine Translation, which I typically don't recommend. Unless I'm misunderstanding your question.
Thanks for checking out my list!
@Zenty
Thank you so much for the recommendations. I definitely browsed through many of those suggestions before, but I was trying to find something new that people hadn't talked about before. 'Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint," which I don't think is for me, and 'What Happens When the Second Male Lead Powers Up," which, judging from the reviews, is not terribly exciting since the story isn't something new that hasn't been done, I think I will be saving "Tr*sh of the Count’s Family" for the summer since I will be a little free and it is long as hell. I will check out 'The Hero Returns," though.
'The S-Classes That I Raised' is not bad, since I tried reading the manhwa, but the MC is just not for me personally because I really like characters who start weak and then try their best to be strong. He is just reliant on others, which rubs me the wrong way since he doesn't seem to care much.
For the other question I had, I am pretty new to reading novels such web novels, CN, KR (I recently switched from reading bunches of JP, KR comics), and I observed that many of the chapters are not readily available on this site, so I was very curious as to how people find the rest of the chapters. I have tried MTL, but it is just giving me headaches in general. Sorry for being vague, but I can't really seem to find anyone else who has this issue.
Thanks once again for being helpful to a stranger online.:))
@Yulip Haha, no problem. I'm surprised you don't think 'Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint' is for you considering it's an extremely well-written fantasy/action series that just about anyone can get into. Your other comments are pretty spot on though. I too am a sucker for 'weak to strong' type of series, if you can stand really slow pacing with a lot of world-building & politics/scheming I'd recommend 'Kingdom's Bloodline', poor Thales really never gets a break consistently having to struggle for survival. It's a great underdog story, where the payoffs are really satisfying.
I see, I think I mainly read CN/KR stories from webnovels.com/wuxiaworld.com (Or rather websites that host series from them) I've found that sites like lnreader.org / novelfull.com have most things available. (with nice dark themes & text formatting too, but might need an adblocker for the best experience) For the more niche stuff, you'll usually have to find the website of the translator and read there. But googling the novel names usually works one way or another.
Your list is awesome, please keep it up, fellow comrade. It's so hard to find novels that have no romance that I've given up updating my lists. I hate having to start a novel, like it and then find romance in it, even after I try to search online to make sure it doesn't. I've fallen in this trap so many times. For example, 'the righteous players' I'm scared to even continue reading it, cause I know I'll drop it once I see any form of romance.
You should read/add "the heavenly demon can't live a normal life'. All he cares about is getting stronger. It's really soooooo good
Thanks for the kind words! I feel exactly the same, no matter how you try to double and triple check the tags & reviews some series still manage to sneak in a romance in the later part of the story. Your sentiment about 'the righteous players' mirrors mine exactly, I haven't read it in a few months but hopefully there has been no new developments in that regard...
Thanks for the recommendation! Seems like it also has a manwha, might check it out.
I would like to recommend "Apotheosis of a Demon" There are cute scenes, dark moments, family kinship and no romance.
I love stories like #37 "Isekai Yururi Kikou" and #23 "Herscherik," but finding stories like these without the romance tag is a bit tricky. If you know any please let me know.
Your list is really awesome, tyvm for making it! You've definitely increased the size of my summer reading list haha.
My rec for this is "Creating Heavenly Laws". It's got the Imperial Harem tag on NU but idk where that's from since I've read up to the latest chapter on qidian and there's 0 romance and it's not tagged there either. Everyone important in this world is more interested in getting stronk, as it's a sci-fi cultivation world where there's an active war going on. This novel is unique in that the MC rarely fights people in a life or death situation, it's mostly just his journey of getting stronger while inventing cool powers and staying low-key.
Sorry for the slightly late reply!
The Chinese name to search for is 高天之上
Here's the direct URL: https://www.69xinshu.com/book/51261/
Remember that you'll still have to translate it. (right click and translate if you're using Chrome)
Or enter the website URL into google translate to have the entire page automatically translated, but I usually find this quite wonky with certain sites:
https://www-69xinshu-com.translate.goog/book/51261/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Hello, I loved your list and would like to make a recommendation as well . You should give "Return of the Mount Hua Sect" a try. It does not have any romance and the story is really interesting! The MC's personality is so unhinged, you just gotta love him . It is honestly very well written.
Our MC, after defeating the demon king and dying, wakes up in the body of a beggar into the far future. He finds out that his sect which used to be one of the ten great sects is now basically on the verge of extinction due the damages it suffered in the war with the demon king. MC makes it his goal to turn his sect back to its former glory. (The story sounds cliche honestly, but the way it is executed is anything but.)
The story has a comedic tone and our MC is incredibly strong and most of the time he is so ridiculous you cannot take him seriously but even despite all of that, MC's past trauma is not brushed off and that's something I really appreciate cause most of the time this is something that is totally overlooked in these types of stories. MC's relationship with his sect brothers, his sect elders as well as with other sect heads is absolutely gold! The relationships are just so well flashed out! Especially with the elders (the various sects heads) and MC. Since MC himself is an old (80 year old) grandpa stuck in the body of a young brat, he really gets along well with the other sect heads who are similar in age. Their personality is just as obnoxious as the MC. But there is not a single character who isn't left speechless due to the MC, proving he is definitely the most obnoxious character of all XD
This has both a novel (with good translation) and a manhwa adaptation (you can read the manhwa on webtoon, it's called "Return of the Blossoming Blade" there)! The manhwa adaptation is also really good!!! You can give both of them a try
Good to hear that you liked the list!
I'm already reading the Manwha and it's indeed quite good!
Issac has harem polygamy in the after story, no romance till the epilogue though..
Also not sure if there was concrete romance because heroines imposed themselves on Issac to marry them and then we have time skip about the their children as adult right after that