![Awaken Online: Catharsis by [Bagwell, Travis]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41emPiTYVEL._SY346_.jpg)
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. It's interesting to see each author's take in the genre, and Travis Bagwell does not disappoint. (He states it's the first book he has written, and that makes me wish I could give it six stars!)
We first meet our protagonist (Jason) living at the bottom of the pecking order. He doesn't have a bad life, but his parents, two high-powered lawyers are often away. The book begins with them forgetting he was still home and basically putting the house in storage mode. He's enrolled in a school as a scholarship student with a bully who is focused on him as the 'welfare student.' Can his day get much worse? Why yes, yes it can.
Even with all that, Jason's day does look up a bit. He goes home and finds the new release of the game he's been waiting for and loads it into his machine. It's an immersive experience. A very immersive experience. There is a secondary story line running that starts about two years earlier as the game is being run through some beta testing.
Bagwell does a nice job of characterization for Jason and others in the story. The NPCs slowly grow to be three dimensional and the story moves at a good pace. Jason has choices in the game, and the choices play out in an intriguing fashion. More interestingly, Jason is not trapped in the game world, but moves back and forth between his real life and the game life. Bagwell takes some of the tropes for the genre and makes them his own by breathing fresh life into them.
warning: There is some pretty clearly depicted gore, and a rather constant showing of game stats and the interface. It all works well in this book and fits given the storyline.
A strong book from a first time author, and I look forward to reading more by Bagwell.
- File Size: 1784 KB
- Print Length: 526 pages
- Publisher: Travis Bagwell; 1 edition (July 23, 2016)
- Publication Date: July 23, 2016
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B01J0E8Z8A
- Text-to-Speech:
Enabled
- Word Wise: Enabled
- Lending: Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,577 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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