Awaken Online: Evolution (Volume 4)

Bagwell is proving excellent at leaving his readers begging for more. His writing continues to improve (there were far fewer repetitive phrases here than in earlier books) and his understanding of human psychology leads you on a journey of understanding just what makes people tick, all while serving up no shortage of action, snark, and imaginative scenarios. Every character has a solidly unique voice and motivation and the addition of side story characters—quiet-yet-quick-witted Eliza and crotchety Cecil—add even greater variety to the mix. (On that note, the Hippie and Fluffy are the most delightfully frustrating gods—well, the Hippie is frustrating. Fluffy is long-suffering.) You can read this book so many ways, it has a great deal of depth mixed in with the action, if only you pay the slightest attention, or you can just turn a blind eye to the questions of good and evil and what makes a person sentient, and just take the action at face value the way children do. (I find that boring, but to each their own. I prefer to think a little deeper.) Like all good books, it leaves you wondering what is to come and thinking hard about the complex questions posed (for those unafraid to do so), and like all good authors, Bagwell once again leaves us hanging. At least there aren’t any bodies on the floor this time...

The author seems to have forgotten what got him here, namely that this is a LitRPG story... This reads much like any other pulp-fantasy novel. while the story is written from the perspective of our hero, each chapter starts with an intro detailing what the protagonist is up to... which seems really contrived, and interrupted the story flow so much, that i ended up skim reading the first couple of pages of each new Chapter... the further i got into the story, the more I was inclined to skim the rest... But the first two books are excellent !

An interesting story but the main character doesn't seem to think or prepare very well. Too much reaction. Too much retracing of steps. And if, by this time, the AI doesn't have considerable resources outside the company to protect it's own survival then an obvious mistake has been made.

A definite step back. Every other chapter in italics. The format was so off-putting I had to just skim those sections. There wasn't a great payoff for all the italic plotting. The side project was more engaging.

The next book will be a return to form

I really wanted to like this book, mostly because the 3 first installments was good in terms of story building, pace and genre.
However I found Awaken Online: Evolution to be slow in pace, lacking in credibility of the story building and as the story progressed it felt more and more like a standard fantasy book than LITRPG.

Gone was the many strategic choices and adapting to other players inside AO and the uncritical accept by the main character of a rogue AI and its manipulations with people minds seems to easy.
I am unsure whether I will pick up the next installment however this one gets 2 stars from me.

The series is a quickly engaging page-turner. I am not a player of MMORPGs, so I was hesitant to pick up a series of this sort. I remembered the classic “Characters drawn into the game world” story in Joel Rosenberg’s Guardians Of The Flame and gave it a shot. The storylines are compelling from the first chapter, with believable and vivid characters. The clever manipulations of the MMO rules system (exploits) that take place throughout the story to great effect are easy to understand even for non-gamers. The villain-as-a-hero has been done before, but Mr. Bagwell does an exceptional job in AO. The seamless weaving of in-game/real world stories and plot events is masterfully done. I plow through books on the store’s Kindle Unlimited - many are ok, some are disappointing, and a few are a “Jackpot” where I find a new author to follow. Travis Bagwell is a Jackpot and joins Larry Correia, Jim Butcher, and Jonathan Maberry on my top author’s list. I strongly recommend this series, it is a standout!

I really wanted to like this book, mostly because the 3 first installments was good in terms of story building, pace and genre.
However I found Awaken Online: Evolution to be slow in pace, lacking in credibility of the story building and as the story progressed it felt more and more like a standard fantasy book than LITRPG.

Gone was the many strategic choices and adapting to other players inside AO and the uncritical accept by the main character of a rogue AI and its manipulations with people minds seems to easy.
I am unsure whether I will pick up the next installment however this one gets 2 stars from me.

The series is a quickly engaging page-turner. I am not a player of MMORPGs, so I was hesitant to pick up a series of this sort. I remembered the classic “Characters drawn into the game world” story in Joel Rosenberg’s Guardians Of The Flame and gave it a shot. The storylines are compelling from the first chapter, with believable and vivid characters. The clever manipulations of the MMO rules system (exploits) that take place throughout the story to great effect are easy to understand even for non-gamers. The villain-as-a-hero has been done before, but Mr. Bagwell does an exceptional job in AO. The seamless weaving of in-game/real world stories and plot events is masterfully done. I plow through books on the store’s Kindle Unlimited - many are ok, some are disappointing, and a few are a “Jackpot” where I find a new author to follow. Travis Bagwell is a Jackpot and joins Larry Correia, Jim Butcher, and Jonathan Maberry on my top author’s list. I strongly recommend this series, it is a standout!

If you have read the previous books in this series you know what to expect at this point and this book does not disappoint. In this book, we see Jason and co deal with the aftermath of the cliffhanger of the last book in the real world and travel to new lands where gods are starting to make their moves in Awaken Online. This brings new threats in both and fun new friends and powers to deal with the threats. In response to another review italics are used to show Alexs PoV as it was in previous books. Definitely check this series out if you haven't you won't regret this.

So good! I basically read this in one sitting (basically cause I have to minus my food and bio breaks). Without any spoilers this was fantastic! I know some authors write a series that starts off great and then the series goes too long and starts to either repeat itself or gets bogged down in the minutia, but AO hasn't and I don't know what length (book-wise) the author plans to go with this series, but I hope it's at least 10, cause I heart this series so much. I am looking forward to a Frank side quest (though I know the next is about **** ((woah almost did a spoiler)), but one can hope), cause you gotta love a character that needs to eat to get more powerful. I mean that's gotta have some fun abilities to mess with.

I really have nothing but good things to say about this book. Bagwell continues to show remarkable improvement from book to book, and Evolution was no exception. He tackles many of the same fundamental questions of morality and humanity that I've come to expect from his work, and I can't say enough about the plot or characterization. Quite simply, this book deserves to be read and known far more than it is.

One of my biggest complaints of the earlier installments in this series was the lack of worldbuilding. And Bagwell blew that complaint out of the water with this book. We finally leave the vicinity of the Twilight Throne, we learn more about the history of the world, and we get to see more of the current environment. It's still not quite on par with what I would like to see, but it's miles ahead of where it has been before.

Characters continue to be where Bagwell shines the best. His characters live and breathe as much as any I've ever read before, and they add a depth to the world that almost makes up for the scanty worldbuilding we've seen.

This story of a bullied teenager who becomes a game's villain is a very dark entertaining interesting story. His Necromancer character takes over a city before the game administration could stop him and fix the cheat code he discovers. The game owners fix their loophole and hire him. Other players hate on him and place a bounty on his head in game and real life. In order for him to stay stronger, he conquers the outlining towns and kill everyone in them (including women and children) to raise as his vassals. They just line up and he slits their throats. Anyway, great series can't wait for the next book.

Spoiler/Not spoiler?
Being the third or fourth book in, depending on how you look at it, it's hard for me to talk about this book without giving stuff away, but I will strive to keep it simple. I enjoyed it quite a bit even with it having a lot of focus on Jason's class quest. It seems kind of tunnel visioned there, but I also understand the reasoning for it. New characters are introduced. Old characters are revisited. The only reason I didn't read through in one sitting was due to work. Fantastic read and would recommend to anyone.

The continuing story building, the backstory, the multiple character stories all juggling smoothly together...arrgh! So amazing, yet at the same time I just wanna scream, because I just want to keep reading, and keep going. It’s that good. I feel like I’m in the game online when I’m reading the story. And then I have to stop for things like eating, Going to the bathroom, going to work, and go to physical therapy. I just don’t want to stop and yet here we are four books later. I am already in with drawl.

Welll im kinda sad.. Not because it ended. But because there are these side stories that are taking priority. I dont doubt they are written well, but jason is gonna get put over a barrel by his parents. He has fresh love with Riley, and i cant but feel these things are a priority. At least for me... I will sadly have to wait. I cant be mad at you Travis for taking your own direction with this lovely worl you created. But i can be sad, because i will be missing these characters. They are important to me and for that i will always be grateful. Carry on meistro...

This book series is great for several reasons:

The books are long, and the chapters take a long time to read so you can read a chapter every night like clockwork for a few months.

The story doesn’t hit too many dry spots. The lengthy internal struggles of characters narrated for pages at a time, by the character, is the worst. To an extent it’s understandably unavoidable, but Travis Bagwell has thus far been good about not writing in those type of space fillers/interest killers.

The story is suspenseful, and original. I’m not into MMO’s but I still follow along easily without being turned off by the game references. I might have even learned some game slang.

You find yourself pulling for all of the characters who are players in the game, and hoping that there is some peace for the ones whose childhood clearly left them with emotional baggage. You begin to think that maybe they can all come together and be friends, and that it’s the adults who are the villains of AO.

Most importantly, it reminds me of my youth, and I can only wonder what it would’ve been like to have had Awaken Online when I was in high school.

This Author make hardly any grammatical errors as is rife in LITRPG. Add to that a masterful story, excellent character building, multiple quality story lines to follow, and very well described combat scenes (or if there were flaws I would not know them). One of the best in this genre and I think if it's rate of publication were higher I would be happy.LOL

Really, it compares to "Continue Online" series. Most telling is that I left a review at all. I don't consider myself a critic, but if you are like me then you want direction to well written books and stories. Well, bottom line this is one of those. Enjoy.

Bagwell has a talent for getting you hooked send resolving the current but of the story, but leaves you wanting more, in a good way.

Great character development, the plots in both worlds are intertwined and fantastic.

And again, that cliffhanger...!

As always, a well written page turner! In today's age of numerous writers, it's extremely enjoyable to read a novel that paints an amazing visual picture, yet has a great pace and flow of story. The plots twist and turn it into an introspective journey of self. What memories do you hold?

I have adored this series since it first crossed my radar. If you are looking for an unbiased review then you'll not find it from me today.
I have lost so much productivity to this book. From the moment I finished the prologue I was hooked again and I didn't want to stop. The story is always so fascinating to read and I love the characters and how well they feel fleshed out. The closer I got to the ending of the book the sadder it made me because I knew my time in this world was coming to an end once again.

I'm already eagerly awaiting book 4 and however many more that there will be.

Author keeps looking deeper into a player's soul and psyche. Characters, either player or NPC come alive and become the reader and people they've known. Excellent world and characters terms creation. Keep the series alive and loving the books explaining the side characters.

As with every other book in this series, this was fantastic. Also as with every other book in the series, this one left off on cliffhanger that makes me think that Travis Bagwell is a jerk. Now I will spend the next excessively long period of time waiting in anticipation. Travis, you suck, but you're one hell of a writer.

This series examines the possibility of artificial intelligence becoming more that developers anticipated, and the potential for game play to have far reaching effect on non game life. You will have to read the series to understand the relevance of that observation. Start at the beginning

Interesting book and a good continuation of the series overall not a huge fan of the way the book ended but and felt that the police seemed if not straight up villains and it seemed like their would have been a easy personal frame for this crime and everyone’s hands would have been clean

One of the leaders of the litrpg genre, Bagwell, has delivered another knockout addition to his tremendously entertaining Awaken Online series! This book continues with one of the best parts of the series, tremendously entertaining storytelling both in game and IRL.

Totally epic series so far. Real life issues! Exciting in game drama and action. Well balanced. No porno. Funny. So far this is one of my favorite litRPG series of all of them. I waited a long time to read it because I thought it would have a cheesy cat theme. So never judge a book by its feline cover.

This series just gets better and better. The climax of this book was touching. Looking forward to the next book! Loved the preview! Seeing Eliza's story and the trials the Hippie out her through promises to be entertaining as well as humorous.

To categorize AO as just a litRpg series seems shortsighted. Bagwell finds a way to encompass so many generes in one book. I feel like I'm reading a thriller, wrapped around a murderer mystery, contained within an overarching consipiracy, then genreously covered in sci-fi fantasy icing! Why can't the next book be out already. I needs my fix!!

I really enjoy this series, and for some reason I thought it would be wrapped up in this book.

The good news is there's going to be more! The bad news is that it's not going to be our for a while.

When I read the initial description for book one, I was sceptical that i would like this. I have fell in love with litRPG recently and decided to give this one a try. The story keeps getting better. The characters are very relatable and well fleshed out. I love the way that everything is linked together yet separate to each characters story. Keep up the amazing work!

A very good read! The characters have depth and they evolve throughout the story as well. There is a tad bit of mystery and plenty of action to be had, not to mention plenty of rpg lit elements. Read this!

No review I could write would do this book justice, and other people might not enjoy the book as much as I did. I will, however, still heavily recommend this book. I loved its references to Riley's actions in her side story and how they effected the game world. 10/10

The writing, in terms of prose and editing, is decent, but the characters in this book are just terribly one-dimensional. The protagonist is a "clever plan" Mary Sue, the antagonist is a rich handsome jock who is literally a psychopath, the love interest is a "nice girl" who was deeply damaged by her two weeks dating the villain, etc, etc. All of the characters have basically a single defining trait and this is used as justification for everything. The plot feels super-contrived, full of convenient coincidences and straight-up implausible situations. I enjoyed the first book enough to read the second, but at some point my suspension of disbelief snapped and the book turned into a slog.

Travis continues the story and keeps up the magic! I would say he may have even packed in too much. I'd still recommend the book for older teens and up. Get ready to learn more about underlying power struggles in Awaken Online: Evolution!

Awaken Online is simply some of the most well written, thought provoking, LitRPG available. Hands down. Great characters with real flaws, great plot line which doesn't lose it's way. Good story telling. Can't wait for the next insyallment.

I like this addition to the series, however it is becoming a bit predictable in the plot structure. There’s usually a starting event, and then later a major event. I feel like the main forward very quickly. The book is still good, I just want more to happen.