A Mini-Review of The Roosters Crow
An Exciting (If Slightly Rocky) Beginning to a World Without End
Heroic tales are a dime-a-dozen these days; but they’re also a lost art form.
That, dear reader, is what I once told myself before discovering the Iron Age. What with the plethora of new and exciting stories bringing back conflicts of good versus evil, derring-do, and self-sacrifice, it’s hard not to feel just a little pumped. Indeed, when it comes to storytelling as a craft, most of us are still just in the phase of getting recognized, trying to hone our skills and experiment with different ideas and narrative styles.
Myself, I like to think that I’ve helped at least to some degree in this process. So with that in mind, I’m hoping to do something just a little different this week. I’ve already reviewed a small number of novels in the past, but what about the odd short-story?
This week I plan on doing just that with “The Roosters Crow,” the first story in James Esparza’s World Without End Lore series.
Now before I go any further in sharing my thoughts, I think it should be emphasized that this is a free read, and the narrative does stay true to its short-story formatting. It’s a quick, simple tale which delves into ideas of resolve, compassion, and loyalty, all the while our heroes are stuck in a battle for their very lives. Being only just over a thousand words in length, there is little reason not to check this one out right now.
With that being said, I will now be diving into spoiler territory (as it’s quite frankly impossible to avoid here). I’ll also be giving my thoughts on the overall story structure and how the characters are handled.
So if you’ve got the time, I wholeheartedly recommend that you check out the story here. Despite my gripes which I’ll get to in a second, it is very much a pleasure to read, and it only takes about five minutes of your time.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get right into what I think about “The Roosters Crow.”
First off, I should mention the quality of presentation here, as the artwork for the PDF version really does set the tone perfectly. Both the illustrations and setting map create an instant sense of mystery, and the additional bits of writing serve as a great primer for what’s to come.
However, the Substack version does suffer slightly without these extra tidbits - in particular, the sections which set up the kingdom of Doter. I think that having these right at the beginning of the story would have fixed some of the confusion I had at first, yet as it stands I believe the PDF version is the way to go.
As for the story itself, “The Roosters Crow” starts by throwing us straight into the action, with our main character Fernando being brought face-to-face with creatures of the dark - or the Abyss, as it’s called here. He is also the leader of a group called the Roosters, an elite unit of orphaned soldiers who are outcasts in their own kingdom.
Meanwhile Fernando’s men are dying out by the dozens, and only he can choose whether they end up living or dying in the end.
That’s the basic premise, and the broad strokes of both the action and characters are certainly compelling to follow. Especially with it being the first part of a larger setting, I couldn’t help but find myself smiling from all the chaos happening on each page.
The prose itself is both concise and energetic, as quite a lot of action is covered within such a short run-time. With that being said, however, the story itself can feel like it’s little more than just a single extended scene - a promise of a larger conflict to follow.
As a complete story I might consider this just a tad disappointing; but as an introduction to a new setting, I think it hits the mark without fail.
For most of us the premise of light warring against darkness is nothing new. On a harsher note, one could even argue that its use here is a little on the cliché side. Yet I think, given the proper care, this might actually end up benefiting the series going forward. Some truly amazing tales have been spun in the past using these exact same narrative tropes, and I’m excited to see how Esparza might use these to his advantage in future stories.
As another point of critique, I think just a little more time could have been spent towards resolving the battle between Doter and the beasts of darkness. As it currently stands, the story begins with Fernando and his comrades fighting back against the forces of the Abyss, and it ends in much the same manner. Thankfully, we are told that the Roosters end up inspiring the king, along with the other soldiers rallying and re-bolstering their ranks, yet I still would have liked to see more of what actually happened before the end. Specifically, the ending could have had a little more impact, perhaps a hook that would have gotten me truly pumped for the next story, whether that be through continuing along with the Roosters, or refocusing the perspective somewhere else.
However, for a first offering to a new setting, I believe these are only small gripes compared to the passion that’s clearly on display here. “The Roosters Crow” is a fun and exciting tale that’s almost certain to please, particularly for fans of fantasy who want absolutely no filler in their stories.
It’s definitely worth keeping on your radar, and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.