In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online-a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like no other-opens its virtual doors, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in the game world by manipulating their brain waves to create a wholly realistic gaming experience. But when the game goes live, the elation of the players quickly turns to horror as they discover that, for all its amazing features, SAO is missing one of the most basic functions of any MMORPG-a log-out button. Now trapped in the virtual world of Aincrad, their bodies held captive by NerveGear in the real world, users are issued a chilling ultimatum: conquer all one hundred floors of Aincrad to regain your freedom. But in the warped world of SAO, "game over" means certain death-both virtual and real...

Author Reki Kawahara wrote the first volume of Sword Art Online in 2002 and intended to submit it for the Dengeki Game Novel Prize, but refrained as he exceeded the page limit. He instead published the series as a web novel. Shortly after his other series Accel World won the Dengeki Novel Grand Prize in 2008, Sword Art Online was published in print. The light novel ranked first in the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! for the Best Light Novel category in 2012 and 2013. The series has been published in English by Yen Press under its Yen On imprint since April 22, 2014. It has also been published in Italian by J-POP since October 11, 2014; in Polish by Kotori since November 24, 2014; in Russian by Istari Comics since December 2015; in Spanish by Planeta Cómic since March 1, 2016; and in Brazilian Portuguese by Panini Comics since December 2018. Includes two side stories that were initially released as part of the limited edition version of the first season's first Blu-Ray/DVD volume on October 24, 2012. For the Sword Art Online light novel series' 10th anniversary, they were re-released as part of a side story collection titled "Kiss and Fly" (Volume 22) on October 10, 2019.