Hunting and Herbalism: A Druid LitRPG

Hunting and Herbalism, Book 1

De: Leif Roder, Synonymoose

Narrado por: Rhiannon Moushall

Torn from her home by a reality-warping power, Zalia strives to survive in a frozen world of strange beasts, mysterious magics, and a kingdom at war.

Zalia Taori is well equipped for life in the remote forest valley she calls home. But while tracking a deer through her snowy stomping grounds—armed with her hunting bow and excellent knowledge of wild plants—she comes across a warp in the fabric of reality. She suddenly finds herself in an unfamiliar land where she must learn to survive as both predator and prey.

As Zalia explores this forbidding new terrain, she encounters peculiar herbs, terrifying monsters, mysterious rituals, and some unexpected friends. She enters a world of classes and levels, where making the right move can bestow new powers—and a high-ranking bunny can be a badass opponent.

But just as this lone hunter gets her bearings, she discovers trouble brewing across the landscape. From a safe perch, Zalia spies opposing armies gathering their defenses. As knights and mages run headlong into battle, she knows she won't be able to keep her distance forever . . .

The first volume of this survival LitRPG adventure series—with more than 2 million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2024 Leif Seamus Antony Roder (P)2024 Podium Audio

Until the last ten percent, a great read

Until the last 10%, it was a great read. It was very original, very smart, it's just at the end, you knew what was going to happen the moment that the character who Turns out to be the bad guy is revealed after that it's just paint by numbers and getting ready for the next book, and even that is predictable.

Pretty good with a big caveat.

While somewhat slow to coalesce this story was a compelling and enjoyable one to follow. It does take a while to get into the meat, but still I found the narrator’s voice soothing and the adventure fun. For the first half of this book there was nothing objectionable, but there also wasn’t a whole lot of effort to make the story anything but a pretty generic Isekai/LitRPG by numbers affair. Fortunately, the story eventually introduces more characters and plot and the audiobook went from pleasant background noise to something I was actively engaged in.

It continues that way through to the end. Now for the caveat…

I personally don’t mind a cliffhanger ending in most cases. Especially if the cliffhanger comes after a certain amount of plot resolution and a proper climax. Unfortunately, in this case the author made an inexplicable choice to end the book right before the climax with absolutely no resolution whatsoever-ever. It’s like you are sitting on the couch watching a movie and right before the hero walks into the villain’s lair, your mom walks in and turns off the TV and tells you to go to bed. Pretty frustrating, especially considering how long it takes the book to meander into the plot.

I still gave this book 4 stars for a few of reasons:
1. I enjoyed listening to it and at no point (before the last two seconds) did I want to slap the author.
2. the narration was good and didn’t interfere with the feeling of immersion.
And 3. if the next installment was available right now, I would pick it up instantly just to find out what happens next.

So what I’m say is that essentially, this audiobook is way better than 85% of the Isekai/LitRPG titles available on Audible even if it’s not perfect. So in an effort to make this review relevant and helpful for people like me, I’m grading on the curve. So if you’re like me and have already listened to all of the even remotely not-terrible audiobooks in this genre then this book will satisfy while while waiting for another audiobook that isn’t narrated by Daniel Wisnewski or Wayne Mitchell.

Although if cliffhanger endings send you into a blind rage then I highly recommend you wait to listen to this until the second book comes out so you don’t end up pulling your hair out and screaming at the ceiling.

I will get the next one

The pacing was a little wired, but not bad. What I mean is that it almost felt like certain parts had bits missing idk I'm not explaining it well. RegRegardless I did enjoy the book and have book 2 on my wishlist for when it release.

crappy end

ok book but the end is garbage. Who ends a book like this, this stupid author.

Bad Cliffhanger!

I enjoyed most of the book. The MC is a human disliking human, but not the worst of that kind since she doesn't harp on it constantly. I guess that's the trope for a typical fantasy druid so, meh.

Anyway the magic system, and litrpg stuff is rather simplistic. and hand wavy, but not the worst.

The supporting characters started to have some depth to them later on in the story, and the main plot was going ok.

All in all an ok book, which is like a 4 star for the litrpg scene, but then there had to be a really poorly executed cliffhanger. The proper way to do a cliffhanger is to resolve, or mostly resolve the main issue the story is dealing with, and then not reveal if the MC or maybe their best friend or lover, survives the ordeal. Or do and then reveal that what their dealing with right now is only the tip of the iceberg, and there's an even bigger issue that they have to do with. Or a huge overarching plot twist gets revealed. Not ending the book in the literal middle of the climactic battle, which was also rather enemic. I get what they were going for, but it was just poorly ddone.

I'll probably grab the next one on KU if I can just so I can finish the ending of this book. After that, I'll have to decide if I want to continue with the audiobook or not.

This is Great

I honestly hope the author is able to keep writing, and if desired, turn writing into his full time job. The book is great. I feel like druids are an underdeveloped concept in the world of modern fiction/fantasy/game lit/ etc. It feels like this one does a pretty good job of showing the beginning of a Druid growing into themselves. I look forward to more.

Was an enjoyable read

Despite yes a cliffhanger the book itself was good and kept you guessing on what is going on. Even by the end you dont know all who is involved. The characters have thier assumptions but it's just that, no proof.

It is very abrupt ending which I'd normally hate but this one really felt more like it was the journey to enjoy and not the climax. It made me want to see how it would turn out. Just not in the typical cliff hanger way that leaves me upset.