• Forever Fantasy Online

  • Forever Fantasy Online, Book 1
  • By: Rachel Aaron, Travis Bach
  • Narrated by: Josh Hurley
  • Length: 19 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (934 ratings)

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Forever Fantasy Online  By  cover art

Forever Fantasy Online

By: Rachel Aaron, Travis Bach
Narrated by: Josh Hurley
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Publisher's summary

A thrilling new novel for fans of Sword Art Online and World of Warcraft!

In the real world, twenty-one-year-old library sciences student Tina Anderson is invisible and under-appreciated, but in the VR-game Forever Fantasy Online she's Roxxy—the respected leader and main tank of a top-tier raiding guild. Her brother, James Anderson, has a similar problem. IRL he’s a college drop-out struggling under debt, but in FFO he's famous—an explorer known all over the world for doing every quest and collecting the rarest items.

Both Tina and James need the game more than they’re willing to admit, but their escape turns into a trap when FFO becomes real. Suddenly, wounds aren’t virtual, the stupid monsters have turned cunning, and death might be forever. Separated across a much larger and more deadly world, their skill at FFO is the only thing keeping them alive. But as the harshness of their new reality sets in, Tina and James soon realize that being the best in the game is no longer good enough.

©2018 Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Forever Fantasy Online

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The cover art is great....

That's about the only good thing about this book. My biggest problem is that this story had such potential. Less than two days of story time go by in this book. The audio book is over 19 hours, and if there wasn't the one night where the protagonists slept, it would have mirrored the in book time. Nobody wants to hear a story told in real time, hour by hour, minute by minute. The authors need to learn how to skip the boring parts. Instead, a boring walk turns into crying and whining and implausible conversations that go nowhere. It's like the authors thought of the beginning and the end and spent hours trying to figure out how to fill in the middle. The raid is tired and hungry, but let's take an hour to describe how the races appear to be pairing up. Is this significant, let's take another hour to discuss if it is. JUST MOVE ON!. There are many boring parts of real life, this book describes them in exacting detail. These authors, they need to describe in detail and drag out every little plot device. "Heal the raid." "No." "Heal the raid or i'm going to punch you." "No, go away." "Heal the raid right now!" "No." "Heal the raid or we're all going to die." "No, you're mean." Rinse and repeat. This story is not realistic, the characters don't react in any way a gamer would and the constant cry baby attitudes exist only to elongate the story. It's infuriating. The fact that the main protagonist takes 90% of the book to travel down a road is madness. The main protagonist constantly argues with different members of the raid about continuing to move down the road. And I mean CONSTANTLY. Yet, there is only one way to go. Monsters are behind them so they can't go back, there are impassible cliffs on either side, who would argue??? What are they arguing for??? And why, if anyone was in that position and somebody really did start to argue, would anyone care enough to respond? You don't want to keep moving? That's fine, stay, or go the other way into the horde of monsters. Deuces. I could go on and on, but then I'd just be mirroring the authors.

The cover art is great though.

P.S. This is supposed to be LitRPG. WHERE IS THE LOOT??? I mean jeez... skeletons, monster undead boars, mini-bosses, and a giant raid boss are downed and nobody even mentions loot. WTF?

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95 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Two separate stories, with lots of whining

The first point to be clear about is that this book tells two completely separate stories, which have no interesting intersection. It could literally have been written as two separate books (with nothing lost) by simply copying out alternating chapters. The story ends (in a cliffhanger) at the point where the stories would come together.

The two main characters spend too much time in self recrimination and aren't generally interesting other than a bit of gender reversal: the sweet, pacifistic, healing character is male; the aggressive, driven fighter character is female.

Overall the story (stories) is based on a mechanic that is effectively nonsense -- that an MMO game, would somehow be built from an actual, real-in-some-universe environment -- with some only some vague foreshadowing of supernatural influence as a possible explanation. Really though, there can be no explanation of this situation which would satisfy an Occam's razor test, making the whole story feel like a 19 hour waste of energy.

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

LitRPG that's not a LitRPG

Ok... I bought all 3 of the books because I have a crazy commute and devour audiobooks like crazy so I enjoy these long stories. I also burnt through Rachel Aaron's Heartstriker and DFZ Series (which are good listens! highly recommend!) so, I had an expectation for this series. Boy was I let down.

LitRPGs are about growth and progression within a predetermined system that is packaged in a game theory-laden world with firm rules and guideposts to entice and lead the characters forward. This series has none of that. Nobody gets new stuff, not really. If they do, it's a crutch to force the plot to hobble along on it's shaky sea-legs. It's more of an anthropomorphous isekai story that punishes everyone for simply existing at the wrong place at the wrong time with some furries and fantasy thrown in. The whole "VR" plot device is immediately discarded and that's probably on purpose so we can get a "tidy ending" with technology being the culprit at the end. #justguessing

The whole book feels like a love-letter to MMORPGs by someone who's dedicated a TON of time to them. Which isn't fun for the LitRPG fans that are here for the SYSTEM; the rules and regulations that denote what this world is capable of and what can be done in it. We're dropped into FFO along with the 2 main characters that act as the main perspective drivers. The challenge is that the premise behind the main conflict is just so weak and it's carried constantly throughout the entire series. "Who's good? Who's bad? Who's side are we on again?" We only really get world-building from James, the brother, and only redeeming character in the 1st book. Tina, the "raid" leader, is a cookie-cutter smashy character with little to no real substance and it's hard to care about her and her trials because she's not identifiable unless you're playing an MMO. The "reluctant leader" that's just HAS to step up and mess up the whole time.

After reading most of Rachel Aaron's work, it's fairly obvious which chapters are hers vs Travis'. The battles & fights are a slog to get through and hard to stay immersed in as we have not had enough time to learn about the world (or the world outside the game) before we're thrown into it. It's just... war. Bloody and gratuitous. I didn't want to read about war. I wanted to read about a new world and the stories it holds. This book feels like it has nowhere to go BUT forward and that means constantly escalating conflicts with little or no rest between. Which is exhausting and tedious.

To be fair, the environment and world-building isn't terrible; just not detailed enough. The characters aren't terrible, just not original or relatable. The "Player/NPC" concept isn't bad, just predictable and forced. Even the power/magic structure isn't poor, it's just not flushed out correctly. If you used to run raids on WoW, you might like the series. If you prefer story-based JRPGs or D&D, you won't care much for this.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen!

This is the story of Tina Anderson and her brother James who are avid players of Forever Fantasy Online, which is a full VR MMORPG. One day, they are playing just like normal when with a shudder and a shake, the entire game becomes real. Dying is really death, zones are really huge, and enemies are rather sentient, now.

Roxxy, a paladin and the guild leader of the one of the top raiding guilds has to lead her people from an unbeatable raid to the sanctuary of a friendly fortress without them dying.

James, a healer, is stuck in the staring area for the cat people, and those cat people are *not* happy with him. They know he’s a player, and they say that he and his people have kept them enslaved in a nightmare for the last 80 years. He has to convince them that he means them no harm and that they probably shouldn’t murderkill him into a million pieces.

I have played a lot of MMO games over the years, and this one brought to mind some of the best times I’ve had with them. I met my husband in World of Warcraft (while making fun of way-too-serious guild leaders in /tells in Molten Core while fighting Ragnaros. True story. It was destiny. <3<3<3). But this one brought everything from WoW to FFXI/XIV and Everquest II and even Skyrim sometimes to mind, in the best way possible. Maaan, I sort of miss those days. Memories.

Anyways, back to this audiobook! This was a fantastic adventure that was never slow and never boring. It switches back and forth between Tina and James, who are not… really on speaking terms right at this particular moment due to strife both in game and in real life. So, we have them in different places doing different things but still having to more or less be the voice of reason. One to a group of tired and annoyed raiders that don’t understand what all the stakes are, and the other in a group of rather hostile NPCs.

I cheered hard for the both of them, usually. Tina was a bit over-the-top at times, I can still understand where she was coming from. James I cheered for most of the entire book. I wanted him to win, to make the cat-people and the gnolls become… less enemies with each other. Frenemies, perhaps. Through the power of winging it, mainly. As one does, in these sorts of situations.

It was interesting to think how people/personalities/likes and dislikes and so on would change if you were suddenly your character. There are a couple female characters who are really male in the real world, so they suddenly have to deal with all kinds of new and different experiences. Some food doesn’t seem appetizing to some while it seems delicious to others.

It made me think what I would be like if one of the games I played with any great regularity were to suddenly become real. If it were FFXI, I’d have been a gangly elf with an admittedly sweet AF feather hat. If it were WoW, I would have been either a blue cannibal or a cow who turns into a fat giant owl… and if it were FFXIV… I’d have been a cat-man in a bathing suit.

Look, I never said I wasn’t ridiculous. >.>

And it was a nice bathing suit! ^_^

All told, I had a really great time with this book, and I can’t wait until I manage to get the sequel into my earholes. I must know what happens next!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good once you get into it

The only three things I didn't like about this book were the clunky beginning, and that the two PoV story lines never intersect until the last few minutes of the recording. Finally, the story didn't stop at an appropriate point so it feels like a cliffhanger rather than a completed story, Though all the protagonists completed what they set out to do.... The last few pages/minutes of a book seem to be an inappropriate point to introduce new action that just gets cut off without resolution.

Beyond that, this was a fun listen. It's not a true LitRPG in the sense that there are no game mechanics aside from naming spells, but the story is compelling which is a decent trade off. I liked reading about how players have to adjust to what it's like to be a non-human race. This is something I haven't encountered in the genre before. I also really enjoyed the elderly guy playing on a hacked account. There's good action and a lot to enjoy here. I don't regret using my credit on this book, and will continue buying them as long as they are of similar length, and don't fill with fluff like the last book of Heartstrikers.

I didn't like Tina's showing mercy at the end of the book... the betrayer deserved to be stranded in the middle of nowhere. That doesn't lower my star rating however.

Performance is solid, nothing to make me think "OMG! That was the best EVER!" but it is professional and there's nothing bad I can say about it.

Overall 4.5 / 5.0

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

2 books!

the story is 2 books in 1. don't buy it if you dislike rapid veiw points

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A funtastic book...

I just finished listening to this funtastic book, and yep, it's a Lit-RPG... written by a long time favorite author of mine, Rachel Aaron, but this time she's sharing the helm with her husband, Travis Bach... And they did great together!
The story follows a brother and sister (James and Tina) as they log into the mmorpg "Forever Fantasy Online", but not together, they've already had way too much of each other in real life... And of course, the game glitches badly. They discover that they can't log out... and for some reason, they can actually feel pain when their characters are injured. The items they've been collecting don't seem to be working, and if their character dies, it may be that they too will die... We get to follow James and Tina separately as they fight to survive and complete their quests! We also meet some pretty awesome side characters, like Frank, Neco Baby, and Fangs... and although the ending is kinda cliffhanger(y), I'm not mad. The book does what it needed to do! both James and Tina arrived at the destination they struggled to get to and now they're ready to face the next book together!
I hear that book 2 is completed and currently being edited.
If you like Anime and gaming, I think you'll enjoy this... it's similar to Sword Art Online and WoW... or if you just like LitRPG, like Ernest Cline's books, Ready Player One, and Armada, again you should give this one a try!

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

OMFG! Emo gamelit is bad.

there is not a chapter that goes by that doesn't delve into how it feels what will it feel the internal torment of this discussion/ decision or the next.. it really really does not work well. Any one with thousands of hours in a situation/ game leveling to the max and a collage education can navigate better then the two M/C's.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

MCs can make mistakes while staying good people.

I am so sick of main characters casualy killing sentient beings, especially over powered ones who could solve problems in a non lethal way most of the time if they wanted to. But that kind of thing is hard to do, it is hard to try and save people who hate you, but protecting life is always good, learning to overcome hate shows real character growth. The MCs of this book deliver on the things I wish characters would at least try. They suffer through doing things the right way, and it makes them real heroes, rather than just a power fantasy come to life.

The main characters of this feel like real people, James struggle with depression and anxiety may not be called that in the story, but they mirror my own experiences with it. And he is a healer type class, which is rare for an MC especially a male one. His sister is a badass who will save your ass if you like it or not. She is a tank type class, and easily one of the most truly heroic main characters that I have ever seen. The cover really captures her "I will stand between this kiju level skeleton and everyone I refuse to let die" kind of badassery.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Twin story lines feed each other well

Sloowwww to start. Gotta grind through the initial four chapters or so, just like a real mmorpg. However once developed, the twin story lines of a brother and sister separately trapped inside the same VR video game that’s now real life, is quite entertaining. I wouldn’t call it gripping or can’t put down. But entertaining enough to enjoy. Character growth really stunts mid story and doesn’t seem to progress, just repeat the same patterns. NPC characters depth of personality and mannerisms is well crafted. Incorporating different player types and skills into the unique struggles is interesting and contemplating end game bosses that don’t have in game restrictions is an exceptional idea.

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4 people found this helpful