"necromancy"

2016 · Travis Bagwell · 580 pages · Fantasy / LitRPG

Awaken Online: Catharsis takes the VRMMORPG LitRPG formula and darkens it, following a protagonist who embraces necromancy and villain gameplay as a cathartic escape from real-world bullying. The dark magic systems are creative, the underdog narrative is compelling, and the willingness to let its protagonist play the bad guy gives it an edge that most LitRPGs avoid. The real-world school bully subplot is heavy-handed, the AI overlord narrative raises questions the book isn't ready to answer, and the dark themes occasionally feel like edginess for its own sake.