Continue Online

I wouldn't be surprised to see this story sold on paperback.

Potential on this story I would rate on par with the best on this site. Story has motion, it moves at a steady rate. Grammar, I suck at it, so yeah.... Character - Strong and steady development, the hero can evolve further. Over all, read it, you will not regret it.

Forewarning, this book likely suits others very well. The story was not an awful read even though I'm critiquing it, and the grammar is carefully edited.

My main gripe is that the story progresses too slowly and refuses to answer basic questions about the overarching plot lines. While this may be exhilarating for some, and it was for me for a time, it got old and lost its luster eventually. I dropped it somewhere in the 3rd book. The intrigue of the AI and HAL weren't enough to keep me invested with how long it takes to get any answers to the questions posed in the first chapter of book one. To have spent hours upon hours reading and still not have basic questions answered or a basic understanding for the motivations of certain plot lines and choices made by character is durable to a certain point and kept me invested. Eventually, though, I stopped caring enough about the answers to continue meandering through more chapters. I assume that this will probably be a great read for some, but there was not enough real story progress for my tastes in particular.

I personally tend to predict story endings and motivations as they occur and hate being hand-fed answers to my questions, but I still need enough solid plot grounding to feel secure and invested. That never happened enough to care about the character's motivations. Understanding Grant's decision to submit to torturous circumstances repeatedly in the name of love is easy, but feeling compassion and empathizing with such a decision requires that I care about and understand his relationship to his widowed fiance. The explanations given as to how she came to be reintroduced to the story are so loose and sporadic that either this story is a masterfully crafted intricate work of literature, or its an example of an author who got ideas for progressing the story while writing and just bent the plot to fit those ideas. Either way, I'm not invested in the characters and story enough to find out the answer to that question or the many others intentionally raised by the author to likely all come to fruition at the very end of the story.

I must say, I am quite disappointed in those who write this story off as ugly or boring- especially without even finishing one arc. First of all, this story caters to different tastes than yours- just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's ugly. Continue Online brings a whole new level of depth and immersion to virtual reality. It literally brings reality to the genre. 

Sure, it may not be as action-packed or super adventurous, but that just means it simply isn't meant to be like that. Don't go trashing people's stories just because they don't go the way you want them to. I feel like the author wants to explore motivations and emotions rather than just loot and grinding levels. It's different and unusual- don't write it off.

Almost all the characters have depth to them- bringing reality and interaction into the fray, which is something most stories here don't have. I don't get why people focus on the lack of action rather than the beauty of slow development. There is legitimate drive in characters' actions, and this makes it really amazing.

The plot isn't thrillingly adventurous or action-packed, but it focuses on telling a tale of a human rather than an OP player. I have seen people bash this story because of the MC's lack of amazing prowess, but hey! - not all stories are meant to have such MCs. Grant Legate is awesome- just in his own way.

Thank you so very much to the author- and I sincerely hope the other stupid people on this site won't bring you down. Just know that there are people cheering for you and for Grant out here. :D

It isn't often that you find a story with so many chapters which also has a high word count per chapter, this is one. With longer stories it is not uncommon to see spelling errors crop up every few sentences, giving you a jarring experience as you progress through the chapter, to the credit of this author I am happy to say this is not the case. 

Through this story the author displays an impressive attention to detail with his near-lack of errors, but also shows off an incredible talent in world building and character development. Other reviewers/readers/blood sucking leeches have said that the story is slow-paced and I must agree, however I feel that this is to the credit of the story as we are slowly but surely introduced to a world of new and unique characters while avoiding information overload. 

I feel that this story showcases a wide cast of characters which manage to maintain a diverse mix  of entertainingly unique personalities, and this is the sticking point for me. Overall I give this story 4/5 for the amazing efforts of the author. 

Some of the greater things that this website has churned out. I will outright call it some of the better amalgemations that you can find here. If it wasn't already so darn popular, I would even have called it a hidden gem.

It has everything anybody would desire. Sentient machines, fantasy worlds, normal worlds, and then also a sci-fi world where they get to play around as ultra-cool robots. What is there to dislike? I sure as heck loved everything and for a good reason at that.

It all works so well together, which is why I'm giving this a 5/5. Deserves more than that but there are sadly limits to what I can give.

RoyalRoad its a treasure cove anthis, this is the best of what you can find here!!!

This virtual reality fic has been mentioned and recommended on several places throughout the web. After I stumbled upon such a recommendation for one time too many, I finally gave it a read and I haven't regretted it.

Many authors would like to set their story apart from the dross, but with "Continue Online" that's quite literally true. The author FrustratedEgo manages to avoid many pitfalls of this genre and has managed to create a page-turner I have found difficult to put down.

There's just one thing to be aware of, in case you're a possible new reader who is looking at this review. The story almost doesn't deserve to be grouped together with all those other VR type stories, since it is so different. A slow beginning, yet excellent characterization. A lack of action, yet an undeniable richness of adventure. To couch it in gaming terms (somewhat fittingly), this story reads like a sophisticated role-playing game while many others of the same persuasion are (almost mindless) hack-and-slays.  I merely add this "warning" to my review, because some people enjoy baser/simpler pleasures in life.

This is not for a quick skim. Awesome story build. The MC is well rounded. And the AIs, goodness! This is what I've been looking for. Dear Author, should you come across this my appreciation for your dedication to this work of art is heart-felt. Can the real world technology catch-up? Hope so and the access to be universally accessible. 

Sometimes you want novels that are masturbatory in nature. 

And sometimes you want the opposite. This is one of those.

I'm surprised this isn't tagged with Romance, as this is, at the core, a love story. 

Shame that Amazon rules have removed much of this story, but I feel this is similar in quality to other published books. Worth its price.

5>4>2>1>3.