Hunting and Herbalism 2: A Druid LitRPG

Hunting and Herbalism #2

by Leif Roder, Synonymoose

Dragged into hell by a ritual gone wrong, Zalia must escape before the souls of the damned and their demonic keepers locate her.

Zalia wakes to find herself in a strange, new hellscape called Cormaine. Though this place offers a brief respite from the politics of Endaria, it’s a dark land of twisted, leafless trees, mournful cries, and a looming red sky where far more concerning things than politics are to be found.

With her mischievous companion, the mountain leopard Boreal, Zalia must hide from the souls floating aimlessly across the firmament, and find food before she starves. On her guard, she sets out to explore her unsettling surroundings, learn the properties of the corrupted flora, and keep hope that there is somethi—, anythi—, that can help get her out of here.

As Zalia starts to discover the many secrets of Cormaine, the demonic jailers of this place begin to notice her. But with a few new friends, an old, dead ,god and ever-growing power, she just might survive to see blue skies once more . . .

The second volume of this LitRPG adventure series—with more than two million views on Royal Road—now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook!

Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Adventure

First published April 1, 2025

Reviews

[Dave Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 56% what started so good, just fizzled out

I really like the first two thirds of H&H 1. I was a great book! That went and took a nosedive with the old "This character isn't who the book told you this character is".
I kept reading book 2 in the vain hope that the magic of book one might come rushing back.
Truth is, everything on my To Be Read list looks better than this.
I've marked it "I'll get back to it" but... if I ever do, It'll be after re-reading book 1 to see if it pisses me off the second time.

[DJ DC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting better. Still some editing issues, but this one was even more fun. I really want book 3.

[Roberto Flores · Rating 1 out of 5]

A slow power creep solely to upgrade the main character. This entire thing is a boring setup for the next book. Any bit of story that happened at the very end was too little, too late.

[Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It reads much better than the first though some parts (middle mostly) was a slog to go through. I feel like the ending was rushed, the last fight was a bit anti-climactic to say the least. Its a great little read about survival and hardship, making friends with sentient creatures and the worldbuilding is starting to make better sense than the previous book.

I also notice the author has improved when it comes to storytelling and Zalia goes through some character development. Our MC is still stoic as ever with a tad bit of annoyances especially when meeting a certain group of amphibians :)

[David Phipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book two of a fantasy LitRPG series with system and isekai/portal elements. After the cliffhanger in book one Zaria is mostly on her own in this book other than her cat friend and some new friends she finds. I don't want to say much more due to spoilers. In some ways this felt like a long side story.

This book also ends in something of a cliffhanger. I went to Royal Road to continue reading for a bit but eventually decided to stop. The story just wasn't grabbing me like some other LitRPG series have. I may try to reread this series whenever it is fully complete.

[Evlboy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The quality of the writing dropped in the second volume by a lot, it feels like it has a different author then the first volume. The story is almost non-existent compared with the first one, the Main Character's IQ took a hit for some reason. Extremely disappointed, I had great hopes for this series.

[Junior · Rating 5 out of 5]

Improving

I very much enjoyed this second entry in the series. The ending of the book was handled much better. Instead of a cliffhanger of epic and pointless proportions it was a clean transition while keeping us wanting more.

Will definitely continue the series.

[Leonard Loar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but........

The story line is very good except for the use of the word anyways it is slang and doesn't belong in a published book because it makes the author feel like an idiot and makes me want to destroy the book

[Martin Zorde · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is lit rpg done in a way that i like. Good character progressions where the character does question the stats but it still slows nicely. wish I hadn't read any books between this and the previous book

[Tony Fecteau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zalia and her pet "cat" keep on getting stronger. Throw here into another world? She will find out how to get stronger. This world was quite interesting and I can't wait to see what book 3 brings us.

[James Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good follow up

Simply put. If you liked the first book, you'll probably li,e this one. It picks up immediately where the first one left off.

Highly recommended

[Donald Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written tale. Warning the MC is a soloist and the story involves little to no interaction with other humanoid life.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Stellar work once again from Leif Roder! Lots of action and adventure, magic and monsters. Looking forward to the next one!

[Bookcat · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introvert makes friends with animals instead and has to work harder because of demons.

[Brent Mair]

DNF

[Elle Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75⭐️