Before COVID-19 ruined the outernet for me, I used to read Mangas and light novels while commuting, and the summer before said pandemic, I decided to bicycle all the way to work. That’s when I started listening to audiobooks.
Yes, I know, I’m a risk taker, but doing nothing except riding my bicycle for one hour in the morning and another hour in the evening was getting a little dull, so I did what most do when they’re bored, I found a way to entertain myself. And by the way, listening to an audiobook on a bicycle is a lot safer than reading a light novel or a manga on a bicycle, is it not? Yes, yes, I know, the lesser of two evils is still evil, but I was careful, I promise. I even ended up getting AfterShokz AS650 Air wireless bone conduction headphones so that I could still hear what was going on in my surroundings while listening to audiobooks.
In any case, before we move on to the list, just keep in mind that the term “overpowered” is very subjective. The overpowered hype train is, in my opinion, not as strong in novels as it is in Manga and Anime series, and this too is relative.
To put it into perspective, as of 2020, there’s between 15000 and 25000 Anime series, and while there’s a lot more books than that, the percentage of Anime series that have an overpowered or very strong main character is obviously much higher than the number of novels matching the same criteria (probably, I’m just making an educated guess).
The point I’m trying to make is, I wasn’t really able to find One-Punch-Man-like audiobooks, thus I settled for a more modest definition of overpowered:
A protagonist which is stronger than the overwhelming majority of other characters in term of raw power achieved over a given period of time.
Err, I tried to make it sound smart, but it didn’t work. It’s Monday. I’m sleep deprived.
Basically, the main character must be able to achieve more in less time.
This means that the protagonist can but doesn’t have to be the strongest all the time, as long as his/her growth surpasses the growth of other characters.
Without further ado, here’s an unsorted list of audiobooks that I believe have an overpowered main character:
One if not the most powerful magician to have ever lived was cursed while chasing for immortality, only to wake up in the body of a young man exiled by his family.
Written by Aleron Kong and narrated by Nick Podehl, The Land is a LitRPG in which our protagonist has no choice but to constantly evolve his power as well as his city to avoid destruction. As all series under the genre LitRPG, the story has a very RPG-like aspect to it: skills, levels, prompts, quests, and everything you’d expect from a typical RPG, although unlike some of the other series in this list, the main character isn’t playing in a game - he’s in a world in which aforementioned RPG-like aspects are common place.
Written by Travis Bagwell and narrated by David Stifel, Awaken Online is the story of Jason, a high school student for which the only aspect of his life that seems to go his way is in the world of video games. When things take a turn for the worse in our protagonist’s personal life, he decides to escape his problems through a new virtual reality game, and for some reason, that game keeps pushing him toward the path of a villain.
Written by Cosimo Yap and narrated by Nick Podehl, The Gam3 is a story in which the fate of the Earth and many other planets depend on an alien virtual reality game. Initially, our protagonist, Alan, plays for the sake of defending his home planet in a futuristic RPG-like game, and by futuristic, I mean combat suits, energy weapons, levels and all.
As time goes, Alan gets involved in things that far outstrip his existence, and well, he has no choice but to adapt.
Written by Kel Kade and narrated by Nick Podehl, King’s Dark Tidings is a story about Rezkin, a jack of all trade, and unlike the commonly known figure of speed, master of all, or almost. Socially, he’s completely clueless. Secretly trained since his birth in almost every major and minor skills, Rezkin excels at almost everything, alas, his trainers left him before telling him his purpose. As a result, our socially inept protagonist must find what his purpose is, or pave his own path.
Written by Dennis E. Taylor and narrated by Ray Porter, Bobiverse follows the story of Robert Johansson, a programmer that gets himself killed only to be uploaded into computer hardware that will end up finding itself in an interstellar probe for the sole purpose of finding habitable planets. Bob’s basically an AI.
Without spoiling anything, I can’t tell you what makes the main character overpowered, but if it helps your decision-making process, this was one of my favorite audiobook to listen to, although that may be due to the fact that the author is a former programmer, and the series is filled with nerdy references.
Written by Brandon Sanderson and narrated by Michael Kramer,
Unlike what you’d expect from a series in a list of “overpowered main characters”, the protagonist definitely doesn’t start at the top, so this one may not be right up your alley. Character growth is really the only thing that makes the main character qualified to enter this list, and even taking that into consideration, even I considered that growth speed as “painfully slow”, which is why this series is the last in the list.
Listening to audiobooks with overpowered main characters has taught me two things: 1. The LitRPG genre usually has an overpowered protagonist 2. If Nick Podehl narrates a series, it’s probably because the main character is overpowered