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This World
In an extraordinary world filled with superheroes and powers have many people that are just ordinary, normal people. Those people that just stand in the background during superhero fights. Those people that are captured and dangled at the edge of their lives by villains. The people that cannot really save themselves. What can they do?
Ridley is a normal person in a not so normal world who has grown tired of anything superhero related.
Taken hostage? A superhero will save me.
About to get squashed by a flying car? A superhero will save me.
It's a dull world for Ridley.
However, what do you do when a mind controlling villain is able to control you and even the superheroes that are meant to protect you?
Follow Ridley through this adventure of understanding this superhero world and their own ambitions and realizing where a normal person can fit into a society of abnormalities.
Ridley is a normal person in a not so normal world who has grown tired of anything superhero related.
Taken hostage? A superhero will save me.
About to get squashed by a flying car? A superhero will save me.
It's a dull world for Ridley.
However, what do you do when a mind controlling villain is able to control you and even the superheroes that are meant to protect you?
Follow Ridley through this adventure of understanding this superhero world and their own ambitions and realizing where a normal person can fit into a society of abnormalities.
476 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 24, 2019
1 person is currently reading
3 people want to read
About the author
T.D. Lee
3 books6 followersAn aspiring Asian-American author whose dream as a child was to tell stories for other people to enjoy. I've been heavily inspired by the fantastical worlds of video games, anime, manga, comic books, movies, and so on.
Lover of many things nerdy or geeky, I spend most of my free time coming up with ways to challenge my players in D&D or playing other games that I've been heavily anticipating. So if you're reading this, then tell me what house is your favorite in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 24, 2021
I read Nine Trials by TD Lee and absolutely loved that book. So when I saw This World came out, I had to pick it up. TD certainly did not disappoint. Imagine this: You are in a coffee shop and strike up a conversation. After a few minutes of idle chit-chat, this person enthralls you with their incredible life story. That is how This World read. A candid adventure revealed by a new friend.
The story follows Ridley from one adventure to the next. He never fully gets out of trouble, but he has the guts and skills to survive. TD set This World in a place where superpowers and exotic technology are both possible. The plot was gritty, and it reminded me of the movie Akira. The characters were just as gritty, and they reminded me of the book Ready Player One. (Not the film.) The character’s names were fantastic. TD did a superb job of balancing humor and creativity when he came up with them.
There was a magnificent scene at the beginning where two characters enter a restaurant, and a chef battle takes place. It reminded me of the show Iron Chef except this scene had more humor and action. I really liked it and was grinning from ear to ear as I read.
TD really hit it out of the park when he wrote This World. This book is a wonderful read with deep characters and a unique plot. He certainly has the gift of writing. As with Nine Trials, I was super impressed, and I immediately recommended This World to three friends. I eagerly await his subsequent work and hope you read This World.
The story follows Ridley from one adventure to the next. He never fully gets out of trouble, but he has the guts and skills to survive. TD set This World in a place where superpowers and exotic technology are both possible. The plot was gritty, and it reminded me of the movie Akira. The characters were just as gritty, and they reminded me of the book Ready Player One. (Not the film.) The character’s names were fantastic. TD did a superb job of balancing humor and creativity when he came up with them.
There was a magnificent scene at the beginning where two characters enter a restaurant, and a chef battle takes place. It reminded me of the show Iron Chef except this scene had more humor and action. I really liked it and was grinning from ear to ear as I read.
TD really hit it out of the park when he wrote This World. This book is a wonderful read with deep characters and a unique plot. He certainly has the gift of writing. As with Nine Trials, I was super impressed, and I immediately recommended This World to three friends. I eagerly await his subsequent work and hope you read This World.
December 11, 2019
The general feeling of this book reminds me of reading a comic book or manga, which only makes me want to see an adaptation in those styles. This book is pretty much a superhero comic book without the pictures which was incredibly enjoyable to read.
The writing is really solid. Things are descriptive and each character is distinct in their personalities and powers. What I thought was really cool is that there are moments of telepathic speech throughout the story that are portrayed fantastically. I was truly able to dive into this world and imagine what is going on with how things were written.
The main character is Ridley, who is a person without superpowers living a world where they are surrounded by superpowers. What makes Ridley stand out from the likes of normal people within a super world, like in My Hero Academia, is that Ridley doesn't want to be a superhero at all. Ridley is just kind of living life and bored of such a fantastical world which I think is a super interesting take. Throughout the story, we meet a lot of other characters like Ridley's best friend, Hiro, or the fallen from grace superhero, Drake.
How I view the overall story are in a three different arcs. The first arc is the Mobile Knights arc that really focused on the Mobile Knights and Hiro. Then we have Introspection arc that really hones in on Ridley and Ridley's self-identifying journey. Last we have the King arc that focuses around King, the villain, and taking him down.
There's so many references in this book to nerd culture that it was so fun to read! The references aren't completely out there and just there for the sake of having a reference, some of them actually matter and have more than just a single line as the reference. The references, in my opinion, made the reading more enjoyable just because everything being referenced would make sense in this superhero world.
I recommend This World to anyone, but especially anyone that loves superheroes or anime.
The writing is really solid. Things are descriptive and each character is distinct in their personalities and powers. What I thought was really cool is that there are moments of telepathic speech throughout the story that are portrayed fantastically. I was truly able to dive into this world and imagine what is going on with how things were written.
The main character is Ridley, who is a person without superpowers living a world where they are surrounded by superpowers. What makes Ridley stand out from the likes of normal people within a super world, like in My Hero Academia, is that Ridley doesn't want to be a superhero at all. Ridley is just kind of living life and bored of such a fantastical world which I think is a super interesting take. Throughout the story, we meet a lot of other characters like Ridley's best friend, Hiro, or the fallen from grace superhero, Drake.
How I view the overall story are in a three different arcs. The first arc is the Mobile Knights arc that really focused on the Mobile Knights and Hiro. Then we have Introspection arc that really hones in on Ridley and Ridley's self-identifying journey. Last we have the King arc that focuses around King, the villain, and taking him down.
There's so many references in this book to nerd culture that it was so fun to read! The references aren't completely out there and just there for the sake of having a reference, some of them actually matter and have more than just a single line as the reference. The references, in my opinion, made the reading more enjoyable just because everything being referenced would make sense in this superhero world.
I recommend This World to anyone, but especially anyone that loves superheroes or anime.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2019
This book was pretty lengthy, but it was a very enjoyable read that puts a bit of a spin on the superhero genre.
The main character, Ridley, isn't a superhero at all and has no desire to be one. This is made very clear early on. And this is what makes the book unique in the superhero genre. TD Lee wrote Ridley to be someone that doesn't know what to do when danger comes, but has no fear when it happens because in a world of superheroes, they always win.
However, later the book becomes a lot more serious in its main threat and takes a bit of a dark turn as Ridley needs to discover themselves as a person.
There's a really fun ensemble of characters that we get to see interact with each other. My favorite character, Vesper, doesn't even actually have any "real" dialogue, but they're super fun whenever they're in the "scene."
To all nerds out there, there's plenty of references to the nerd culture. Some or really obvious, as others are a lot more niche and subtle. There's even a whole chapter that's basically Food Wars. Or even Power Rangers. It's fun to read through and try to spot all of the references.
The main character, Ridley, isn't a superhero at all and has no desire to be one. This is made very clear early on. And this is what makes the book unique in the superhero genre. TD Lee wrote Ridley to be someone that doesn't know what to do when danger comes, but has no fear when it happens because in a world of superheroes, they always win.
However, later the book becomes a lot more serious in its main threat and takes a bit of a dark turn as Ridley needs to discover themselves as a person.
There's a really fun ensemble of characters that we get to see interact with each other. My favorite character, Vesper, doesn't even actually have any "real" dialogue, but they're super fun whenever they're in the "scene."
To all nerds out there, there's plenty of references to the nerd culture. Some or really obvious, as others are a lot more niche and subtle. There's even a whole chapter that's basically Food Wars. Or even Power Rangers. It's fun to read through and try to spot all of the references.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews