Children's Book and Media Review

Volume 39 | Issue 2 Article 80

2018 (SAO) Natalie Hatch

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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Hatch, Natalie (2018) "Sword Art Online (SAO)," Children's Book and Media Review: Vol. 39 : Iss. 2 , Article 80. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cbmr/vol39/iss2/80

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Children's Book and Media Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Hatch: Sword Art Online (SAO)

Book Review Sword Art Online (SAO)

Nervegear has developed Sword Art Online, an all-inclusive gaming experience where the gamers can see, feel, taste, smell, and hear everything in game, all while keeping their bodies stationary. Kirito is one of the lucky individuals selected as a beta tester and joins ten thousand players on the day the game launches. However, none of the players have a logout button and the players are trapped. The creator Author confirms this, teleporting them all and making an announcement that Reki Kawahara their lives are irrevocably tied to the game now, and if they die here, Illustrator they die in the real world. The only way any of them will rejoin the real world is when someone makes it to Level 100 and defeats the final abec boss. Using previously gained knowledge and skill of the game, Kirito Reviewer beats the game, makes and loses friends, and finds peace after over two years in-game. Natalie Hatch Rating Sword Art Online is one well-illustrated, well-thought-out story. In the Excellent American paperback version, it is in black and white, though the cover Level is in color as well as one or two pages. The paper itself is rather thin and feels like it would be really easy to tear, but the images make up Intermediate, Young for the paper quality. The characters themselves are developed and Adult explored well, and the reader is able to see that there is always more than one skill or one side to every character. Not only are relationship and romantic interests developed, but there is also topics addressed Pages that are deeper in technological ideas. What is real? What is the 384 perception of reality? Are we what we create our characters to be or do Year the characters and avatars we create in-game start defining our lives 2014 and personality outside of games? Reki Kawahara does an excellent Publisher job in bringing his imagined online world to life. *Contains mild violence. ISBN 9780316371230

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