Carrot Field

Book 1

By: Vincent Asaro

Narrated by: Tony Cleary

A fantasy epic 20 years in the making! Enter a world of courageous animals, uncommon heroes, and epic battles!

The young rabbit Sebastian Perriwinkle is swept off on a quest - along with the enigmatic badger Plotonicus and the mystical fox Brand Redtail to find the legendary human race. Together they unravel the mystery of an ancient war and confront the ultimate darkness, The Lord Ouroboros.

The complete, unabridged audiobook of Carrot Field is narrated by Tony Cleary (BBC) and scored by Brian Arthur. Produced, engineered, and edited by Tony Cleary.

"Rich with the details of an intricately conceived fantasy world...echoes of C.S Lewis and Tolkien... Carrot Field stands apart...Vincent Asaro has spun quite a yarn." - Simon West Bulford, The Beasts of Upton Puddle, Medallion Press

©2015, 2016, 2017 Vincent Asaro (P)2018 Vincent Asaro

Excellent fantasy in a very well though-out world

Disregard the single negative review, this book is a gem, a classical hero's journey which deals heavily with religion, myth and the like. Fantastical and yet always very grounded, mainly due to how well though-out the world is, and how it is described to the reader. I find that very important, because I often struggle with the suspension of disbelief required to appreciate most fantasies. The characters, aside from two of them, don't show much depth and I feel they aren't much developed, which isn't a problem - the focus is clearly put on the world, its history and its mythology. Fans of action may be disappointed, though: there are lots of prophesizing, foresight, exposure and anticipation, but only a little in the way of battles. What is there is pretty epic, though, and it is always very significant to the context and the world as a whole.

Beautifully Written and Narrated

This is an epic tale beautifully told, rich in detail, and nestled comfortably in the traditions of J. R. R. Tolkien, Brian Jacques, and George Orwell. The narration is fantastic. Every character (and there are many!) is very well-defined, and I had no difficulty with figuring out which characters were speaking. No easy feat with in so densely populated a book. Tony Cleary is amazing. I particularly love the way he captured the antagonistic relationship between two characters in particular (not wanting to spoil, I won't name names here!),

This being Book 1 makes me happy! I look forward to seeing how this universe expands!

In addition to submitting a general review of my own thoughts on the book itself, I do also want to respond to a one-star review submitted earlier.

Yes, as with Tolkein and Orwell, there are story elements, situations, and political intrigue which are for more advanced readers. Anthropomorphized characters do not always mean that a story is strictly for young children. That being said, I was young when I began reading Animal Farm, but I do not regret having gone into the book expecting one thing and getting quite another.

[SPOILER - although it was originally referenced in the afforementioned one-star review]

The mushroom reference in the book has nothing to do with wistful, irresponsible escapism. In context, it is in reference to a shamanic religious ceremony, and not substance abuse. If older forms of religion predating the Judeo-Christian tradition are shocking to a reader, then the shamanic ceremony in the book will not be in the comfort zone of the more devout members of more modern, post-shamanic religions.

Also, a blanket one-star review over a single story element outside of one's comfort zone does an immense disservice to the voiceover artist.

No more spoilers from me. :) All in all, I myself found the book and performance to be very enjoyable! Have a listen!

A Classic Tale of Wonder

I can honestly say I didn’t think stories like this were being written anymore - not since Susannah Clarke’s “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell” have I enjoyed a work of fantasy that was so learned and possessed not just of wonder and adventure but also of wisdom. Fans of Watership Down,Lord of the Rings, and Narnia will not be disappointed in this epic tale; but neither will readers looking for the moral insights of George Orwell or the satire of Jonathan Swift. Carrot Fields anthropomorphic animals will delight fans of Wind in the Willlows and Redwall, but at times this book has more in common with the cosmic dread of H P Lovecraft or the lysergic theophanies of Michael Moorcock. The author addresses important issues of faith and doubt without pandering or preaching either side of the spectrum of skepticism or belief, and fans of both Phillip Pullman and C S Lewis will find food for thought. The icing on the cake is the extraordinary reading - seldom have I encountered book and narrator more ideally matched. Highly recommended!

Carrot field: a hobbit wanna be minus the excite

I gave up at chapter 18, almost 9 hours into the book.I don’t get why we are going on this journey. For the first 3 chapters nothing happens, we are just going around doing daily chores and talking to people. The rabbit protagonist doesn’t even have a goal. He’s sad he never got to meet his father but that’s it, he’s not doing anything about it. Then a badger shows up and proposes an expedition and the rabbit goes along because… he’s curious, I guess? He doesn’t have a goal, there’s no real reason for any of this to be happening.

Who is the target audience for this book? Kids won’t relate to the rabbit, he's too old, he already went to college and all. But the story is too simple to appeal to grown ups, so who is this for, really? I don’t get it.

The rabbit is useless, he has no backbone and no special abilities. He can’t fight, he’s clumsy, he has very little knowledge about the world he lives in, everything scares him, yet he is supposed to be some sort of prophesied Chosen One who will take down evil. Why him? The fox is much more interesting: competent, strong, knowledgeable, has psychic powers, has a fiance waiting for him at home, and,the bad guy is after him. Make him the main character instead! Although I didn’t like the nasal and slow voice the narrator gave him for the audible version, it didn’t fit his character at all.

The book repeats itself over and over, the same sequence plays out in every chapter: They are walking alone in the forest and get spooked by eyes in the dark, the eyes turn out to be an ally who has been following them and wants to help them, they go along with the new guy and he offers a feast in their honor and allows them to stay in his castle (they all have castles).They talk for a while, remind the rabbit of how special he is and get sent on their way to do the same thing over again.

Every time new characters are introduced they are cloaked with a hood hiding their faces.
The party never proactively gets new info or new tools, they stumble into them at every point. They encounter zero obstacles during their journey, they never struggle for anything. Everyone they meet is a friend or becomes one right away. They are handed whatever they need to carry on their journey for free, at some point they are given a magic wine that erases the need to eat. How convenient.

Everyone keeps talking about the bad guy as this threatening Evil force that spreads across the land but…the bad guy isn’t doing anything! He’s not attacking anyone, he’s not oppressing the people nor destroying the land or anything. The “good guys” lost a war to him a while ago and now they want revenge, but the so-called Evil guy isn’t doing anything to them. He only starts teasing them from a distance after they set out after him, not before. Not really an epic journey if the epic journey could have been avoided in the first

place, just leave the guy alone chilling in his tower! He’s not bothering anyone.
Then, out of nowhere, in chapter 13 the whole story becomes an allegory for fascism? The village turns into a Big Brother type of dystopian town, we sit around hearing old people talk about taxes and food rations and fascism propaganda, I don’t get it. What was the point of this? Are you telling me the evil guy influenced the government to become a totalitarian regime? You don’t need an evil dark lord for that.

I will say, tho, the narration is nice and I do like the prose and the writing style. I just wish the rabbit had a better reason to do what he does other than he was bored and an old guy told him to.

I was shocked. Not a story for Children

I found the story mediocre and rather bland until suddenly the three heroes of the story ingested psychedelic mushrooms to avail themselves of the power to read the mind of another animal that they encountered. I definitely do not want my six year old son exposed to a glorification of dangerous drug usage to resolve problems. I feel this book should be removed from circulation. If I could give it a zero I would. I will definitely not be listening to this book on our upcoming road trip. There used to be a button to allow you to return a book but It seems to not be available anymore. If I could I would definitely return this book. Thank God, I decided to preview this book before listening to it with my six year old son.