Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad (Light Novel)

By: Reki Kawahara

Narrated by: Bryce Papenbrook

Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Check out 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 logout 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 100 floors of Aincrad to regain your freedom. But in the warped world of SAO, "game over" means certain death - both virtual and real....

©2017 Reki Kawahara (P)2021 Yen Audio

Wonderful

I have enjoyed this book and I'm waiting for the next book. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long, November 25 to December 25 would be nice for the next book.

As a thought, and I understand the cost, it would be really nice if more of the voice actors joined the next book.

I love the TV Show

I been asking for this for year I love the TV Show and always thought we should get this or a podcast.... Bryce brings all of this to life cant wait for the next installments

Amazing

If your a fan of sword art online or a good romance novel I definitely recommend this book

So Much Fun!

So excited that they have now started recording these light novels in Audible! Can't wait to listen to more!

A great start to SAO

A great start to SAO. A Wonderful Vocal Performance. can't wait to Listen to more of the series

Waited a long time for this

It was great to hear the light novel of this story. The anime was an awesome experience and im glad to see that it wasn't actually missing very much content. Also for those who may listen that have seen the anime, the second light novel actually contains lizbeth, silica and yui's arks as a collection past date storys. So don't expect those in here. Papenbrook is actually a pretty good narrator, female voices are not his thing.

fan of the anime? you'll love this

i wasn't sure what i was expecting. i like the anime and love the overlord anime and books so i thought I'd give this a try. it was great and I'm very glad i checked it out. i was riveted the whole time and the narrator being the voice actor was just icing on the cake.

Just Phenomenal

I have been a fan of this franchise for a very very long time and I am now able to listen and read it over and over. I am so excited to hear more from the series.

Great Book

I really enjoyed listening to this book and that Bryce Papenbrook reads it is an amazing bonus

Not for everyone, but I loved it.

In my opinion this is totally worth the credit, But maybe not if you;

-Don't like Asuna, (Although you may find a new side of her here if you are open to it.)
-Find Kirito's voice too cringey to take seriously.
-Haven't watched the anime. (This book skips to different points in the story without warning, especially in the beginning of it, Plus it would just spoil the major events of the anime with less of the fine detail and chronological storytelling.)

Definitely do get if you;

-Just like SAO and want more
-Like action books that stop and smell the roses.
-Don't understand why Kirito does what he does.

I thought it would go into more depth than SAO's anime adaptation, but this is mostly untrue. It was not what I expected. In fact, this light novel skips or lightly summarizes many events covered in detail by the anime and the girth of the book starts with Kirito reaching the 75th floor, and covers events before that in the form of flashbacks or character dialogue. The reason why I would say that it 'mostly doesn't provide more depth' is because it is actually written in first person from Kirito's POV, so it deepens Kirito's character on a level the anime could not, I would also say this book is less action-packed and more about Kirito and Asuna's bond and their trauma.

Despite how much I loved watching SAO I always thought that Kirito was a flat and boring fanservice bot who's main purpose was a self insert without much character on his own, this is actually a misconception based on the fact you don't experience Kirito's inner dialogue in the anime because he keeps to himself and is socially challenged. In the third person Kirito's actions don't seem to have a clear meaning or motivation other than to prompt his harem to accidentally get groped, and to not die. But reading this gives you a whole new perspective on his inner self, how he is embarrassed of his 'looks that get him mistaken for a sister rather than an older brother,' how he is forced to have blind hope that his real life body will not fail him, how he grapples with the fact he would rather stay in SAO forever because that is all that has given his life any meaning or value up to this point.

Reading this also helped me to appreciate Alicization more than I did initially. The concepts in this book set it up better than the anime could because of the more personal perspective in this story.

Also, I don't get the reviews who dislike Bryce Papenbrook's performance. Well, maybe I do just a tad, he reads it as Kirito, the way I would imagine Kirito would read you a story if he was sitting in your living room. As you can imagine, there is a lot of skillfully rehearsed final-battle anime screaming, it is hilarious at times, but fitting. The voice he gave Asuna is basically Meliodas as well, since Bryce is a dude, he doesn't sound like a girl obviously, except for a few times he screams as Asuna it is so perfect I legitimately wonder if it was him or a girl. it was not enough to ruin my emersion personally. I thought his performance was impeccable, he isn't just great with scripts his gait and tone reading this book was just perfect. The only voice I had trouble distinguishing from Kirito's was Kline, but scrutinizing a bit more on the context quickly gives it away. Occasionally it is tough to tell what Kirito says out loud versus his inner monologue, but as long as you aren't solving differential equations while listening it's clear enough.