Ever wonder if there's a kind way to end the world? Because Ryan really needs to find one.
"You found a nanoverse. The last one of this Era, left behind by the Creator. We were watching to see who found it, to figure out who would be next. And now that it's been found... now that you’re the one... my work is done. Don't put it in a drawer and forget about it. You've got a pretty amazing thing there, Ryan. And in spite of the fact that I unintentionally turned you into a nervous wreck... I think you're going to do some pretty amazing things with it. I’ve watched you your entire life, Ryan. I have faith you’ll be able to pull this off."
— Curator Nabu
Small Worlds[1]
is a serial fiction series written by Alex Raizman, aka Hydrael. The series began as a story on Reddit 's Writing Prompts sub-reddit, and later continued into a novel series spanning several books. The serial format is currently on its fourth book with the first book, Weird Theology published on Amazon.
Small Worlds contains examples of:
- All Myths Are True: Runs heavily on this trope. Most gods and creatures from Earth religions exist in their world. Examples include everything from ancient Greek mythology to Christianity to the continent of Lemuria.
- Apocalypse How: Invoked. Ryan must cause one before the end of the series, with the main plot focused on trying to minimize the scale of the Apocalypse.
- Archangel Uriel: The Angel who keep watch over Arthur after he becomes King of Hell. She is made to Fall by Arthur and serves him in Hell. Uriel helps Ryan and his allies during the series.
- Brought Down to Normal: Moloch does this to Uriel during the battle at Tartarus. She gets better.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: The Curators and their home Officium Mundi runs on this. Everything from requesting a pen to drinking a caffeinated beverage has requires filling out a pile of paperwork.
- Cosmic Entity: Within their Nanoverses, all gods are this. Taken to the extreme in book two, where Crystal has to fight three other Cosmic Entities in her own Nanoverse. Planets, stars, and time itself gets shattered in the conflict.
- Deity of Human Origin: The Nanoverse gods are this.
- The End of the World as We Know It: Inverted. As Eschaton, Ryan is required to end the world, otherwise the sun will go supernova. Crystal, the previous Eschaton, was forced to invoke this and end the world.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Several changes were made between the web serial and the book release. Minor changes include Enki swearing significantly less and more backstory being added, as well as the early parts of the serial being smoothed out to fit into what happened later. For example, in the original web serial, Crystal was implied to be an alien until it was revealed she was from Lemuria. The book corrects this.
- God: Though many "gods" that appear in the series, the Abrahamic God is the supreme deity of the universe.
- Each god is this while inside their respective nanoverses.
- One common theory, hinted at in-universe, argues we are in a nanoverse, with God as its owner.
- Have You Seen My God?: The Abrahamic God is said to be this in King of Hell. The other gods have also largely retreated from being active in the world prior to the start of the series.
- Kill the God: A god can permanently kill another god by bringing that god's nanoverse into their own and destroying it.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Weird Theology and subsequent book spoil major events and the ending of King of Hell, due to the Shared Universe.
- Our Gods Are Different: Gods are mortal beings who have found and claimed a Nanoverse. A Nanoverse grants divine powers, immortality. They are normally free from "Hungers"; but must eat, drink, sleep, breathe, and/or socialize to recover strength after using their power.
- Older Than They Look: The Gods, unsurprisingly. Most are thousands of years old. Notable cases include Crystal and Moloch/King, Lemurians who are at least a million years old, and Ra, a Neanderthal
- Physical God: Anyone with a Nanoverse is this.
- Remember the New Guy?: To King of Hell. Ryan is retconned to have helped Arthur win his war against Heaven.
- Shared Universe: King of Hell, a previous story by Alex Raizman is set in the universe as Small Worlds. Characters from the story appear throughout the series, and events of Weird Theology overlap with King of Hell''
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: All nanoverse gods have this power to some degree.
- Crystal and Moloch use this to appear human.
- Isabel gains the ability to shapeshift between a set of forms from Arthur and Uriel during the climax of Book 3.
