Awaken Online: Flame (Tarot #2)

  • Author: Travis Bagwell
  • Page count: 604
  • Started on: 2025/08/03
  • Finished on: 2025/08/13
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • ★★★★☆

Stylized book cover for Awaken Online: Flame (Tarot Book Two) by Travis Bagwell. The central image features a bandaged hand gripping a flaming sword, with six other swords arranged around it in a circular pattern. Behind the hand is a dark, hooded figure outlined in red flames and swirling smoke. The title and author’s name are displayed in red and orange gradient text.

Flame is book 2 in the Tarot trilogy, which is a subseries of the books set in the Awaken Online world - where modern day humans spend time playing a VR game ruled by an advanced AI. The Tarot trilogy follows Finn Harris, a widower who discovers the game at the urging of his daughter, and whose late wife may have been at the root of the game’s AI.

In this book Finn and his companions Kyle and (daughter) Julia have to retrieve an artifact from a huge, mostly unmapped dungeon inhabited by lethal creatures and two bands of adversaries who are also trying to claim the prize. Sure… Dungeon Crawler Finn would’ve gotten Bagwell into trouble, but it’d have been a fitting title. 😂

On the journey to and in the dungeon Finn is reading the journal of Bilel, who - through experimentation on himself and others - discovered some of the secrets behind the world’s mana and magic. Not surprisingly Finn then tries out something similar, to great effect. This was another good build on Finn’s story, as well as more build-out of the AO world.

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