Tropes of Doom

Isekai Terry, Book 1

By: Eric Dontigney

Narrated by: 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.

EXCELLENT!

I'll keep it short. This is a story. It's fun and is able to talk about anime tropes in a way that doesn't get boring or lame. MC is funny and relatable. Some of his decisions I'm like "yeah I would do the same."

Excellent job to the author for making a story talking about well known tropes and doing it in away that is entertaining and original. Waiting for the next book.

a good story but

The hero is a bit of a whiner who doesn't listen to his other side, and gets into trouble because of his stubbornness.

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.

This was great!

This was a very fun take on the genre and it’s tropes. Anyone can enjoy this book but those familiar with the genre will especially appreciate the humor. Overall very entertaining and funny. Can’t wait for more.

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.