Primal Hunter vs He Who Fights with Monsters: Which First?
Primal Hunter vs He Who Fights with Monsters: almost the same audio time, 298 h vs 292 h. HWFWM audio comes out same day; Primal Hunter's lags by months.
7 min readBy LevelUpShelf EditorialLast reviewed
TL;DR: Similar size (Commitment A-rank for both), different trade-offs. HWFWM: Heath Miller, audio the same day as every ebook, but 504 days between books 12 and 13. Primal Hunter: Travis Baldree, a new ebook about every four months, but book 16 had no audiobook 87 days after its ebook. Readers split mostly on the MC.
Pick by the main character: the Primal Hunter vs He Who Fights with Monsters choice barely changes your listening bill. On Audible the two run 298 hours 14 minutes and 292 hours 8 minutes, six hours apart, which is less than one HWFWM book. The real costs are elsewhere. Primal Hunter's audio trails its ebooks by months, and HWFWM's books now arrive more than a year apart. Below: the numbers side by side, what readers say about each lead, and which one to start.
Key Takeaways
- Same listening load: 298 h 14 m (15 Primal Hunter audiobooks) vs 292 h 8 m (13 HWFWM), checked October 24, 2026.
- Audio timing is the big practical difference: HWFWM same day, Primal Hunter months behind.
- Pace flipped: Primal Hunter's last gaps were 126 and 112 days; HWFWM's was 504.
- Book 1 is shorter in Primal Hunter: 20 h 9 m vs 28 h 56 m.
- Readers warn they rarely love both, and other readers say they do.
Overview: two Aethon series, two narrators
Both are long, ongoing LitRPG series with Aethon Books on the ebooks. The Primal Hunter is by Zogarth; Travis Baldree reads it for Aethon Audio. He Who Fights with Monsters is by Shirtaloon (Travis Deverell); Heath Miller reads it for Podium Audio. Both started as Royal Road serials, and HWFWM was still posting chapters there in early October.
Desk note: Divide the hours by the books and HWFWM is the chunkier listen, 22 h 28 m per audiobook against Primal Hunter's 19 h 53 m. Primal Hunter wins on pages instead: 10,555 against 8,557, mostly because it has three more books.
Cover: Aethon Books
Primal Hunter vs He Who Fights with Monsters by the Numbers
| The Primal Hunter | He Who Fights with Monsters | |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Zogarth | Shirtaloon (Travis Deverell) |
| Ebooks out | 16 (book 16: Jul 29, 2026) | 13 (book 13: Oct 6, 2026) |
| Kindle pages | 10,555 | 8,557 |
| Audiobooks | 15 | 13 |
| Narrator | Travis Baldree (Aethon Audio) | Heath Miller (Podium Audio) |
| Audio total | 298 h 14 m | 292 h 8 m |
| Book 1 on Audible | 20 h 9 m | 28 h 56 m |
| Audio vs ebook | books 13 to 15: 147 to 189 days later | same day, all 13 |
| Last gap between books | 126 days (15 to 16) | 504 days (12 to 13) |
| Next book | 17: Kindle pre-order Nov 18, 2026 | none listed |
| Goodreads, book 1 | 4.23 (25.7k ratings, Oct 24) | 4.33 (53.9k ratings, Oct 10) |
Ratings drift; treat them as a snapshot. The HWFWM book 1 figure is from our October 10 check.
The Audio Gap: Who Waits Longer?
This is where listeners feel the difference. Every HWFWM audiobook so far came out on its ebook's release day, book 13 included (October 6). If you listen, you are never behind readers.
Primal Hunter listeners are. Books 1 to 4 and book 8 had same-day audio, but books 13, 14 and 15 reached Audible 168, 189 and 147 days after the ebook. Book 16's ebook came out on July 29. When we checked Audible today, there was still no English audiobook, 87 days later. Our Primal Hunter reading order tracks that wait.
Cover: Aethon Books
The Book Gap: Who Writes Faster?
The picture reverses for the ebooks. Primal Hunter 16 followed book 15 by 126 days, and Amazon has book 17 on Kindle pre-order for November 18, 112 days after book 16. HWFWM 13 came 504 days after book 12. That is about 16 and a half months.
So a Primal Hunter listener waits for audio, and an HWFWM fan waits for the book. HWFWM does have the hardcovers Outworlder, Adventurer, Hero and Home, but those are books 1 to 4 in a new edition, not new books. See our HWFWM reading order for the full list.
The Main Characters: Where Readers Split
Most of the arguments are about the lead. u/Infinitesubset summed both up in an October 2026 r/litrpg thread: "Primal Hunter is a slightly sociopathic selfish guy laser focused on his own growth in a decently interestingly designed setting. HWFwM is a slightly obnoxious sarcastic quipper" (comment).
Some readers think you have to pick a side. u/Yaascn: "But word of warning, if you like HWFWM you probably will not like primal hunter and vice versa." (comment). The reply under it disagreed. u/Bean03: "Don't listen to that. I love both HWFWM and Primal Hunter. They are very different series, just take them both for what they are." (comment).
But word of warning, if you like HWFWM you probably will not like primal hunter and vice versa.
On what each story is about, u/ViolinistOld9049 put Primal Hunter plainly: "Primal Hunter is more of Jake just grinding his way to god hood and I love it for that as well." (comment).
Cover: Aethon Books
Tips: How to Test Each One
- Primal Hunter: give it two books. u/kooper271: "I would suggest reading through the end of book 2 if you really want to give the series a shot." (comment). On audio that is 39 h 34 m.
- HWFWM: book 1 alone is 28 h 56 m, so it is a long trial. One fan warns about the middle: "The majority of people who recommend HWFWM also say that books 4 through 6 are the worst part of the series." (comment).
- Listening, not reading? HWFWM keeps you current. With Primal Hunter, expect to finish the audio and then wait months for the next one.
- Spoilers: later blurbs give away earlier books. Read only the blurb of the book you are on.
Cover: Aethon Books
Our take
Our pick: start HWFWM if you listen; start Primal Hunter if you read ebooks. HWFWM's audio has matched every ebook date, all 13 books. Primal Hunter's ebooks come about every four months, while its audio ran 147 to 189 days behind for books 13 to 15.
Skip it (for now) if: you hate a smug or a self-absorbed lead. Readers name the MC as the reason they drop either series.
What we don't know yet: when Primal Hunter 16 reaches Audible, and whether HWFWM 14 gets a date. Neither was listed on October 24, 2026.
How we checked this
The book data comes from the source tables behind our two reading-order guides: Aethon book pages, Amazon Kindle pages and Audible product pages for every book. Today we re-read Audible's catalog for both series (lengths, dates, narrators, and no Primal Hunter 16 audiobook) and the Goodreads search for Primal Hunter. The HWFWM ebook pages and Goodreads figures are from October 10. Day counts, averages and totals are our arithmetic. Reader quotes come from r/litrpg comments of October 2026, read through the Arctic Shift archive. We have not read either series ourselves.
Related Reading
- Books like He Who Fights with Monsters: what HWFWM readers pick next, ranked by comment count.
- Travis Baldree audiobooks: his other LitRPG series, if you like his Primal Hunter voice.
- Books like Dungeon Crawler Carl: where both series show up in reader tallies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I read Primal Hunter or He Who Fights with Monsters first? Pick by the MC; the audio length is almost the same.
Which is longer, Primal Hunter or HWFWM? Primal Hunter by pages; on audio they are 6 hours apart.
Do the audiobooks come out with the ebooks? HWFWM yes; Primal Hunter runs months behind.
Who narrates Primal Hunter and He Who Fights with Monsters? Travis Baldree and Heath Miller.
When are the next Primal Hunter and HWFWM books? Primal Hunter 17 on November 18, 2026; no HWFWM 14 date.
References
- Audible: The Primal Hunter series
- Aethon Books: The Primal Hunter 16
- Amazon: The Primal Hunter 17 (Kindle pre-order)
- Audible: He Who Fights with Monsters series
- Aethon Books: He Who Fights with Monsters 13
- Audible: He Who Fights with Monsters (book 1)
- Goodreads: The Primal Hunter search
- r/litrpg: "The best of the best recommendations"
About the author
The LevelUpShelf desk
The LevelUpShelf desk reads the store pages and the reader threads so you can pick book 1 with the numbers in front of you. Every count is dated and linked.
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About this article
LevelUpShelf is independent: no ads, no sponsored posts, and nobody pays to be on a list. Some store links are affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you buy through one, and it never decides what we list (affiliate links). Book counts, release dates, audiobook lengths and ratings are snapshots from the date we checked them; publishers and stores change listings, so check the store page before you buy. Recommendations come from cited reader discussions, not from reading we claim to have done. Articles are researched and written with AI tools, and every fact is checked against its source before publishing. See how the desk works and how we use AI.