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Primitive War Dispatches Volume II: The Psalms of Xipetotec
During the most turbulent years of the Cold War, the elite dinosaur-hunters of Stalker Force are tasked with finding and killing a horrific plague-carrying utahraptor known as Xipetotec. Their search for Xipetotec takes them across the earth, from the battlefields of Vietnam to the dark heart of Africa. This odyssey is intertwined with the spiritual decay of a young Vietnamese mercenary known as 'the Panther'. As dinosaurs spread across the world, people from all walks of life must learn to survive...the Primitive War.
The Psalms of Xipetotec is the second volume of Primitive War Dispatches - a series of episodic short-story anthologies meant to link the flagship novels of the Primitive War series. The Psalms of Xipetotec takes place between The Hunting of Stalker Force and Primitive War II - Animus Infernal.
Author's this book is not suitable for people under the age of 18. Any similarities in this book to real people, places, or events is purely coincidental or done solely for the purposes of fiction. Dinosaur names are used regardless of when actual species were discovered, for the sake of clarity.
The Psalms of Xipetotec is the second volume of Primitive War Dispatches - a series of episodic short-story anthologies meant to link the flagship novels of the Primitive War series. The Psalms of Xipetotec takes place between The Hunting of Stalker Force and Primitive War II - Animus Infernal.
Author's this book is not suitable for people under the age of 18. Any similarities in this book to real people, places, or events is purely coincidental or done solely for the purposes of fiction. Dinosaur names are used regardless of when actual species were discovered, for the sake of clarity.
415 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 1, 2025
About the author
Ethan Pettus
10 books93 followersEthan Pettus is a didgeridoo-playing degenerate from the green hills of Kentucky. He spends most of his free time day-dreaming.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 11, 2025
So yeah... this book is a real mess.
It's way too long, some of the character decisions make no sense at all. Not a fan of the Nguyen story line at all. The political/Ouraboros story is also not interesting and takes away from the dinosaurs
It's way too long, some of the character decisions make no sense at all. Not a fan of the Nguyen story line at all. The political/Ouraboros story is also not interesting and takes away from the dinosaurs
September 12, 2025
If you're a PW fan then read this book, it has a number of good chapters to get your fix on all things Dinos and War. I would say that this one is a bit too long with some chapters that could have simply been omitted. My least favorite of the PW entries so far but still fun and recommended. Enjoy!
November 28, 2025
What I liked: Now what I enjoyed about this book is it was more than just about the raptor they are after, they managed to have encounters with all sorts of dinosaur species. I mean they had encounters with therizinosaurs, rexes, and some dangerous plant eaters.
What I didn't like: What I didn't like, is when they started to talk about the spiritual side of things.
What I didn't like: What I didn't like, is when they started to talk about the spiritual side of things.
March 26, 2025
Dispatches of Nihilism
*This review covers Primitive Wars: Dispatches vol 1 & 2 due to their shortness, their similar structure, and them being direct sequels to the first Primitive Wars book
If the first Primitive War novel was a Michael Bay movie then the Dispatches are a cross between Predator and The Fugitive with more despair than a mediocre arthouse film and more over the top violence than Mortal Kombat. There is no joy to be found here and anything mildly positive ends in brutal carnage every single time. The onslaught of sadness and hate makes sense given the situation but it left me numb when the novel NEEDED me to care.
To Pettus’s credit, he is genuinely becoming a better writer. While the first novel suffered from poor metaphors and awkward sentences, these dispatch stories, are an improvement. Giving the point of view (POV) to the raptors at times opened up a lot more narrative potentials that enhanced the story and tying the themes of the 3 main POV characters together in vol 2 was a pleasant surprise I was not expecting.
Both these dispatch novels feature Stalker Force, an elite dinosaur hunting squad. Their goal is to hunt down the dangerous species that have been let loose into the world, in particular the two titular Utahraptors. Not only are the raptors killing humans and breeding rapidly, they are also carrying a deadly disease infecting the planet. Vol 1 takes place primarily in Vietnam while Vol 2 travels the world in a globe-trotting tour of awfulness. There are also other POV shifts to characters around the world and to Nyguen, who is forced into fighting for a clandestine military group after surviving the events of first novel.
Everywhere Stalker Force goes, there’s already horrifying violence or about to be. Every transition to a different, random person is just a vignette of new horror. Every dinosaur interaction is just a few sentences away from a graphic description of someone’s spine being crushed, their intestines ripped out, or attempting to scream with their windpipes severed.l as they’re eaten alive.
If I sound melodramatic in my description, I promise you I am not exaggerating. While I understand that many parts of the world were going through brutal war and genocides at this time and that realistically most experiences with dinosaurs would not end well, this book just mires itself in nothing but that horror. Even the best dark movies and novels have spot of humor or joy and Pettus seems to have forgotten that in an attempt to make this feel as real and “true” as possible.
Despite the attempts to be serious these are still a pulpy action novels. That’s not to say Pettus shouldn’t attempt to elevate them to being quality works, it’s possible to be both. However in trying to be more mature and “real” they give us characters that are ultra depressed, horrifying to even imagine, and leaving nothing to grasp onto. I found myself skimming over dinosaur parts because it was just more scenes of gore. Every new person introduced elicited a sigh as I knew they’d end up dying horribly. I let myself have mild hope once or twice but wasn’t crushed when ended poorly, just bored. There’s a fine line between feeling the weight and horrors of the world and becoming numb to the point of not caring because then I don’t care about the story at all.
I’m hoping that Primitive War 2 (which is already out) is an improvement or, at the very least, better balanced. This is a series about dinosaurs in the real world and while that is a horrifying idea at times, these dispatches forget that maybe it’s ok for that concept to be fun too. Both novels continually makes references to Going After Cacciato as if it were an inspiration but Pettus seems to forget that in that classic the real tragedy of Vietnam was blended with triumphs, both real and imaginary. These dispatches want to be more like Tim O’Brian than Jurassic Park but in doing so they lose the good qualities of both those better works. Pettus is writing better but I’m still waiting for them to be “good”.
* Nit-picky fact check, these novels claim that Utahraptors are from the Hells Creek area 66 million years ago (mya). They may have lived in that approximate area of North America but they had been extinct at least 70 mya. The T-rexes in these novel were closer to us in time than Utahraptors were to them. C’mon, this is an easy one to get right!
*This review covers Primitive Wars: Dispatches vol 1 & 2 due to their shortness, their similar structure, and them being direct sequels to the first Primitive Wars book
If the first Primitive War novel was a Michael Bay movie then the Dispatches are a cross between Predator and The Fugitive with more despair than a mediocre arthouse film and more over the top violence than Mortal Kombat. There is no joy to be found here and anything mildly positive ends in brutal carnage every single time. The onslaught of sadness and hate makes sense given the situation but it left me numb when the novel NEEDED me to care.
To Pettus’s credit, he is genuinely becoming a better writer. While the first novel suffered from poor metaphors and awkward sentences, these dispatch stories, are an improvement. Giving the point of view (POV) to the raptors at times opened up a lot more narrative potentials that enhanced the story and tying the themes of the 3 main POV characters together in vol 2 was a pleasant surprise I was not expecting.
Both these dispatch novels feature Stalker Force, an elite dinosaur hunting squad. Their goal is to hunt down the dangerous species that have been let loose into the world, in particular the two titular Utahraptors. Not only are the raptors killing humans and breeding rapidly, they are also carrying a deadly disease infecting the planet. Vol 1 takes place primarily in Vietnam while Vol 2 travels the world in a globe-trotting tour of awfulness. There are also other POV shifts to characters around the world and to Nyguen, who is forced into fighting for a clandestine military group after surviving the events of first novel.
Everywhere Stalker Force goes, there’s already horrifying violence or about to be. Every transition to a different, random person is just a vignette of new horror. Every dinosaur interaction is just a few sentences away from a graphic description of someone’s spine being crushed, their intestines ripped out, or attempting to scream with their windpipes severed.l as they’re eaten alive.
If I sound melodramatic in my description, I promise you I am not exaggerating. While I understand that many parts of the world were going through brutal war and genocides at this time and that realistically most experiences with dinosaurs would not end well, this book just mires itself in nothing but that horror. Even the best dark movies and novels have spot of humor or joy and Pettus seems to have forgotten that in an attempt to make this feel as real and “true” as possible.
Despite the attempts to be serious these are still a pulpy action novels. That’s not to say Pettus shouldn’t attempt to elevate them to being quality works, it’s possible to be both. However in trying to be more mature and “real” they give us characters that are ultra depressed, horrifying to even imagine, and leaving nothing to grasp onto. I found myself skimming over dinosaur parts because it was just more scenes of gore. Every new person introduced elicited a sigh as I knew they’d end up dying horribly. I let myself have mild hope once or twice but wasn’t crushed when ended poorly, just bored. There’s a fine line between feeling the weight and horrors of the world and becoming numb to the point of not caring because then I don’t care about the story at all.
I’m hoping that Primitive War 2 (which is already out) is an improvement or, at the very least, better balanced. This is a series about dinosaurs in the real world and while that is a horrifying idea at times, these dispatches forget that maybe it’s ok for that concept to be fun too. Both novels continually makes references to Going After Cacciato as if it were an inspiration but Pettus seems to forget that in that classic the real tragedy of Vietnam was blended with triumphs, both real and imaginary. These dispatches want to be more like Tim O’Brian than Jurassic Park but in doing so they lose the good qualities of both those better works. Pettus is writing better but I’m still waiting for them to be “good”.
* Nit-picky fact check, these novels claim that Utahraptors are from the Hells Creek area 66 million years ago (mya). They may have lived in that approximate area of North America but they had been extinct at least 70 mya. The T-rexes in these novel were closer to us in time than Utahraptors were to them. C’mon, this is an easy one to get right!
March 7, 2026
If I’m being honest, this book was so weird, and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it.
Starting with the story, I was very invested at the beginning. I was excited by the idea of Stalker Force travelling around the world hunting different dinosaurs. However, as I read further, I realised that wasn’t really the case. Instead, Stalker Force mainly hunts Utahraptors, with only a few brief encounters with other species along the way. The constant location and time jumps were quite confusing. I understand why Pettus structured the narrative this way, it fits the scale of the story he wanted to tell, but the execution made it difficult to follow. Being constantly thrown from one setting to another made it hard to keep track of what was happening and where.
I did enjoy the inclusion of different cultures and belief systems from the various locations but it often became overwhelming. Each time a new culture or faction was introduced, we would learn about their beliefs and their situation, only for them to be wiped out by the raptors a few pages or a chapter later. The same thing happened with many of the lone characters introduced outside of Stalker Force. After a while, it became predictable. It started to feel pointless investing time in these characters when it was almost guaranteed they would die shortly after being introduced. I did enjoy seeing how some cultures had learned to coexist with the raptors though. Those moments were interesting and sometimes even peaceful. Of course, Stalker Force usually arrived and disrupted that balance, but I can (sometimes) understand why given their mission.
Xipetotec was definitely a cool antagonist, and I actually prefer him over Sobek. Sobek felt almost too humanly intelligent, whereas with Xipetotec we can understand how and why he developed into what he is. I even felt a bit bad for him at times. However, I was a little confused by his character design in the illustrations. His body looked a bit too humanoid for my liking. One aspect I did appreciate was how he sometimes spared people when he was already satiated or when they didn’t seem like a worthwhile meal. That felt more realistic for an animal. In previous books, the raptors often felt like pure killing machines, so it was refreshing to see a bit more natural behaviour. I wish the book focused more on the wider variety of dinosaurs rather than primarily Utahraptors. While it was cool that there were multiple subspecies, they all behaved quite similarly. The only ones that felt behaviourally distinct were the Rhubedo raptors. Maybe we’ll see more of them in the next book, who knows at this point.
Moving on to the characters, Xavier is still my favourite, but some of his development felt confusing. There have been two books before this, yet we had never really heard about his religious beliefs. Suddenly, it becomes a major part of his character in this book. It was difficult to fully believe that because it hadn’t really been set up beforehand. Pettus also didn’t explain his beliefs particularly clearly, at least from my perspective. I wasn’t sure whether I was just tired while reading, but I did find those sections somewhat confusing. That said, I did like the direction his character development is taking. At the beginning of the book, he was strongly against the raptors, but he gradually begins to see them as animals rather than monsters. Because of that, he starts to feel conflicted about killing them. Perhaps this change is connected to his religious reflections. I also appreciate that Xavier occasionally stands up for his beliefs, though I wish he did so more often. He frequently expresses that he doesn’t want to mindlessly kill, yet he still ends up doing it anyway. He gives orders to Stalker Force but often struggles to actually control them.
Syd, on the other hand, is honestly one of the worst additions to Stalker Force. He constantly ignores orders and puts the entire team in more dangerous situations. On top of that, his attitude is just terrible. Molnar, however, is a character I really like. In many ways he feels the most similar to Xavier. I appreciate how he respects different cultures and tries to understand them. He’s thoughtful, considerate, and probably has the strongest moral compass in the squad. His interactions with the rest of the team are also enjoyable, he almost feels like a fatherly figure within the group.
Moving on to Nguyen. I genuinely don’t know what to make of his character. We always knew he held resentment toward some of the Americans, and honestly I didn’t mind that he killed the members he did. Most of them, aside from Cardinalis, were manipulative, exploitative, and openly cruel toward him despite being on the same team. As strange as it sounds, that part actually felt somewhat realistic. However, his subplot with Phurong was incredibly confusing to me. One moment he absolutely adores her and sees her as his only reason to live, and the next he’s calling her names and even slapping her. Their relationship felt doomed from the start, but the way it escalated was strange. I don’t understand why they couldn’t simply talk things out. What confused me even more was that he ends up killing her without much remorse. That felt completely contradictory considering how much he supposedly cared about her. We’ve seen Nguyen develop since the first book, so I can understand why he has become the way he is, but it’s still incredibly frustrating. He’s extremely selfish. He claims he doesn’t care about anyone or anything, yet he still agrees to kill Andrei, which clearly shows he cares about causing suffering. His motivations just feel inconsistent. His character is deeply flawed, and now he’s going after Andrei as well.
Another moment that really disappointed me was the discovery of the human skeleton with the raptor head. It was presented as a huge, mysterious revelation, yet the scene was over almost immediately. Everything was destroyed within a couple of pages. Maybe Pettus was trying to emphasise the brutal and chaotic nature of war, where important discoveries can vanish in an instant, but the moment still felt underwhelming. The ending was also very disappointing. Pettus spends the entire book building tension between Xavier and Xipetotec, only for their confrontation to last barely any time before Xipetotec simply just runs away. I understand that it’s probably setting up the next book, but after so much buildup, the payoff felt extremely unsatisfying.
Overall, this book was a weird ride. Quit confusing, inconsistent and weird. Im only giving it 2 stars because sometimes i was still excited to read only, albeit only to be let down in a few pages. It felt like a drag to be honest and because of that, i'm not looking forward to reading the next.
Starting with the story, I was very invested at the beginning. I was excited by the idea of Stalker Force travelling around the world hunting different dinosaurs. However, as I read further, I realised that wasn’t really the case. Instead, Stalker Force mainly hunts Utahraptors, with only a few brief encounters with other species along the way. The constant location and time jumps were quite confusing. I understand why Pettus structured the narrative this way, it fits the scale of the story he wanted to tell, but the execution made it difficult to follow. Being constantly thrown from one setting to another made it hard to keep track of what was happening and where.
I did enjoy the inclusion of different cultures and belief systems from the various locations but it often became overwhelming. Each time a new culture or faction was introduced, we would learn about their beliefs and their situation, only for them to be wiped out by the raptors a few pages or a chapter later. The same thing happened with many of the lone characters introduced outside of Stalker Force. After a while, it became predictable. It started to feel pointless investing time in these characters when it was almost guaranteed they would die shortly after being introduced. I did enjoy seeing how some cultures had learned to coexist with the raptors though. Those moments were interesting and sometimes even peaceful. Of course, Stalker Force usually arrived and disrupted that balance, but I can (sometimes) understand why given their mission.
Xipetotec was definitely a cool antagonist, and I actually prefer him over Sobek. Sobek felt almost too humanly intelligent, whereas with Xipetotec we can understand how and why he developed into what he is. I even felt a bit bad for him at times. However, I was a little confused by his character design in the illustrations. His body looked a bit too humanoid for my liking. One aspect I did appreciate was how he sometimes spared people when he was already satiated or when they didn’t seem like a worthwhile meal. That felt more realistic for an animal. In previous books, the raptors often felt like pure killing machines, so it was refreshing to see a bit more natural behaviour. I wish the book focused more on the wider variety of dinosaurs rather than primarily Utahraptors. While it was cool that there were multiple subspecies, they all behaved quite similarly. The only ones that felt behaviourally distinct were the Rhubedo raptors. Maybe we’ll see more of them in the next book, who knows at this point.
Moving on to the characters, Xavier is still my favourite, but some of his development felt confusing. There have been two books before this, yet we had never really heard about his religious beliefs. Suddenly, it becomes a major part of his character in this book. It was difficult to fully believe that because it hadn’t really been set up beforehand. Pettus also didn’t explain his beliefs particularly clearly, at least from my perspective. I wasn’t sure whether I was just tired while reading, but I did find those sections somewhat confusing. That said, I did like the direction his character development is taking. At the beginning of the book, he was strongly against the raptors, but he gradually begins to see them as animals rather than monsters. Because of that, he starts to feel conflicted about killing them. Perhaps this change is connected to his religious reflections. I also appreciate that Xavier occasionally stands up for his beliefs, though I wish he did so more often. He frequently expresses that he doesn’t want to mindlessly kill, yet he still ends up doing it anyway. He gives orders to Stalker Force but often struggles to actually control them.
Syd, on the other hand, is honestly one of the worst additions to Stalker Force. He constantly ignores orders and puts the entire team in more dangerous situations. On top of that, his attitude is just terrible. Molnar, however, is a character I really like. In many ways he feels the most similar to Xavier. I appreciate how he respects different cultures and tries to understand them. He’s thoughtful, considerate, and probably has the strongest moral compass in the squad. His interactions with the rest of the team are also enjoyable, he almost feels like a fatherly figure within the group.
Moving on to Nguyen. I genuinely don’t know what to make of his character. We always knew he held resentment toward some of the Americans, and honestly I didn’t mind that he killed the members he did. Most of them, aside from Cardinalis, were manipulative, exploitative, and openly cruel toward him despite being on the same team. As strange as it sounds, that part actually felt somewhat realistic. However, his subplot with Phurong was incredibly confusing to me. One moment he absolutely adores her and sees her as his only reason to live, and the next he’s calling her names and even slapping her. Their relationship felt doomed from the start, but the way it escalated was strange. I don’t understand why they couldn’t simply talk things out. What confused me even more was that he ends up killing her without much remorse. That felt completely contradictory considering how much he supposedly cared about her. We’ve seen Nguyen develop since the first book, so I can understand why he has become the way he is, but it’s still incredibly frustrating. He’s extremely selfish. He claims he doesn’t care about anyone or anything, yet he still agrees to kill Andrei, which clearly shows he cares about causing suffering. His motivations just feel inconsistent. His character is deeply flawed, and now he’s going after Andrei as well.
Another moment that really disappointed me was the discovery of the human skeleton with the raptor head. It was presented as a huge, mysterious revelation, yet the scene was over almost immediately. Everything was destroyed within a couple of pages. Maybe Pettus was trying to emphasise the brutal and chaotic nature of war, where important discoveries can vanish in an instant, but the moment still felt underwhelming. The ending was also very disappointing. Pettus spends the entire book building tension between Xavier and Xipetotec, only for their confrontation to last barely any time before Xipetotec simply just runs away. I understand that it’s probably setting up the next book, but after so much buildup, the payoff felt extremely unsatisfying.
Overall, this book was a weird ride. Quit confusing, inconsistent and weird. Im only giving it 2 stars because sometimes i was still excited to read only, albeit only to be let down in a few pages. It felt like a drag to be honest and because of that, i'm not looking forward to reading the next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2025
I’ve been reading this book for an unusually long time. Almost a month and a half to finish this thing. I loved the first book so much, and may even consider it my favorite book of all time. I loved the movie to death, and with all of this praise would probably mean that I’d love this one as well… so why a 3?
I loved a lot of elements of this book. The stuff with Xavier and Stalker force, and the subplot with Nguyen are really captivating, and the latter has a lot of twists and turns that I didn’t expect. But a lot of this book is miserable. Super nihilistic and bleak. Every other chapter is a random vignette where a likable character is introduced, then goes through the most traumatic, psychologically disturbing thing that could be imagined. Even to a certain point, Nguyen’s storyline hits some really bleak, miserable low points. I know it states in the afterward that Pettus was going through a lot during this book, but it needs some levity, man. This is 400 pages of bleak, miserable shit that was hard to get through. The chapter with the child sex trafficking was a twist that felt unnecessary and just compounded how unnecessarily bleak this book was.
I enjoy media that’s difficult and bleak. Martyrs is one of my favorite films, I love it to death. This is just misery porn for the most part, and I was praying it would go back to focusing on the returning characters and plot threads.
I loved a lot of elements of this book. The stuff with Xavier and Stalker force, and the subplot with Nguyen are really captivating, and the latter has a lot of twists and turns that I didn’t expect. But a lot of this book is miserable. Super nihilistic and bleak. Every other chapter is a random vignette where a likable character is introduced, then goes through the most traumatic, psychologically disturbing thing that could be imagined. Even to a certain point, Nguyen’s storyline hits some really bleak, miserable low points. I know it states in the afterward that Pettus was going through a lot during this book, but it needs some levity, man. This is 400 pages of bleak, miserable shit that was hard to get through. The chapter with the child sex trafficking was a twist that felt unnecessary and just compounded how unnecessarily bleak this book was.
I enjoy media that’s difficult and bleak. Martyrs is one of my favorite films, I love it to death. This is just misery porn for the most part, and I was praying it would go back to focusing on the returning characters and plot threads.
December 6, 2025
I can’t big up Primitive War enough, everyone should read this series. From start to finish it captures your attention and does not stop. Some of the chapters made me cry some made me excited an amazing ride. Ethan I can’t wait for the next chapter in this amazing world you have built and keep build.
January 14, 2026
A good bridge read for PW fans. But there’s too much timeline shift that spanned over the years and countries.
Didn’t particularly enjoy the character arc of Nguyen, but here’s to hoping that on PW2, he gets a makeover.
Didn’t particularly enjoy the character arc of Nguyen, but here’s to hoping that on PW2, he gets a makeover.
July 12, 2026
Ich fand dieses Buch teilweise sogar langweilig ...
Zu oft ist im Prinzip immer nur das Gleiche passiert nur eben in einem anderen Land.
Die zwei Offenbarungen Nguyen gegenüber fand ich gut. Das hat die Spannung wieder hochgezogen.
Zu oft ist im Prinzip immer nur das Gleiche passiert nur eben in einem anderen Land.
Die zwei Offenbarungen Nguyen gegenüber fand ich gut. Das hat die Spannung wieder hochgezogen.
September 19, 2025
3.5
Only because (my fault honestly) I read this one after primitive war 2… so that’s my mistake
Only because (my fault honestly) I read this one after primitive war 2… so that’s my mistake
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews