Tropes of Doom

Isekai Terry, Book 1

De: Eric Dontigney

Narrado por: Eric Michael Summerer

Destiny called… and Terry hung up

Introverted computer programmer Terry Williams’ life is not exciting. It never has been, and he is A-OK with that. So, the last thing he expects on a hiking trail at the park is for Truck-kun to roar up and vehicular homicide him straight into
another world.

When he wakes up with a head stuffed full of new information and people calling him the hero, he has to accept that his old world is lost to him. Of course, that doesn’t mean he needs to buy into this whole hero gig. Terry’s read enough isekai to know that’s a job best reserved for the most masochistic of suckers.

Promptly fleeing destiny, Terry finds himself dodging noble plots, avoiding a vengeful church, and being stalked by a monster with the heart of a coward and the stomach of a glutton. But he has an edge. While sometimes the victim of xianxia, manga, and anime tropes, he also sees them for what they are. The only question is, can he manipulate them well enough to survive and keep from getting sucked into a war he wants no part of?

©2025 Eric Dontigney (P)2025 Audible, Inc.

WOW, just WOW!

Wondeful story! This grabbed my attention from beginning to end. Being a fan of the Unintended Cultivator series, I knew to expect something good from this author and I was not disappointed. This is a different take on what you would normally find out there regarding isakaie trope and the behavior of the MC, but it is definitely a good one. The narrator was..*chef kiss*. The only downside for me is that it wasn't longer. The ending was fine, but now I have to wait at least a whole year for the next book, and possibly more for the next audiobook.

I'll return for the sequel

I try to take it easy on the first book of the new series. this is the second story that I've come across by this author. in fact it's because I enjoyed unintended cultivator so much that I was willing to give this story a shot. I am confident that the story will develop into something that I like a hell of a lot more. for right now though I think it would be appropriate to temper expectations for anybody reading this review. this universe in the story allows for people to be randomly summoned with only a minor guide to different worlds. the Summoners won't get exactly what they want but they should be somewhere in the ballpark. of course then some of those Summoners may choose to say you're the one great hero and send them off to what's almost certainly a quick and brutal end. there's some little short form video making its way around the internet. in the video there's a pair of pixie fairies that keep summoning people and telling them they're the one. they almost always die immediately. one fairy says to the other that we should really stop doing this and the other one response that sooner or later one of these little insert name has got to be the one. the rest of the story is supposed to be about to a moral fairies and the crazy Antics they get into. this has that kind of feel for how people are ending up in the world. now that was my way of trying to circumvent any kind of spoilers, but as far as the criticism goes, my major problem is that the main character wines for the entirety of the book. I don't think anybody's going to enjoy that, but I can really only speak for myself and I know I did it enjoy that. I expect a lot less whining in book 2. at least I hope so or I'll be moving on.

Do not listen to this book at work !!

I picked this book up on a whim, I just wanted something to read while I wait for my next pre-order, color me surprised when it had be bursting out with laughter at work. It was a good palette cleanser (I listen to 4-5 books per week and have over 1700 books in my library, yes I am keeping audible in business) that makes fun of isekai tropes. I will definitely be pre-ordering the second book if and when it comes to audible.

Tone Whiplash

The book is a hyper self aware take on Isekai. It follows a reluctant hero who rejects the primary plotline "Go defeat the army of evil!" to instead go do his own thing. But the world conspires to force him to become a hero. It's an extremely self aware book, and has a lot of humor stemming from you, the author, and the main character being in on a joke. The joke usually is that something that is happening in the story is a trope the character is aware of. This kind of story can work but it didn't quite click for me.

Some of my gripes are:
- Protagonist has an internal second personality which becomes carte blanche for the author to have very long internal monologues that have very little information, and don't progress the story. Instead, they're humor that didn't work for me.
- The main character is very self aware about tropes, but still finds himself stuck in every single one. He is an Isekai character with two animal companions by the end of book one. With a forced companionship plot with another set of humans which will setup for another plotline in book 2 or 3. And is determined to stand, and fight to the death after staying in a town for a bit under a week. For all he claims to not want to be a hero, he has a habit of making other people's problems his own.
- There is a heavy tone clash between the main character's internal dialogue, and claimed motivations when compared to the actions he ends up taking. I don't think the actions he takes are bad, he just doesn't do them out of an internal wellspring of resolve. The result is a main character who complains non-stop, who is stuck in bad situation, after bad situation the whole book.

Overall, I think it was a good story plotline but it didn't work well for me. However, I don't think this is a bad novel, it might be more appealing for you.

Mr good book

I love books right? Good, bright and funny. I like his other cultivation novels, but this one was good too. It shows his depth of writing can't wait for the next one.