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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Characters: I liked Kirito from the start. I like that we are able to read from his perspective and see more from his eyes and know his inner thoughts. Liked Asuna too. To be honest, I would like to see their relationship grow more naturally, it felt rushed, but I don't think it was bad. Secondary characters felt like just that - as secondary characters in the background, some of them got more "screen time". Hopefully characters get fleshed out more in later volumes.
Atmosphere: I like video games and RPGs, might be the reasons why even picked up SAO in the first place. Playing the game, levelling up, using skills to beat monsters and bosses, SAO has that. Descriptions of the world were enough to let imagination run wild. Would love to know more and more about the SAO game itself.
Writing :Well, I can't say that the writing was the best. Sure, the story was compelling for me and such, but the structuring of the story itself felt a bit chaotic. Wanted to know about each floor and boss battle, but author used time skips to move story further instead. I feel like that the story about Aincrad could be written in multiple volumes. This one started it and ended it. Not many characters got to be fleshed out. Hopefully next volumes improve on that.
Plot: I think the idea of the plot was good and unique (of what I have read before). As a person who plays video games occasionally, I was intrigued to try SAO out. Getting stuck in a virtual reality game and not being able to get out until the game has been beaten, that idea have crossed my mind sometimes when I played something and I'm glad to pick up a work that bases it's plot around it. High stakes, life on the line and the longing of home in the real world.
Intrigue: SAO kept me reading it more and more, during the time I was on a reading slump. I wanted to know about character fates, how would it end, would they get back to the real world, who would die etc.
Logic: As a sci-fi, I think the author managed to make everything follow logic. When you start to wonder how stuff worked or why it happened, author managed to explain that through Kirito's dialogue or inner thoughts and observations. I didn't find them as info dumps, to me they felt natural.
Enjoyment: I enjoyed Aincrad arc of Sword Art Online. I just wish that it was floor by floor, longer story and fleshed out characters. Setting those complaints aside, I liked it. I know that a lot of people doesn't like SAO, but I did.
Im Jahre 2022 sind die Spielkonsolen so weit, dass man sich einen Helm aufsetzt und mit vollem Bewusstsein im Spiel ist, während der eigene Körper im Stuhl oder auf dem Bett liegt. Dieser Helm, das NerveGear, unterbindet die Signale des Gehirns an die Muskeln und leitet sie um in den Avatar des Spielers. So kann man voll und ganz in eine vollkommen anderen Welt eintauchen. (Der gute Kawahara hat die Story 2002 geschrieben. Ja, er hatte scheinbar hohe Erwartungen in unsere Zukunft, aber ich hab Nachsicht mit ihm
The idea of Sword Art Online is just brilliant! Gamers become trapped inside a virtual world (a VRMMORPG) by the insane creature of the programme, with their real life bodies held hostage in the outside world. The virtual world now becomes their reality as they must work to beat the game if they ever hope to escape alive. It’s just awesome, and the world of Aincrad is very well built as are all the mechanics of the game (which is pretty standard fantasy world just without magic). The author also does a good job of exploring the various reactions and emotions players experience as a result of being trapped in the game.
The protagonist and narrator is Kiroto a sixteen year old gaming fanatic, he was a beta tester so had the advantage of prior knowledge of the game come release day (the day they got trapped) and he has trained to a very high level. He plays solo, not wanting to be part of a Guild or the Army. Then we also have Asuna, which is where things started to take a dive for me. Asuna is also a very high level player, incredibly skilled with a rapier sword (enough to earn her the moniker The Flash) and is supposedly a vice-commander in the best/biggest Guild in the game. So far so good… but then a lot of time is spent describing how beautiful she is, and how great her body is... and it is THIS that makes her special, not her skill. Apparently no attractive or thin girls play games (in fact hardly any girls, SOA is a bit of sausagefest), so as a pretty one in a sea of uglies she stands out is something of celebrity (I should point out that their avatars were turned off and their real life appearances revealed early on). Ok maybe I can see past the painful sexism in that… but then there are too many descriptions of her good looks, and coupled with the illustration of her in in underwear (actually the copy I have has two.. one in full colour. Note that all the illustrations of Kiroto show him being hero and fully clothed). She’s constantly sexualised and it makes me feel icky.
I also don’t really understand her personality. I expected her to be a badass and as a vice-commander have ab it of authority, a bit of something about her. She seems to essentially be a trophy for the Guild, you don’t see her involved in it at all other than her wish to leave to be with Kiroto. She has armed escort all the time, and it seems like she is just kept locked away. When it comes down to it all she wants is to be Kirotos wife and live in a little cottage (she’s a master Cook too.. he loves her sandwiches *eyeroll*). They run off and give up the fight at one point to do this! I suppose Japanese society is still pretty male chauvinist, and this is fairly typical of the genre... but that doesn’t mean it didn’t deeply irritate me!
This is a love story when it comes down to it... and once again one I didn’t believe in. They feel in love really fast, and ok yes they’re teenagers, but it was all a bit intense with very little foundation. It all comes to a bit of an abrupt end too which surprised me... I know this is series, so I don’t know how the timeline works on in further books. I think I’d rather have read about the early days than the two year leap forward that we get in this book.
I also struggled a bit with the way it was written. Because it is an English translation of the original Japanese I found it overly descriptive, and often you get three or four words to describe something that if the original language would be conveyed with just one word. Everything is exaggerated too but I have a feeling that is part of the style. It is easy to read, but not to be personal taste.
There are things to love about it but there as more I hated. Very disappointing because I am in love with the idea of being trapped in the VRMMORPG!