Primal Forest

Sponsored System, Book 1

By: Tom Larcombe

Narrated by: Neill Thorne

What do you do when you're given advance notice that your planet is about to be inducted into a System in 30 days?

Strange arches show up all over the world, and no-one quite knows what's going on, although theories abound. Mike and his grandfather, Collin, try to investigate one of these arches.

With the announcement that the training offered will take place on a planet already inducted into the System, Mike loses hope. Collin comes through, surprising Mike with a gold Krugerrand that will allow him to pass through the portal to train.

The training is simple, but brutal, and one of the trainers, a rather unruly orc, seems to take an unhealthy interest in Mike. The conflict between the two has Mike fleeing into the forest outside of the Safe Zone used for training, a forest that is full of monsters, ruins, and more.

By the time Mike makes it home, he's gained a class, a group, and has grown in power more than most of the trainees taking the safer route with the trainers. Things on Earth are falling apart, with riots and burning cities from the panicking people who stayed home.

Mike and his group have trained for this, now it's time to put that training to work.

©2025 Thomas Larcombe (P)2025 Tantor Media

good story Bad Romance

Primal Forest is fairly well written overall, and the narration/voices are great. The survival, progression, and worldbuilding are the strongest parts of the book, and those elements kept me interested.

My biggest issue with the book is the romance. It feels forced and underdeveloped. The female character is introduced in a way that feels far too convenient: she suddenly appears, has important knowledge that helps the main character, and becomes romantically attached to him very quickly. On his side, there is not much real pursuit or emotional build-up until later, so the relationship does not feel earned.

The romance also stands out because she is one of the first major female characters introduced outside of his mother and party members. Because of that, it feels less like a natural relationship and more like the story decided it needed a love interest.

Her naivete also becomes frustrating. Some “fish out of water” moments can be fun, but after a while, the constant explanations of basic things start to drag. As the reader, I already know what these things are, so hearing them explained over and over does not add much. The repeated romantic scenes also made me ask, “Why do I care?”

Overall, I still think Primal Forest has good writing, strong voice work, and an interesting setup, but the romance was weak enough and present enough that it hurt my enjoyment of the book. at the end of the day idk if it going to get more fleshed out in the next book but will see

I really enjoyed this plot of an RPG storyline

this was an interesting and enjoyable RPG storyline in the post-apocalyptic event in the system and book series I cannot wait to read the second book

It's not a cat

Story is solid. Characters solid for introduction. Character development slow but is only the first book. Looking forward to the others.

Good one

So i really liked the story and characters but I just didn't like how naive thr MC was when dealing with those that wish him harm, actually I found that annoying but other than that i liked the book

good enough

I am so tired of authors that are hell bent on making mc with zero sense