I received this e-arc through Netgalley.
I really got into this story and had a hard time putting it down. If you like dystopian adventures about lone heroes trying to make the world a better place, then you need to read this. I also really liked reading the author's note about his own chronic fatigue health issues and how that inspired some of the events in the book. I am hoping there will be a sequel because I want to read more about Seth and Sarah.

Free ARC from NETGALLEY

The 'Great Fatigue" and not just because after I started it I found it part of a trilogy and it almost never holds up under the words required. Still, the first is a burst of good reading even though I thought the focus on 2 people as a little {}

I really enjoyed this book. I liked how there were two different viewpoints the whole story, although my only wish was that the two main characters would've met sooner. By the time they did meet, I actually had forgotten that I predicted that they would meet.

I 100% hated Josh and his demeaning, self-entitled attitude. And I hated the Professor's focus on the cure; like for God's sake, how hard is it to care about your own son?

I loved the telling of the story and think the plot progressed perfectly. I wish the end of the story wasn't such a cliffhanger, but maybe there will be a sequel?? That's my hope at least and if there is I look forward to reading it!

Dystopian fiction, well written, lots of plot twists and great characters. After the majority of Earth's population has become primitives, a few healthy survivors try to find a solution to change them back.

This novel was immersive and original. I found the premise to be intriguing and became quickly invested. It reads very easily and is contemporary in that it somewhat parallels our world at the moment. Although the vaccine for the Great Fatigue did work (in a way), the resulting side effects were catastrophic. In reality, I don't think we are heading quite in that direction but I can understand the hesitancy of those who were concerned about the speed at which the first COVID-19 vaccine was developed.

I enjoyed the two POVs - they were well-chosen for the purposes of the novel . It gave me strong Maze Runner vibes which was one of my favourite dystopian series back in the day.

This reminded me of "The Knife of Never Letting Go"; a page turner with a good premise that has short chapters that leave you wanting to read just one more. That takes skill to craft.

Unfortunately, as in <i>Knife</i>, the writing and characterization were not for me, and the ending was annoyingly abrupt.

The premise also can easily be read as being a conservative critique of the COVID-19 vaccines - a worldwide affliction made so much worse by everyone taking the rushed treatment.

A dystopian YA book featuring The Great Fatigue and and antidote that caused humanity to to regress. This is an exploration of a bioengineered global pandemic and the cure, which is actually a vessel to infect humanity and interrupt their cognitive brain function so they become “primitive”.

Dual POV following Sarah and Seth in their world 30 years after The Great Fatigue - what life and community looks like and the scientists they work for who play a role.

An interesting premise, but I struggled to connect to the main characters and their choices. The story felt slow and I ended up DNF @ 46%.

I’m giving this 4.5 stars but then again I’m a sucker for a dystopian novel.
This book gave off the maze runner meets the testing vibes. I was invested from the beginning. It’s told from 2 perspectives with each having a separate story line. The story is well written with good world set up. I loved the inclusion of a few graphics in the kindle version.
The ending man, talk about a cliff hanger! I can not wait for the second book and I’m sad it’s not already out.
Trigger warnings for kidnapping and assault.

Quite engaging and a good bet for dystopian fans. It has an interesting premise and decent characters, and I liked it overall.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!

Imagine our world get infected by Great Fatigue and then the mandatory vaccine turned most humans become savage caveman like. I like how the author draw us into the world building and make us care about our main characters and the worst happens to human being post pandemic.

The plot is full adventure and gripping my attention since the prologue. One of the POV, Seth instanly become my favourite character and I am care enough to his fate. The worldbuild need more depth but maybe the author keep it for 2nd book.

I got my free copy but my mind is my own. Thank you Netgalley.

This book is just what I need to give me a new experience. It's a beautiful medical/fast burn and the story is quite interesting and understandable, almost. Wow! The speed at the end of this book makes my heart pound! I was drawn to the story from the beginning. I really hope to see a sequel.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: May 10, 2022

Gripping from the start, this post-apocalyptic novel quickly immersed me into its world. Written as a dual narrative, this novel is well paced and many chapters end on a cliffhanger as it switches to the other POV, leaving you racing through to see what happens—a true page turner. There is a decent amount of gruesome violence (especially against Sarah), and as the first of this saga—book 1 ends on a very abrupt cliffhanger.

TW: abuse, death, stillbirth, suicide ideation, violence

Primitives
by Erich Krauss
Science Fiction Dystopian
NetGalley ARC

In the future The Great Fatigue infects the world, then a few years after most of the population was cured, it was discovered that the cure had some very bad after effects, turning people back into a primitive state of being, attacking and killing each other.

Thirty years later, the primitives roam the world and in Costa Rica is a village of scientists and those who help them. Sarah is a gatherer, and unluckily is tricked and discovers the secret the leader is hiding, one that forces her on a trip with his son, which may be her last trip anywhere.

At the same time, Seth is with his adopted father, who is also a scientist doing horrible things to the beings now roaming the world in order to find a cure. When the old man believes all hope is lost, he shows Seth a radio and tells him why he stopped using it. Then turns it on to see if anyone was left out there.

There was, and it was his old partner, the leader of the community in Costa Rica, but during the conversation, he says too much, and Seth is sent on a quest to the lab, but he's not the only one on their way, and they will destroy everyone in their path to destroy what Seth is after, taking Sarah with them, to leave her body behind.

Not too bad of a story, though a little slow to start as the world and characters are built. The two first-person stories felt disjointed at first, mostly because there wasn't much introduction, more like 'oh here I am, this is what I'm doing, oh, and this is why'. But once each character's pieces got put together it became easier to recognize them.

But The Great Fatigue, and the results of the cure were confusing. I had a hard time separating the two from each other at first; which caused which and why. (What does that shot do, and what happens if you don't get it, and how did that happen?) I feel as if a lot of the why and how, along with simple medical explanation was left out, or at least wasn't completely explained in enough detail to make all the differences stand apart. It all just seemed blurred together.

The characters were well described for the most part, though I feel as if Seth needed a little more detail to make him more 'alive'. The minor characters, I feel, need a little bit more detail, especially Cat, B, Josh, and the 'scientists' when they were partners. The summing up just didn't make the 'betrayal' hit home. (Plus, for some reason, I was thinking that they both had the same last name, but now I'm not sure if they did or not.)

With how the story ended, it is open enough for this to become a series, though it wouldn't be one I'd scramble to continue.

3 Stars

In Primitives, Erich Krauss paints a picture of a world where most of humanity has been regressed to a caveman-like state. There are survivors, of course and the book focuses on Seth and Sarah, alternating between the two character’s stories. Now, I generally hate fiction written in the first person. For some reason, it makes everything less believable for me and prevents me from getting into the story. Maybe I’m weird, but it’s the way it is. And to be sure, it took me a bit to get into Primitives because of this, but when I finally did, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Krauss has definitely started a successful series (and there will be a sequel, no doubt) that will span, at least another book, if not several. There are a lot of questions left to be answered at the end of primitives and it ends on a cliffhanger, so if there’s not a sequel there will be a lot of angry readers out there.

There seem to be some parallels here to the recent fear of the Covid-19 vaccine. I’m not sure if that’s intended or if it’s just a coincidence that the book came out right around the same time. Either way, it’s tough not to draw some conclusions about the author’s stance whether it’s correct or not. In the long run, it’s a minor detail, but for some reason, it kept bugging me. Overall, however, Primitives is a fun ride and does get hard to put down. The story is a lot of fun and the main characters are likeable and well fleshed out. I’ll be looking for the next book in the series over the next year or two, but in the meantime, I suggest you pick this one up if you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction or adventure tales in general. Thank you to Netgalley and Briar Road Books for the ARC. I greatly enjoyed it.

This book is an interesting sci-fi exploration into a dystopian world where a disease has caused chronic fatigue in humanity, and a cure caused humanity to regress into more animalistic versions of themselves. I thought it was an interesting lens with which to explore the idea of chronic illness, especially understanding that the author wrote this based on his experience with Lyme disease. The backdrop of a post-apocalyptic world was also an apt setting. It follows two characters, Sarah and Seth and switches between the view point of the boy who thinks he is the last young man on Earth, and Sarah who is desperately attempting to escape her home colony. I felt like there were points where the story was engaging, but there were a lot of dry moments that it took me some work to push through. Sometimes the choices of the characters didn't really make sense either for their character or for the world they were in, and that some intense plot points were glossed over. I also felt that the treatment of Sarah's character was repeatedly and unnecessarily brutal. Furthermore; I don't know if this part of a series and cannot find evidence suggesting it is, the ending was very unsatisfactory and we are left to assume what truly happens. There is copious violence in the book, which feels as though it lacks purpose, and I felt like there were too many moments left to be inferred from the narrative overall, as a whole.

Wow! The pace at the end of this book has my heart pounding! I was pulled into the story from the very beginning. While this is dystopian, the main characters are all relatable and empathetic. I felt all of their highs and lows, hopes and despair; and there were plenty because this book is a rollercoaster. It definitely begs for a sequel .The author's note at the end left me speechless. Feel free to read it first as there are no spoilers. It's inspirational.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

4.25 stars
This book is just what I needed to get me out of my funk. It was a nice med/fast burn and the story was quite interesting and relatable, almost. I really hope to see a sequel.

The "primitives" in the title are not animals or an invading alien force, but humans who have received a vaccine to supposedly cure them of a Great Fatigue pandemic. Thirty years later, barely any humans are hanging on in this post-apocalyptic world. The two main characters are Seth, heading from Utah to a lab in San Diego that he believes may have a cure, and Sarah, kidnapped from Costa Rica and being taken to this same lab, albeit for a different purpose. A quick, suspenseful read that begs for a sequel.

✨ 𝚎𝙰𝚁𝙲 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 ✨

𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝐛𝐲 𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐬

𝙼𝚢 𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: ★★★★☆
𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚜: 𝟺.𝟼𝟷/𝟻

Let me start off by saying, I loved this book, and my rating is realistically a 4.5★’s. The writing and the pacing was fantastic and what I loved most about 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 is that it really had me thinking about its subject matter. This is especially the case since it’s subject matter is about a disease that rampages the world—much like our own.

𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 is set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian world where humanity has yet again done itself in. The story begins with readers learning about what plagues our world, a pandemic called “The Great Fatigue”. Humans succumb to a sickness that leaves humanity exactly as it sounds, in an extremely tired exhaustive state. When experiencing this fatigue, most survive it but others do not as it makes one unable to care for themselves or others, and not being able to function properly in order to survive.

This is when scientists develop a vaccine that is the supposed cure to the pandemic—only it’s not—sort of. The vaccine 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 cure those of the disease 𝒃𝒖𝒕 there is a huge discrepancy—those that took the vaccine suffer from a severe regression of their minds, leaving them in a primitive state.

Fast forward to thirty-years later when we meet two different people, located in two different parts of the globe. Seth lives with the professor, a father figure who saved Seth from the “Andes”, and Seth believes that he and the professor are the only two normal people left in the world.

The second person that we meet is Sarah, who lives with a large community of people in a place called New Haven, deep in the jungles of Costa Rica. Here she lives among other survivors, trying to live safely away from “Draggers”.

Draggers, Andes, or Primitives, all different terms but they all mean the same thing—predators and threats to soceity.

Seth hopes to one day find other “normal” people and Sarah wants to leave her community and its twisted leadership. Both survivors find out information that changes their world as they know it and so begins the story of 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔.

If you love reading about mad scientists with hidden agendas, stories of survival, humanity’s downfall, or just need a pallet cleanser (hi—it was me 🙋🏻‍♀️), then please give this one a shot when 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 releases on May 10th! It was very intriguing and a page-turner with a great story!

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an eARC of 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.