Review: Beware of Chicken, by Casualfarmer

A Wholesome Mashup of Webnovel Genres

Before diving into today’s review, let’s take a moment to discuss the rise of the web novel, a form of independent publishing making its way to prominence in indie circles.

Put simply, web novels are serialized fiction originally and pseudonymously posted to online publishing sites such as the Russian SamLib.ru, the Chinese Webnovel.com, the Japanese Shousetsuka ni Narou (“Let’s Become a Novelist”), and the English language Royal Road. Thanks to Kindle and Kindle Unlimited, many of these stories make the jump from online to more conventional publishing venues, assisted by small publishers such as Aethon and Portal Books.

The writers for many of these sites are newer to the craft than the established professionals of traditional and independent science fiction. To be kind, the craft in many web novels suffers from inexperience and a lack of editing as the short interval serialization forces a constant stream of first drafts. Writers here succeed with novel ideas, exciting action, humor, and cliffhangers, and not so much on the professional polish demanded by traditional publishing and the Kindle Unlimited indie audiences. To stand out, these writers have to rely on gimmick settings and concepts that are played as straight as Western speculative fiction’s game of “what if?”.

What if a Great Lakes university student got whisked away to a Chinese fantasy world? What if a cultivator, the magical equivalent of a wuxia warrior, abandoned his sect to become a farmer? What if a rooster could become a martial arts acolyte? What if, through hard work, a man can earn the respect of his community, the mastery of his profession, and the hand of his love?

The result is the breakout success, Beware of Chicken. Originally hosted on Royal Road, the first volume has been collected on Kindle.

The Story

When Jin Rou is beaten to death by his own sect’s initiates, a Western man’s soul takes his place. Seeking peace instead of the constant abuse from power-mad cultivators, the new Jin Rou leaves the sect and sets out to establish his own farm at the edge of the most remote state in his new Chinese world. There, he tries to establish simple life as well as his place in the local community, a place that might be at the headstrong healer Meiling’s side.

But Jin Rou’s new soul does not understand just how powerful he is, or how his simple love for the land will transform it. The first clue is his rooster’s awakening as a Spirit Beast, a powerful martial monster the equal of most cultivators. Bi De now seeks to protect his master’s farm from other spirit beasts and even marauding human bandits. Even if Jin Rou does not realize he has a fine feathered disciple.

Beware of Chicken covers a series of stories spanning between Jin Rou’s arrival in a fantastic China and his wooing and wedding of Meiling. Alongside these events, Bi De rises from the first disciple of Jin Rou to the First Disciple of a band of Spirit Beasts defending Jin Rou’s farm from bands of vile interlopers.

The Characters

Save for the first couple chapters where more than Jin Rou’s pride is wounded, Jin Rou is idealized as a man trying to do the right thing for the land and people around him. And like many of the Irish hermit monks, he is surprised to find a community growing around him. He gets his desired results through a growing competency in farming, cultivation, and friendship. His romance with Meiling is proper, both for Eastern and Western expectations, and it is a joy to watch a young man establish himself in the world through his own efforts.

The rooster Bi De would find himself home in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin as a serious student of the martial and magical arts. His character is shaped by his master living out the idea that farmers love the land and the land gives back. Responsibility wears heavily on this Spirit Beast, but he can think of no other way to live, especially after failure humbles the proud rooster.

The World

Jin Rou’s new world is a standardized fantasy China that, with the exception of names and places, exists as almost a shared setting in international web novel hosts. Think of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Red Cliff; or Hero, but with an underworld filled with sects of martial arts magicians, monstrous spirit beasts, and the idea that external power can be cultivated through internal self-improvement. Casualfarmer does an excellent job bridging the abstract world of xianxia with the Western desire for the concrete.

The Politics

Jin Rou holds some of the egalitarian biases of the current day, but only applies them to his own farm. He attempts to fit into his community, not reform it. As the marital magical art of cultivation is an introspective art, it is through Jin Rou’s and Bi De’s self improvement that their community is changed, not through adherence to maxim or philosophy.

Content

Kung fu violence, blood, and occasional drunken ribaldry for which the characters are duly embarrassed by. The villains do and intend to do truly vile deeds, which Bi De and Jin Rou do their best to prevent.

Who is it for?

Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender, classic Shaw Bros. kung fu movies, Japanese shounen manga, and those who want a change of pace from the apocalypses of Western epic fantasy.

If much of fantasy is driven by stories for leaders and stories for usurpers, Beware of Chicken is a working man’s fantasy. Hard work and cleverness is rewarded with success and social standing. And one can win the respect in one’s career, family, and community without the grand ambitions held by leaders and villains. Or main characters in fantasy epics.

Why Read It?

Beware of Chicken is one of the best examples of the emerging field of cozy fantasy, focused on the improvement of its characters and the growing bonds between friends. And it provides an entry point into the world of web novels, a section of publishing that is driving international fantasy trends.