Sword Art Online

In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online-a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like no other-opens its virtual doors, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in the game world by manipulating their brain waves to create 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...

(Source: Yen Press)

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Background

Author Reki Kawahara wrote the first volume of Sword Art Online in 2002 and intended to submit it for the Dengeki Game Novel Prize, but refrained as he exceeded the page limit. He instead published the series as a web novel. Shortly after his other series Accel World won the Dengeki Novel Grand Prize in 2008, Sword Art Online was published in print.

The light novel ranked first in the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! for the Best Light Novel category in 2012 and 2013.

The series has been published in English by Yen Press under its Yen On imprint since April 22, 2014. It has also been published in Italian by J-POP since October 11, 2014; in Polish by Kotori since November 24, 2014; in Russian by Istari Comics since December 2015; in Spanish by Planeta Cómic since March 1, 2016; and in Brazilian Portuguese by Panini Comics since December 2018.

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Reviews

May 13, 2023

Marco_Yooo

Recommended

Preliminary (14/? eps)

THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

This is probably going to be the longest review so far. The Sword Art Online franchise has left a questionable mark on the anime community. Some love it, some hate it and there doesn´t seem to be anything in between. To fully dive into the series, i started collecting and reading all of the localized original light novel over the course of two years. This is not the end of the franchise, but for a while it will be the last bit that i will read. This review will cover everything from the Aincrad Arc up to Alicization. I will go ...

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Sep 30, 2017

albert475

Recommended

Preliminary (18/? eps)

As a native speaker of mandarin, i am lucky enough to enjoy the novels without needing to wait the long translation time or the english translation of the book. Although the first story about Aincrad have seem to be unorganized and messy in structure due to its original purpose is for a novel contest, the story construction skills of Reki Kawahara is something that is definitely worth praising. Both the ALO arc and GGO arc provided a thorough and organized storyline, that are easy to read, understand, and enjoy. Kawahara together with his incredible skills of building tensions and setting the mood while reading, shown ...

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Feb 13, 2017

Railgun1127

Recommended

Preliminary (16/? eps)

Note: I will only be talking about Project Alicization arc (volume 9 to 18), which isn't in the anime. I found the previous 8 volumes not much different from the anime.

Story (10):
The setting is unique, different from the other settings in the first 8 volumes. It's more similar to an alternate universe, than a virtual world. The virtual world isn't for entertainment uses, which makes the functions within the virtual world which is called Underworld, different from the other three virtual worlds. The Project Alicization arc is set in 2026, after the Mother's Rosario arc. It introduces new technology, and it's not just going from ...

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Stuff that made you lower your score/rating? [Spoilers] Kazu-chan-san - Feb 17	7 replies	by RobertBobert »» Feb 18, 10:26 AM
Still feels rushed Cneq - Nov 14, 2022	7 replies	by Saynarra »» Jan 19, 4:08 PM
Poll: Sword Art Online Volume 4 Chapter 9 Discussion Shadow_Strider - Dec 4, 2012	2 replies	by eleonora_43 »» Oct 14, 2023 4:23 AM
Continue the LN after the last season baltazak - Apr 5, 2023	2 replies	by Anayan_Kashyap »» Oct 13, 2023 2:52 AM
Poll: Sword Art Online Chapter 2 Discussion Kiba_Senpai - Nov 27, 2022	0 replies	by Kiba_Senpai »» Nov 27, 2022 4:20 PM

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