I started reading the Awaken Online series on a recommendation from a friend, and have been reading it for a while now. It’s not my first foray into the LitRPG genre¹, but so far I’ve been enjoying both the main story arc and the side quests featuring Riley, Frank, and Eliza.

My friend wondered when I’d hit the cliff that he saw, where the main story arc rapidly goes downhill. To delay that moment a bit longer, I decided to read the Tarot books first, which are a separate story line in the same universe.

Awaken Online is an online VR roleplaying game managed by an advanced, seemingly sentient, AI. The Tarot trilogy describes the adventures of Finn Harris, a widower who gets pressured into trying AO by his daughter, and who goes on to rediscover himself and his passions in the online world.

One of my more consistent annoyances with long-running multi book stories² is that the main characters tend to “level up” further and further until you end up with mostly god-like battles. There’s nothing wrong with those high-level antics, but they are very different from how the characters usually start out and what drew me into their story.

I loved learning about Finn, his family, and the housekeeper AI who develops a personality in the game. New characters and a new main plot in a familiar world? Sign me up! I am eager to read the other two books in the trilogy, as Finn was already leveling up rapidly by the end of this first book.

Footnotes

1. If I recall correctly, the first LitRPG I ever read was the Magic 2.0 series ↩

2. I think I may have first noticed this in the TV series Weeds, but it’s also present in Harry Potter and many other serials. ↩