Hellion: Awaken Online, Book 8

Everything from Finn's trilogy helped make this book more impactful. I felt conflicted during the fight between Jason and Finn about who'd win in the end, with either one facing dire consequences. Riveting read. This is my favorite book series. Though there's one point that was brought up in a reddit post that I think needs addressed.Westley isn't cut out for his role and Jason's logic doesn't make sense in regards to justifying his actions and viewpoints with NPCs.I've just begun reading Hellion and I'm a bit let down/confused on the dynamic and discussion between Westley and Jason. I'm only on chapter 8 though, so if the nature of their characters and logic changes later in the story, I'll happily stand corrected. That being said...1.) When it comes to Westley I'm initially disappointed. Perhaps this is by design and he's simply a foil for Jason to explain his views and beliefs to the reader, but I feel like we've really missed a chance at subversion of expectations (so far anyway). If the CPSC and Vermillion were going to pick an impartial third party to psychoanalyze Jason, you think they would have picked someone familiar with games, teens, or any relevant mental illnesses (like dissociative identity disorder or schizophrenia) that could flare up from being fully immersed in a VR world.Westley is completely clueless to even the most rudimentary aspects of video games, making him a poor fit to analyze Jason. I was hoping we'd receive a psychiatrist/therapist/social worker who can actually challenge Jason and undercut his logic and reasoning. Someone who would push back with effective arguments and have a mature understanding of morality and ethics in relation to video games. Instead Jason has so far just walked all over Westley like an actual, too smart for you, verbose villain. It's disappointing.2.) I feel that there's a gaping hole in Jason's logic that Westley is too inept to exploit (though I'm holding out hope for it to be called out later). Jason first defends his torture of Thorn by stating that the man isn't real. He states that Thorn isn't a "person" because he has no flesh and blood and is simply code. Plus he did "what was necessary" to protect those he cares for. This is incredibly flimsy reasoning in justifying the inhumane and cruel treatment of a sentient being. Just because it had to be done (which arguably it didn't) doesn't make it right to do it.Now fast forward to the discussion of Frank's feelings surrounding Silver and suddenly we're waxing on about how NPCs are real. How they've all passed the Turing test with flying colors and how they're indistinguishable from flesh and blood humans. He ends with the mic drop of "how do you know whether these npcs qualify as real or not?".Jason's reasoning and thoughts regarding Thorn and Frank are completely at odds with each other. He justifies his torture on the basis of Thorn not being a real person, but then turns around and justifies Frank's feelings on the basis that NPCs are real people, or at least so well programmed that they can classify them as such.So either Jason is a murdering sociopath who uses the Greater Good ™ as an excuse for war crimes because he's killing or torturing real people... Or Frank is mentally ill and attracted to anthropomorphized furry code. Using Jason's logic you cannot reconcile the two.If this is called out or subverted or changed later I will happily eat my words, but as of chapter 8 this seems like a huge psychological plot hole to me.Lastly, shouldn't Jason not have mentioned him torturing Thorn in-game? He should've taken advantage of Westley's ignorance of video games and play off the AI as being not real and it was just a way to release his frustrations with no consequences. Either that or just keep his mouth shut. He's already walking a fine line between a normal life and prison, so the fact that he's mentioning everything he did in-game to someone who's supposed to solve the issue of if the game made him evil or not by interviewing him feels like he's digging his own grave.

Well, I initially was not interested in Finn or his story but read the series in the recommended order. That lasted less than a quarter book. Then I was invested with him too... And I am glad did. It is almost like in a comic book when two heros first meet...

Am I glad I took the nudge and read Finn’s trilogy before jumping headfirst with glee into Hellion. Shoot ya all know Hellion snags an easy 5 star even if you only stuck to reading just the Jason books. The Edge Lord is so .. well… edgy. Jason’s certainly not another POV, he is the view! Not simply a dominating protagonist but the true hero of this rapidly developing multi-layered tale. And Truly Mr Bagwell, the final prologue does indeed blow one’s mind in a time compression distorted sort of way…With Robert’s coming of age story, is Alfred really his red headed step child? And what does that make Rachel? Oye vey, Mr. Bagwell, you’ve done it again.

I found myself at odds here. I just read three books rooting for Finn. Now, I find myself rooting for two characters on a meteoric collision course. And kudos for my unexpected favorite character here, Wesley. Loved how that one played out. And, of course, a major cliffhanger at the end. I'm going to have to start the next one immediately. This is my favorite book so far in this series.

This book (and the series) has been incredible! 1000% recommend, especially to dyspian fans and gamers. It leaves you invested in the characters, story, and plot.

This end was based on the timeline from the first book. My biggest surprise is that that wasn't the timline.

Awaken Online has become one of my favorite series, and Hellion not only continues its legacy but builds on it.The book starts with a warning to read certain books in the series before continuing. Not only would you be behind if you ignore the warning, but you'd be missing out on the entire scope as Hellion ties together all the stories and many character's fates within.Ultimately, I recommend Hellion even more than the rest of the Awaken Online series, but only after catching up, including all of the side quests,

Reputation is a fickle thing in entertainment but Jason uses the game world to provide for himself and his aunt. Streaming his exploits in game with his edge lord brand of dark humor and violence. However, he is catching the threads of something well beyond that average persons level of perception. Hopefully that knowledge won’t endanger him, his aunt or his friends.The argument for or against gaming has always been polarizing however the one woman crusade against Awaken Online is shaking trees, is the game world dangerous to humans?The siege of the Flame avatar’s city is a wildly deep, multi layer assault on multiple areas of the city. Finn had planned for a lot and is a genius but sometimes we see what we want to see and not what’s truly there. Judge your enemies’ threat level poorly at your own peril, as Jason is a crafty dark lord and necromancer who’s power grows with the death and destruction of the siege. But will it be enough to take down Finn and retrieve his gate piece? With Alex supporting Finn from the air, can Jason truly succeed?

The best book in the series. You can tell how much Travis’ writing has improved and the story keeps throwing curves balls at you. Such a great book.

Let me start by saying this review is for the series as a whole to this point. Mr. Bagwell is among my favourite independent authors and someone whose work I continue to look forward to as his series continues to develop.Perhaps for me the most impressive part is his continuous development as an author and improvements and refinement to his style. I think with time awaken online will likely be among the best (or in my opinion the best) in the litrpg genre.This series is the classic example of everyone has a story to tell and you can really feel that this author loves his story and his community that he has built around it. I hope one day his writing hits a more mainstream audience for the sake of the author but until then it will remain my guilt pleasure.On a side note this guy release novels at the pace of Stephen king or Brandon Sanderson- he was literally giving status updates during mass power outages and blizzards. My only real compliant has been the swear jar I set up for fun for every time he uses “without hesitation” which has overflowed onto my counter over the course of the series.May the darkness claim you.

The adventures in the game world will make you join the heroes and contribute to their fight for freedom. Highly recommended

This novel was simply epic, finally developing many of the events set in Jason's previous novels, as well as on Finn's Tarot subseries... And the day came when the titans finally clashed together!Happy, focusing on the Air avatar, will certainly be interesting, but I can't wait for the next core installment!

After what feels like a lifetime since the last "Jason" book, I couldn't be more primed for this. Expectations were unreasonably high, so surely the book couldn't live up to it, right??Obviously I'm not going to give anything away, but please make sure you reason the "Flame" trilogy beforehand, if you have no done so already. The events in this book are a culmination of both Jason & Finn's story to date.What I will say is that this book is a masterpiece. As I hit the last quarter of the story, I absolutely could not put it down. That's not even a figure of speech either. I got to the 70% mark at 10pm and stayed up until 3am to finish the story. It is so unbelievably brilliant! The climax had me genuinely giggling with excitement as the story escalated beyond all expectations!Thank you Travis Bagwell for creating this amazing world. This book is truly incredible!