Beware of Chicken: A Xianxia Cultivation Novel

Book 1

By: Casualfarmer

Narrated by: Travis Baldree

Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A laugh-out-loud, slice-of-life martial-arts fantasy about...farming????

Jin Rou wanted to be a cultivator. A man powerful enough to defy the heavens. A master of martial arts. A lord of spiritual power. Unfortunately for him, he died, and now I’m stuck in his body.

Arrogant Masters? Heavenly Tribulations? All that violence and bloodshed? Yeah, no thanks. I’m getting out of here.

Farm life sounds pretty great. Tilling a field by hand is fun when you’ve got the strength of ten men—though maybe I shouldn’t have fed those Spirit Herbs to my pet rooster. I’m not used to seeing a chicken move with such grace...but Qi makes everything kind of wonky, so it’s probably fine.

Instead of a lifetime of battle, my biggest concerns are building a house, the size of my harvest, and the way the girl from the nearby village glares at me when I tease her.

A slow, simple, fulfilling life in a place where nothing exciting or out of the ordinary ever happens...right?

The first volume of the blockbuster progression-fantasy series—with more than 16 million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2022 CasualFarmer (P)2022 Podium Audio

Fun

Really good entertainment and super fun. I’ve read it twice now! I say give it a try, certainly worth a credit!

An uplifting Slice of life Xianxia Story

This title has been one of the highest rated stories on Royal Road for a reason. Here are but a number of the reasons to listen. A delightful twist on the Xianxia tropes. A relatable and refreshing mc who just wants a tranquil life. A large supporting cast that manages to stick to your heart in their own right. Masterful pacing that moves the story without being rushed or bogged down. Enough mystery to keep you wondering what's coming next. All these and more are the myriad reasons to enjoy Beware of Chicken.

Can't forget Travis Baldree's usual fantastic performance either.

Impressive and unique.

I will try to avoid leaving an excessively long review here as this audiobook has been suitably praised by many, and it was released less than a week ago.

Suffice to say that this was an exceptionally good audiobook. I actually did laugh out loud which for me pretty much never happens. Usually when I see that comment in reviews it’s a red flag that the book is going to be juvenile and idiotic. But the success of the humor is more of an indication of the quality of the writing than to say that this is a specifically comedic work.

The characters are endearing and magnetic, the story is engaging, and the narration is so spot on that you forget that it’s there and it feels as though you are actually reading the story. Which is the highest praise that I think you can give to a narrator.

To put it plainly, if you are even considering listening to this title then it’s pretty much guaranteed to be worth your credit.

A Subversion of the Genre

Beware of Chicken is an initially comedic piece, that over time builds itself slowly but surely. with memorable characters, an ever expanding world, and a great example of an unreliable narrator in the form of Jin.

Jin sees the world through that of a normal man and his impact on others with his atypical attitude is seen prominently. As Jin learns of new things about the world so do you with his perspective marrying the strange with the normal.

Best Xianxia Novel in Years!

This slice of life novel is set in a rich and compelling world filled with hidden masters, powerful spirit beasts, growing rice, and building snowmen.

The characters are charming and each one is well developed and nuanced, not just 2D characterizations.

I’m not usually into slice of life stuff but this one has surprising depth and charm. Definitely recommend giving it a chance!

Highly recommend

This is not your usual xianxia novel. Beware of chicken turns this genre on its head in a lighthearted way filled with serious humor.

Unlistenable

I think Audible needs to add a new reviewing system. Who are these people that review books like this so highly? Is this really one of the best books 3000+ reviewers have ever read/listened to? When I give a five star review, it has to be for a story that makes me step back and say 'damn that was great'.

I have been seeing this title pop up in my 'recommended' lists for a long time now. I kept passing it by because the premise seemed stupid to me. But I read some of those amazing 5 star reviews and felt like giving this book a chance. Stupid I am.

From the initial opening chapter onwards, this whole story was a nonsensical mess. I kind of liked the opening scene... but it quickly becomes evident that there is a lot of world building and character building that the author glosses over.

I find it dull when authors promote their characters to godhood above all others in a few small steps. In Beware of Chicken, the protagonist is at god status from the start of the story. So there is no suspense.

Skip this story. For a series along the same vein as Beware of Chicken, I'd recommend the Wandering Inn series. This set of titles actually contains character building, story development.

Absolutely hilarious.

I can’t wait for this series to grow. I’ve read every chapter available and didn’t think I would come back to it after just finishing but Travis Baldree made it even better. I can’t recommend it enough.

This is one of the best stories I have read.

This is an amazing story. Was initially intrigued by the funny title and story summary and tried it on KU. It turned into a 2 day binge, hardly putting down the book till i finshed it, then boughf the audio version and listened to that like it was my first time. Have since read the written book twice and listened to the audio book again. And looked CasualFarmer up to find anything else he has ever written. 5 stars all around. Great MC, the Chicken is inspiring, the support cast is perfect, and the story is funny and uplifting. And in one of the rare cases, the audiobook captured the spirit of everything. The characters sounded exactly as i heard them in my head as I read. The narrator is outstanding. Cant wait for more in this series

Great story & narrator. Ruined by profanity.

When are authors going to learn that profanity, especially dropping the f bomb, detracts from the narrative? Couldn't get past the first chapter.

Best Xianxia I’ve ever read

This “tongue in cheek” take on the traditional Xianxia formula is amazing. Sure, epics such as “Painting The Mists” and “Unsouled” are great, but this book is like a breath of fresh air; managing to poke fun at the standard tropes while still respecting the category.

The characters are top notch. They have tonnes of personality and bring so much to the story and the world. Even better, many of them have hidden depths and go through their own personal arcs.

This book isn’t progression fantasy, in fact there is very little attention paid levels and growth at all, and yet it doesn’t feel “wishy-washy”. You get this feeling that there is a solid magic system in play and that the rules just aren’t fully understood yet.

My only regret is that I found this book before any of the sequels have been written/recorded.

Lastly, Travis Baldree brings his A-game; once again proving his status as one of the best narrators around.

I eagerly anticipate the next instalment!

As it should be 👏

Loved it. This is where wuxia & xianxia stories usually go down the same route ie. transported to another world, has some kind of cheat ability that let's him fight stronger enemy's and becomes the most powerful in a short time ect. Now here we have a guy who understands his situation in a Cultivation world and wants nothing to do with it 🤣🤣🤣 by far the best Cultivation story I've ever come across, with a protagonist who is intelligent and understands the world he's in isn't for him 😏

it's like a cozy blanket

honestly this is my go to story when life is a bit dark. a nice piece of cheerful life, with a underlying meaning of what really matters.

Absolutely perfect

Good written cultivation story with OP protagonist and narrated by the Legendary Travis Baldree - what else one can wish for? Maybe for volume 2 xD

funny, gentle and profound!

I loved the story so much that I read it twice, then bought the audio book so I could listen to it for a third time.
love the characters, the progression, the philosophies the style. I was a little put off by the user of quite a few swear words in the first chapter but they are not continued and the language and attitude grows with the story in proper cultivation style!

Refreshing new perspective

Love the perspective focus on the spirit beasts.and the desire to avoid violence. To gain power

Great book - Highly recommend

Great story and a good subversion of some of the common tropes. I thought the humour was generally on point and the characters were good too. It could have perhaps done with a slightly smaller cast of animals as some of those felt skipped over somewhat later on.

I did enjoy the slice of life styling of the book but without any real adversity the plot occasionally dragged a bit. That said, I zipped through this in a couple of days because it was so enjoyable.

Baldree's narration was fantastic too.

fantastic

was hesitant about this at first but when I got into it the story felt so well cared for and surprisingly made me laugh a fair few times which is a nice change of pace for the genre

Very funny, but only near the end.

I enjoyed this book very much, there was a few times in the first half that made me smile but in the second half I was crying with laughter, having to stop what I was doing while I tried to get my breath back. I can't wait for the next book.

Very good book series

Whoooo one of the best cultivation sagas. Filled with lots of fun. And chickens