Awaken Online
by Travis Bagwell
Narrator
David Stifel
Duration
16h
Series
1 / 8
Released
2016
About This Audiobook
The game takes one look at Jason's psych profile and decides he'd make a better villain than hero. That's the hook of Awaken Online: the VRMMO's controlling AI reads players' mental states, and Jason — freshly expelled thanks to his rich-kid rival Alex — gets nudged straight down the necromancer path. Undead armies, a seized city, a throne. What makes it work is that the dark alignment feels earned instead of edgy; Jason plans like a raid leader and enjoys his own theatrics, and you end up rooting for the bad guy without noticing the switch. Weak spot: Alex is a cartoon. Rich, smug, evil because the plot needs him to be — comic-book villains have more depth. The Twilight Throne arc is satisfying enough that you forgive it. David Stifel's narration layers in actual sound effects, which threw me for an hour and then became my favorite part of the production. 12.1K ratings at 4.7, and it's been a genre cornerstone since 2016.
