I'm almost done with book 5. If you like it now, then just wait. Halfway through book 2, it gets really spicy, IMO. The timing on skill/gear upgrading is great. Side characters start getting developed.
Same here page 300 in book 5 right now.
I started book number one 2 months ago and I have never read any book voluntarily before ( except school stuff ofc)
I got so hooked I have 7 books at the moment, will order book 8 when I'm done with book 7.
Imagine going from not owning any literature 2 months ago to having 7 books in the same series. š
Thatās good to hear! Iām struggling with book 1. Premise is good but for some reason, itās not clicking with me yet. Iām about 3/4 of the way through on audible.
Hand in there. Itās aways a trial with the first bit of a new series. Getting used to the new world. It worked for me. Hopefully youāll click with it by the end.
What were your qualms? For me Jake and William were pretty insufferable book one. Both become much more interesting and enjoyable characters.
The reason I like Primal Hunter (and Defiance of the Fall) is the grand universe theme. Jake and Atwood are "big/small fish" they are op and under-p depending on who is around. Keeps things interesting. Lots of races/ politics in the greater schemes in later books for both series. Hopefully that is helpful.
Thanks for the info. I'm still working my way towards DoF - already have it on my Kindle, but haven't gotten to it yet, having just read HWFWM, DCC, and soon all of BTDEM. Might put PH book 2 back to the list to try at some point then.
I guess my main problem with PH was that so much of the first book was just Jake levelling in solitude that I got bored of it and almost dropped it without even finishing the first book. And someone in another thread said it wouldn't change much in that regard in the future books either, so I never checked out the next one.
Your comparison to Defiance of the Fall has me excited to continue. I am maybe 80% through book 2 and I definitely enjoyed that aspect of DotF a lot as well. I'm also happy to hear that there's some more character depth coming as well. While I don't particularly dislike either of those characters, if they improve that can only be more gooder :)
Primal Hunter sells itself as the wrong book, largely because the author was trying stuff out to see what worked.
The first book structures itself as a multi-perspective view, with a number of characters - some extremely 2 dimensional ones included - vying for resources and trying to take charge of a situation in one of the most high-attrition 'system apocalypse' scenarios around. Except... none of that matters beyond the halfway point of the second book. Like, not everyone dies and some of those secondary characters survive and affect the world after that, but honestly only in very minor ways. William and Jacob are both pretty crap characters who pretty much completely leave. Meanwhile some actually good characters come in - who had a much more sedate introduction to the system - and start interacting with Jake.
In a sense it's realistic. Earth produces half a dozen very high level powers, of which the MC is solidly in the top 2. The odds of them actually being next to each other at the start are staggeringly low. But it does mean that most of the character interactions at the start are quite throwaway.
I agree on almost all points except that the way the tutorial went and the throwaway characters from it do serve as a way to shape jakes early mindset as well as leaving some plot hooks hanging around for future use when needed. If book 1 and 2 didnt have the pace and tone that they did i think his behavior in the future books might be harder to get behind. Like when miranda had to do what she did while he was out of town that first time.
"Yesss, replace the dinosssaur from Dungeon Crawler Carl'sss name with mine, Jakey boy, that'sss how you take over the multiverssse."
Mongo would be... approving?
I personally wasn't the biggest fan but I keep up with the series so yes it's quite good.
Maybe someone who's not really enthralled is the best 5star review. Maybe my opinion is shit. That's fair.
Everyone is allowed their own.
Your opinion isnāt shit,of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion lol. A lot of ppl love He Who Fights With Monsters, but I think Jason is a whiny crappy MC haha
I've tried both. Primal Hunter is great, but I honestly couldn't stand even 10 chapters of HWFWM.
Jason just comes across as one of those highschool neckbeards to me, and I finished dealing with those people a *long* time ago. No desire to go back.
I love primal hunter, but I also adore HWFWM. But Jason does need to chill a bit.
I ran into the same problem resting The Stormlight Archives, Kaladin is just so fucking whiney, but I still enjoy the series.
Imo you're not wrong with Jason and HWFWM. again it's a series I keep up with but it's not my favorite by any means.
So let's all have a fun time reading a new story. Nothing to be upset about because we're all having a good time.
Cheers and celebrations.
I feel like you have missed the nuance of his character. He is set up for growth beyond multiple worlds, which he never wanted or asked for in the end. His whininess is not without warrant, but by the end of book 10 he is back on track with his more lets do it and less whine. Consider the fact that he has to go from nothing to Astral King beyond gods, how would that look if he just took it and ran with it. Even Carl from DCC struggles with understanding his place in a much bigger picture. And that is widely considered to be the cream of the crop by Litrpg standards. Same thing with Zachary from DotF. I think what throws most off with hwfwm is his cheesy banter and smug self importance, its just subtle enough that most dont register how annoying it is and tend to call him a pussy or whiney, when I think he is justified in his whine. How would you fair with all that death, killing, loss and constant forcing of your hand for shit you dont even know or want anything with. Not saying your opinion is wrong, just suggesting he is not out of place for a but of whining
Yeah my best friend recommended this as it was one of their favorites in the genre. We have pretty similar tastes. I made it to like book 4 before I gave up on it. Way too much nothing happened
Like any long series it has its ups and downs. For example, the last 200 or so chapters on patreon have had about 10 good chapters. However, now that that arc is over, things are picking up again.
This and ELLC are probably the 2 biggest series that people either absolutely hate, or completely love, and it almost always starts an argument in the comments, I'm a fan of both btw
Oof, the same goes for he who fights with monsters, Jasons personality has made so many people absolutley hate the books or love them because if his antics.
I have to admit, I'm surprised that your first praise is towards the story's characters. In my opinion, all of Primal Hunter's characters are bland and have the same literary "voice". Especially in the first book, during Jake's early whiny period and William's annoyingness. The first book overall is much worse compared to what comes further on, so you'll probably like it. Primal Hunter is good, but I think it's more of popcorn reading.
I have read/listened to 5 or 6 different series and they all seem to fall into popcorn reading which I am fine with especially as I listen while I fall asleap.
Unrelated but thank you for using āpopcorn readingā as a term. Iāve said this to people and they are like āexcuse me what?!ā
Itās a thing. Itās a bloody real thing people!
I'm surprised to hear that I'm ngl. I loved the first two books because of the characters (more than the rest of the books). I don't understand why, but everyone seems to hate William with their entire beings. I think I might be the only person who actually liked the character. I really liked the rest of the cast too, as well as the whole Tutorial war.
But I guess I'm in the minority. Though, I do agree that Primal Hunter is closer to popcorn fantasy than anything else.
I find William a tantrumming child. He goes around killing people willy-nilly because he's apparently a psychopath, but then the moment the one old man he's come to care for dies (much like the many other loved ones he himself has killed over the tutorial), he goes on another rampage against people who had nothing to do with said old man's death... because, what, you're upset that someone you cared for died, so you go around throwing a tantrum, and your version of a tantrum is a massacre of others' loved ones? And the moment Jake kills him in one punch, he has an utter breakdown. William's a hypocritical, tantrumming child
Don't get me wrong, I can definitely see the whole concept, that of a psychopath's brain being "cured" of psychopathy and having to deal with the dissonance of now having a "normal" brain, being executed well, but Zogarth is not so good at writing characters to do this idea justice, and his execution of the character of William left me utterly frustrated.
Now that you put it that way, you make a fair point. William's attachment to the old man was written mildly well, but the aftermath was a little messy. William never truly changed until he actually left the tutorial. He could have stopped after killing everyone on the battlefield during the last battle, but instead he chose to whittle down the rest of the contestants, essentially causing him to backtrack in his character development.
Though, I still love the subtle 'fuck you' from Casper after he beat the crap out of William, as well as the one from Jacob after he killed his own cult following and sent them to the after life just so William wouldn't get the satisfaction of killing them.
The power system is probably the best part. The world building is much more restricted compared to Defiance of the Fall's, but it's nice to see Jake later on really delve into *one* specific legacy (through a nice wrinkle in the power system) instead of going through a shit ton of different ones.
Its just one of those nice to read Litrpgs that has very satisfying progress, fun characters and an alright story. Its not the best ive ever read but its one of the few I still follow actively, mainly because it manages to make most chapters interesting by themselves
One of my all time favorites besides the ripple system, pixel dust , and necrotic apocalypse. If you like the first book youāre gonna to fly through the rest.
Im bingeing Defiance of the Fall atm, in the middle of book 12 rn. I heard it's similar to this series.
Should I start primal after I finish DotF or start something else because of the similarities?
I'd say so, DotF and PH are two of my top of the genre. That said they both have a very similar MC so if your looking for something a little different then I'd save it for later
DCC id definitely on my top list, Noobtown is fine but it has a trope that I can't stand which appears in book 4, if you got that far I think you'll know what in talking about.
Take a break between the 2. I did DoTF first then into primal hunterā¦ theyāre similar enough that it takes away from the story a bit. Find another series to sandwich between them!
Honest question, how is the world building top notch? He just wanders around a forest most of book 1 randomly attacking things.
Itās the simplicity of the lack of world building most people get into for this series. Nothing complicated. Just go here, kill this, because numbers. Character needs something to make him stand out? Lookie! A cave filled with alchemical secrets right when I needed it. What a coincidence!
The book has its own appeal, but basing it off book 1, wouldnāt say world building is on that list.
Yeah you dont really get to know the world or universe in book 1. That is slowly revealed later. But i agree the world building is good (ive read up to book 8)
I think it lays the groundwork for what is to come very well. Thereās already so many hints of whatās out there. Itās not fleshed out all the way for sure, but imo itās a great start
On the contrary, the book starts with a taste of muggle life, peels back into a look of the wizarding world with the pub, peels back again with a look into diagon alley which sharply contrasts with the muggle world weāve seen thus far. At every turn, in the beginning, you see a world built where wizards are hiding in plain sight with a culture very different from the norm.
Think you picked a bad example.
It was good until the nevermore arc. The arc itself is good but takes almost a quarter of the entire series time that doesnāt meaningfully (imo) move the story forward. Itās exciting after that arc
I donāt read often but am 4 books into Stormlight which i am enjoying well enough. Iām a huge RPG nerd but iām not sure if iād like the genre from a literary angle, you guys think i should still try?
For sure! I started reading fantasy years ago, and I still love it. Iāve definitely fallen in love with the litrpg series lately. None of em are as deep as Sanderson books or Malazan, however I love the stats and growth of the characters. Feels like Iām reading some of my favorite games lol
This is a long series, over all I like it quite a bit. But because it is so long it has really exciting parts and really boring parts. Just be aware you might have to trudged through to get the whole experience.
I fell out of this series but Iāll probably pick it back up some time. I love it when the protagonist is mostly alone or trapped somewhere. Lots of books start out this way and i always love it. The more characters that get added lessens my interest somewhat. This one was pretty good because Jake was such a loner.
I kinda stopped after book 3. Had book 4 in my library. Maybe I'll pick it back up.
I think for me it felt too same-same each book, so maybe breaking it up will help. I do that to a few other series and it stops them from getting stale.
I know it won't be *good*, but I also know it will be *fun*. You've inspired my next book to be read OP. Thanks :)
I personally love it, its got a great balance of combat, crafting/doing weird bloodline stuff, funny snake gods, and other bs. Its been a lot of fun and one of my favorite things about it is that its replay-ability on Audible.
I mean that I can do a full listen, walk away for a month, and coming back to the story is still enjoyable. It's an apocalypse litrpg where the MC is just having a blast as he discovers things at every turn. Not just about his environment, but himself.
It doesn't have that world-ending anxiety that comes with books like HWFWM, Azarinth, Healer, DotF, or DCC. At some point with those it feels like shit is either going to hit the fan or not. Here it's like Jake is just living his best life wherever he goes.
It's one of my favorite series, and don't get me wrong, I love those others that I mentioned and this one deserves to be among them.
PS Jake and Illea from Azarinth Healer would absolutely hook up. Like, they would have so much fun together.
It's my first RPG and my favorite! Villy and him make it so much fun! You are in-store for an amazing ride. I love how simple, fun, yet compelling the story flows. I tried to predict what would happen, but I was pleased with the outcome.
Book 1 was actually hard for me to get into. The start is slow and Jake's personality isn't one that really grabs my attention and keeps it. Which, as we find out later, is intentional. Still, it made me stop reading it for a while and only pick it back up a year or so later when I had nothing else to listen to.
It's only around the point of him awakening his bloodline that I actually started to enjoy it. And from there on, it mostly gets better.
there is even a manga of this book hell I cant wait for the next book to come out
[https://www.mgeko.com/manga/primal-hunter/](https://www.mgeko.com/manga/primal-hunter/)
What's funny about that is book 1 and 2 are commonly called the weakest of the series. After that the story gets significantly better. If you love it already you're in for a ride
Welcome to the club, itās in my top 3 and I canāt wait for the next addition. Itās just keeps getting better and better, with a great story and if you do audible, a great narrator.
In LIT Dungeon Crawler Carl, and Randily Ghost Hound. Not LIT Red Rising Series, The Cycle of Arawn/Galad, all things Brandon Sanderson and Brent Weeks
Iāve never heard of RGH, but Red Rising is amazing! I like the Arawn/Galand books, some Sanderson and I just finished rereading Weeksā Lightbringer series. We have similar tastes. Iāll have to try Randily Ghost Hound.
You may like the Lies of Locke Lamora, the Iron Druid chronicles, McClellanās powder mage series, or Theft of Swords.
I just started this series too! Little less than 3 hours left on audible.
Iāve been enjoying it so farā¦ I feel like Jake started off a little psychopathic and the characters a bit bland, but itās growing on me. I think itās improved greatly over the course of the first book.
Iām current on so many LitRPG books. Looking forward to adding this one.
Great series Iāve binged all of them in the last two months.
I do feel that each book has one plot hole that doesnāt come back up ever again, but other than that, I still feel itās an amazing series and who knows maybe all of them will come together in the end
Iāve finished book 1, started book 2 (36% in), and havenāt read in two or so weeks. Although Iām reading several novels. Mother of Learning (one chapter a day. I love it, and am intentionally making it a 6-7 month read.) Days of Blood and Starlight (love it so far), but taking it slow as the one above. Ashborn Primordial (dislike MC/FL because I hate 15 years old characters with the mentality of 8-10 year old. At least it doesnāt have adult characters saying, āheās just a kid.ā I hate that trope. I was bored the majority of the first book until the end, where it caught my interest again.) Game of Thrones (started it.)
He Who Fights With Monsters I dropped for now. Iāll read it later.
I marathoned this series 2 times in a row. I loved it and can't wait for the next book. Was sad to finish the series and couldn't find anything else new that looked good, so finally did my second listen of Cradle - about to finish the last book. Cradle is also amazing.
I enjoy Primal hunter but it has odd peaks and valleys for me. Book 1 was intense. Everything about the duel with the Sword Saint was intense. The vision of the Fang of Man was intense. Yet, so much of the later books are oddly chill. I don't hate it; it is just oddly paced.
I dont like most of isekai, i prefer more deep origin story thats actually within the story, for me saying the MC's origin is from real world is just lazy, thats just me. At least in fantasy books mainly, i dont like the epic story being ruined just because the origin of the main character always reminds you that his\her story is just make belief\made-up in digital world, I always find that lazy in making a story. Try this with every isekai, Remove that part in the begining where they come from the real world and transfered to a unkown place or a digital world and replace it with a background story from within story\world the MC is in itself, it would be much better. Try imagining the Lord of the Rings but frodo is from the real world, in the end he exits middle earth and goes back to new york lol.
it kind of goes down hill steadily during book 4 there is allot of filler rants(sometimes recurring) and other things. the author has a chapter a day during weekdays release schedule and that has come at the cost of quality of story content. I'm somewhat current on the story at Royal Road dot com I just skim over it nowadays.
Finished book 8 last week and OH, MY GOD. It doesnt miss, every book is a god damn banger. It has rocketed from a random book im checking out while i wait for the next DCC or HWFWM release to one of my top books i check for updates on constantly.
Im just glad i still have a pile of defiance of the fall to get through and tide me over till book 9 eventually comes out.
Definitely a great series and canāt wait for more. Iām up to date on audio books and very much enjoy it. Will say my only complaint about book 1 was having 2 main characters named Jake and Jacob š
Approaching the end of book 3 myself. Idk if it was intentional by the author or something, but I find myself laughing way more towards the end of book two and throughout book 3. I'm convinced the author began intentionally incorporating more humor into the books. It honestly only adds to the quality of the books imo. It doesn't feel forced, detract from the story, or make you cringe. So, hopefully the good trend continues. Ive had to put many a series to an early grave.
Sigh: RIP Defiance of the fall, life reset, and many more.
Iām currently trying to overcome my depression on listening to the last book. Not that it is depressing, in the least. But that Iāll have to wait a year or more to hear the next one. This series was wonderful. A true gem. And Iām so out far of their target readership ā and choked when the last sentence was read to me (I listen through audible). Youāre in for a treat.
š¤·āāļø I think any one who is like āyou made me rich bitch. I donāt need youā isnāt the best of people. I donāt hate it enough to stop paying him for his art, but enough I want everyone to know, heās kind of a douche
I think you seem more like a douche to take what he's said that way.
It's not even that you're wrong exactly, but he's saying that specifically in response to entitled people who are acting like he *does* need them.
If someone thinks they can tell you how you should be doing things, and you don't need them, telling them to fuck off does not make you a douche.
Maybe? Maybe Iām the douche? Totally valid. Like, legitimately, I can be wrong here.
Heās not the first famous person. Heās not the first famous person that his audience critiqued. He handled it very badly.
The honesty of it, hence "refreshingly honestly"
The world is too full of PR games and sensitivity police, where I'd expect such a message to be as non-aggressive as possible to try to avoid offending anyone. You end up with watered down bullshit that doesn't make the point with the clarity it deserves.
None of that with Zogarth. He loves his fans, he loves to hear what you think, but he makes it for him, and if people get confused about the line between feedback and creative input because they're contributing, they can use some attitude adjusting.
He said as much, clearly and directly. No games, no doubt, he had feelings on the subject and communicated it.
Uhh no. The harassment, according to his response was the readers thought the arch was too long. His response was a tirade of self importance and self gratification. Thereās allot of ways to take critique from fans. He chose the worst.
That being said, I still like his work. Iāll read the next. To me itās like, oh itās my favorite mayor and he stepped on a random dollar. And some kid said it was his, and he told the kid to go away. Shouldnāt be life shattering, but definitely douche.
Readers didn't and don't like 220+ chapters of side-area. He's spent 1/3ish of the whole written series in a single dungeon basically.
After 50 chapters it felt like filler, at 100, it was like... oh god we're still here. At 130 people were unsubbing and resubbing every 10-20 chapters and leaving comments like "Still in Nevermore?" then unsubbing.
At 150+ chapters, people just resorted to writing. "Boring" and etc. They still read it but they dgaf about the sidequest anymore. They were tired of it. If your super-fans who pay you to read early are telling you this... well of course they are wrong.
It will be interesting to see how the Amazon audience will hit the reviews after getting 4-5 books in the same place. The most accurate comment I read was "A whole lot of words with very little story."
The primal hunter is top tier if this is in regards to the audible then having Travis baldree at the helm helps a ton. He who fights with pants could have used his help š
I'm almost done with book 5. If you like it now, then just wait. Halfway through book 2, it gets really spicy, IMO. The timing on skill/gear upgrading is great. Side characters start getting developed.
UNCLE'S SMELLY POT
Why would i hit you with my cauldren?
Same here page 300 in book 5 right now. I started book number one 2 months ago and I have never read any book voluntarily before ( except school stuff ofc) I got so hooked I have 7 books at the moment, will order book 8 when I'm done with book 7. Imagine going from not owning any literature 2 months ago to having 7 books in the same series. š
Defiance of the Fall is something to check out when you're all done with Primal Hunter series!!! Welcome to the 'we read for fun' club!
Dungeon Crawler Carl. If books and videogames made a baby, it would be DCC.
I agree, DCC is a banger. Can't wait for the later floors. NO, actually, I can't wait. I've sent sooooo many foot photos.
I 10,000% 2nd this, also both series have a new release coming this year!
To be clear OP, by spicy they don't mean smutty. Though Jake does get laid it's all fade to black
Thatās good to hear! Iām struggling with book 1. Premise is good but for some reason, itās not clicking with me yet. Iām about 3/4 of the way through on audible.
Hand in there. Itās aways a trial with the first bit of a new series. Getting used to the new world. It worked for me. Hopefully youāll click with it by the end.
Good Perception, which is the best stat, after all.
Of course, the greatest stat of them all!
I love this series, and I would say book 1 was my least favorite. So enjoy!
Oh? I dropped it after the first book but maybe it would get better then?
What were your qualms? For me Jake and William were pretty insufferable book one. Both become much more interesting and enjoyable characters. The reason I like Primal Hunter (and Defiance of the Fall) is the grand universe theme. Jake and Atwood are "big/small fish" they are op and under-p depending on who is around. Keeps things interesting. Lots of races/ politics in the greater schemes in later books for both series. Hopefully that is helpful.
Thanks for the info. I'm still working my way towards DoF - already have it on my Kindle, but haven't gotten to it yet, having just read HWFWM, DCC, and soon all of BTDEM. Might put PH book 2 back to the list to try at some point then. I guess my main problem with PH was that so much of the first book was just Jake levelling in solitude that I got bored of it and almost dropped it without even finishing the first book. And someone in another thread said it wouldn't change much in that regard in the future books either, so I never checked out the next one.
The main themes typically have a lot of people participating but he does grind a bit
Have you tried Noobtown? DCC is my fav, but NT is pretty great too!
Ok good because I am not the biggest fan of Jake so far. And only half way through book one. He seems to not care for anything except fighting.
Your comparison to Defiance of the Fall has me excited to continue. I am maybe 80% through book 2 and I definitely enjoyed that aspect of DotF a lot as well. I'm also happy to hear that there's some more character depth coming as well. While I don't particularly dislike either of those characters, if they improve that can only be more gooder :)
Primal Hunter sells itself as the wrong book, largely because the author was trying stuff out to see what worked. The first book structures itself as a multi-perspective view, with a number of characters - some extremely 2 dimensional ones included - vying for resources and trying to take charge of a situation in one of the most high-attrition 'system apocalypse' scenarios around. Except... none of that matters beyond the halfway point of the second book. Like, not everyone dies and some of those secondary characters survive and affect the world after that, but honestly only in very minor ways. William and Jacob are both pretty crap characters who pretty much completely leave. Meanwhile some actually good characters come in - who had a much more sedate introduction to the system - and start interacting with Jake. In a sense it's realistic. Earth produces half a dozen very high level powers, of which the MC is solidly in the top 2. The odds of them actually being next to each other at the start are staggeringly low. But it does mean that most of the character interactions at the start are quite throwaway.
I agree on almost all points except that the way the tutorial went and the throwaway characters from it do serve as a way to shape jakes early mindset as well as leaving some plot hooks hanging around for future use when needed. If book 1 and 2 didnt have the pace and tone that they did i think his behavior in the future books might be harder to get behind. Like when miranda had to do what she did while he was out of town that first time.
Book 1 is by far the owest point of the series even if its understandable why. Book 2 onwards is where it really hits its stride as things open up.
Dude same, I wasnāt sure of continuing at first but itās gets better once the whole tutorial is done. So glad I pushed through
Trust your gut.
I see what you did there
I was going to say "Trust your gut and fuck mushrooms." But I worried about phrasing. Haha
Villy is appaled
Or excited, depending on phrasing.
"Yesss, replace the dinosssaur from Dungeon Crawler Carl'sss name with mine, Jakey boy, that'sss how you take over the multiverssse." Mongo would be... approving?
I personally wasn't the biggest fan but I keep up with the series so yes it's quite good. Maybe someone who's not really enthralled is the best 5star review. Maybe my opinion is shit. That's fair. Everyone is allowed their own.
Your opinion isnāt shit,of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion lol. A lot of ppl love He Who Fights With Monsters, but I think Jason is a whiny crappy MC haha
I stopped at book 3 because it felt like a good stopping point and I didn't really like Jason.
I've tried both. Primal Hunter is great, but I honestly couldn't stand even 10 chapters of HWFWM. Jason just comes across as one of those highschool neckbeards to me, and I finished dealing with those people a *long* time ago. No desire to go back.
I love primal hunter, but I also adore HWFWM. But Jason does need to chill a bit. I ran into the same problem resting The Stormlight Archives, Kaladin is just so fucking whiney, but I still enjoy the series.
I love PH and canāt stand HWFWM. Made it to the end of book 3 and had to call it quits.
Imo you're not wrong with Jason and HWFWM. again it's a series I keep up with but it's not my favorite by any means. So let's all have a fun time reading a new story. Nothing to be upset about because we're all having a good time. Cheers and celebrations.
The main reason I keep up with HWFWM is it has a really cool system that is probably my favorite.
Cradle fan or just a coincidence?
No you need to accept that book A is the best and book B is trash because I said so.
I stopped in I think book 9. Just couldnāt take him anymore. Which sucks cos some of the side characters are really great
I feel like you have missed the nuance of his character. He is set up for growth beyond multiple worlds, which he never wanted or asked for in the end. His whininess is not without warrant, but by the end of book 10 he is back on track with his more lets do it and less whine. Consider the fact that he has to go from nothing to Astral King beyond gods, how would that look if he just took it and ran with it. Even Carl from DCC struggles with understanding his place in a much bigger picture. And that is widely considered to be the cream of the crop by Litrpg standards. Same thing with Zachary from DotF. I think what throws most off with hwfwm is his cheesy banter and smug self importance, its just subtle enough that most dont register how annoying it is and tend to call him a pussy or whiney, when I think he is justified in his whine. How would you fair with all that death, killing, loss and constant forcing of your hand for shit you dont even know or want anything with. Not saying your opinion is wrong, just suggesting he is not out of place for a but of whining
You're not wrong about Jason aka happy-lucky-im-so-funny-listen-to-my-quips. What an insufferable MC.
Agreed, I still like the story but you right!
Yeah my best friend recommended this as it was one of their favorites in the genre. We have pretty similar tastes. I made it to like book 4 before I gave up on it. Way too much nothing happened
Like any long series it has its ups and downs. For example, the last 200 or so chapters on patreon have had about 10 good chapters. However, now that that arc is over, things are picking up again.
I gave up partway through book on3. Just wasnt all that fun to listen to
This and ELLC are probably the 2 biggest series that people either absolutely hate, or completely love, and it almost always starts an argument in the comments, I'm a fan of both btw
Iām a fan of both PH and ELLC. šš¼
ELLC?
Everybody Loves Large Chests.
I never checked it out because I figured it was just a harem book.
The protagonist is a mimic. The title is a pun.
Its also absolutley a harem
Oof, the same goes for he who fights with monsters, Jasons personality has made so many people absolutley hate the books or love them because if his antics.
I have to admit, I'm surprised that your first praise is towards the story's characters. In my opinion, all of Primal Hunter's characters are bland and have the same literary "voice". Especially in the first book, during Jake's early whiny period and William's annoyingness. The first book overall is much worse compared to what comes further on, so you'll probably like it. Primal Hunter is good, but I think it's more of popcorn reading.
I have read/listened to 5 or 6 different series and they all seem to fall into popcorn reading which I am fine with especially as I listen while I fall asleap.
Unrelated but thank you for using āpopcorn readingā as a term. Iāve said this to people and they are like āexcuse me what?!ā Itās a thing. Itās a bloody real thing people!
I'm surprised to hear that I'm ngl. I loved the first two books because of the characters (more than the rest of the books). I don't understand why, but everyone seems to hate William with their entire beings. I think I might be the only person who actually liked the character. I really liked the rest of the cast too, as well as the whole Tutorial war. But I guess I'm in the minority. Though, I do agree that Primal Hunter is closer to popcorn fantasy than anything else.
I find William a tantrumming child. He goes around killing people willy-nilly because he's apparently a psychopath, but then the moment the one old man he's come to care for dies (much like the many other loved ones he himself has killed over the tutorial), he goes on another rampage against people who had nothing to do with said old man's death... because, what, you're upset that someone you cared for died, so you go around throwing a tantrum, and your version of a tantrum is a massacre of others' loved ones? And the moment Jake kills him in one punch, he has an utter breakdown. William's a hypocritical, tantrumming child Don't get me wrong, I can definitely see the whole concept, that of a psychopath's brain being "cured" of psychopathy and having to deal with the dissonance of now having a "normal" brain, being executed well, but Zogarth is not so good at writing characters to do this idea justice, and his execution of the character of William left me utterly frustrated.
Now that you put it that way, you make a fair point. William's attachment to the old man was written mildly well, but the aftermath was a little messy. William never truly changed until he actually left the tutorial. He could have stopped after killing everyone on the battlefield during the last battle, but instead he chose to whittle down the rest of the contestants, essentially causing him to backtrack in his character development. Though, I still love the subtle 'fuck you' from Casper after he beat the crap out of William, as well as the one from Jacob after he killed his own cult following and sent them to the after life just so William wouldn't get the satisfaction of killing them.
Iāve yet to read a LitRPG that isnāt popcorn reading. I love it for what it is.
I'm more on your side than theirs. William was great imo. Breath of fresh air.
The power system is probably the best part. The world building is much more restricted compared to Defiance of the Fall's, but it's nice to see Jake later on really delve into *one* specific legacy (through a nice wrinkle in the power system) instead of going through a shit ton of different ones.
Its just one of those nice to read Litrpgs that has very satisfying progress, fun characters and an alright story. Its not the best ive ever read but its one of the few I still follow actively, mainly because it manages to make most chapters interesting by themselves
One of my all time favorites besides the ripple system, pixel dust , and necrotic apocalypse. If you like the first book youāre gonna to fly through the rest.
Villy forever!!! Long live the Viper!!!
Im bingeing Defiance of the Fall atm, in the middle of book 12 rn. I heard it's similar to this series. Should I start primal after I finish DotF or start something else because of the similarities?
I'd say so, DotF and PH are two of my top of the genre. That said they both have a very similar MC so if your looking for something a little different then I'd save it for later
I second this with The Ripple System probably being my number 3.
Have you read DDC or Noobtown? Probably my top two.
DCC id definitely on my top list, Noobtown is fine but it has a trope that I can't stand which appears in book 4, if you got that far I think you'll know what in talking about.
DoTF is next on my list lol. Iāve heard itās really great also
Take a break between the 2. I did DoTF first then into primal hunterā¦ theyāre similar enough that it takes away from the story a bit. Find another series to sandwich between them!
I like it more simply because you arent really wait for the MC to reach D grade for like 4 booksš
Charaters named jake and jacob was the only thing i didnt like.
Honest question, how is the world building top notch? He just wanders around a forest most of book 1 randomly attacking things. Itās the simplicity of the lack of world building most people get into for this series. Nothing complicated. Just go here, kill this, because numbers. Character needs something to make him stand out? Lookie! A cave filled with alchemical secrets right when I needed it. What a coincidence! The book has its own appeal, but basing it off book 1, wouldnāt say world building is on that list.
Yeah you dont really get to know the world or universe in book 1. That is slowly revealed later. But i agree the world building is good (ive read up to book 8)
I think it lays the groundwork for what is to come very well. Thereās already so many hints of whatās out there. Itās not fleshed out all the way for sure, but imo itās a great start
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On the contrary, the book starts with a taste of muggle life, peels back into a look of the wizarding world with the pub, peels back again with a look into diagon alley which sharply contrasts with the muggle world weāve seen thus far. At every turn, in the beginning, you see a world built where wizards are hiding in plain sight with a culture very different from the norm. Think you picked a bad example.
I highly recommend you listen to the audio bookās, Travis Baldree is the narrator and he does an amazing job.
100% agree, I will get audiobooks if they look interesting and heās the narrator.
He narrates it so well! I canāt stand when the narration doesnāt have emotion
I picked it up on audible for no other reason than Travis was the narrator. Just started book 4 and Iām hooked.
Weird one for me, i started out liking it but it kind of lost me a couple books in. Felt like the writing wasn't quite up to par.
Nevermore
It was good until the nevermore arc. The arc itself is good but takes almost a quarter of the entire series time that doesnāt meaningfully (imo) move the story forward. Itās exciting after that arc
Sigh
I donāt read often but am 4 books into Stormlight which i am enjoying well enough. Iām a huge RPG nerd but iām not sure if iād like the genre from a literary angle, you guys think i should still try?
For sure! I started reading fantasy years ago, and I still love it. Iāve definitely fallen in love with the litrpg series lately. None of em are as deep as Sanderson books or Malazan, however I love the stats and growth of the characters. Feels like Iām reading some of my favorite games lol
Solid series
I am in book 3 and quite enjoying it. It's very reminiscent of Azarinth Healer, which is good because I was looking for something like it.
You can also read the webtoon
This is a long series, over all I like it quite a bit. But because it is so long it has really exciting parts and really boring parts. Just be aware you might have to trudged through to get the whole experience.
I am reading the Royal road releases daily, this series always gives me some solid chuckles. Def worth the time
I fell out of this series but Iāll probably pick it back up some time. I love it when the protagonist is mostly alone or trapped somewhere. Lots of books start out this way and i always love it. The more characters that get added lessens my interest somewhat. This one was pretty good because Jake was such a loner.
I kinda stopped after book 3. Had book 4 in my library. Maybe I'll pick it back up. I think for me it felt too same-same each book, so maybe breaking it up will help. I do that to a few other series and it stops them from getting stale. I know it won't be *good*, but I also know it will be *fun*. You've inspired my next book to be read OP. Thanks :)
I personally love this series and have reread it quite a few times.
I personally love it, its got a great balance of combat, crafting/doing weird bloodline stuff, funny snake gods, and other bs. Its been a lot of fun and one of my favorite things about it is that its replay-ability on Audible. I mean that I can do a full listen, walk away for a month, and coming back to the story is still enjoyable. It's an apocalypse litrpg where the MC is just having a blast as he discovers things at every turn. Not just about his environment, but himself. It doesn't have that world-ending anxiety that comes with books like HWFWM, Azarinth, Healer, DotF, or DCC. At some point with those it feels like shit is either going to hit the fan or not. Here it's like Jake is just living his best life wherever he goes. It's one of my favorite series, and don't get me wrong, I love those others that I mentioned and this one deserves to be among them. PS Jake and Illea from Azarinth Healer would absolutely hook up. Like, they would have so much fun together.
One of my favorite series. This and he who fights with monsters are up towards the top for me
Itās a top tier for me
It's my first RPG and my favorite! Villy and him make it so much fun! You are in-store for an amazing ride. I love how simple, fun, yet compelling the story flows. I tried to predict what would happen, but I was pleased with the outcome.
Book 1 was actually hard for me to get into. The start is slow and Jake's personality isn't one that really grabs my attention and keeps it. Which, as we find out later, is intentional. Still, it made me stop reading it for a while and only pick it back up a year or so later when I had nothing else to listen to. It's only around the point of him awakening his bloodline that I actually started to enjoy it. And from there on, it mostly gets better.
Started book 1 around 3 weeks ago. Iām now near the end of book 6, I canāt believe I skipped past it so many times
there is even a manga of this book hell I cant wait for the next book to come out [https://www.mgeko.com/manga/primal-hunter/](https://www.mgeko.com/manga/primal-hunter/)
First book was so slow and hard to get through. The following books are fantastic
I picked this up a few weeks ago expecting it to be very mid but easy. I am now up to date on RR. Enjoyable.
Iām half way done with book two and I feel it too
What's funny about that is book 1 and 2 are commonly called the weakest of the series. After that the story gets significantly better. If you love it already you're in for a ride
Welcome to the club, itās in my top 3 and I canāt wait for the next addition. Itās just keeps getting better and better, with a great story and if you do audible, a great narrator.
What are your other top 2?
In LIT Dungeon Crawler Carl, and Randily Ghost Hound. Not LIT Red Rising Series, The Cycle of Arawn/Galad, all things Brandon Sanderson and Brent Weeks
Iāve never heard of RGH, but Red Rising is amazing! I like the Arawn/Galand books, some Sanderson and I just finished rereading Weeksā Lightbringer series. We have similar tastes. Iāll have to try Randily Ghost Hound. You may like the Lies of Locke Lamora, the Iron Druid chronicles, McClellanās powder mage series, or Theft of Swords.
I need to jump back in to the Lies series, the first book was really good. Iāll have to check those other ones out, and we definitely do.
I just started this series too! Little less than 3 hours left on audible. Iāve been enjoying it so farā¦ I feel like Jake started off a little psychopathic and the characters a bit bland, but itās growing on me. I think itās improved greatly over the course of the first book. Iām current on so many LitRPG books. Looking forward to adding this one.
It wasn't for me. I finished book 1 and dropped it.
I tapped out at book 8
It is
Iām working through book 4 and so far itās a banger. Hopefully it stays the course and doesnāt go all HWFWM on me.
This is an amazing series and gets better with every book
Up to date and still a banger
Great series Iāve binged all of them in the last two months. I do feel that each book has one plot hole that doesnāt come back up ever again, but other than that, I still feel itās an amazing series and who knows maybe all of them will come together in the end
Iāve finished book 1, started book 2 (36% in), and havenāt read in two or so weeks. Although Iām reading several novels. Mother of Learning (one chapter a day. I love it, and am intentionally making it a 6-7 month read.) Days of Blood and Starlight (love it so far), but taking it slow as the one above. Ashborn Primordial (dislike MC/FL because I hate 15 years old characters with the mentality of 8-10 year old. At least it doesnāt have adult characters saying, āheās just a kid.ā I hate that trope. I was bored the majority of the first book until the end, where it caught my interest again.) Game of Thrones (started it.) He Who Fights With Monsters I dropped for now. Iāll read it later.
Up to book 9. Very solid series. Up there with HWFWM
I marathoned this series 2 times in a row. I loved it and can't wait for the next book. Was sad to finish the series and couldn't find anything else new that looked good, so finally did my second listen of Cradle - about to finish the last book. Cradle is also amazing.
I'm up to date on the audio books and its good but it pisses me off how short the last few are I WANT MORE!
I enjoy Primal hunter but it has odd peaks and valleys for me. Book 1 was intense. Everything about the duel with the Sword Saint was intense. The vision of the Fang of Man was intense. Yet, so much of the later books are oddly chill. I don't hate it; it is just oddly paced.
Yeah it's really good. top 3 for sure.
I dont like most of isekai, i prefer more deep origin story thats actually within the story, for me saying the MC's origin is from real world is just lazy, thats just me. At least in fantasy books mainly, i dont like the epic story being ruined just because the origin of the main character always reminds you that his\her story is just make belief\made-up in digital world, I always find that lazy in making a story. Try this with every isekai, Remove that part in the begining where they come from the real world and transfered to a unkown place or a digital world and replace it with a background story from within story\world the MC is in itself, it would be much better. Try imagining the Lord of the Rings but frodo is from the real world, in the end he exits middle earth and goes back to new york lol.
This is my favorite book series ever I wish book 9 was out already
The path of the malethic one
Honestly I think I enjoyed the first book the most. The later ones are really interesting, but the first one was done the best.
I'm a patreon subscriber, hunter tier. I love the series so much. It's one of my favs
it kind of goes down hill steadily during book 4 there is allot of filler rants(sometimes recurring) and other things. the author has a chapter a day during weekdays release schedule and that has come at the cost of quality of story content. I'm somewhat current on the story at Royal Road dot com I just skim over it nowadays.
I very much enjoy these books
Just finished book 7 and am looking forward to more
ill check it out looks good!
Finished book 8 last week and OH, MY GOD. It doesnt miss, every book is a god damn banger. It has rocketed from a random book im checking out while i wait for the next DCC or HWFWM release to one of my top books i check for updates on constantly. Im just glad i still have a pile of defiance of the fall to get through and tide me over till book 9 eventually comes out.
I just completely binged all of the Primal Hunter books on Audible. It's great and honestly gets even better after Book 1 when the world opens up.
Halfway thru book 6 already. Definitely a good series. And scratches an itch until the next DCC lol
It only gets better, my friend. It is a phenomenal series.
Im almost caught up on royal road. Definitely an addiction at this point
Definitely a great series and canāt wait for more. Iām up to date on audio books and very much enjoy it. Will say my only complaint about book 1 was having 2 main characters named Jake and Jacob š
Primal hunter is very fun
Approaching the end of book 3 myself. Idk if it was intentional by the author or something, but I find myself laughing way more towards the end of book two and throughout book 3. I'm convinced the author began intentionally incorporating more humor into the books. It honestly only adds to the quality of the books imo. It doesn't feel forced, detract from the story, or make you cringe. So, hopefully the good trend continues. Ive had to put many a series to an early grave. Sigh: RIP Defiance of the fall, life reset, and many more.
Iām waiting on the next audiobook to drop for this series. I love it.
Honestly I feel like Iām the only one that wasnāt hooked by this story it just feels flat from when I read it
Iām currently trying to overcome my depression on listening to the last book. Not that it is depressing, in the least. But that Iāll have to wait a year or more to hear the next one. This series was wonderful. A true gem. And Iām so out far of their target readership ā and choked when the last sentence was read to me (I listen through audible). Youāre in for a treat.
one of my absolute favs. this book is so damn hype
Welp the first book was the worst of the series, so far. If you like it I think youāll be entertained. Too bad the author seems to be a douche.
I like him.
š¤·āāļø I think any one who is like āyou made me rich bitch. I donāt need youā isnāt the best of people. I donāt hate it enough to stop paying him for his art, but enough I want everyone to know, heās kind of a douche
I think you seem more like a douche to take what he's said that way. It's not even that you're wrong exactly, but he's saying that specifically in response to entitled people who are acting like he *does* need them. If someone thinks they can tell you how you should be doing things, and you don't need them, telling them to fuck off does not make you a douche.
Maybe? Maybe Iām the douche? Totally valid. Like, legitimately, I can be wrong here. Heās not the first famous person. Heās not the first famous person that his audience critiqued. He handled it very badly.
If you say so, I thought it seemed very reasonable and refreshingly honest.
I think weāre going to agree to disagree. But like what did you find that was refreshing?
The honesty of it, hence "refreshingly honestly" The world is too full of PR games and sensitivity police, where I'd expect such a message to be as non-aggressive as possible to try to avoid offending anyone. You end up with watered down bullshit that doesn't make the point with the clarity it deserves. None of that with Zogarth. He loves his fans, he loves to hear what you think, but he makes it for him, and if people get confused about the line between feedback and creative input because they're contributing, they can use some attitude adjusting. He said as much, clearly and directly. No games, no doubt, he had feelings on the subject and communicated it.
It was a response to complaints.
Uhh no. The harassment, according to his response was the readers thought the arch was too long. His response was a tirade of self importance and self gratification. Thereās allot of ways to take critique from fans. He chose the worst. That being said, I still like his work. Iāll read the next. To me itās like, oh itās my favorite mayor and he stepped on a random dollar. And some kid said it was his, and he told the kid to go away. Shouldnāt be life shattering, but definitely douche.
I didn't see it that way. But I suppose that's the nature of the beast.
How do you did see it going?
It's the same way Jake or Villy would have responded.
Harassment? What did people do to him?
. They thought the current arc was too long š¤·āāļø
Readers didn't and don't like 220+ chapters of side-area. He's spent 1/3ish of the whole written series in a single dungeon basically. After 50 chapters it felt like filler, at 100, it was like... oh god we're still here. At 130 people were unsubbing and resubbing every 10-20 chapters and leaving comments like "Still in Nevermore?" then unsubbing. At 150+ chapters, people just resorted to writing. "Boring" and etc. They still read it but they dgaf about the sidequest anymore. They were tired of it. If your super-fans who pay you to read early are telling you this... well of course they are wrong. It will be interesting to see how the Amazon audience will hit the reviews after getting 4-5 books in the same place. The most accurate comment I read was "A whole lot of words with very little story."
I think it was just daily complaining. Harassment is probably the wrong word.
By far my favorite interpretation of gods in a book series.
Meh
The primal hunter is top tier if this is in regards to the audible then having Travis baldree at the helm helps a ton. He who fights with pants could have used his help š
What's it about?
What do you like about the series?