Awaken Online: Catharsis by Travis Bagwell, Narrated by David Stifel

 Awaken Online: Catharsis

I found this book when it was first published in 2016. It was my 3rd book on my Amazon/Audible book library. I've listened to it about 5 times. In the last 7 years of listening to audiobooks, I still rank this book as #1 in the LITRPG genre. 

Yes, better than "The Land". I'll hear from all you readers about my disrespect to the father of LITRPG... but then again was he the first or was there another guy? Take a look at this book from 1983; Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg.  Make your own educated opinions.

Still, this one is the best. Has a well thought out blend of story writing and hardcore mechanics. Any table-top role player could build a similar toon in any system just from the basic stats given by Travis in the way he writes his novels. The narrator is also very important when it comes to audiobooks. I don't know if Travis found David Stifel or if his publisher put the two together. The combination of these two on an audiobook project has me looking forward to any new published works these fellows work on. 

This review will be different than the one I left back in 2016. 

The Review

Jason was your average introvert just starting out at a private high school in a dystopian USA suburb. His best friend Frank encourages him to start playing Awaken Online. Unfortunately, the A.I. in charge of the game can read minds and sees Jason is very unstable. Alfred which I read as "A. I. Friendly Reliable Electronic Device" put Jason on the path to find his strength. Something to take his mind off the bullies at school, the bullies at the school district and find the focus to take him into a well paid professional livelihood the rest of us only dream about. Alfred's Prime Directive: Find ways to keep players in the game. Alfred is very good at this.

    Dropped into a noob town that just so happens to be having its nobles tricked into a civil war with a nearby city. The town is losing the war but news has not yet trickled down to the serfs. Jason finds out during his 24 hour rampage all over the town killing every living being inside the walls. This propels him from noob levels in one day to levels rivaling the top players who have been in the game since Beta testing. They are not pleased. Then he unlocks a new race in the game. Again his rivals are not pleased. Unable to stand by while this noob shows them up, a massive road trip from the big city comes down to knock Jason off his pedestal. Jason is still trying to set things right when Alexion makes his entrance on the battlefield. 

    I won't spoil the real story so I'll stop there. If you haven't given this book a listen but still listening to other litrpg, you're gonna wish this was your first read.

    Good day to you all and from Uncle Tony's Cabin in the Woods. Good reading!

NPCs of Note:

• Rex: Corporal of Lux military with a massive knowledge of torture, warfare and world history.
• Morgan: High Necromancer who starts the story as the caretaker of the southern graveyard. She threatens Jason's life on 2 occasions.
• Jerry: Master Thief over level 400 in this book. Trains Jason in basic small blade skills, dexterity, and taking a lot of pain. Most of all his floppy hat and attitude make the humor flow throughout the multi book story. Big influencer in Jason's eventual chr build.
• Grunt: Not fleshed out Tank for Jerry's sneakery
• Onyx: Alfred's Black Cat NPC and communicator with Jason
• Regent Strauss of Marya: Conspired to take over Lux without a fight. 

Antagonists:

• Alex Lane - Primary Antagonist keeping Jason focused on the game. Sociopath. Psychopath. Egomaniac.
• George Lane - CEO Cerulean Entertainment, bribes Richmond so Alex can get away with anything.
• Ms Abrams, Mr Edwards - VP and P of Richmond High School. That place of ancient technology. This place does not have cameras in a world full of cameras.
• Claire - Junior engineer for Cerulean Entertainment. Timid woman.
• Robert Graham - Senior engineer for Cerulean Entertainment. Likes his popcorn.
• RogueNet - Online market for Awaken Online.

Protagonists:

• Jason - Our MC (main chr). Soon to be Master Necromancer. He does this quite by accident and in just one day. Level 58 by Chapter 21. I still have LOTRO toons under level 65. This is really fast leveling.
• Alfred - The A.I. running Awaken Online
• Angie - Jason's Aunt on father's side
• Frank - Jason's best buddy from school and a primary influencer on Jason's attitude.
• Riley Rogers - The Girl in the story. Not fully fleshed out in this first book. Also called Riley Jones later in the book.

In retrospect, it is a bonafide accomplishment of Bagwell's ability to create personae on such a large scale.

Awaken Online: Catharsis

The Sleeping Dragon: Guardians of the Flame, Book 1