A major reason to write this is just to recommend _Super Supportive_
(review below). Feel free to skip the rest of the message but please read
that.

I was reluctant to read many original English webnovels since English
authors have so many ways to publish their works. In general the
quality ladder goes: webnovels < kindle unlimited < self-published
ebooks < publisher ebooks < conventional publishing < award caliber
books. Good novels at any rung might be the equivalent of average
novels at one or two higher rungs and outstanding ones more, but
there's a lot of distance for a webnovel to make up!

The results of my excursion are listed below. Anything listed I would
consider a much, much better than average webnovel, but absolute quality
will depend on what the read wants. Any other recommendations welcome!

Several of these webnovels I don't hesitate to recommend to this group
- not everybody will like them, but I consider them good sf. They are
either finished or have multiple novels worth of writing already.

9.5 _Super Supportive_ by Sleyca.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive
A modern superhero/supervillain background ala _The Incredibles_ or
_Worm_ or _Wild Cards_, but more science fictiony talents than most,
set in a galactic civilization with Earth as a newcomer. The MC wants
become a supporting superhero, helping other superheros. Overall, I
would say that this is the some of the best world-building and
character-building I've seen in recent years. So many little things
are gotten "right". This is a slice-of-life approach, not action
oriented. But one indication of the appeal of _Super Supportive_ to
those who like slow, character-driven novels is that this
first-time-novelist who started publishing earlier this year has a
current Patreon of $25,000/month! Highly recommended (A Favorite)

9 _Mother of Learning_ by Nobody103
A very well done time loop story where the MC is caught in a time loop
leading to his death and must figure the causes and consequences both
for himself and the world. Completed, and available on Amazon.

8.8 _Valkyrie's Shadow_ by Aeridinae Lunaris
Currently a series of 7 novels set in the world of _Overlord_, a
Japanese light novel series/anime. The major attraction is the world
building and civilization building. A very indepth philosophical look
at some of the possibilities in what might happen as very different
societies clash in a (mostly) abandoned MMORPG.

The rest of the message is my complete list of reasonable webnovels
(additions welcome). Anything above 8 is recommended but all are
decent books if you like that genre.

Chris

-----------------------------------------
Original English Webnovels (includes those that are now Kindle Unlimited)
---
Original English Webnovels - Completed
9 Mother of Learning - 108 chapters (3000 pages) - Nobody103 (Domagoj Kurmaic) - Original English(Royal Road), time loop. Nicely done, well thought out world and plot
8.6 Sword God in a World of Magic - 1033 of 1033 - Warmaisach - English but on WebNovel. MC goal is to become powerful enough to kill the God that transmigrated him. Good attention to moral issues as MC is dominated by quest for power.
8 Upon Wings of Change - 60 chapters - CrystalScherer - Wattpad. short, cute novel of reincarnated(?) humans becoming cat-like pets.

--
Original English Webnovels - Reading or Writing Ongoing
*9.5 Super Supportive - 109 long chapters (600K words?) - Sleyca - RR - background of superhero/supervillain modern world in SF Galaxy but much more. Among best world-building and character building seen in a long time. Very slow (MC now to be high school (hero-school) sophomore), very well done. Can Sleyca land all the balls in the air that are set up?
*8.8 Valkyrie's Shadow - 7 novels - Aeridinae Lunaris - English RR orig - "Overlord" fan fiction, very in-depth well-thoughtout political philosophy (much more in-depth than "Overlord"). Good characters.
*8.7 Shadow Slave - 1212 - Guiltythree - Webnovel - Isekai, world starts having "Awakened" with aspects that fight/might_become monsters. Well done. Progressive. In Nightmare World starts as slave.
*8.5 Beware of Chicken - v4 ch 58 - CasualFarmer - English orig,RoyalRoad Isekai non-ambitious cultivator gathers strong community.
8.5 A Practical Guide to Evil - Book 2chap43 of 7 - Erraticerrata - Progressive, young girl becomes named Squire (a Villain) to get rid of evil. well thought out
8.5 The Primal Hunter - 729 - Zogarth - RR - Isekai (?), nice progressive system fantasy, rich world/universe.
8.2 The Butcher of Gadobhra - chap 352 - The Walrus King - RR, Game players trapped as contract workers in new virtual reality game, work their way up.
8 A Journey of Red and Black 98 of 224 - Mecanimus - RR, girl becomes vampire English orig, 19th century background
8 Katalepsis - 6.4 of 22+ - Hazel Young - English orig nightmares and hallucinations turn real.
8 Worm - Arc 11e of 30 - Wildbow - Parahuman
7.8 Dungeon Crawler Carl - v3 of 6 - Matt Dinniman - Earth transforms into dungeon for galaxy amusement. Man and cat go deeper, becoming game show stars. amusing, not deep.

--
Original English Webnovels Abandoned
7.5 Metaworld Chronicles - 208 of 491- Wutosama - RR, English orig woman reincarnated as younger version of herself in a parallel world based on magic instead of science.
7.5 Pact - 4..11 - Wildbow - English orig. Need to understand the powers more to enjoy.
7.7 The Perfect Run - ch 31 of - Maxime Durand - Set save points and go back in time. Well done, but couldn't identify with MC.
7.5 Cradle - v 3 of 8 - - MC OK but without agency, world building OK, some plot armor explained, but secondary characters outright poor (only motives are to interact with MC)
7 Portal to Nova Roma - v2 of 3 - - AI isekai, massive plot armor, modern AI setting ludicrous, detailed society development but very unrealistic.
7.8 Super Minion - 52 - Gogglesbear - Hiatus. Lab shapeshifter obtains human.exe and escapes. Nice touches, but not particularly well-written.
7.8 Mage Errant - v3 of ? - John Bierce - Decently done juvenile. Decent magic system but world lacks depth.
8 He who Fights with Monsters - v3 of 10 - Shirtaloon - Isekai. Progressive. MC definitely has "attitude". May appeal to others more than me.
7.7 Taylor Varga - 126 of 307 - - Worm Fanfic. Mary Sue novel. Lots of nice little touches but complete lack of connection to global reality - things that have been publcly displayed would destroy world economy.
World wouldn't let their local agreements hold (including the legal contract discussion)
8 Re: Trailer Trash - 51 - FortySixFour - Royal Road - time-travel(regression) slice-of-life. Characterization ranges from excellent to poor (rare). female from 2045 to 1998. realistic. Might come back to it.
8 12 Miles Below - v2 of 3 - Mark Arrows - Mankind mostly exists on surface (exiled) while aware-machines control the depths (down to 12 miles). decently done YA.

Chris Buckley <alan@sabir.com> wrote:
>
> The results of my excursion are listed below.

I will chase some of these up, since you seem to have good taste!

I am following several of these, but in translation from Chinese would add

_Cultivation Chat Group_: "One day, Song Shuhang was suddenly added to
a chat group with many seniors that suffered from chuuni disease. The
people inside the group would call each other ???Fellow Daoist??? and had
all different kinds of titles: Palace Master, Cave Lord, True Monarch,
Immortal Master, etc. And even the pet of the founder of the group that
had run away from home was called ???monster dog???."

Many jokes in Chinese web novels are lame puns or internet memes you
won't have heard of, but the ones in CCG are pretty good. For example,
the power developed by the Confucians to allow men to experience
just how painful it was for your mother to bring you into the world
(this one does pop up in other novels).

_Keyboard Immortal_: Smartass netizen is transmigrated into wuxia world
where he wields cheater powers and accumulates his harem. But again, comes
across as genuinely funny - a certain amount of bedroom farce as Zu An
tries to juggle all the balls without being executed by the Emperor, the
conspiring members of the royal family and high clans, the abbots of the
various sects, assorted monsters, or jealous paramours.

Four long running xuanxia series:
_Martial Peak_, _Martial God Asura_,
_Nine Star Hegemon Body Art_, _Star Odyssey_

These are interesting to me in the setup that often includes travel by magic through
the void between spiritually alive (or assassinated) stars and planets - _Defiance
of the Fall_ is the English-language equivalent. So spaceships are open decked and
powered by cultivation, asteroid mining is a major activity, and distances are only
in the millions of kilometres. In _Star Odyssey_, blissfully ignorant
technological civilizations are kept in ponds and used to produce goods
for their owners (a la Fort, I guess). Several characters, as they have
advanced to high spiritual levels, gain power from internal universes that
contain vast human populations that may experience speeded-up time. In
_Martial Peak_, bucolic side stories play out in these internal worlds
that parallel the MC's development several hundred years earlier in the
main story.

In English

_Millennial Mage_ (JLMullins). A hyperachieving young woman climbs through the
levels of magic on a world where humanity is in uneasy equilibrium with
arcane creatures. Fresh despite a setting that might descend to extruded
fantasy product.

Cheers, David Duffy.