Unpopular opinion: I like novels with less than 1000 chapters.  Since I couldn't find a reading list for this, I decided to create one. ... more>>

A mix of gems and stones. Most of them don't have harem <<less

IN THE BEGINNING: ACTION AND SEINEN... more>>

IN THE MIDDLE: SHOUJO AND ROMANCE

IN THE END: YAOI- BL <<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.

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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 MAR 18TH: Added "Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master" to the list. <<less

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I hate romance. 

Novels that I liked with descriptions that will hopefully draw you into them!

>>> Feel free to recommend me novels in the comment section below, so after I'm back I know what to binge read and give my thoughts on it.... more>>

One of the easiest to tell a novel is a 'Game Elements' is if it has a GAME SYSTEM included - most notable of it being part of the MC. Another one is that the Protagonist got transported INTO a Game World/Fantasy World - most notable are ISEKAI's.

HUGE DISCLAIMER: I only include novels that have Game Elements as mentioned BUT ALSO that I have already read from a quite decent amount of chapters to finished reading. Though do not fret for I would accept and feel feel to recommend novels to me and If possible tell me about it.

NOTES: I have tried my best to rank them based on the depth of the world/lore of the novel and it's writing. Every tier (namely Great -> Amazing -> Excellent) have a sub-tier with 1 (+) being the lowest and (+++) being the highest. I would like to say that it is inevitable that there would be a novel being in the same tier and sub-tier - that you would think isn't even on par in terms of quality. Hence why If you could tell why that specific novel about why it deserves to either to go up or down at the ranking - then I would thank you for your time telling me your point. Novels with no tiers can be only one thing - They could have been good.

PS: I seem to have underestimated the sheer amount of Novels with Game Elements... also I'm not expert in identifying Alignments <<less

My favorites

List of novels I've come across, as far as I could remember, in no particular order(Wish I did this when I first started reading novels so I could list everything I've dropped/loved)... more>>

Note: This isn't really a recommendation list. As mentioned in the title, I'll only mention if it's good or bad with no particular explanation because this list is mostly for me... and that I most probably forgot the details on the novels listed here lmfao. 

Most of the "On hold" are novels that has something I don't like(petty or not... well, mostly petty since I'm petty) which makes me stop reading, but put on hold in case I want to read it again(is what I had in mind). It just accumulated because whenever I try to continue to read some it just makes me remember why I put it on hold in the first place and stop reading it entirely, but still have enough hope to not drop it.

Not on NU:

Teaching Heroes Might and Magic (Wanna read) (Hiatus)

I Don't Want To Court Death (Ch. 72) (Good) (Hiatus)

Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse (Ch. 255) (On hold) (Good) 

Abyssal Lord of the Magi World (Ch 105) (Dropped, prophecy bs)

Unnamed god (Ch. 168) (On hold)

Immortal's wine store (Vol. 1 Ch. 131) (On hold)

Inexorable chaos (Ch. 100) (On hold)

Dual cultivation (Ch. 725) (On hold)

Supreme magus (Ch. 32) (On hold) <<less

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In no particular order. Props to anyone else who has read them all.

little to no romance

Favorite novels that I always go back to re-read. This is regardless of completion status or genre, so it's a hodgepodge, but an enjoyable hodgepodge.

(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

Action, Adventure and Advance. The triple AAA that the following novels have in my opinion. ^^

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 has 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 of different genres, Romance, Horror, Xianxia, Fantasy, BL, Supernatural... 

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. 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

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Well it Will be a compilation of a couple thing mostly cultivation with romantic subplot or romance ... more>>

Well i added some novels with system and some with s*x cause some MC are more ass*xual than an assexual 

The order doesnt really matter.

This is mostly made to close some tabs on my phone i had about 100 of them <<less

Mainly adventure/fantasy/xianxia/xuanhuan/wuxia/isekai novels that i have read or i am currenly reading.

My all time favorites, absolutely no romance. Listed in order of personal enjoyment. Near the end of the list, it becomes something more like "yeah this was pretty good," but nevertheless, I did enjoy it. ... more>>

Sidenote: I find it hard to read novels where MCs are too brutal/ruthless, so don't expect many recs on those novels. 

Recommendation: I highly recommend Mother of Learning. Originally an english webnovel, so it's not on novel updates (It's on royalroad and fictionpress). No romance, and the time travel/time loop is well done. It's completed at 800k words. The writing has it's flaws, but I personally found it incredibly enjoyable. 

Summary: Zorian, a mage in training, only wanted to finish his education in peace. Now he struggles to find answers as he finds himself repeatedly reliving the same month. 'Groundhog Day' style setup in a fantasy world.

Another english webnovel that's really good is Never Die Twice. Completed. No romance. Villain MC. LitRPG.  <<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