Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad (light novel) Kindle Edition

A first note of warning: if you are looking for the manga, then this is not it. This is a light novel, which is a book that will sporadically have illustrations throughout the text. It's the inspiration for the manga and anime of the same name, which in itself should be reason enough to read it, but I know that not everyone likes light novels over manga.I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I didn't really know what to expect with this since the hype train for all things SAO is pretty loud and almost impossible to miss if you look up anime and manga items on the Internet. I'd been somewhat hesitant to start this series since it's fairly long and has a substantial fan base. It might sound hipster-ish of me, but I've had multiple instances where I've picked up an incredibly popular series... and just failed to get what all the hoopla was about. I'm sure that some of you have experienced this as well.I'm glad to say that this series is pretty easy to get into and better yet, the first book is self-contained and while the series does continue (the next book is a collection of stories), it's a nice safe entry point for the series. If you don't like it enough to want to continue, you can always stop here. I think that's part of why I enjoyed this volume so much- it got fairly straight to the point with things, especially the inevitable romance between our very good looking main characters. It does gloss over the game a little, but part of the beauty here is that the game is pretty standard RPG stuff and most won't really miss the lack of detail unless you are completely new to gaming as a whole.I'd definitely recommend this and it's a good all audiences type of work, as both teens and adults would get into this quite easily. I would recommend this for teens or mature younger children as there is a bit of violence in the work and there are some slight references to sexuality. It's nowhere near as bad as some of the other series out there, so I'd set this for teens starting around fourteen.

Over a decade old at this point and almost two on some counts, Sword Art Online v1 remains a trailblazer in the VRMMO genre and one that other series can and should still look to for how to get things done. Still, there are faults or shortcomings for SAO that other series or rather writers ought to learn from to make themselves better. Reki Kawahara, in my opinion, has learned from his mistakes in his other series (Accel World).SAO hits the familiar notes with the basic foundations of a growing VRMMO environment. Written before the MMO scene took off, Kawahara was impressed with the future potential of the genre. There is a bit of detail or information dumping at times that shows how excited he is about this and how he tries to explain it, however, I think, in some ways, it could have been cut or avoided as it comes across as clunky. Speaking of clunky, I found that the attempts at telling a story going through the genre was a bit chunky. I would have rather a more straightforward path with the backstories incorporated sequentially instead of being informationally dumped in tiny chunks in the present. The story would have been more emotional suspenseful if say Sachi and the real life friends club was told at the start and not in a backstory with Asuna over some romantic dinner.And romance, while it was nice after some suspenseful or traumatic experience, felt a little goofy, silly, hard to believe. Again this could have been solved by introducing the Asuna stumbling across Kirito scene as happen chronologically instead of in some backstory told to another character. One more thing, some of the romance descriptions were goofy (plugging lips as kissing? Describing her skin as tight as an animal’s? is that romantic?)Regardless, it is a good series and though it has these faults that do take me out of the story, I did enjoy it and the suspenseful solo vs team, survival vs game, moments throughout.

I am beginning to love this Light Novel a lot!! I began with the Accel World: Kuroyukihime Returns Novel and finished years ago(ignoring SAO..) What have I missed!! I’m not quite done with the first Aincrad novel yet and have 2 more to go, plus trying to wait and finish Accel World Books 2-5!! The SAO Novel is more in depth than the anime in my take of it. I love the words just jumping off the page!! Once I finish this book and books 2-3, I’ll plan to purchase the rest of the series!! Great novel!!:)

This is pretty much almost word for word the entire story of the anime. There are a few little tidbits here and there that give more depth or detail to what was in the anime, but mostly the anime was an exact rendition of this story. It was still a good, quick, and easy read, so I do suggest it.However, if you're interested in their time in Aincrad and want a more fleshed-out version, read the Progressive series (same author) for a more floor by floor adventure!

While the Anime does a fair job of the overall story, it very much misses details and key points for both Asuna and Kirito. Inner dialog, thoughts, reasonings, etc. After reading this one, a lot of moments from the Aincrad arc of Season 1 makes more sense. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series of books.

My husband has been an SAO fan for some time. He's played the games, watched the shows and movies. He always urged me to get into it, but I just never did. Well recently he purchased the first 4 books of the series, and me being such a bookworm, couldn't resist. I have thoroughly enjoyed the books so far. Above and beyond what I expected. I have been reading them every day since they arrived!

I don't know how much was colored by having watched the anime first, just before reading the book, but the characters were well done, with more in-depth look at who the people are, even if the backstory isn't really explored. It feels like there is more to learn about the characters, and since it is the first book in a series, it makes sense to know there is more to learn and the hook is good. It is a bit dark, but not as much as some. It is a novel, not a manga, which surprised me - didn't read the description as carefully as I should have.

I first came across this series completely by accident.I had been browsing the manga and comics section of my grandparents local library when i came across SAO Proggresive volume 1 (the manga.) I flipped through a-few pages to see what the drawings were like, and, liking the look of it, brought it home.I thouroughly enjoyed the progressive manga and (accidentely!) ordered the SAO Progressive light novel vol 4. I was about to send the the book back, but decided to keep at it after speed-reading the first chapter, which i enjoyed.Overall, the regular SAO light novels are far better than the progressives, and i gotta admit; i'd be wierd not to think that this is my favourite series of books of all time. (sorry Tolkien!)

After watching the anime my daughter was desperate to read the books, I'm so glad she decided to read them, shes now on book 6! This book totally drew her in and she couldn't stop reading. In her own words they are amazing!This/these books have turned my daughter into a book worm and I so happy about that.

As someone who watched the anime first before checking out the light novels, I can hear the English VA's in my head with the majority of the story being told from Kirito's perspective. It's almost like I'm listening to an audiobook read by Bryce Papenbrook (the voice of Kirito in the anime) as I can hear his voice in my head everytime I read plus the fact that I can picture scenes from the anime in my head as well makes this one enjoyable read :) What else? Oh yes. The illustrations here and there are a nice touch too and there is more explanations of what takes place inside Aincrad that the anime did not address. I mean don't get me wrong I do like the SAO anime but I love reading the light novels even more as they explain things a bit better but I would highly recommend this for fans of the SAO anime who I do encourage to watch the episodes first before reading the light novels so you can hear the voice actors and picture the scenes from the episodes in your head as you read :)

The Sword Art Online novels are even better than the anime. The first novel is much better in regards to the pacing of the story and goes into a lot more detail that the anime missed out on in places.

Book came in a good condition and I have always wondered what the source material was like compared to the anime and so far I am enjoying it. The beginning of the story is slightly different to the anime and presents a much less OP main character than I remember. Would recommend for any fans of the anime.