History Literature / TsunTsunTzimTzum

* ChristmasCake: Noah notes that Queen Shalarra is quite the AmazonianBeauty despite being in her forties.

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Noah, our mild-mannered UnlikelyHero.
** TheLancer: Brielle, who's as arrogant and temperamental as Noah is (initially) timid and repressed, who was raised from birth to be a great warrior and fight Lilith while he stumbled into it unprepared, and who makes sure to tell him every time he screws up.
** TheBigGuy: Valeria, a solid presence who looks to the practical and is also the physically largest of the party.
** TheSmartGuy: Imogen, ex-librarian and BadassBookworm.
** TheChick: Emma, the only one lacking combat skills but also the least troubled and neurotic one.
** TheSixthRanger: Neveah, who isn't technically a companion since Noah and her never formed a bond, and who no one (including herself) exactly know what to make of.

* AnAxeToGrind: Valeria's weapon of choice.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: While the Source is [[SexIsGood pretty open-minded,]] any form of sex that degrades and humiliates either of the parties, even if technically consensual, is implied to be of Lilith and certainly a favourite pastime of most of the villains. Though precisely how kinky you can be without risking TheCorruption is, like many other things, a grey area.

* ContemptibleCover: In 2020 the author changed the amazon.com cover from the original (see page image) to a more dramatic and serious one, since he believed that it was keeping prospective readers from giving the book a chance as a genuine EpicFantasy story instead of just a HaremAnime novel using epic fantasy trappings.

* NecessaryEvil: Lilith. She exists to enable every other soul in the universe to refine itself by resisting her attempts to corrupt it. When every other living creature has reached enlightenment and merged with the Source, she will drift alone through a lifeless cosmos until she finally repents, finds redemption, and becomes the Source of a new universe.

* BondageIsBad: While the story tries not to ''explicitly'' state that BDSM is a product of cosmic evil, in practice a sign of corruption is an interest in sexual sadomasochism. At least one villain, major or minor, in every book either takes pleasure from hurting others or enjoys being hurt during the sexual act. SafeSaneConsensual is usually off the table too.

''Tsun-Tsun [=TzimTzum=]'' is a series of novels by Mike Truk. Of the two parts of the title, "tsun-tsun" is a character type common in HaremAnime, while ''tzimtzum'' is a concept from UsefulNotes/{{Kabbalah}}, making the two main inspirations for the story very clear ([[GeniusBonus once you google one or both of the terms, that is]]). Three books have been published so far:

Now he has to pass five grueling tests to prove his worth, as well as choose five women to serve as [[BattleHarem his lovers and companions]] on a quest down through the Tree of Life to defeat Lilith and save the cosmos. Noah is certain that he can't do it - and it doesn't help that everyone around him, including Emma, seem to agree.

!!This work contains examples of the following tropes:

* AnAxeToGrind: Valeria's weapon of choice.

* BattleHarem: Every Chosen must assemble one of these, selecting five powerful companions to accompany them on their quest. They must also have sex with each companion to form a life-affirming magical bond that lets them share each other's power. Though it turns out that it's not so much that they "must" as that it's better in almost every way if they do - [[RapeAsBackstory Neveah]] refuses to sleep with Noah, but he still takes her as a companion since even without the bond he thinks her skills and strength will be invaluable.

* BigBad: Lilith, the embodiment of universal evil and corruption. She commands seemingly endless hordes of horrific demons and wielders of BlackMagic, but half the time she doesn't even need them - she's dangerously good at tricking well-intentioned people into serving her unknowingly.

** Implied with Valeria. She seems confident and stoical most of the time, and she's a supremely capable fighter, but there are hints that she suffers from a crippling lack of self-worth and that there is something in her past that she doesn't want to talk about - and since the parts she ''is'' willing to talk about involve fighting a HopelessWar against Lilith's forces where she [[DwindlingParty lost her companions one by one]] until she was the only one left, it's likely to be a doozy.
** Neveah is even more of an ace and also even more broken. She was the greatest warrior ''and'' the greatest mage among the Aspirants before leaving as the companion of a previous Chosen One, but something happened to her out among the spheres that left her with memory loss and the mark of corruption on her - and after returning to Bastion (which required her to cut her way through the massive army of demons besieging the place), she was put through six months of imprisonment and torture. At the time of the story, it's implied that she's holding herself together through sheer HeroicWillpower.

-->'''Noah:''' You don't really want to [[SexMagic do this,]] do you. You're just doing this because you want to help save the universe.
-->'''Valeria:''' Of course. Why else would I want to fuck you?

* CoolSword: As the Chosen, Noah gets to wield Shard, a sword so cool that it almost makes up for the fact that he's got absolutely no idea how to use it. Neveah's [[{{BFS}} five-foot-long blade]] that can be summoned to her hand with a shout and which [[AntiMagic cuts through Hexen magic]] is pretty sweet too, and so's Brielle's FlamingSword.

* TheWormThatWalks: The Ur-grouths are people who [[OneWingedAngel can turn into giants made entirely out of worms.]] An Ur-grouth is all but invincible and your best bet is to KillItWithFire.