Peter Gulgowski

A genetically altered teen learns that the sinister organ-ization behind his birth has plans to use him and his abilities for entertainment.

Primal Instincts

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the author! Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Primal Instincts

Author: Peter Gulgowski

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3/5

Diversity: LGBT characters, m/m romance

Publication Date: May 8, 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 15+ (violence, gore, romance)

Publisher: Indie Published

Pages: 211

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Bred for entertainment, designed for war.

Nick Davis awoke in a facility with no recollection of how he got there. Memories of his life before this moment are few and blurred. Now, his survival depends on his ability to shapeshift into a wolf for a televised battle to the death known as The Primal Battle.


His prison—the Institute.

His directive—to be a ruthless hunter.


But where does humanity fit into the merging of science and media?

Desperate to unravel the mysteries of his past, Nick uncovers a sinister secret the Institute would kill to keep hidden. They think they know him down to the very code of his DNA, but true power lies in the unpredictability of freewill.

To survive the Institute, he must play their game. Yet Nick knows the cost may be too high. Can he fight the animalistic rage of his genetic programming to cling to the human roots he knows exist within him? Or will what’s left of his humanity be lost to the allure of violent chaos? 

Review: The book was good overall. The characters were well developed and the world building was well done. The plot was intriguing and it kept me interested throughout the novel. I like the storyline overall. It’s unique and definitely for the Hunger Games and Red Rising lovers out there.

However, while I liked the LGBT representation I did feel like it was a bit forced. They weren’t the ideal match and their continued romance felt like it existed for the sake of existing. The ending was also rushed and very open ended, so possibly there’s another book in store but I’m not sure. I also didn’t like the slow pacing of the novel and I think the book could have pulled off a faster pace. Also, it’s a really short book. I think it could have been better if expanded.

Verdict: A good book!

Belle Ellrich

*I WAS PROVIDED AN e-ARC BY THE AUTHOR FOR THE PURPOSES OF A TOUR. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION*

Peter Gulgowski really knows how to captivate readers. I've been reading his books for—let me do the math—four years now, and I've loved them! That being said, I had pretty high expectations for this one.

I'm going to dig into some of the bad before I get into the good, for a change here.

Firstly, the beginning of this book was going really well, but I found it a little annoying the number of times Nick was forced under. Like, once or twice is the limit I would put it at normally, and that number went over in the book.

Another thing that got to me was the relationship between Nick and Charlie. As someone who is also bi, I was really excited to see Nick representing that! But when it became apparent that there would be a relationship between him and Charlie, I was a little disappointed. First of all, it felt very forced. They would argue over things that sometimes didn't make sense, and it was just kind of weird how their dynamics worked out. I actually think I felt more of a connection between Nick and Lincoln than him and Charlier, and that says something because those two were enemies!

Lastly, the ending. I do feel like the ending was rushed, as that's how I ended up seeing it as while reading. I feel that there was some confusion as to why the ending was deemed as it was, and I feel like—had there been room left for another book perhaps?—it probably would've been better.

Now, moving onto the good!

Normally, I patronize slow pacing in books containing action because it's often not the right type. However, I actually liked the pacing in this book. It left the reader feeling encaptured in the story, and it gave it a definite build-up. Y'know? Like when you hear the build-up in a song and it ends up as an epic drop? That's what I'm talking about!

Having read all of Peter's books, I definitely saw a lot of improvement in his writing style. You can really tell how much a writer has improved by reading their books in order from release, and this one showed that he's really evolved through his writing! I loved being able to see that, and I'm excited to see how it turns out in his next release as well.

Character-wise, I definitely feel that Nick did pretty well in the character development department. I also feel like the side-characters were well attended to, and I was really sad to lose some of them in the end!

Lastly, the storyline was super unique! If I had to compare it to anything, I'd definitely compare it to The Hunger Games, but even then, it had it's own unique and different idea. That's not something you see a lot of in YA books nowadays, so that was really exciting to me.

All in all, I did really like this book. I'm excited to see Peter expanding over a large territory of Dystopian ideas, as the Dystopian genre is still one of my favorites to this day. For that, I rate this book 3 stars. I do suggest y'all pick this up, especially if you're looking for something unique and different!

Primal Instincts

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