Ascend Online

Great listen! more please!

Concept/world-building – 4
Plot – 4
Character – 5
Dialogue – 5
Prose – 5
Conflict/resolution – 4
Overall rating 4.5


I picked this up as Luke's highly recommended in the litrpg facebook groups. So, when the audio was put up for pre-order with Luke Daniels as the narrator I nabbed it quick.

It's a long listen, so it did take me a while. But it was well worth it.

Plot

For me, the start to anything takes a while, and I do admit this was a little slower for me than usual, but it's more than worth it.

Where the world that Marcus actually lives in, isn't very well defined or spoken about much. The interaction with his friends at the start and then into the game is. I enjoyed all what each character brought to the story, and more from the NPC's.

Once the story really does start to move forwards, you get the experience of Luke’s gaming and background as the world of Ascend Online develops, bits of history and information are peppered in just the right places so not to feel like too much of an info dump and you are as excited as the players for the challenges they’re about to face.

It’s got enough crafting, fighting and loot to make all the gamers want more, and the stats read out aren’t as heavy as some other litrpg books. It doesn’t slow the pacing at all, and Luke does a great job with reading them so they’re also not just hard core skill lists. The story telling around these alone helps make this a book to remember.

Character

There wasn’t quite enough of the ‘real’ world for me. I would have wanted some more interaction with it through Marcus, even if it meant he had to log off once. However, each of the characters that Marcus/Lyrian enter the game with are well defined enough once he meets back up with them in the game.

As for them being supporting characters, they’re pretty great all by themselves. As for a fav one, I’d have to say Natasha has a spot, but defo Amaranth has the biggest. (sp)

Dialogue

I thought all the characters had decent dialogue. And also with Luke narrating, they were a breeze to listen to, each with their own personalities which really shined through. Luke did a great job with the ladies in the group and also with the demons and other worldly creatures. I did however think that the two overlords of the game were brother and sister at first, till I realised they were sisters.

Graves’ character drawl was also really good to listen to. Awesome job from both narrator and writer in design of the bad guys and in the way he really stood out in the narration.

Conflict/Resolution

I think because this has so much scope for the series, that there’s always going to be underlying threads we don’t see tied up. But the overall conflict in this book was left with a satisfying ending. Even if I did want more of the book and story world.
You can’t expect me to listen to almost 18 hours of something and not come away with a book hangover! Omg give me more!

I am glad I picked this up. And I really do look forward to more in this series from both Lukes’

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

No Awaken online

narrator amazing as ever but some of the later voices are quite smilar. Cant really remember any of the secondary characters. not really any hold to story. The whole game aspect of the book seems to be lost with it having very little to do with story.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

A Cardboard Cutout

Ascend Online Book 1 is what I call a cardboard cutout of a story. The characters are flat, the detail is poor, and the story is wooden.

6 long term friends go on an adventure. At no time is their real world life described, the basis of their personalities explained, or how they can afford to up and leave the real world for a virtual one explained adequately. They dont feel like theyve been together forever. And for some reason they all appear to defer to one guy in the group in decision making and leadership. We arent looking at 6 people playing a game. We're looking at 1 guy with 5 others in the order of assistants or possibly willing slaves with no will of their own.

There isnt much detail to anything. Ive listened to the entire thing and couldn't tell you what anyone's hair colour or body build is. Who is the tallest member of the group? The most attractive? What annoying querks do people have? Their virtues? Where are people from? Ive lived mostly in the South of England. That has had a huge impact on my personality. I think the characters are American...maybe. I should be able to provide something like detail but can barely remember anyone's actual name because I dont have a picture of that person in my head.

The Land has a cast of unique characters and Richter has personality and humour in spades. Awaken Online makes a point of fully fleshing out each individual character, their emotional and psycological issues. And Devine Dungeon provides a unique look from the other side as a Dungeon is more or less the protagonist of the story. Ascend Online though feels like grinding away 1000 hours in one of those old school MMORPGs like Legend of Mir or old school WoW only less distinctive. You could easily give this one a miss. There's better out there.

And the narrator. He did his best work while reading The Iron Druid Chronicles and, like Kevin Hearne, he peaked in the early books, growing less distinctive and proficient as time goes on, though I admit that he might just have been hampered by the poor quality of writing.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A fun adventure!

Would you consider the audio edition of Ascend Online to be better than the print version?

Certainly easier to enjoy in a casual setting. It makes walking to work more fun.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ascend Online?

The climactic final battle was suitably gripping I'd say.

What does Luke Daniels bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

A good flow of narrative that leaves me free to do other things.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I chuckled a few times at some of the funnier bits, and was suitably eager to listen to the action scenes.

Any additional comments?

A very entertaining story, one that I hope to see continued soon.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

This one is worth listening to

don't have time to review, gotta find the next book. fast. Need the next book fix...

incredible, couldn't stop listening to it.

fantastic book, had me hooked by chapter 1. great detail, very well written. narration flawless. I'll not say anything about the story line, I'll just simply say it's a MUST 5 stars easily given.

The perfect LitRPG

A well balaced LitRPG with a great story, interesting characters and a lot of humor.
It focuses more on strategy strategy and enginuety in regards to how skills are used during combat in sted of relying heavily on the stats portion.. It is refreshing not having to listen through a stat list every five-ten minutes which is often the case in this genre.

Absolutely awesome

From the very beginning, this is a well thought out and well paced story. The characters are likeable and believable and the action is explosive at times. Give it a listen, you will not be disappointed.

A template for a computer game

I found the narrator a bit off-putting to start with but got used to the delivery. The story shows imagination and I feel is aimed at the younger game playing set who appreciate the details of the role play. Far too much detail of acquisitions although I can see why they are important to the role players and can imagine readers/listeners of that mindset identifying with specific characters. Not gripping enough for me so will have to abandon it.

Fun action packed story.

I am not a RPG player so I was a little hesitant to read this book, but I have really enjoyed it. There are frequent stat and character trait updates that I found a little confusing, however, they are blended into the story well, and by the end I was starting to get the hang of it ( a little like the first time you play munchkin, at first no clue and by the end you are shouting +5 with the rest)
Luke Daniels gave another brilliant performance, as he did with the Magic 2.0 series, I love his almost dry reading, which with his characterisations makes for some fun narration.
The story itself is fun, with plenty of action, and left me looking forward to book 2... actually book 3 as book 2 deals with other players apparently.
I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoyed books like Ready Player One, Magic 2.0 series ( off to be the wizard) or Sufficiently AdVanced Magic. This book is probably best for teens and up, as the battles are rather graphic and the language is consistently colourful.