Awful

Unless you are an angsty 12 year old who can literally not imagine anyone else as an actual person... Stay away.

This book is tragically bad. It's a self absorbed teenager who's constantly whining about the laughably cartoonist world he lives in. They call him welfare because his environmentalist lawyer parents got him a scholarship??? He ain't even poor. He goes on to live in his aunt's spare room and laments to himself how it only has a bed. Oh. The humanity. A room and bed. How very "spartan".

Moving into the game world, he has constantly overpowered abilities granted to him and keeps acting like he's overcoming some challenge and his "tactics" are the only thing getting him by. Okay buddy. Nevermind that you constantly one shot things way over your level and you can command a huge army of soldiers stronger than regular PCs. Also. Why tf are all the player characters so underhwelming? They mention that some of the strength comes from emotion. Ok. Cool. Everyone but you is a cardboard cutout. Alright. Jason is the most bland uninspired character of them all. I was honestly rooting for his rival. They also introduced the cliche love interest who can do nothing but simp for our dear great poor wounded main character.

Christ please someone message me and tell me what this book has to offer. Bad bland characters predictable plot unrealistic world, boring story of self indulgence. Nothing about this is good?? Im just confused at the rating.

73 people found this helpful

How is this rated so high?

Because it makes perfect sense for a lvl 1 character to one shot lvl 70s, multiple time. That same lvl 50 character then summon multiple lvl 150 minions and take over a whole city. If that's how the system is set up, sure, but not really because only MC can do it and NO ONE else can, including beta testers... At this point please don't call it litrpg, call it wish "fulfillment isekai: I was trapped in an idiot world". How this is rated so high is beyond me.

49 people found this helpful

Almost certainly written by a computer

The writing is like bad teen fiction, the protagonist lives the dream life of every bullied kid. He shows everyone how strong and independent he is, including his parents, He leaves school and makes his living playing the titular game, seemingly able to play it in ways unfathomable to even the creators.

In addition, the flow of the writing is off, it randomly switches from using contractions to not using them, the player is the master of making plans that he, in his own opinion, has no chance of succeeding at, but miraculously is victorious, time and time again.

49 people found this helpful

One of the best LitRPG series available

One of the best LitRPG series available. So many are trash. This author understands the balance needed between geek and good writing. Have loved all the books in this series.

21 people found this helpful

Greatly surprised and impressed

As an avid MMO player I have tried to read other books of this type (entering the virtual world if a game) but they have for the most part seemed very one dimensional. THIS is an in depth emersive world that I could see existing in, with all the action of battle and faction intrigue, down to the intricacies of finding the right crafting mats. This is a great book series that any MMO player will enjoy. Come, join the Kin!

13 people found this helpful

A school shooters wet dream.

The emo-boy power fantasy was too much. The main character is a holden caufield turned up to 11. Absolutely everyone in this story is unlikable. The litrpg aspects of the book are rehashes of other systems done better elsewhere. To top it off the narrator is abysmal. Its like having your geriatric grandfather recite 4chan posts to you. That being said take my review with a grain of salt, 4 hours in and i moved on to better books.

10 people found this helpful

Gravely entertaining!

Would you consider the audio edition of Awaken Online: Catharsis to be better than the print version?

Hard to say. For me personally, I may have enjoyed this book more in print. Regardless, it is a very good read if you can deal with some minor eyerolling moments.

What other book might you compare Awaken Online: Catharsis to and why?

Probably "Ready Player One" though that is only for the mmo theme. Otherwise, Im not too sure.

What does David Stifel bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Stifel was perhaps not the best choice. He does do a great job at building a good atmosphere, but falls short on some deliveries and tone of certain characters. He is just a tad too robotic and doesn't really fit with the book, in my opinion. When it comes to the cities, describing events, coming through with a building atmosphere or the clashing of titans, he nails it. When it comes to dialogue though... eh. It can be a tad underwhelming or just plain jarring. His voice just seems out of place and the voices aren't too varied. Still he did do a pretty good job and it wasn't enough of a mismatch to make me overlook the good things he did.

Any additional comments?

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, recommend giving it a read or listen even. It has hiccups without a doubt, some enough to make me roll my eyes or frown a bit.

The story itself is very enjoyable, but there are issues. Realistically, I think the Mr. Bagwell did wonderfully on capturing that general teen guy frustration, but at the same time after going through my own phase like this just made me groan. It did seem to be over the top at times.The hatred for the rich and just people that treated him badly was too edgy for me. Don't get me wrong it wasn't too much of an issue, just a small gripe. This bigger issue was that you hear a lot of repeating phrases and descriptions. Normally not something that bothers me, but here it did. Could just be personal bias after listening / reading a different book that had a larger range, but still.

Okay okay, so I whined about the bad. What was good, right? The author is damn good at describing battles, fights, horrors of beast and demon. These monstrosities that linger and tear out of nightmare. The times and convos when the main isn't being your average angsty teen are well-done and usually funny. He captures being an awkward boy in a place he doesnt feel he belongs like a champ. The parts with magic on average, while the casting is about what you'd expect, the description of how they act is pretty good. There are some magics though that made me sit up a little straighter and give the book/computer a respectful nod. Mr. Bagwell is also pretty good at the whole "Hey this guy is getting torn apart. It's not pretty and not everyone can watch it." Killing while plentiful in the book is never really completely normalized. There are parts where spectators or people have to leave cause they cant watch. There are part in some fights or battles where the battle isn't one side of unwavering freight trains versus the solid rock cliff of never crumbling foes! No. People run. People get scared. People leave and are never seen again. The frustration and fear is sometimes palpable.

Mr. Stifel just wasn't the right fit here, for me. I enjoyed his voice, but it was out of place. Went into enough about my issues with that already.

TL;DR - Pretty simple, the book overall is worth your time. I personally don't agree with the choice in reader, but the performance wasn't bad. In some places it was damn fine. The book has issues, if you hate or can't deal with a taste of highschoolesque angst and drama here and there, I'd recommend not listening. It is few and far in between though, keep that in mind. The fantasy and dark magic side is very good to the point of making this book almost amazing.

77 people found this helpful

This is more of a YA novel than reviews indicate

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this book. its clearly part of the emerging genre of "LitRPG" - and reads like playing an MMO video game. And just like such games, the characters are stock and predictable: outsider, loner high school kid; rich jerk; decent girl caught in the middle. But it was still a fun ride.

129 people found this helpful

Absolutely loved it

I remember reading this on royalroad a while back and remembered when it came to Amazon. fast forward a few years and I saw it on here, Bought it instantly. My first purchase, no regrets whatsoever!

6 people found this helpful

Wow

I really enjoyed the main character, he is not unlike many teenage men. I had put off this series for awhile due to some of the reviews focusing on it being dark. Honestly it's more a shade of grey that has good and evil elements.

5 people found this helpful