The Primordial will bring the End of Realms. Find him. Purge him. Burn him to Ash.
Ekavir is a hardworking lumberjack's son. It isn't his fault crows speak in eldritch voices when he walks through the forest, or that his blood-red eyes leave the village kids shaking in their shoes.
He might be the latest incarnation of a dreaded god, but he never asked for that. He doesn't even know.
When knights arrive hunting for the Ender of Realms, Vir loses his idyllic life along with his chance to be anything else. To grow strong enough to survive, he'll have to become the Primordial.
There's just one problem: Vir can't do magic. Not even the simplest spells to light a fire or conjure a breeze.
To take back control of his destiny, Vir will have to find a whole new way of magic. He'll have to forge his own path, and he'll have to do it while running, fighting, and clawing for survival.
It might be that Vir is destined to live out his days without magic...Or maybe his brand of magic just defies all the known rules.
I always try to finish, even a bad book, so I can give an accurate review, but this was just painful to read. The first arc is just set up that is incredibly forced. Character actions make very little sense. Even the generalized village setting is off. The start of the second arc is a glacial training sequence that is just horribly dull. I can not make myself keep reading.
This is one of the best novels that I've ever read. The moment I saw the ad while reading The Harvester, I knew that it would be interesting.
I love the way Vir is portrayed in the story. The way he goes from weak to strong, as he learns talents, and learns how to use his weapon most effectively. Most of all, I love his ash prana. Though I do wonder if ash prana is primordial prana, why is it so scarce? Isn't primordial prana made up of all other prana put together? Well, I hope my questions will be answered as the story goes on.
The only things that I did not like in this story thus far are Vir's naivety, his cluelessness on matters aside from battle, and Maiya's attitude.
Vir's naivety can be explained due to his upbringing, coupled with the type of person who raised him, but I feel like he is too kind for his own good. Just like during the visit to the town arc when he took pity on the merchants.
His cluelessness on matters aside from battle can be explained due to his previous poverty status, but that cannot be forgiven now that he is living with Raiyan. Even if he doesn't know Raiyan's actual status, he at least knows that Raiyan is very rich. This simply means that Raiyan is a treasure trove of knowledge which leads to Raiyan having books on the world. Though, some may that he didn't have time due to his training. But it is well-known that "Knowledge is power". Thus, I hope that he improves on that.
My problem regarding Maiya's attitude, unfortunately, won't be explained because I don't want to earn the ire of the author and other readers.
All in all, this is a great story and I hope that my review helps others pick it up as well. Thank you.
I'm not a native English speaker, but I've read at least hundreds of books written in English, and for some reason this book gave me a headache. I had so much trouble reading the book that I began to doubt my English proficiency. Something about the structure of the sentences felt off to me and I couldn't get used to it. There were also sentences written in such a way that I had no idea who performed which action. Dropped in the middle of the book.
The first thing I want to impress on the reader of this review is how difficult it is to write a story about a character that goes from 98 pound weakling to The Strongest Being Alive without summarizing the fights down to 'and then he won'. Vowron is able to do that not just with style, but with real meat to the story in every chapter.
Style: The style of the story is excellent, even if I would say it was the weakest element in the story, much in the same way I would say nickel is the weakest part of CrCoNi alloy. Sometimes it can be a little hard to mentally picture the surroundings and areas of the world, however part of that is Royal Road removing the ability to link to Discord as Vowron was using those for images related to the story. They're up on his site however so in any case you can look at them as you're reading if you care to. Besides that, the world is intriguing and interesting - it feels part Middle East, part Eastern Europe, with a soupcon of modern and a wide splash of post-post-post-apocalypse. The power systems within the story similarly unfold in onion style, and as Vir gets a handle on each layer it peels away and he gets blasted in the everything by the next, which is always entertaining.
Story: So the story needs to be split into two parts - one, it's entirely basic, the main character is wildly OP and is going to be the Hero of the World. But two, he doesn't start anywhere near there, and there are a dozen other major story beats that all have to be monitored at all times - offscreen characters and events, an ever expanding list of friends, rogues, villains, and outright enemies, and the feel of a ticking clock in the background that's painted in masterstroke style by Vowron's storytelling. There's a couple obvious 'well I saw that coming' bits here and there but everything else is incredibly enjoyable, and this story is worth diving into headfirst. If you worry that you missed a lot in the first book - you did, but not enough to say 'well I shouldn't start reading at Book 2'. No. Pick it up now, you'll catch up just fine. Older story beats show back up on an often enough basis to keep people informed.
Grammar: I get just a hair lost in the terminology of the story and the explanations of how Vir continues to evolve, especially powering through chapter 200+, but it doesn't exactly mean anything more than 'numbers go up offscreen' if you're missing it, and for the most part a second, slower read through can make it clearer. When it comes to describing the combat, the world around Vir and Maiya, the events and people around them, the grammar is clear and concise and excellent.
Characters: Vir goes from being so weak you could pee on him from a great height and kill him to murdering demi-god monsters, and yet it never feels like he's overpowered or stupid. He runs away from a lot of fights and has to practice constantly, and there's always something over the horizon that makes him look like a cherry bomb next to a brick of C4. Maiya is less power motivated, exactly - she just wants to keep up with Vir (impossible) but her path is different and highly amusing in some ways, utterly aghast in others. The other side characters - Riyan, Tanya, Mina, the Brotherhood, and more - are all intriguing and well written, and so far there haven't really been any badly written ones.
So in conclusion, yeah. Excellent story, well written, with a great world and good characters.
Rounded down, but it's honestly not that bad. It has an interesting magic system, and when it does show the MC working on progressing it, the process is well-thought-out and logical. The MC has interesting limitations, and I don't hate him. In other ways, it's pretty rote fantasy. There's little tension for large swaths of the book, and certain aspects of it are laughably unbelievable. It's a thin chain from which to suspend a lot of disbelief. Aside from that, I've read much worse.
The Ashborn Primordial is an enthralling novel that swept me up in its epic world and captivating characters. The main character, Vir, starts as a weak and frail individual who is constantly underestimated due to his distinctive appearance and lack of magical abilities. However, as the story progresses, we see Vir's determination and hard work shine through, as he uncovers the truth about his identity and sets out to forge his own path.
The world-building in this book is superb, with a consistent and well-thought-out magic system that is easy to understand and follow. The author's attention to detail shines through, creating a rich and immersive world that I didn't want to leave. Even the secondary characters have depth and complexity, making them just as interesting to follow as the main character.
Each chapter is action-packed and gripping, leaving me wanting more. The story is filled with tropes such as weak to strong and hidden identity, but the author executes them in a fresh and exciting way. And of course, who can resist a cute canine companion?
There was no question about getting this book, it sounded interesting and oh Heath Miller was narrating the book and he's the best! And I absodamnlutely loved the book from the very beginning! But how do I review it? It's so meaty and every minute seems just so important for me to include in the review... but let me put it this way Ekavir, Vir for short is prana (magic) scorned and can't do a lick of it. He's also ashborn. But despite his handicaps he's developed a keen friendship with Mariya. And once the Knights ride into the village everything changes. Watch what happens when Ekavir discovers a magic of his own and that magic is in the ground ready for harvesting. A magic that everyone's over looked. Thus begins Ekavir's delve into meditation and self training and his eventual mastery! And Mariya, along with a lotta determination follows alongside and gets stronger too! Even the fight with the spider 🕷 queen is seemingly an important task. So go grab the book and let Vowran Prime and Heath Miller tell you a story!
I loved the story progression within this, and the general plot front and back, but the primary two reasons I only gave it four stars was: 1) This economy really just does not make sense. Example: You can buy a meal for about five coppers (or was it bronzes I can’t remember I read this awhile back) but you can buy a room in an inn for ten??? Like really I don’t understand this. And then 2) Three specific words that I only learned through repetition (kindle’s dictionary did NOT help me with them), now I am probably an idiot, but these are the words I got stuck on: bandies, Ash’va, and seric. Respectively, these mean dogs, horses, and gold.
But other than that, it’s a pretty good book! Will be sticking around for the sequel.
So the first thing that's horrible about this book is just it's God awful pacing. At 250 pages out of 750 pages it's been like 3 to 5 weeks maybe. The author literally takes you through every event of every single day and most of it's a total waste. The protagonist makes choices that aren't characteristic of themselves and the author uses way too much for shadowing very bluntly along with a crap ton of plot armor. I really wanted to push through because it was starting to get better but at the point where the protagonist kills to pirates who's chasing him and then just leaves them and all their shit behind for literally no reason given it's just unacceptably poor writing.
Good book. It has a very big but very slow story. I like the story and most of the things about it, but it tended to drag. I don't know if it's the author's prose Or just too detailed at times even though I normally like very detailed interaction with the magic. The detailed descriptions of his attempt to learn the new magic where the highlights in my opinion of the book, much like a crafty novel. In this case. He has to craft his magic with no trainers, no help. The storyline itself is fairly complex by the end of the book. Though I enjoyed the book considering its size, it is a slow burn for gratification and our hero is certainly not OP.
Dang this story is hectic... I wasn't sure what to rate it as it took so long to get to the good stuff. The training and all that was interesting, but it took SO long. The moment Maiya and Vir separated was when things got exciting.
I'm eager to read the next book... and I've my fingers crossed it's much better than this one.
I personally won't be continuing this series as nothing but the main villian intrigued me. However, I think I'm just not the intended audience and I can easily see many people enjoying this series. The main protagonist makes childish decisions that I think would be better for a much younger audience.
I got this book because somebody said "Cradle fans, eat your heart out." It is definitely not on that level and honestly, I don’t know why anybody would even try to compare it to that. This book is whatever, and the main characters are super immature and young. I get that they don’t really have a lot of experience but damn this was rough.
I enjoyed this book. Great world building and magic system. Good characters, if a bit oblivious at times. Theres at least one good plot twist. but there are some holes in the story and illogical actions that are frustrating. But all in all a good read, even if it drags along at times.
Overall, it was a good and interesting premise. However, it took far too long to get to the good part (ie the third arc)
The middle training montage could have been shortened by a couple dozen chapters to make it interesting, and I'm just glad I put up with it for the end, but can understand why others may decide to give up part way through (I almost did so myself).
This book was well written and enjoyable to read with the plot elements and intrigue of classical fantasy along with the progression elements that I’ve come to enjoy. Give it a try!
I’ve listened to 5 hours of the audio book so far, it’s a 24 hour audio.
And I’m going to DNF it. I’ve tried. But the characters are lacking interesting personalities. The book really needs some levity as well, really feeling the lack.
So much of this book was a slog. Way too much detail and slow pacing through much of the novel. I had every intention of giving it 3 stars. Then we get to the end and it's just so ham fisted and cliched I literally scoffed out loud.
This story of a orphaned child who comes of age and is attacked by priests knights who kills his adopted family was fantastic. He trains up his combat abilities to get justice.
DNF!!! I quit after 2 hours or so I just couldn't stand the boring and annoying MC. I kept waiting for something interesting too happen but it all felt so damn bland.
Brilliant book, very different from others I've read. Now on book 2. No spoilers, just want to highly recommend this book to anyone who likes litRPG or similar.
I bought this book on amazon and couldn't stop reading. and you’ll know why when you read it. :) I'm excited for the other books in this series (sequel).
The story gives you steady progression hits. Not to mention the beautiful lore and mystery behind the existence of the realms. The magic system is new and refreshing but also makes you wonder how it functions.
The ride starts with the synopsis, and in the first chapter, the author takes us on a journey to two different worlds in completely different eras. Starting with a terrific pace, the story slows itself down a bit to give the readers a breather, and then catches pace again.
A good story is one in which the theme of the story is unveiled on the first page, and one that gives us a sneak peek into a character’s personalities. A splendid story is all of that, plus it makes you smitten by the plot and the players. I started reading chapter one of ‘Ashborn Primordial’ and didn’t realize how I finished one hundred and forty five chapters.
Story: This is a story of ‘nobody to somebody’ with a rich backstory (or so it seems from the prologue and the synopsis). The story is one of strength, hope, and conviction. There are elements of South Asian (Indian) mythology, in a way that glorifies the story manifold. Author also sheds light on the value of deep meaningful relationships (be it between a father and son, or between friends).
Style: Thoroughly enjoyed the use of fakespletives that add to the lore. The author has clubbed a great lore, magic, mystery, emotion and progression all in one story. The story has realistic side characters with good dialogue that help the immersion. I won't spoil, but there's dialogue in chapter two that made chills go down my spine, and a dialogue between Vir and his father is on point as well.
Character: Vir is unique because he’s relatable, yet inspiring. His kindheartedness and determination are infectious! He converts every obstacle into an opportunity and finds ingenious ways of overcoming it. The Author has made me fall in love with not one, but two characters, Vir and Maiya. Maiya beautifies the story with her distinctive skill set, and who knows where the story will take her?
Grammar: Exceptional writing. The beautiful prose makes a reader connect with the story. Seems like the author has ensured that a reader consumes only the finest drafts :)