u/GodOfSmore

I like primal hunter, I’ve read every chapter and have listened to most of the audio books many times over, but I have two main problems (and a future concern) with it, one of them being common among most people.

No stakes: the obvious is no one ever dies, the king “dies” a few times but he’s really just being put in timeout for 50 chapters before coming back stronger. Jake is even slightly losing? Two skill upgrades and some bloodline deus ex machina. That’s a problem of its own cause you’re never worried about anyone. If I’m totally honest, I haven’t even read the most recent battle on patron cause there’s no stakes to it and I can already guess how it’s gonna end with 90% certainty. Not to mention the last 100 chapters or so on patron has had absolutely no risk of injury or death.

Godhood too easy?: But beyond this, and this part of a bit more “I hope this doesn’t happen” more than “I hate when this happens”, I can see where most of the characters are going and I really hope they doesn’t. I hope people start to not be able to grade up. Like Miranda, every time Jake does something annoying or Miranda has to do more work than she thought, she complains and always seems to hate her job. That’s a good way to set up her not having the ability and drive to make it past B or maybe A grade. I really hope some people are done before too long. Caleb, Miranda, Carmen, Iren, Draskle/Scarlet, and the other notable but relatively minor side characters, they shouldn’t make it to godhood.

It’s not enough just to say godhood is hard to get, I need to be shown, and having characters we like die of old age makes sense as a way to do that. And I really hope he doesn’t do what I think he will where he just has the “geniuses” we know of but don’t really care about like the demon lord, heart soul dao lord’s chosen, the golden dragon, etc. not make it to godhood as a way of saying “these powerful guys didn’t make it, it’s hard, see?” Like sure, but then I bet Caleb will somehow make it cause the author is scared to do bad by any slightly notable character. Again, this hasn’t happened yet, but based off how this story has been written, I can 100% see this as a possibility.

Lack of commitment: a counter I’ve seen to there being no stakes is that this isn’t that kind of story. That it’s a power fantasy story where you just watch characters be cool and aura farm. I’m fine with that, and I agree to some degree. But if that’s the case, commit to it. Make Jake cooler. But it always seems like every cool moment is undercut by an attempt at humor which lands, for me at least, maybe 10% of the time. I can only find Jake forgetting about an important thing funny so many times. If I wanted a comedy book, I wouldn’t be here. I’m here cause I love the power system, the fights, the gods, and the world, not cause I think the author is funny.

I really just wish he’d commit to aura farming more. Like my favorite moment recently was when Jake fought the demon and the behemoth because it was Jake being cool, aura farming, and there wasn’t any stupid humor that just killed tension. I especially love when he shows Jake from someone else perspective. Like when we saw Jake from Carmen’s eyes in the treasure hunt was so cool. But the author seems to be committed to shoving bad humor into everything. Like give me stakes and okay aura farming or give me aura farming but little stakes. He’s just getting the worst of both worlds right now I think.

And one of my least favorite parts recently was right after that 2v1, when the behemoth turned from a big scary monster to a super attractive dommy mommy human looking woman in a sports bra. Like why is that needed? This is kind of a side note by why did that happen? And why is ves also a humanoid with big boobs? What’s the point?

I’ve been noticing this a lot lately, but why’s it feel like lowkey nothing matters? I think it’s mostly cause of how large the multiverse is. There are 93 universes which are each impossibly big, plus the void, hidden worlds, other dimensions, etc. so it never feels like anything’s a threat to anything. You can destroy a dozen planets and not only doesn’t it not matter cause there’s trillions of others, but it’s also not at all impressive.

Like think of other books or shows, when so and so villain destroys something significant, the world is shaken up and people care and there’s like stakes. But what’s the primal hunter equivalent? Destroying a significant percentage of a universe? And even then, there’s 93 others.

This also applies to fighting people. Like who cares if you killed a strong b grade, billions have people have done that, plus more impressive things, plus b grades are fodder actually. And even gods, if one god beats another, who cares?

it feels like there’s so much of everything that doing something doesn’t matter. There’s so many worlds and universes that destroying anything less than a notable percentage of a universe is seen as normal/not impressive. Theres so many powerful mortals and so many gods that killing them isn’t impressive or original either. Like if there was only 100 gods or something, killing one would be significant. But since there’s millions to billions of them, it’s not that special unless you’re a mortal when you do it.

Of course, this is a give and take thing, there’s so much that nothing feels like it matters but there’s also so much that you can do anything or go anywhere and explore any idea you come up with. I just wish it felt like more things actually mattered.

I’m not sure if I explained my point very well, but hopefully yall get it.

My world is basically a stereotypical fantasy world (think game of thrones more than lord of the rings) but with three main differences.

Iron Is Rare: Iron is rarer than gold, steel is mythical and passed down through royal families. Weapons are made of bone, stone, or magically strengthened wood. The best you’ll get armor wise is leather and bronze.

Free Magic: everyone can use magic and there is no idea of mana or power. A master mage’s fireball is the same size, speed, and temperature as a beginner’s. Masters need to get stronger by learning more spells and using them together, not through “my fireball bigger than yours”. As such, the powerful spells like fireball or teleport are gatekept by the royal family or powerful factions.

Anti Magic Sun: the Sun actively hinders magic. Even if you’re inside or underground, if the Sun is out you will not be able to use magic. You’ll need to plan your invasions in the winter and make sure you’re somewhere hidden during the day.

What do yall think about these?