Jason logs into Awaken Online fed-up with reality. He’s in desperate need of an escape, and this game is his ticket to finally feeling the type of power and freedom that are so sorely lacking in his real life.
Awaken Online is a brand new virtual reality game that just hit the market, promising an unprecedented level of immersion. Yet Jason quickly finds himself pushed down a path he didn’t … didn’t expect. In this game, he isn’t the hero. There are no damsels to save. There are no bad guys to vanquish.
In fact, he might just be the villain.
(This novel contains graphic violence and language. If books had ratings, it would be rated “M” for Mature)
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I wish I would have bumped this book up on my TBR list way sooner! I had no idea it was going to have necromancy elements, swoon.
I had been putting it off because over all I was unsure about how I would like the litrpg elements. I’ve only read a few other books with light game mechanics, and they were humorous so more poking fun instead of laying it all out there.
I loved the format Travis put the stats in, it made it easy to skim them, as I wasn’t as into those parts of the book. I felt that it really opened up the readership that loved necromancy/dark fantasy, but not so into gaming.
All of the characters were so well written, each unique and relatable. I love the real world intrigue that is happening in the story, and how it mixes with the in game intrigue. I was on edge for the majority of the book, and could hardly put it down. I loved the game aspects, and all of the mysteries surrounding Alfred.
So many strands are opened in this book, I can’t wait to move onto the next in series.
One of my long-running complaints about LitRPGs is that while they all seem to start with a person in the real world living a crummy life that he or she wishes to escape, there is rarely any genuine synergy between the game experience and the real-life experience. We see character growth in the game, development of tactics, greater self-awareness, and often enhanced maturity, but that growth occurring in immersive game experiences rarely has any impact on the player’s real-life experiences. That’s not the case in Awaken Online: Catharsis. More than any other book which I have read in this subgenre, it consciously uses the gaming experience to influence how the player deals with life in the real world and it does so in a way that develops the plot in both game and life.
The book is a little bit slow getting started as it establishes just how crummy our protagonist’s, Jason’s, life really is, but once the game gets going the tension builds and the pages fly past. Jason gets expelled from school when the administrators side with a bully over him because the bully comes from wealth and Jason doesn’t. He seeks to escape his problems in an online game which is much more sophisticated than it first appears. We learn about this sophistication through a supplemental narrative at the beginning of each chapter. The game is run by an artificial intelligence which is out of control, making changes to the game rules, and demonstrating the ability to both access players’ memories and write onto their memories. But since there is money to be made, the company hides this from government regulators and starts the game anyway. Evidently they have never seen the movie, The Terminator.
In the game, Jason discovers that his nemesis Alex, is the hero of light, Alexion, who, because he was a beta player, has a ridiculously high level character. Jason is encouraged by NPCs to act on his desires (i.e. seek revenge and power) and become a necromancer. As he develops his skill he discovers that kills made by his zombies give him experience. He also discovers that his city is being betrayed by the nobles and the guards to Alexion’s kingdom, and so he decides to try and frustrate their plans. He takes his small horde of zombies and by using excellent tactics, is able to wipe out all the noble families in the city in one crazy night. His levels shoot skyward and he decides to take out the guards as well cleverly creating a zombie apocalypse and transforming the city into an undead metropolis called the Twilight Throne. This is big news in the online community and Alex/Alexion quickly swears to take down the undead realm setting the stage for the real conflict of the novel.
This is where the novel really shines. The contrast between how Alexion runs his army versus how Jason rallies his city and fights for them is quite strong. Jason is extremely clever using psychological warfare to defend the Twilight Throne. He gets roundly criticized by many players for this but essentially he is defending while they are making an unprovoked attack upon him. By contrast, Alexion continues to act as a bully without any real sense of strategy. It is purposely ironic that an evil person is running the forces of light while a good person is mobilizing the dark. Overall this is one of the stronger books in the LitRPG subgenre.
I was on a LitRPG kick for a while, and this one is dear to me. The ‘catharsis’ of the title is that our hero – a nice kid really, pushed around Once Too Often – embraces his Dark Side to let off steam in a video game.
And he does it ever so well! 😀
This series often leaves me grinning. Right down to the tiny wish fulfillment details, like playing a video game that expands time, so you can get all your work done and still have unlimited game time left over. 🙂 And the cat, his familiar as a budding Dark Lord in-game.
If you, like me, have those special FU days, you too will find great guilty pleasure in this tale. And yes! It has zombies! And you’ll love that, even if you’ve never liked zombies before!
Fast paced, interesting, and thought provoking! Catharsis was exciting with a dose of disturbing. Who do you cheer for when then “good guy” is chaotic evil and the “bad guy” is a light wielding hero? Honestly, that one was a no brainer for me.
Jason has had enough! Tired accepting endless bullying from students and put-downs from faculty at an elite private high school he takes charge of his own life and vents his frustrations in a new online game.
This book raises some interesting questions about what people might be willing to do when their actions don’t have real world consequences as well as the blessing/curse that is online anonymity. It also has some interesting things to say about rogue AI. The book contains a light smattering of strong language and a lot of graphic (largely battle/zombie driven) violence. I grabbed this book for free when I saw it advertised and realized it had high ratings with lots of reviews. It’s probably the best free book I’ve read this year – much better most of what I’ve encountered on kindle unlimited.