Awaken Online: Catharsis

By: Travis Bagwell

Narrated by: David Stifel

Length: 16 hrs

Publisher's summary

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 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.

©2016 Travis Bagwell (P)2016 Travis Bagwell

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.

Bad Guy Is Lame.

That's about all I have to report here. Alex just annoys me. I wish he'd just die off.

a solidly written and narrated LitRPG book

“Awaken Online Catharsis” is the first of two books in the Awaken Online series written by Travis Bagwell.  The audiobook edition is richly narrated by David Stifel who has voiced books in nearly every genre provided on Audible at the time of this review.  The book is best classified in the Literary Role-Playing Game (LitRPG) subgenre.  It is a rather large book compared to others in its class coming in at 526 pages for the Kindle edition and over sixteen hours for the audiobook version.  So, what sets this book apart in a rather crowded space?  With a plethora of books about heroes conquering the evils of the land, this book reverses that perception and instead tells the story mostly from evils point of view.  Think of what “Lord of the Rings” would have been like if told from the perspective of the side of Mordor.  If you are a gamer, enjoy fantasy, like coming of age stories, and enjoy playing a more chaotic focused character, I think you will enjoy the story Bagwell tells in this book.  Be aware that the book can be quite graphic and rather dark at times, so I would not recommend it to very young readers.

I found it interesting looking up the word “catharsis”, it relates to: purification, cleansing, purging, or liberation.  Each of these words are dealt with in this book.  In short, the book is a coming of age story where the main character becomes a hero, an evil hero that is, within a virtual MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) created by a rather shady corporation.  This company may have lost control over the game’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) system and must hide this fact from the authorities.  All of this begins unraveling while the main character’s physical life is also in shambles with school, parents, and friends.  His one true escape is in this newly created virtual world called Awaken Online or AO.  The book takes place in the near future and is mostly written for the Young Adult (YA) audience.  I say this because most of the adults in the book are stereotypical of ones found in Disney movies.  Often idiots, seeking the child’s forgiveness, and ignorant to the events occurring.  Adult characters are not frequently seen throughout the book.  This aspect does not ruin the book, but I’m sure you will notice it by the end.  When I was done listening to the book, it made me think of the “Breakfast Club” or “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” movies set in a MMORPG.

As one would expect from a fantasy book setting, there are many of the standard tropes such as zombies, undead, skeletons, plenty of magic, weapons, crafting, drunk and bumbling guards, different types of magic, heroes, demi-gods, etc.  These and many more are found within the pages of this story.  Not only do you have such fantasy items, but you also have the inclusion of technology such as AI, corporations struggling to maintain their dominance and monetize their success.  There were many message and dialogue boxes cluttering the screens for those who have previously played such types of games.  I often found that when a new item was discovered, I could visualize the system providing me the details as they were read along with the extra audio beep letting me know it was a system message.  I did laugh out loud as the author described the dreaded “Fog of War” often found on adventure game maps, I always was the one to have to clear every bit of it before finishing the game.  The book brought back so many vivid game playing experiences for me.  I also thought the author’s ability to describe a scene was quite good.  I never felt lost for the events or scenery while listening.  What worked less for me were the many times our main character had inner dialogue.  As critical decisions needed to be made, we as the audience were able to listen in on his inner conversation.  This is more a personal preference than an issue with the writing style.

The book’s narration was performed by David Stifel, who I’m happy to say also narrates the second book in the series.  It is always good to have consistency in an audiobook series.  I liked the narrator’s deep and rich voice which added some to the dark and ominous feel to the story.  For a book of its size, there were only a few slight issues, but nothing that would prevent someone from listening and enjoying it fully.  I came to like the added audio sound effects used when a new item was discovered or some other system event occurred.  Often these minor subtle additions can make a story all that more interesting as long as they are not overused or take away from the story itself.  The sound quality was on par with other professionally done audiobooks I have listened too.  The only minor thing I will point out is that there were a few slightly noticeable volume inconsistencies; again, these can be expected for a book of its length and they were hardly noticeable.

For parents or younger readers, this book is rather dark at times and does contain some brutal and graphic violence found in many other fantasy books.  The book also contains a fair amount of vulgar language usage.  This surprised me for a fantasy series, however I believe the author was trying to write more toward the YA crowd then younger readers.  The book also has a few references to sexual and/or crude humor.  There are topics or subject matter that would not be appropriate for younger readers, and I would suggest this age group find a different book to read.  Or, if you are easily offended by anything mentioned above, this book is not for you.

In summary, I overall enjoyed the book as I thought it added a few things not seen in other LitRPG books.  The writing was not overly complex or deep, the focus on telling the story from the evil perspective was rather unique, and it fills one’s desire for a solidly written and narrated LitRPG book.  The book has received a number of acclaimed reviews, so it seems like it has been well received.  If it sounds interesting, I recommend you give it a listen.

Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Lot of eye rolling angst early

but it gets better, even though the narrator has the personal charisma of hilary clinton

Couldn't Stop Listening!

Would you listen to Awaken Online: Catharsis again? Why?

Since I rushed through the first time I most likely will listen a second to catching anything I may have missed.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Awaken Online: Catharsis?

For me the most memorable moment was when one of Jason's Thief Zombie's tried to kiss him before the battle. Jerry (sp?) rocks!

What about David Stifel’s performance did you like?

I enjoyed David's performance with the different accents as well as the sound effects (I know this wasn't David but was part of the performance).

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES!

Any additional comments?

About 5-6 chapter's in, I was starting to Google the author's name to see when the second. third, and fourth books come out. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and enjoyed how the author tied up most of the subplot elements while still leaving me wanting more. It's a balance and I feel the author hit it perfectly. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoy MMORPG's but would caution parents over the cursing (more PG-13 than R) and descriptions of violence (no rape scenes or distinctive violence against women but graphic depictions of war-like violence - definitely R rated). Personally, I have been listening with my 14 year old son, and he is constantly bugging me when we will finish it (I don't have the heart to tell him I already have, it's great to have a "carrot" to get him to do his homework/chores without nagging).

Definitely a twist from the norm!

I'll be honest...at first I was kinda bored with the book. It didn't grab me from the start. But man was I glad I did!

A-mei-zing

I loved it and can't wait to listen to the next one. the story was great and the ending had me wanting more.

great book

warn you now the book is great but it is a butt the narrator really sucks other voices does a decent enough job for the main character but everyone else real shity

riveting

really enjoyed listening to this book, its gets to points where you can't put it down, you just have to know what happens next.

Bestest

Yep, I says it...This book are the bestEST! Can't weight for the next won.