I get the haters, but I enjoyed it.

I read quite a few LitRPG series. There is a problem with some where the characters never advance, the world never advances, it’s just the same thing over and over. I feel like Awaken Online actually moves forward, adding new characters and scenarios and having the characters actually level up. It’s one of the best out there in the genre.

I was surprised to read some of the bad reviews on this installment. I get some of the comments, but overall, I’d have to disagree. It was a fun book, and great to see all the characters from the various series come together and fight/team up/intertwine. Now, I get that some people hate hero/villain team-ups and I agree in stories that are “real world,” but in the sense of a video game, it totally makes sense and was fun to see.

I like that Alex is actually changing and growing. I like how the other characters are growing. My only gripe is that Riley and Frank were sidelined for this book and have had the least character growth.

What I really wanted to see, that I didn’t, was more of the real world. In the Awaken Online series, I actually care about the out of game world and what is happening. I want to see about their families and such, as set up in the other books and how things are progressing there. I want to see Frank and his family’s reaction to his improvement. I want to see Eliza and her parents talk. I want to see Jason and Riley in the real world. This book has none of that.

As always, the narrator is my biggest gripe. David Stifel does not fit this series at all. Not even close. I wish there was an alternate option.