Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad

By: Reki Kawahara, Stephen Paul - translator

Narrated by: Bryce Papenbrook

Read the novel that ignited the phenomenon!In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online - a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like no other - debuts, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in a wholly realistic gaming experience. But when the game goes live, the elation of the players quickly turns to horror as they discover that, for all its amazing features, SAO is missing one of the most basic functions of any MMORPG - a log-out button. Now trapped in the virtual world of Aincrad, their bodies held captive by NerveGear in the real world, users are issued a chilling ultimatum: conquer all one hundred floors of Aincrad to regain your freedom. But in the warped world of SAO, "game over" means certain death - both virtual and real...

All in

More please, the sequels would be nice. But progressive would be best. I want to hear how they progress floor by floor.

Excellent... for what it is

This is a story based off a Japanese game. The 1st novel written by this author, and published online. Im not sure who did the translation from Japanese to English, nor do I know how well the cultural differences translate. The narrator did an excellent job getting the ages, and dark& loner-ness of the main character across.

I’m a fan so….

A great anime, better book. I liked the presentation of the material. No gripes here, the time and talent it takes to do audio for anything is a hard enough task. Good job!

Narrator is incredible

I didn’t recognize the name of the narrator going in but it’s clear he does the voice overs for anime professionally

Gives more than the anime with a well done performance.

When I first saw the this was available and being read by Kirito’s English dub voice actor, Bryce Papenbrook I was super excited. It was voiced spectacularly! I’ve already got books 2-4 ready to be listened to. He went above and beyond with the voice acting and I’m looking forward to the next stories where Cherami Leigh (Asuna’s English dub VO) will be coming up next. I truly enjoyed listening to this story and learning things that may have been skipped over in the anime. Kirito is given more characterization and you really get to understand who he is, his ambitions and how he feels about the characters he interacts. The world building was very descriptive and Reki did a well done job brining SAO to life. I look forward to all of the light novels (hopefully) being done for audible!