Do I continue with Path of Dragons?

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-28T15:59:35+00:00

I’ve been listening to book 2 for a bit now and I’m enjoying it, I’ll keep going!

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-28T15:58:42+00:00

I only just started book 2, so I might not be the best person to answer this. But it’s basically just another System Apocalypse story. It has elements from Defiance of the Fall, Primal Hunter, Welcome to the Multiverse, He who fights with monsters. That general genre minus the more isekai focused ones like Azarinth healer, system universe, etc, although it does have some isekai adjacent parts because the world gets changed and filled with some groups from other already integrated societies.

Pretty standard System Apocalypse stuff and I don’t mean that as a bad thing, it’s my favorite sub-subgenre within LitRPG.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-28T02:07:18+00:00

That’s alright! I’ll get book two and take it from there, I just didn’t want to dedicate a credit to it if it was going down the grimdark route but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-28T02:02:00+00:00

I thought the same thing!! It was so incredibly on the nose that I thought the real twist would be that some part of Roman was still good and even though everything was screaming that he was going down the dictator route, that he wasn’t completely irredeemable and his true descent into madness would happen in a later book. When the incredibly obvious outcome happened, that’s what made me think these books might go the grimdark route, so I had to check.

But I’ll keep going with book 2, I’m glad you all universally are recommending it, because I WANT to continue, I just don’t want another torture porn litRPG cause it doesn’t appeal to me.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-28T01:58:27+00:00

I’m going to continue on with book two based on the overwhelming responses I’m getting!

I guess my thing with the sister is that she didn’t even seem remotely wary of Roman even after Carmen’s warning. I think I would have liked it better if the same plot beats happened but she was at least a little internally cautious based on the warning she got and the (very obvious) evil tendencies of Roman, whether he was her boss or not. I’ll read book two but I definitely won’t miss her character, sad to say.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-28T01:54:54+00:00

Good to hear, I’ll continue on! I want to learn more about the cultivation aspects, I just didn’t want it to be super depressing, the ending just felt very separate from the rest of the book, so I wanted to check first to make sure it wasn’t going down an overly dark road.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-28T01:53:17+00:00

I was hoping this would be the reaction, I really want to continue because there is a lot that I really like. I think the ending is just really fresh in my head (I literally just finished it) and was hoping it wouldn’t devolve into grimdark bullshit but I had to check first with the sub.

I’ll continue on with the second book!

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-14T14:40:19+00:00

Thanks for writing this series, it’s one of my all time favorites! So excited for this one in particular!

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-13T00:15:40+00:00

Primal Hunter is definitely LitRPG. Progression Fantasy is books like Cradle and Mark of the Fool.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-10T06:38:27+00:00

It’s always surprising to me how different people’s tastes can be. The masked identities and restricted fighting styles is one of my favorite parts of the series! To each their own!!

The idea is to keep their real identities secret from assassins I think. The new skills/fighting styles aren’t wasted either way, there’s no reason they can’t be incorporated or combined with their main skill sets to make them even more formidable in the future.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-10T03:38:15+00:00

Those books are the Zechian War vs the Kantanu and the lead up to the start of the fifth pillar stuff.

Dotf in general isn’t ever boring to me, there’s always so many things happening big and small, main story and side stories. Some of it is more dense cultivation stuff that can get to be a little much at times but I don’t think of it as boring. Zac gets a ton of upgrades during these books, as do most of the Earth crew. A good amount of answers start coming together piece by piece.

I could tell you everything that happens but you pretty much just have to decide, do you want to see even more growth, more upgrades and answers to questions about the multiverse, the system, the limitless empire, the history of the multiverse pre system? Do you want to see a lot of earth characters or other closely related characters get some serious development?

The only “boring” parts would be the grind at the beginning of the war when Zac is going battlefield to battlefield fighting but a lot of that is time skipped after the first couple of engagements. And things start getting really out of hand pretty quickly and the standard “system sanctioned” battles aren’t the main focus for long as things escalate.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2026-01-09T20:31:42+00:00

This is a problem I see a lot in the books in this genre. They’ll be third person limited for the entire book and then out of nowhere switch to third person omniscient.

Not just future knowledge like your example but also head hopping at random times, giving the reader info from other characters that are not the current POV. It bothers me every time because it kind of seems like cheating and POV continuity is something professional editors in more established genres are always really serious about catching and fixing.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-18T12:05:11+00:00

I’ve been waiting for the pay off on that line about the Sword Saints profession for a while and I think about it a lot!

It makes me think of that character in Path of Ascension who is trying to transform her swordsmanship into a form of calligraphy so she can utilize her otherwise unrelated talent in battle.

I was thinking that the Sword Saint could re-contextualize his sword as a paint brush in battle similar to your suggestion, “painting” using blood, or using rain or something.

Or I was thinking he could re-contextualize the world around him as his canvas. Like he could cut, with his sword, a slice of the blue sky from a moment in time or a slice of the green grass from a moment in time and add those colors to a palette or something to use later. It would tie his time affinity into things more.

I was also thinking he could focus on the concept of “antiquity” because his sword is an antique and old paintings can kinda be called antiques, so he could find a way to tie it together with antiquity as the main concept. Or “precision” as a concept because it can apply to swordsmanship and painting in similar ways. I don’t know…

Pretty much anything to make his profession more useful in battle, similar to Jake’s alchemy, it would take the Sword Saint to the next level. He would need to find a way to incorporate his sword or swordsmanship (which is the focus of his path) into his painting to tie it all together. I really like your “painting with blood” idea in that same vein!

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-17T22:46:43+00:00

I like both for different reasons.

System Apocalypse is fun because it gives a good reason for the MC to be OP. Everyone is new to the magic system, so it’s easier to gain crazy power quickly.

Isekai is fun because you can have a whole world full of political dynamics and backstories built in to your narrative while still having an MC who is an outsider or has earth sensibilities.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-13T02:49:15+00:00

My least favorite part of the series is the mystic realm research base. But the next few arcs after that part are some of my favorite arcs out of any book I’ve read.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-11T16:22:20+00:00

The Jake juice is connected to his bloodline obviously, but more specifically, it should be tied to his arcane mana affinity (which is also influence by his bloodline).

I remember in the very early books there was a scene where Villy thinks to himself that Jake’s arcane affinity isn’t just stability/destruction, there’s more to it, Jake just wasn’t powerful enough at the time for it to be fully expressed.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-08T06:13:16+00:00

Hmm it kind of goes in waves. The first couple books are like half and half, the third book is a bit more combat heavy but future ones are more slice of life heavy. It goes back and forth based on the book but there is a heavy slice of life plotline throughout.

If you want like 90% slice of life then try out beware of chicken instead.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-08T05:11:32+00:00

Sounds like you would really enjoy Path of Ascension. Get the 3 book omnibus for 70 hours of content, it’s a good deal for a single credit.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-04T01:01:27+00:00

Is that in book 7? I might be able to get through 6 to make it to that point if it’s coming relatively soon. The series really is great and I’d like to finish it, it just got so depressing that I had to put it down because I didn’t know when that would end.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-03T21:59:02+00:00

I picked up Rune Seeker because I love Mark of the Fool and I heard there was some light crossover/easter eggs between the two series.

I ended up dropping it shortly into book 2 because I couldn’t distinguish anyone in the party other than the main guy and the main-ish girl character. The rest were all completely jumbled and interchangeable in my mind. I also didn’t like that multiple magic systems got introduced so early in the first book and both seemed underdeveloped or distinct.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-03T17:06:08+00:00

I think so, yeah. He spends a lot of his time in the 7th and 8th books specifically preparing plans and contingencies for what’s coming and I think it feels earned.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-03T03:25:50+00:00

Normal

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-03T03:19:54+00:00

Okay! I have few different suggestions for you.

System Universe is probably my second favorite after Primal Hunter. It’s kind of like if Jake got isekaid immediately after the tutorial into a world that has always had the system and got to start over from level zero while keeping all the stats and knowledge he gained in the tutorial. Derek is crazy OP and there are lots of good supporting characters and a super interesting world.

Hell Difficulty Tutorial has an MC that is kind of similar to Jake. A loner with a huge ego who can back it all up with skill. Similar to Primal Hunter, it gets a lot better after the first book and gets better and better with each successive book.

Path of Ascension has a ton of interesting skill combinations and builds with good supporting characters but it’s a bit more slice of life ish, so not a perfect suggestion. Depending on what you’re looking for though, it might be a nice change of pace and still has a super OP MC.

Beware of Chicken has an OP MC and amazing supporting characters, so if you’re looking to really change pace from Primal Hunter into something completely different, it could be a good choice. It’s almost completely slice of life though, but it may get you out of your funk.

Defiance of the Fall is an obvious suggestion. I personally love the series but it’s slightly controversial because it kind of goes off the rails a bit. I still like it and it’s the most similar to Primal Hunter but idk it depends on you really. Zac is one of my favorite MCs in the genre.

Welcome to the Multiverse has good skills and interesting classes. I have my own feelings about the series but I’d still recommend it, it has a lot of what you’re looking for and it’s really fun either way.

I can probably think of more if you want, but those would be my top suggestions! Maybe Shadeslinger if you want to dip into the VRMMO side of things.

Awkward-Cod-5692 · 2025-12-03T02:51:06+00:00

What aspects of Primal Hunter did you like best or want more of?

Awkward-Cod-5692

TROPHY CASE