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The Primal Hunter #1
The Primal Hunter
On just another average day, Jake finds himself in a forest filled with monsters, dangers, and opportunity...
It was a day like any other when suddenly the world changed. The universe reached a threshold humanity didn’t even know existed, and it was time to finally be integrated into the vast multiverse. A place where power is the only thing anyone can truly rely on.
Jake, a seemingly average office worker, finds himself thrust into this new world. Into a tutorial filled with dangers and opportunities.
His new reality should breed fear and concern. His fellow coworkers falter at every turn. Jake, however, finds himself thriving.
Perhaps... This is the world Jake was meant to be born in.
It was a day like any other when suddenly the world changed. The universe reached a threshold humanity didn’t even know existed, and it was time to finally be integrated into the vast multiverse. A place where power is the only thing anyone can truly rely on.
Jake, a seemingly average office worker, finds himself thrust into this new world. Into a tutorial filled with dangers and opportunities.
His new reality should breed fear and concern. His fellow coworkers falter at every turn. Jake, however, finds himself thriving.
Perhaps... This is the world Jake was meant to be born in.
716 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 8, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 621 reviews
March 16, 2022
just no
Interesting concept but abysmal execution. The characters all felt bland because of how they’re portrayed not because hydrotherapy personalities, which seemed to blend with all the others.
And the sheer amount of redundant and unnecessary/uninteresting explanations had me skipping 50% of this book. All the introspection just felt like filler to pad the pages which already lacked interesting content.
Interesting concept but abysmal execution. The characters all felt bland because of how they’re portrayed not because hydrotherapy personalities, which seemed to blend with all the others.
And the sheer amount of redundant and unnecessary/uninteresting explanations had me skipping 50% of this book. All the introspection just felt like filler to pad the pages which already lacked interesting content.
January 21, 2023
I got bored, but not in the usual way. Okay, also in the usual way, but what tripped the final wire was yet another PoV shift to people I cared nothing about. Jake is kind of fine as a nerd powering up during a System Integration (our world entering a LitRPG state and everyone learning how to level and stuff). He's coming into his own and I liked him telling his coworkers "hey, it's a tutorial! Hiding out and trying to stay safe seems like a bad idea for whatever is going to follow." So he gets busy learning and trying things and gaining skills and levels. Nice power-fantasy nerdery there.
But Zogarth (heh. These LitRPG author names crack me up) can't helphim her . . . oh, fine, for whatever it's worth, this feels like a guy . . . can't help himself with including all these other idiots as PoV characters. I finally had it when a completely new character showed up only for us to get the PoV of a complete psychopath. Because that's ever interesting?!?
And it isn't helping that Jake has squirrelled himself off in a cave learning to craft poisons. That started off slightly interesting, but it's just taking to dang long without any interesting action. Which may be the reason Garthbudy keeps switching PoVs. If so, that was the wrong "fix" for this problem.
I'm going with one star for the dnf and wish it hadn't bogged down so thoroughly...
But Zogarth (heh. These LitRPG author names crack me up) can't help
And it isn't helping that Jake has squirrelled himself off in a cave learning to craft poisons. That started off slightly interesting, but it's just taking to dang long without any interesting action. Which may be the reason Garthbudy keeps switching PoVs. If so, that was the wrong "fix" for this problem.
I'm going with one star for the dnf and wish it hadn't bogged down so thoroughly...
December 25, 2022
Lsat on chapter 245/245 on RR (still being written, patreon has more)
It takes real effort to make a good story boring, but I guess Patreon motivated the author to do it. I loved this story to bits, but it still deserves the one star rating for how loathsome it is to find the good bits.
Story: 4/5 really liked it
What story there is is incredibly engaging. Absolutely gripping.
World: 3/5 liked it
It was fleshed out and organic. Very high quality compared to some other stories that lack significant world-building.
Characters: 4/5 really liked
They are living, meaningful, intelligent, and show growth. Very much liked.
So why does this get 1 star?
Style: 0/5 absolutely loathed
75 - The entire book is filler. Tens of thousands of words describing fantasy alchemy materials, class descriptions for classes never chosen, and other inanities. Tens of thousands more describing fights between the main character and badgers, boars, and elks. It kills me to wonder what happens next and then spend 5 minutes skimming 5,000 word solo fight scenes against 20 badgers. I can’t take it any more.
245 - Evidently I stood it and kept reading. Basically, ~60% of this book is completely skippable filler fights and ability analyses, and the other 40% is really good story. I started reading on a computer, which lets me skim faster. I skipped all the boring stuff. If there were no filler this would be a 5 star webnovel.
edit 08:57 AM 6/02/2022: also, the author tends to insult people who write bad reviews for his books in various online forums, so there's that...
He referred to the writer of this review with the F-word while conversing with me haha
It takes real effort to make a good story boring, but I guess Patreon motivated the author to do it. I loved this story to bits, but it still deserves the one star rating for how loathsome it is to find the good bits.
Story: 4/5 really liked it
What story there is is incredibly engaging. Absolutely gripping.
World: 3/5 liked it
It was fleshed out and organic. Very high quality compared to some other stories that lack significant world-building.
Characters: 4/5 really liked
They are living, meaningful, intelligent, and show growth. Very much liked.
So why does this get 1 star?
Style: 0/5 absolutely loathed
75 - The entire book is filler. Tens of thousands of words describing fantasy alchemy materials, class descriptions for classes never chosen, and other inanities. Tens of thousands more describing fights between the main character and badgers, boars, and elks. It kills me to wonder what happens next and then spend 5 minutes skimming 5,000 word solo fight scenes against 20 badgers. I can’t take it any more.
245 - Evidently I stood it and kept reading. Basically, ~60% of this book is completely skippable filler fights and ability analyses, and the other 40% is really good story. I started reading on a computer, which lets me skim faster. I skipped all the boring stuff. If there were no filler this would be a 5 star webnovel.
edit 08:57 AM 6/02/2022: also, the author tends to insult people who write bad reviews for his books in various online forums, so there's that...
He referred to the writer of this review with the F-word while conversing with me haha
April 11, 2022
Autism: the litrpg
Dude with high functioning autism gets into a system apocalypse, and uses his unfair advantage to...
Shoot a bunch of animals with a bow, before progressing to dicking around with mushrooms and moss.
Nothing more had happened at 1/3rd in, gave up before discovering if the MC's autism was intentional and meant as a parable of some sort.
Dude with high functioning autism gets into a system apocalypse, and uses his unfair advantage to...
Shoot a bunch of animals with a bow, before progressing to dicking around with mushrooms and moss.
Nothing more had happened at 1/3rd in, gave up before discovering if the MC's autism was intentional and meant as a parable of some sort.
August 22, 2024
When I first started reading this book, I had to check Goodreads a couple times to make sure I hadn't read it because the beginning was super generic to this genre.
I'm going to guess this was 'self edited'. If not, the author needs to fire that editor. Possibly have him/her/it imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for 'crimes against literature'.
Some really daffy stuff early on.
Author talks about how they lost badger meat and nobody was interested in going back and looking for it. Next scene, everyone eating badger. No discussion of the much more edible (and familiar to humans) boar meat - and they'd just killed a 'jeep sized boar'. That's quite a 'WTF'. Why not just grab the super best cut from the giant boar and feed everyone with it?
Guy needs to climb a tree. Pulls out a wooden arrow and a dagger (one in each hand, like stupid pitons) to do it. That is one of the dumber things I've ever read and makes me wonder if the author has ever seen - much less climbed a tree. Sure, the MC is suppose to have slightly increased his strength but I'm going to bet that we could give a wooden arrow and dagger to a weight lifter and they'd not only break the wooden arrow (those don't support your weight buddy) but fail to penetrate a tree - which is known for being hard. Better to have just said something along the lines of 'though he hadn't climbed at all in years, with his increased agility/dexterity he found climbing much easier than he'd thought'.
As a topper, the MC doesn't seem very assertive or bright. Granted they may get there after awhile but for now I'm going to search for a better book.
I'm going to guess this was 'self edited'. If not, the author needs to fire that editor. Possibly have him/her/it imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for 'crimes against literature'.
Some really daffy stuff early on.
Author talks about how they lost badger meat and nobody was interested in going back and looking for it. Next scene, everyone eating badger. No discussion of the much more edible (and familiar to humans) boar meat - and they'd just killed a 'jeep sized boar'. That's quite a 'WTF'. Why not just grab the super best cut from the giant boar and feed everyone with it?
Guy needs to climb a tree. Pulls out a wooden arrow and a dagger (one in each hand, like stupid pitons) to do it. That is one of the dumber things I've ever read and makes me wonder if the author has ever seen - much less climbed a tree. Sure, the MC is suppose to have slightly increased his strength but I'm going to bet that we could give a wooden arrow and dagger to a weight lifter and they'd not only break the wooden arrow (those don't support your weight buddy) but fail to penetrate a tree - which is known for being hard. Better to have just said something along the lines of 'though he hadn't climbed at all in years, with his increased agility/dexterity he found climbing much easier than he'd thought'.
As a topper, the MC doesn't seem very assertive or bright. Granted they may get there after awhile but for now I'm going to search for a better book.
January 8, 2024
Good book, but just not my type.
First of all the writing is just super. The prose, description is beautiful and the way I was pulled into the story was quite impressive. There was a bit of underlying humour at the start and the dynamics pre-shift was done well.
It was a standard LitRPG with standard class choices (warrior, archer, caster, healer) and I've been seeing myself move away from this recently. The initial few chapters post shift were all on mob hunts and levelling up, which were done quite well too.
I was looking for something unique, which is why this wasn't for me.
If you like a well written traditional crunchy LitRPG, this is for you!
First of all the writing is just super. The prose, description is beautiful and the way I was pulled into the story was quite impressive. There was a bit of underlying humour at the start and the dynamics pre-shift was done well.
It was a standard LitRPG with standard class choices (warrior, archer, caster, healer) and I've been seeing myself move away from this recently. The initial few chapters post shift were all on mob hunts and levelling up, which were done quite well too.
I was looking for something unique, which is why this wasn't for me.
If you like a well written traditional crunchy LitRPG, this is for you!
March 11, 2022
Power fantasy done right. With a bow.
March 16, 2022
While the book is a good one it brings nothing new too the genre. In fact it's very typical litrpg. I give it 3.5 stars because it was good enough for me to finish it and want to listen to the next one. The reason it doesn't get more is that it's lacking in interesting magic systems it's all basic tropes. The combat is very generic and the world building is none existent. All in all you want to listen to a moderately interesting litrpg book with nothing that really stands out. No amazing main character, no great super interesting side characters. Well then I recommend this book. I wasn't super impressed by it honestly. But I still feel that it was worth the time.
April 9, 2022
4.5/5
A fast paced, fun filled and level grinding litRPG book.
There are many instances in this book where the author went in the direction I didn't expect him to go. There are some pacing issues but it's a minor one at that.
Looking forward to the sequel.
A fast paced, fun filled and level grinding litRPG book.
There are many instances in this book where the author went in the direction I didn't expect him to go. There are some pacing issues but it's a minor one at that.
Looking forward to the sequel.
April 6, 2022
Not impressed. I don't understand the concept of killing animals just for higher levels and not for food benefits. So, these people get sent to a virtual place where they have so many days, and to increase their stats they level up by killing creatures/animals? But they leave the carcasses behind???? If they even got to loot that would have been better than the carcasses would disappear, right? Then it only follows the adventures of one guy, and he goes off by himself and gets trapped in a cave for so many days so he can increase his alchemy. Then he can see that all the other people in the game are getting killed but instead of finding out why or helping he goes off to kill more. Kinda a weird concept to me.
October 22, 2022
This is a great post apocalyptic system style litRPG. This is probably closest to Defiance of the Fall. The first two books are essentially the tutorial, yet you don't find yourself wanting the arc to be over. I have read up to chapter 373 on Royalroad, which is the equivalent of 5 books or so. I will continue to read this as it is just as interesting to me as Defiance of the Fall or He Who Fights With Monsters.
Now up to chapter 511 on royal road, still awesome!
Now up to chapter 511 on royal road, still awesome!
April 30, 2022
Rating 4.0 stars
A good edition to the genre. Much like cultivation novels the story isn't ever the most important thing. It is the process that is important. Each one of these epic litrpg books have the same plot. The world changes, game mechanics come to the world and people need to survive and get stronger. Nothing original. In fact almost all of the MCs have similar traits. I think it is because the author wants to have the readers identify with the MC. IMO most people that read fantasy do so for an escape from the real world. So what kind of person needs an escape from the real world? Someone that thinks they don't really fit in. People that aren't social butterflies that make friends easy. People that are smart but don't get many accolades. People that haven't had many girlfriends and don't trust very easy. People just like me. This MC is no different. He is somewhat of a loner. He got hurt by a GF in the past when he started to come out of his shell and he just shut down for years after that. He is a very detailed oriented person. When the world changes he and a bunch of people he works with gets sent to another world for initiation in the system. This is called the tutorial. While everyone else freaks out, Jake comes alive. He was always into archery and almost went pro so when he is offered the class he jumps at it. He also has been someone who loves a challenge. He completely immerses himself in this new world and system. He has finally found a challenge and a place he feels he belongs. While everyone else is freaking out and trying to form committees about what to do, Jake just acts. There is a lot of training, a lot of skill development and gaining power. That is one aspect I really like. I know other people find it tedious because those situations really don't push the story forward but like I said above, the story/plot is usually the weakest part of these books. World building, character development, the magic system and character interactions are where these books shine. If at least one those topics is good I enjoy the book. This book had a few. I liked the world building, I liked the magic system and I liked the way the MC developed. The one aspect I thought was really lacking was all the other characters. The MC was described very well and I understood his motivations, why he was the way he was and what he was attempting to do with his actions. Everyone other character was written kind of poorly. The story also ended at kind of a weird point. Overall though I did enjoy the book and I am looking forward to the next one.
A good edition to the genre. Much like cultivation novels the story isn't ever the most important thing. It is the process that is important. Each one of these epic litrpg books have the same plot. The world changes, game mechanics come to the world and people need to survive and get stronger. Nothing original. In fact almost all of the MCs have similar traits. I think it is because the author wants to have the readers identify with the MC. IMO most people that read fantasy do so for an escape from the real world. So what kind of person needs an escape from the real world? Someone that thinks they don't really fit in. People that aren't social butterflies that make friends easy. People that are smart but don't get many accolades. People that haven't had many girlfriends and don't trust very easy. People just like me. This MC is no different. He is somewhat of a loner. He got hurt by a GF in the past when he started to come out of his shell and he just shut down for years after that. He is a very detailed oriented person. When the world changes he and a bunch of people he works with gets sent to another world for initiation in the system. This is called the tutorial. While everyone else freaks out, Jake comes alive. He was always into archery and almost went pro so when he is offered the class he jumps at it. He also has been someone who loves a challenge. He completely immerses himself in this new world and system. He has finally found a challenge and a place he feels he belongs. While everyone else is freaking out and trying to form committees about what to do, Jake just acts. There is a lot of training, a lot of skill development and gaining power. That is one aspect I really like. I know other people find it tedious because those situations really don't push the story forward but like I said above, the story/plot is usually the weakest part of these books. World building, character development, the magic system and character interactions are where these books shine. If at least one those topics is good I enjoy the book. This book had a few. I liked the world building, I liked the magic system and I liked the way the MC developed. The one aspect I thought was really lacking was all the other characters. The MC was described very well and I understood his motivations, why he was the way he was and what he was attempting to do with his actions. Everyone other character was written kind of poorly. The story also ended at kind of a weird point. Overall though I did enjoy the book and I am looking forward to the next one.
October 31, 2022
Meh. Bleeding heart liberal meets sociopath.
In a fantasy world where bleeding heart liberal beliefs make no sense, the author still feels the need to share his personal beliefs at every turn.
Spoilers:
MC is a pretty realistic portrayal of some random liberaly indoctrinated kid, fresh out of college (sorry, University). MC, through random chance, inherits an OP bloodline when the world is transformed into an MMORPG style game complete with stat sheets, levels, and all that Jazz. My main problem with the book is that immersion is repeatedly broken by the author trying to blend bleeding heart liberal beliefs, with this type of world. Throughout the book, the MC continually thinks things like "all killing is wrong no matter what a person has done!", then proceedes to murder a bunch of people with no real regrets, inner turmoil, or visible impact on his behavior. So it's a constant back and forth of the MC preaching his illogicsl liberal beliefs, followed by scenes of carnage that completely opose everything the MC claims to believe.
Blame is placed on the MC's OP bloodline, having turned him into a dispassionate killer, because the author can't just admit that it's ok to kill people that are trying to kill you. It's the wierdly irrational conflict where a pacifist wants to both be someone who opposes violence in all forms, but dreams about using violence to permantly resolve conflicts--or just wants to be a badass that everyone fears.
Top all of this with frequent bouts of random casual swearing, and the otherwise interesting story left me with a bad taste.
If you reduced or elliminated the casual swearing, and stopped interrupting the story to make SURE the reader knows that the MC is morally opposed to everything they are "forced" by circumstance to do, and i'd give the book 5 stars.
In a fantasy world where bleeding heart liberal beliefs make no sense, the author still feels the need to share his personal beliefs at every turn.
Spoilers:
MC is a pretty realistic portrayal of some random liberaly indoctrinated kid, fresh out of college (sorry, University). MC, through random chance, inherits an OP bloodline when the world is transformed into an MMORPG style game complete with stat sheets, levels, and all that Jazz. My main problem with the book is that immersion is repeatedly broken by the author trying to blend bleeding heart liberal beliefs, with this type of world. Throughout the book, the MC continually thinks things like "all killing is wrong no matter what a person has done!", then proceedes to murder a bunch of people with no real regrets, inner turmoil, or visible impact on his behavior. So it's a constant back and forth of the MC preaching his illogicsl liberal beliefs, followed by scenes of carnage that completely opose everything the MC claims to believe.
Blame is placed on the MC's OP bloodline, having turned him into a dispassionate killer, because the author can't just admit that it's ok to kill people that are trying to kill you. It's the wierdly irrational conflict where a pacifist wants to both be someone who opposes violence in all forms, but dreams about using violence to permantly resolve conflicts--or just wants to be a badass that everyone fears.
Top all of this with frequent bouts of random casual swearing, and the otherwise interesting story left me with a bad taste.
If you reduced or elliminated the casual swearing, and stopped interrupting the story to make SURE the reader knows that the MC is morally opposed to everything they are "forced" by circumstance to do, and i'd give the book 5 stars.
May 2, 2024
9/10. YT episode to come.
Of the 6 series I’ve read at least the first book on so far this is my favorite aside from Dungeon Crawler Carl. DCC is among my favorite series of any genre now so being second is a pretty good place to sit.
Another earth gets integrated to the multiverse it reminds me a fair bit of Defiance of the Fall but much better writing and editing. I liked the MC Jake quite a bit after being uncertain to start.
There’s still a little bit of base building and much more intrigue with humans fighting each other. I do hope we get to continue seeing other PoV characters moving forward. I liked seeing slices of other viewpoints.
If I wasn’t forcing myself to keep moving onto other series for now I’d definitely go to book 2 on this one!
Of the 6 series I’ve read at least the first book on so far this is my favorite aside from Dungeon Crawler Carl. DCC is among my favorite series of any genre now so being second is a pretty good place to sit.
Another earth gets integrated to the multiverse it reminds me a fair bit of Defiance of the Fall but much better writing and editing. I liked the MC Jake quite a bit after being uncertain to start.
There’s still a little bit of base building and much more intrigue with humans fighting each other. I do hope we get to continue seeing other PoV characters moving forward. I liked seeing slices of other viewpoints.
If I wasn’t forcing myself to keep moving onto other series for now I’d definitely go to book 2 on this one!
March 17, 2022
KU Review
Couldn’t put this one down. Maybe I just really relate to a loner office worker. Interesting story lines developing with the outside influences. Can’t wait for the next.
As the title says this is a review for Kindle Unlimited and as such is a reflection of my enjoyment of the book and in no way reflects cost to value analysis.
Couldn’t put this one down. Maybe I just really relate to a loner office worker. Interesting story lines developing with the outside influences. Can’t wait for the next.
As the title says this is a review for Kindle Unlimited and as such is a reflection of my enjoyment of the book and in no way reflects cost to value analysis.
April 12, 2022
Eloquent writing by Zogart that I really enjoyed.
September 4, 2024
An entertaining enough story of a guy who gets trapped in a world where you have to hunt monsters or be killed but the real enemy is your fellow players. I had to admit that I felt the story was a bit slow to get started and the protagonist was a bit on the vanilla side. Still, there's a lot of great action scenes spread throughout and monsters.
January 6, 2024
I was recommended this book by a work friend who has been into LitRPGs for the past few years. I did have a passing interest in the genre, mainly because it's not mainstream, and I'm always interested in reading something new.
This book has some of the worst writing I've ever read. The dialogue is atrocious, the characters are one note and boring, and the plot is lacking. The main character is a master of everything he tries, and his only flaw is hubris. The villain is a psychopath who can't understand emotions. He is a master of everything he tries (except empathy), and his only real flaw is, again, hubris. The main character and the villain are basically the same person, except one of them has a higher kill count. Some of the dialog is so cringy, I visibly winced, causing my wife to ask "What's wrong?" and believing I was punched by an invisible man. If you enjoy your books to have lush, flowery language, this is not the book for you.
But, with all the hate I have for this book, I did finish it. The author was clearly new at writing when they started this book, and I have to admit they got better by the end. The plot picks up after the halfway mark and becomes a lot less predictable. There are a lot of battles scenes throughout the book and the author does a great job of keeping the imagery tight and followable during these scenes. Scenes that, frankly, some established veteran authors are poor at. The RPG aspect of the book was well done. I found myself skipping most of it, but I could tell that a lot of work was put into making all the numbers and the system work logically. The dialogue doesn't get any better, but there are 7 more of these books. They're bound to accidentally write a good bit of banter.
All in all, I don't recommend this book and my friend who suggested I read it has been cut out of my life. Goodbye Blake, thanks for helping me start my career.
This book has some of the worst writing I've ever read. The dialogue is atrocious, the characters are one note and boring, and the plot is lacking. The main character is a master of everything he tries, and his only flaw is hubris. The villain is a psychopath who can't understand emotions. He is a master of everything he tries (except empathy), and his only real flaw is, again, hubris. The main character and the villain are basically the same person, except one of them has a higher kill count. Some of the dialog is so cringy, I visibly winced, causing my wife to ask "What's wrong?" and believing I was punched by an invisible man. If you enjoy your books to have lush, flowery language, this is not the book for you.
But, with all the hate I have for this book, I did finish it. The author was clearly new at writing when they started this book, and I have to admit they got better by the end. The plot picks up after the halfway mark and becomes a lot less predictable. There are a lot of battles scenes throughout the book and the author does a great job of keeping the imagery tight and followable during these scenes. Scenes that, frankly, some established veteran authors are poor at. The RPG aspect of the book was well done. I found myself skipping most of it, but I could tell that a lot of work was put into making all the numbers and the system work logically. The dialogue doesn't get any better, but there are 7 more of these books. They're bound to accidentally write a good bit of banter.
All in all, I don't recommend this book and my friend who suggested I read it has been cut out of my life. Goodbye Blake, thanks for helping me start my career.
March 10, 2022
Great book
Great book I can't wait to read the next book in the series I would recommend this author to anyone
Great book I can't wait to read the next book in the series I would recommend this author to anyone
July 22, 2024
The Primal Hunter by Zogarth is a litRPG that features even more overpowered characters than usual.
There's two of them who can just easily beat anything and everything, even if the other one is a way higher level. This over the top power fantasy was a bit annoying at times to be honest. It also took away some of the suspense, if you just know they can shrug off everything from the start.
However I did enjoy the tone and voice of the main character, so I was still easily hooked and well entertained.
The world was interesting, and I liked some of the side characters a lot, while others where a bit to stereotypical.
This one has a lot of stat sheets, I personally prefer less of those, and instead just info on new skills and level ups, especially in an audiobook, where you can't just glimpse at the sheet and look for big jumps.
All in all a quick and easy read.
There's two of them who can just easily beat anything and everything, even if the other one is a way higher level. This over the top power fantasy was a bit annoying at times to be honest. It also took away some of the suspense, if you just know they can shrug off everything from the start.
However I did enjoy the tone and voice of the main character, so I was still easily hooked and well entertained.
The world was interesting, and I liked some of the side characters a lot, while others where a bit to stereotypical.
This one has a lot of stat sheets, I personally prefer less of those, and instead just info on new skills and level ups, especially in an audiobook, where you can't just glimpse at the sheet and look for big jumps.
All in all a quick and easy read.
November 11, 2021
I rated this book a five because I had loads of fun reading it so far. It just feels easy and fun to sink into the story and ride along.
It has been getting harder because the author seems to like to spend 10 chapters on one boss fight which is boring. One chapter max per boss fight!
Still, I have great hope for the series.
It has been getting harder because the author seems to like to spend 10 chapters on one boss fight which is boring. One chapter max per boss fight!
Still, I have great hope for the series.
April 22, 2022
Middle of the road LitRPG. I'm willing to stick with it because I want to see what's coming after they finish the tutorial.
April 23, 2022
I started this book because I have free time at work and decided to get kindle unlimited to read. This book had some pretty goods reviews and I thought I should give it a chance. I wish I didn't. Maybe this type of fantasy book is not my type of book to enjoy. None of the characters were memorable or enjoyable, the writing clunky and repetitive with the story going almost nowhere. We would spend no time with side character's and then they would pop up and say how the love of there life died basically "offscreen" and they sacrificed themselves to a god to get revenge even though they don't kill the person responsible. We meet this guy for like 5 pages then we get his pov and it just comes out of left field. The only good thing was the detailed explanation and upgrading of the main character. Besides that I do not recommend this to people. (Maybe this type of book is not for me)
4/10
4/10
March 23, 2022
Primal Hunter is a Fantasy LitRPG that follows the paths of a group of office workers that are taken from their work place suddenly and transported to the Multiverse, in which they have to survive a period of time within a designated tutorial scenario. Within this scenario, are 1200 participants, each in the groups that have been taken (groups of 10).
Within our main group is one of the major characters of the story, Jake Thayne. The story mainly focuses on Jake’s story, with only minor segues to the other characters in Jake’s group, and later in the story, we do get to meet some other characters (but I am not going to give spoilers).
Jake is a fascinating character from the start – we get introduced to him in his office environment, and learn that he is a bit of a loner, has difficulty with social situations, but is intelligent, and motivated when he wants to be. When he is transported to the tutorial, he quickly picks up on what is going on, and when presented with the different classes from Fantasy style systems (Warrior, Archer, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard etc), in which he has to choose from, he picks Archer, as he has previous archery skills.
Being that this is a LitRPG story, there is a high degree of RPG material, but this is handled well, never overloading the reader, and providing us with a great amount of information, but also not giving away too much at times so that we can go on the journey with the Character as they unlock the various aspects of their new skills and attributes.
Jake learns early on, that he is a bit different, in that he has a Title – Bloodline Patriarch. This entitles him to some unique abilities that help him at the start as he his adjusting to the sudden shift from office worker to Archer in a fantasy world.
It should be noted, that each of the people has been told that they have 2mths to survive in the tutorial, gather as many ‘Tutorial Points’ as possible, by killing beasts and each other, last one standing wins kind of thing.
At the start of this story, it is fascinating reading how the different personalities of the members of Jake’s group are affected by the sudden change in their lives, the characters they chose to be, and how they respond to the need to both survive, and to have to kill other things – initially the beasts in the world they now inhabit so that they can gain experience, but later actual people.
With so many of these stories, there is often the person dropped in to this scenario – or a group, and they all seem to suddenly know what to do, because they have played online games, etc, or they just cope with violence etc.
But Zogarth has really thought about the social aspects and psychology of this with a lot more depth for his characters, providing a really fascinating and intriguing story, that is so much more in-depth than the normal LitRPG or Fantasy story of this genre. Jake, having done archery, and with his particular personality, adapts very quickly to things, and realises that this is not a game, ‘Tutorial’ means that this is just the start, they need to learn, and fast, that danger is all around them. Very quickly, he has assessed his group, and worked out all of their strengths, and too many of their weaknesses.
Others in the group don’t cope, as would be expected, just thinking they are going to go back to the ‘real’ world, that they can just wait it out, hope for the best. Their mentality is infuriating as it means certain death, but at the same time, it is so understandable from a social aspect.
As the story develops (and I am not going to give away spoilers), the characters meet other groups, there is obviously combat (there is a LOT of combat), but again, there is some exceptional character work from multiple different angles.
This is an incredibly intelligent and well thought out LitRPG story, and easily one of the best I have ever read. I could not put it down (I have the audiobook, and was listening to it everywhere I could), but I highly recommend having the book, as it helps with some of the LitRPG elements), once you start, you just have to know what happens – I can’t wait for book 2.
As well as the character work being just so exceptional, Zogarth has put a lot of time and thought into their LitRPG system, as well as the world building, which is just outstanding. There was a lot of depth to the character levels, skills, attributes etc, so much detail it would make a brilliant accessory to the book. The world they are living in is beautifully detailed, you can easily place yourself in the locations that are being described so that you are there with each of the characters.
As mentioned, there is a lot of combat, as is expected in this type of story, and Zogarth provides creative, at times brutal, but always entertaining and stunning descriptions that are incredibly detailed of the combat, melee and magical.
When you pick this up, you kind of expect to read about a psycho archer (the pic on the cover, Primal Hunter, the blurb), but this story is so much more than that, Jake is so much more than just the ‘Primal Hunter’. The story and adventure he goes on is utterly fascinating.
If you love LitRPG, Fantasy, or just a really great thriller with exceptional character building – then this is for you. This is one of the best LitRPG’s I have ever read, and certainly the best for 2022.
Within our main group is one of the major characters of the story, Jake Thayne. The story mainly focuses on Jake’s story, with only minor segues to the other characters in Jake’s group, and later in the story, we do get to meet some other characters (but I am not going to give spoilers).
Jake is a fascinating character from the start – we get introduced to him in his office environment, and learn that he is a bit of a loner, has difficulty with social situations, but is intelligent, and motivated when he wants to be. When he is transported to the tutorial, he quickly picks up on what is going on, and when presented with the different classes from Fantasy style systems (Warrior, Archer, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard etc), in which he has to choose from, he picks Archer, as he has previous archery skills.
Being that this is a LitRPG story, there is a high degree of RPG material, but this is handled well, never overloading the reader, and providing us with a great amount of information, but also not giving away too much at times so that we can go on the journey with the Character as they unlock the various aspects of their new skills and attributes.
Jake learns early on, that he is a bit different, in that he has a Title – Bloodline Patriarch. This entitles him to some unique abilities that help him at the start as he his adjusting to the sudden shift from office worker to Archer in a fantasy world.
It should be noted, that each of the people has been told that they have 2mths to survive in the tutorial, gather as many ‘Tutorial Points’ as possible, by killing beasts and each other, last one standing wins kind of thing.
At the start of this story, it is fascinating reading how the different personalities of the members of Jake’s group are affected by the sudden change in their lives, the characters they chose to be, and how they respond to the need to both survive, and to have to kill other things – initially the beasts in the world they now inhabit so that they can gain experience, but later actual people.
With so many of these stories, there is often the person dropped in to this scenario – or a group, and they all seem to suddenly know what to do, because they have played online games, etc, or they just cope with violence etc.
But Zogarth has really thought about the social aspects and psychology of this with a lot more depth for his characters, providing a really fascinating and intriguing story, that is so much more in-depth than the normal LitRPG or Fantasy story of this genre. Jake, having done archery, and with his particular personality, adapts very quickly to things, and realises that this is not a game, ‘Tutorial’ means that this is just the start, they need to learn, and fast, that danger is all around them. Very quickly, he has assessed his group, and worked out all of their strengths, and too many of their weaknesses.
Others in the group don’t cope, as would be expected, just thinking they are going to go back to the ‘real’ world, that they can just wait it out, hope for the best. Their mentality is infuriating as it means certain death, but at the same time, it is so understandable from a social aspect.
As the story develops (and I am not going to give away spoilers), the characters meet other groups, there is obviously combat (there is a LOT of combat), but again, there is some exceptional character work from multiple different angles.
This is an incredibly intelligent and well thought out LitRPG story, and easily one of the best I have ever read. I could not put it down (I have the audiobook, and was listening to it everywhere I could), but I highly recommend having the book, as it helps with some of the LitRPG elements), once you start, you just have to know what happens – I can’t wait for book 2.
As well as the character work being just so exceptional, Zogarth has put a lot of time and thought into their LitRPG system, as well as the world building, which is just outstanding. There was a lot of depth to the character levels, skills, attributes etc, so much detail it would make a brilliant accessory to the book. The world they are living in is beautifully detailed, you can easily place yourself in the locations that are being described so that you are there with each of the characters.
As mentioned, there is a lot of combat, as is expected in this type of story, and Zogarth provides creative, at times brutal, but always entertaining and stunning descriptions that are incredibly detailed of the combat, melee and magical.
When you pick this up, you kind of expect to read about a psycho archer (the pic on the cover, Primal Hunter, the blurb), but this story is so much more than that, Jake is so much more than just the ‘Primal Hunter’. The story and adventure he goes on is utterly fascinating.
If you love LitRPG, Fantasy, or just a really great thriller with exceptional character building – then this is for you. This is one of the best LitRPG’s I have ever read, and certainly the best for 2022.
June 17, 2022
No, no no! There's too much telling! Even half the dialogues are told, not actually spoken! The writing is decent, the main character feels decent (although other characters are severely lacking, but what do you expect will happen if you keep telling?), the premise and story also feels okay -but- the passive description destroy any enjoyment of reading.
October 22, 2023
Boredom is the only thing I felt throughout reading this book. Everyone wanted to kill everyone and for no reason. The author ruined the book further by putting a teenage psychopath and point of views of characters that I don't give a hoot about. I started skipping chapters by the time I reached 70%. What a waste.
May 6, 2022
As soon as he chose archer class I new was not one would not like as only class could of been worse if was available would be if used firearms like gun's in a fantasy (they can work but usually op or just no good.)
Sorry say found this boring and skimmed a lot so will not be reading book 2.
Sorry say found this boring and skimmed a lot so will not be reading book 2.
October 28, 2024
This book was highly recommended by my friend Russ and my Dad, and after a year or so I finally picked it up. I was looking for an easy book that I could just relax with and not have to think, during my academic semester. Boy did it deliver.
Though I haven't had much luck with the LitRPG genre (sorry Dungeon Crawler Carl,) I did enjoy this one somewhat. It moves quickly (for the most part) which I really enjoyed, and the power fantasy is pretty fun. Zogarth clearly loves video games and MMORPGs, which shines through in a positive way. There were a number of times I put the book down with a huge craving for some Dungeons and Dragons. The clear goal of the protagonist - get more powerful - provides a pretty steady forward drive for the book, which is nice. Zogarth is also very good at thinking about abilities and how they intersect, and the magic system gets more interesting around the 2/3 mark as a result.
For those who have read the book, it's obvious that the author is not big on prose. Though Brandon Sanderson gets plenty of criticism for a "functional" writing style, Zogarth really takes it to a new level. Normally, I would really be disappointed by this, but as I wanted a nice easy read as a break from class reading, it was actually pretty perfect for me. It also makes the pacing feel faster, and makes it easy to skim the stat sheet when it repeats every few chapters.
At the same time, the book is not great. Though the pacing works well in terms of action/inaction, character development timelines are abysmal. Some major characters aren't introduced until halfway through the book, and others get a lot of setup at the start of the book and then disappear (or at least, their character arc does) by the midway point. A stronger version of this book exists with a more evenly split perspective and a clearer idea of who the main characters are going to be. In addition, and perhaps most frustratingly, the author has an excellent finale to conclude the first book and set up the second and then... just keeps going for a few chapters? Rather than ending on the excellent high note, there are a half-dozen just "meh" chapters that not only take away from the climax, but make me less excited to read the next book. If the book had ended ten chapters earlier, and a few chapters moved around, it would have much better.
There is also a lot of exposition about how the "system" functions and why it works the way it does. While I think it's just a convention of the LitRPG genre, I am not a fan. Digging into various skill trees was also very boring for me, but I'm confident that's a personal preference thing. For readers like my friend Russ, the ability to look at different skills and walk through the protagonist's thought process during their choice must be super duper fun. I was just bored.
Most importantly, the characters are all pretty flat. That's okay - it's meant to feel like a video game, with lots of NPCs exhibiting more programming than personality - but it made it hard for me to care about what was happening. Well-written action sequences carried less weight when the characters on the line felt like fodder to begin with, and really cool intersections of game functions and character development felt unearned because the character didn't really get the time they needed.
Overall, this was excellent popcorn reading and a brain break from heavier reading during the academic semester. This would be a solid "get back into reading" book for someone who really likes video games, and it definitely made me want to play some myself. Unfortunately, the book's failure to excel in any literary sense means it isn't my favorite. Dad and Russ loving the book makes total sense after reading it - I would recommend it to my friends Gabe and Conner and probably Tom.
Though I haven't had much luck with the LitRPG genre (sorry Dungeon Crawler Carl,) I did enjoy this one somewhat. It moves quickly (for the most part) which I really enjoyed, and the power fantasy is pretty fun. Zogarth clearly loves video games and MMORPGs, which shines through in a positive way. There were a number of times I put the book down with a huge craving for some Dungeons and Dragons. The clear goal of the protagonist - get more powerful - provides a pretty steady forward drive for the book, which is nice. Zogarth is also very good at thinking about abilities and how they intersect, and the magic system gets more interesting around the 2/3 mark as a result.
For those who have read the book, it's obvious that the author is not big on prose. Though Brandon Sanderson gets plenty of criticism for a "functional" writing style, Zogarth really takes it to a new level. Normally, I would really be disappointed by this, but as I wanted a nice easy read as a break from class reading, it was actually pretty perfect for me. It also makes the pacing feel faster, and makes it easy to skim the stat sheet when it repeats every few chapters.
At the same time, the book is not great. Though the pacing works well in terms of action/inaction, character development timelines are abysmal. Some major characters aren't introduced until halfway through the book, and others get a lot of setup at the start of the book and then disappear (or at least, their character arc does) by the midway point. A stronger version of this book exists with a more evenly split perspective and a clearer idea of who the main characters are going to be. In addition, and perhaps most frustratingly, the author has an excellent finale to conclude the first book and set up the second and then... just keeps going for a few chapters? Rather than ending on the excellent high note, there are a half-dozen just "meh" chapters that not only take away from the climax, but make me less excited to read the next book. If the book had ended ten chapters earlier, and a few chapters moved around, it would have much better.
There is also a lot of exposition about how the "system" functions and why it works the way it does. While I think it's just a convention of the LitRPG genre, I am not a fan. Digging into various skill trees was also very boring for me, but I'm confident that's a personal preference thing. For readers like my friend Russ, the ability to look at different skills and walk through the protagonist's thought process during their choice must be super duper fun. I was just bored.
Most importantly, the characters are all pretty flat. That's okay - it's meant to feel like a video game, with lots of NPCs exhibiting more programming than personality - but it made it hard for me to care about what was happening. Well-written action sequences carried less weight when the characters on the line felt like fodder to begin with, and really cool intersections of game functions and character development felt unearned because the character didn't really get the time they needed.
Overall, this was excellent popcorn reading and a brain break from heavier reading during the academic semester. This would be a solid "get back into reading" book for someone who really likes video games, and it definitely made me want to play some myself. Unfortunately, the book's failure to excel in any literary sense means it isn't my favorite. Dad and Russ loving the book makes total sense after reading it - I would recommend it to my friends Gabe and Conner and probably Tom.
July 10, 2023
3.5 stars. Rounding down because of good reads not so good rating system.
What would you do if you several of your co workers suddenly found yourselves in another world with several other people who you have never met? Would you stay with your group? Branch off on your own? How would you react when it's obvious that this place offered rewards for KILLING the creatures that inhabit this new and unknown world or universe? What would you do when you realize that besides the creatures this place is pushing you and all others to kill EACHOTHER?
This was and still is an ongoing web novel series that has taken a large part of the beginning of the story and turned it into a novel.
For the most part I enjoyed this novel. I'm going to get the bad out of the way first so people that read this know what to expect. There are several lulls in the story that slow it down to a crawl. At one point I almost told the person I was buddy reading it with that I was going to abandon it because I just wasn't enjoying myself but I stuck through and am ultimately happy I did. The world building isn't the greatest in this first volume. You're still basically in the dark at the last page just as the characters in the story are and I personally find that a bit ridiculous for an almost 800 page book. The power scaling also by the end is completely ridiculous with the author pointing it out himself several times (as if bringing it up will make it less so) but still continues to keep scaling everyone up. There's a large chunk at about 1/3 of the way through where the MC enters a cave or "dungeon " and is left here on the side burner while the other characters have their turn to level up and become ridiculously strong as having a MC that is completely untouchable would get boring fast. It was this part where I almost gave up on the book but my buddy read partner talked me out of it. (I'm glad she did though)
Now onto the positive. The place and overarching story are genuinely enjoyable always leaving you to want to turn the next page to see what is going to happen and what new there is to learn even if ultimately I was left really wanting more world building. The characters are easy to love and or hate( hated in the way that only a well written villain could be). The action is very well done and always exciting with several large set pieces that had me on the edge of my seat. The leveling system as as a whole was interesting and even if it did start to get ridiculous by the end it was still a shit ton of fun to watch these characters grow and get stronger with each kill and every level gained.
It is not a perfect novel but that doesn't exist and I still had a lot of fun reading it and discussing it with my friend who was reading it along with me. If you can overlook the cons I have with it and like or want to jump into LITRPG I think this is a pretty decent novel.
What would you do if you several of your co workers suddenly found yourselves in another world with several other people who you have never met? Would you stay with your group? Branch off on your own? How would you react when it's obvious that this place offered rewards for KILLING the creatures that inhabit this new and unknown world or universe? What would you do when you realize that besides the creatures this place is pushing you and all others to kill EACHOTHER?
This was and still is an ongoing web novel series that has taken a large part of the beginning of the story and turned it into a novel.
For the most part I enjoyed this novel. I'm going to get the bad out of the way first so people that read this know what to expect. There are several lulls in the story that slow it down to a crawl. At one point I almost told the person I was buddy reading it with that I was going to abandon it because I just wasn't enjoying myself but I stuck through and am ultimately happy I did. The world building isn't the greatest in this first volume. You're still basically in the dark at the last page just as the characters in the story are and I personally find that a bit ridiculous for an almost 800 page book. The power scaling also by the end is completely ridiculous with the author pointing it out himself several times (as if bringing it up will make it less so) but still continues to keep scaling everyone up. There's a large chunk at about 1/3 of the way through where the MC enters a cave or "dungeon " and is left here on the side burner while the other characters have their turn to level up and become ridiculously strong as having a MC that is completely untouchable would get boring fast. It was this part where I almost gave up on the book but my buddy read partner talked me out of it. (I'm glad she did though)
Now onto the positive. The place and overarching story are genuinely enjoyable always leaving you to want to turn the next page to see what is going to happen and what new there is to learn even if ultimately I was left really wanting more world building. The characters are easy to love and or hate( hated in the way that only a well written villain could be). The action is very well done and always exciting with several large set pieces that had me on the edge of my seat. The leveling system as as a whole was interesting and even if it did start to get ridiculous by the end it was still a shit ton of fun to watch these characters grow and get stronger with each kill and every level gained.
It is not a perfect novel but that doesn't exist and I still had a lot of fun reading it and discussing it with my friend who was reading it along with me. If you can overlook the cons I have with it and like or want to jump into LITRPG I think this is a pretty decent novel.
December 2, 2024
J’ai reçu ce livre par Babelio dans le cadre d’une Masse Critique en échange d’une critique sur leur plateforme. J’ai profité de l’occasion afin de m’initier au genre du LitRPG… et ça ne s’est pas bien passé.
Le genre du LitRPG se base sur le fait que la Terre se trouve soudainement incluse dans un « Système », un mécanisme d’une origine inconnue qui pousse les personnages à survivre dans un monde qui est du jour au lendemain régit par des règles propres aux jeu vidéo de type RPG. Si sur le papier cela peut paraître un concept intéressant, l’exécution n’est juste pas bonne selon moi. Dans « Primal Hunter », les personnages comprennent trop facilement le fonctionnement du Système et pour moi qui ait l’habitude d’analyser tout ce que je lis, ma crédibilité n’a pas été suspendue à un seul instant. Ca n’a été qu’un ensemble de scènes d’action et d’expérimentations alchimiques justifiés uniquement par ce Système qui devient vite un gimmick pour justifier l’avancement dans l’« histoire », si elle existe véritablement. Ma lecture aurait été bien plus intéressante si le Système avait été remplacé par une intrigue bien ficelée.
Arrivé aux deux tiers du livre, je n’attendais plus que sa fin, tellement j’en avais marre de lever les yeux au ciel à chaque fois que l’auteur trouvait une justification invraisemblable qui permettait au protagoniste de comprendre la solution à un problème qu’il n’avait aucune raison réaliste de comprendre ou qu’un deus ex machina vienne résoudre le problème. Les interminables répétitions des notifications du Système, ont été la cerise sur le gâteau.
Seules les libertés que prend l’auteur pour explorer et jouer avec son univers lui épargne une unique étoile. Toutefois, je ne regrette pas cette lecture, elle m’a confirmé que le genre n’est pas pour moi… A moins qu’un véritable bon auteur s’y intéresse avec un bon angle d’attaque.
Univers : 4/10
Personnage : 2/10
Ecriture : 3/10
Rythme : 6/10
Système magique : 3/10
Emotion : 1/10
Style : 2/10
Action : 6/10
Le genre du LitRPG se base sur le fait que la Terre se trouve soudainement incluse dans un « Système », un mécanisme d’une origine inconnue qui pousse les personnages à survivre dans un monde qui est du jour au lendemain régit par des règles propres aux jeu vidéo de type RPG. Si sur le papier cela peut paraître un concept intéressant, l’exécution n’est juste pas bonne selon moi. Dans « Primal Hunter », les personnages comprennent trop facilement le fonctionnement du Système et pour moi qui ait l’habitude d’analyser tout ce que je lis, ma crédibilité n’a pas été suspendue à un seul instant. Ca n’a été qu’un ensemble de scènes d’action et d’expérimentations alchimiques justifiés uniquement par ce Système qui devient vite un gimmick pour justifier l’avancement dans l’« histoire », si elle existe véritablement. Ma lecture aurait été bien plus intéressante si le Système avait été remplacé par une intrigue bien ficelée.
Arrivé aux deux tiers du livre, je n’attendais plus que sa fin, tellement j’en avais marre de lever les yeux au ciel à chaque fois que l’auteur trouvait une justification invraisemblable qui permettait au protagoniste de comprendre la solution à un problème qu’il n’avait aucune raison réaliste de comprendre ou qu’un deus ex machina vienne résoudre le problème. Les interminables répétitions des notifications du Système, ont été la cerise sur le gâteau.
Seules les libertés que prend l’auteur pour explorer et jouer avec son univers lui épargne une unique étoile. Toutefois, je ne regrette pas cette lecture, elle m’a confirmé que le genre n’est pas pour moi… A moins qu’un véritable bon auteur s’y intéresse avec un bon angle d’attaque.
Univers : 4/10
Personnage : 2/10
Ecriture : 3/10
Rythme : 6/10
Système magique : 3/10
Emotion : 1/10
Style : 2/10
Action : 6/10
Displaying 1 - 30 of 621 reviews