My first experience was the Ready Player duology by Ernest Cline and the This Trilogy is Broken 4 book series by JP Valentine. I’ve also had many recommendations for Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.
The Ready Player series was basically an ok story with a “hey, remember this thing from the 80’s‽” through-line. And while some of the jokes felt forced, the Valentine Series overall was a ton of fun and I couldn’t stop reading it.
What else have you really enjoyed? (This genre lends itself towards a couple of Bingo squares too. )
I have a feeling that’s kind of where I’m gonna end up as well. As a general statement, I’m not sure that I enjoy the genre on its own like I generally do fantasy, mystery, or science fiction, but I am definitely enjoying a few of the books in the genre a lot.
Honestly, most books in the genre are not great from a critical perspective. Even popular and “good” ones. But they do a great job of being long-lasting entertainment products that get that dopamine flowing, and they engage you in a way that is hard to find elsewhere.