Travis Bagwell returns to Awaken Online in this side installment that is a wonderful blend of action, emotion, and philosophy that results in an origin story that's hard to put down.
#Awaken online book 5 series#
Overall, the novel serves as another interesting addition to series with the story of the (presumptive) air avatar and his band of (un)lucky thieves. With the epilogue, there is also some foreshadowing, and reminder of another potential external influence with the subtle actions of the morally grey character of Alfred. In particular, this (as well as the similarities between Dom and Booker) highlights a nuanced realism that conventional fantasy designations like protagonist/antagonist always being relative terms, which can easily be shifted depending on perspective. While these two had previously been merely two-dimensional antagonists, serving as rivals for Jason and Finn in their earlier appearances, recasting them as more meaningful figures with their own backstories serves to also add a greater touch of realism to this fictional world. The revival of characters like Lauren and Vanessa from previous books is also a nice touch, building upon Bagwell's characteristic habit from previous novels of including vignettes of the world through the eyes of other characters.
While ostensibly being a novel centered around Dom, Happy is also essentially a story of founding of as it introduces these new characters, just as much as it tells Dom's journey. Dom's physical changes in AO mirror his other transformation from social isolation to the creation of his guild with his new friends. Happy also gives the most substantial character progression of any figure in the series so far. In that sense, even if not wholly believable, the Gambler's ideology serves as useful counter to the intellectually lazy ideas of positive psychology and mindfulness that persist so strongly in modern popular culture. The Gambler's own unorthodox conception of happiness via chaos, likewise, serves to force the reader to pause and ponder our popular conceptions of happiness, and perhaps even consider it as being more determined by external factors than we would like to admit. It serves to benefit him at many points in the novel, illustrating a picture of the world that acknowledges the influences outside factors, and even the randomness of reality. Luck serves as poignant theme for anyone dealing with a terminal illness at a relatively young age, but the factor of luck is also inherently tied to Dom's abilities, more than any other character. While Bagwell has explored deep philosophical elements in the AO series before, this time it is intricately bound up in the mechanics of Dom's fighting style.
#Awaken online book 5 tv#
Even in a futuristic timeline, the vampiric American medical system still stands out as a familiar dystopian element, driving the plot forward of this story as with countless novels, TV shows (cf. The anti-capitalist stance was an excellent element to see brought up occasionally as well. With Dom's story, we see again to potential for such a realm to aid in coping with such real life trauma. The effect of this VR world on the personalities and behaviours of the real world is one of the recurring themes of the series as whole. Thus, the brutal realism of death in AO serves an explicit purpose here. As with Jason in the first novel, catharsis serves as an initial motivation for Dom, but it is through dying so many times within AO that Dom learns to cope his terminal diagnosis in the real world. The book's themes focus primarily around death. Likewise, Bagwell manages again to add central character distinct in personality and age from the previous ones, while also serving to provide him with strong (and relatable) motivation for continuing with in the world of AO. Dom's warrior-like class, serves as a creative addition to a cohort of main character that has been predominantly filled with magic users. That clusterfuck of painful shit."īagwell's latest side quest, Happy, is perhaps most remarkable for its introduction of a (possible) avatar that is not a caster to the AO series. It's just the opposite of a bundle of different things ̶ of pain, sorrow, fear, loss, depression, anxiety, discomfort. "Did you know that the term 'happiness' is synonymous with luck in many European languages in your world?"
0 kommentar(er)
