Sword Art Online Progressive is a series of novels written by the author Reki Kawahara. Although the series is still ongoing, the first three volumes have been released this year and they are absolutely amazing. If you are a fan of anime, then perhaps you have already heard of Sword Art Online Progressive because there is an anime adaption based on the book series.

The book series revolves around the protagonist, Kirito, who buys an expensive video game called Sword Art Online in the year of 2022. Unlike normal video games that involve controllers and mouses to control your Avatar, the game includes a helmet called a Nervegear, which allows the player to literally immerse themselves inside the medieval fantasy game to control their Avatars. All goes well until the gamemaster appears during the game’s launch and tells the players that in order to logout and return to the real world, they must pass the game. To make matters worse, the gamemaster also shares that if a player dies inside the game, then the Nervegear will fry the person’s brain; thus, killing them in real life as well. Now Kirito, among the other ten thousand players, finds himself trapped inside the cruel virtual world of Sword Art Online unable to logout of the game, while his physical body remains immobile at a hospital barely kept alive by machines. Will he be able to beat this death game?

I strongly recommend this book to fans of science fiction even though there aren’t any AR points rewarded for reading it. Why you may ask? For one thing, the plot is incredible. Never once have I ever heard of a book with the setting of a virtual reality. And instead of the cliched heros that are skilled at almost everything–especially in combat–we have a flawed protagonist that ventures alone because he is afraid of becoming attached to anyone in the cruel virtual world of Sword Art Online. His insecurity is a characteristic that makes the readers sympathize for him. And as you turn the pages, you begin to root for him and the side characters who are just as fleshed out as he is. Despite the lack of AR points, this book is a fun read that any fan of fantasy and psychology can enjoy.