Awaken Online: Precipice

A great continuation of the series

Josh here...and man tt feels like it has been so long since I listened to the first entry in this series. Of course, I had to come back and listen to the next entry in this fantastic LitRPG collection.

Travis really has a great series going here and I was drawn right in to where we left off in the first book. While it felt like the story may have taken a bit to get going for me, it picked up and kept me going after the first few chapters. The ending definitely left me hanging and now, to quote the narrator in Starship Troopers, “I would like to know more”. Many things stood out to me in this series in terms of great character development. Riley’s experiences with Alex frustrated me as I’ve seen similar situations occur far too often. Watching those with power use and abuse those without always frustrates me, so I was easily upset during the interactions between these two.

Watching the politics between the game creators and the CPSC, the game creators and their own staff, and the game creators and Jason/Alex was interesting as well. I can say that I easily side with Robert in most cases as, after all, it is just a game. While there are various moral situations brought up in the game, that is exactly how I looked at each of them, just a scenario in the game. It is when these situations start translating to real life that the real issues start to arise. It will be interesting to see how Alfred interacts with Jason, given the ending to the book.

I also found myself sympathizing with Frank and the nature of his character. Most game players use these types of games to escape real life and I could feel Frank’s frustration as he went into game play and experienced problems similar to those he would in real life.

Watching Jason’s skills shift after he was able to overcome his arrogance during his first death was awesome. The venom spitters and bone monsters he crafted, and Travis’s descriptions of each, left me with a very vivid mental picture of each. Likewise, watching the battles ensue between Jason, Frank, Riley, and Jason’s creations, to include with the game master, were some of the best PvP fight scenes in any LitRPG book I’ve listened to.

This was a great book and while I don’t like cliff hangers, I am anxiously awaiting book three. David did a great job with narration and delineation of each character. While this is the only series which I have listened to with his narration, I will definitely be on the lookout for others.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

dang it I want more

I never thought I would be rooting for the "bad guy" I love it ..... where is the next book I'm waiting impatiently

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

MUST have book 3 (Evolution) ready to read...

I thought this was a great continuation of book 1 BUT I absolutely felt like the end of this book was a slap in the face and a jab in the gut... If you enjoyed the first book I think you'll enjoy this book and (so far) book 3. My issue here is that the book just ends in a horrible cliffhanger... It's not even a cliffhanger you can sit on for a bit and come back to later. You'll want to either have book 3 ready (not 2.5) or be able to immediately purchase and keep reading.

My only complaint here is that the whole Alex story line is pretty hard to listen to. I feel like there are some (very brief) points when you sort of feel like you can identify with the character or his perspective but then it's just overwhelmed with pure dislike. I feel like this has completely messed with the good vs evil (where we are supposed to be following the 'evil' character) aspect of the story. At this point, you have the 'evil' character doing mostly good things and the 'good' character doing mostly evil things... Overall though I'm still enjoying the story and will continue to listen!

Narration by David Stifel continues to meet or exceed all my expectations here. I have no complaints and would have no problem picking up any other works by this narrator!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great story with a good narrator

The narrator's voice is a bit monotone at points, but overall he does a good job at bringing a great litRPG to life.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

stellar

One of the best books I have listened to/read. It has become the book I compare other books to. with their goal just trying to get close to awaken online.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great follow up and ready for the third

What did you love best about Awaken Online: Precipice?

This is a non-stop roller coaster of excitement and tech future.

What did you like best about this story?

Loved the wit and back and for the. The narrator does a fantastic job and keeping the story going.

Have you listened to any of David Stifel’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

David is one of the best and he really sets the bar high with this one.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The book has several evolution for its main characters and I believe there in no one moment but more of a collective aha moment.

Any additional comments?

This is a fun listen and great follow up to the original. If you are or were a gamer and love to see what kind of future the new VR system have in store then this is a great story for you.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Being a Necromantic Villan LitRPG

I finished the book, and my first thought was that I want more, but also to that nagging curiosity to know what happens next. Awaken Online: Precipice meets the expectations that were set forth in the first book. Overall, I felt satisfied with the listening experience, some of the world building aspects of the book are very well done, while I get conflicted feeling with what some of the characters on what they are doing, I feel like they are the good kind of conflicted feelings meaning that I am invested in the story.

(Overall 4.7/5)

The Performance by David Stifel was basically the same experience as the first book, that is it was a good job. Conversations between characters were easy to keep track of, and I heard the story, not the voice. Production is well done, there were no issues that I caught.

(Performance 4.7/5)

So the story was gripping and addictive, it does slowdown in places but this is 18-hour audiobook, so those are the good places to take a breather. The book does end on something of a cliff-hanger, but that is mostly the author being evil and setting up the next book in the series (which is coming soon I hope 😝). I have conflicting feeling on most of the characters in this story, but all of them feel like they have depth and a background behind them. From the descriptions of the world of Awaken Online it feels like we only have a small glimpse of the entire world, and I worry that it only seems like two groups are effecting the game world it would be nice if this wasn’t the case – (even if only through the background in the news casts).

The story has a few threads going on at the same time: Jason and Company, the AI Alfred, some real-world perspectives, and an Alex subplot. All of these perspectives are interesting, but I sometimes feel like the story is being told with too many povs by the author, I appreciate the perspectives, but it is jarring sometimes to get what amounts to a 1 page pov from a character that will never be mentioned again. At the end of the day, the story was well paced, with lots of villainy!

Story (4.5/5)

17 of 22 people found this review helpful

Not your predictable hero’s tale.

I love how unique this story is. The book builds up very well into a compelling dilemma of true evil vs good. This is one of my top 5 “LITRPGs” check it out. I follow this author on social media and grab his books the day they are available!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

loved it

I love this book best be a villain I've never considered it before Travis Bagwell is a genius

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

hooked

can't stop listening. I am hooked on this series! I crave more! absolutely fantastic! keep it up.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful