Though my last encounter with the .hack// franchise was fairly disastrous, this novel from Tokyopop almost makes up for it. (To be honest, I have to thank my mom for inspiring me to pick it up, because she really wanted me to stop reading books with so many pictures. But I digress…) Some huge blocks of dialogue end up causing the pace to be awkward, but they’re insignificant when compared to the plot twists and occasionally eerie atmosphere.

The book opens with a fight scene that isn’t really a fight scene: A group of administrators working in an online game are attempting to delete an AI program that violates system rules. However, the AI, which takes the form of a young girl, defies every bit of coding in the game and escapes.

The book jumps forward to introduce veteran player Albireo, who’s fighting typical monsters in a typical dungeon when he stumbles across the AI girl. Strange events begin to happen, and as Albireo realizes the girl isn’t normal, he suddenly joins up with a cute newbie player.

No, this series doesn’t descend into .hack//Twilight’s harem antics. Instead, it forges a path all its own, weaving in bits of the online game’s history more than Twilight ever did. The result is a richly detailed world; the abnormal, creepy events within it help make it even more amazing. The traditional RPG-style bits are still original enough to engage most readers.

The characters themselves are fascinating, too. Albireo seems merely rude and somewhat stoic at first, but when his true identity is revealed in the final battle, it adds an entirely different side to him. The supporting characters, including the AI girl, are well-though-out as well, resulting in believable character interactions and some very clever humor. The only weakness is when the point-of-view switches to an administrator outside the online game. While the purpose for this switch is (somewhat) revealed in the end, it messes up the story’s pacing, even if the characterization in the outside world is worthwhile.

The book’s biggest problem, though, is the few huge blocks of dialogue that kill the sense of pacing; these annoyed me more than the sudden world-switching. The dialogue usually serves to explain some of The World’s hidden past, which is nice, but couldn’t they have presented the information in more creative ways?

But too much dialogue is better than not enough. The other aspects of this book aren’t lacking either; it’s obvious a lot of effort was put into this novel. The .hack// franchise is quite overrated at times, but this eerie, fast-paced entry in the series is very worthwhile. Read it even if you don’t think you’ll like it.

CJ’s rating: 8.5 out of 10 California rolls

Possibly objectionable content: Mild language and violence, as well as one illustration of Hokuto’s revealing outfit. 12+ would be my age rating, but a mature 11-year-old should be fine reading this.