Reviews for Wednesday, December 15, 2010 (Afternoon Set, Part One)
Title: Truth Be Told · Author: Virtuella · Genres: Longer Works · ID: 40
Reviewer: Celeritas · 2010-12-15 10:41:06
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
Virtuella is one of the best OC writers I have encountered, hands down, because she is able to craft a story in which canon characters only take some part, and is in consequence even more compelling. In Truth Be Told, Virtuella uses OC Deoric, Scribe of the Mark, to examine the difficulty of history, public memory, and competing claims of truth, all in the lush backdrop of a Rohan that is recovering to love and life (and a bumper crop of babies!).
Deoric gets attacked and stranded from the rest of his party on a tale-gathering mission, and is nursed back to health in Dunland where he learns the other side of the story of their wars with Rohan. His efforts to represent the truth to Eomer lead to a break with the King, then a slow reconciliation as Eomer realizes the truth in Deoric's words. Deoric is still sent away to complete his mission, but it becomes clear that he has not lost the King's favor for daring to speak the truth.
Virtuella weaves the theme of her central plot into other efforts, though, from detailing cultural customs of the Rohirrim to learning to see color differently through paint to long talks with Gleowine as to the best way to reconcile variant formats of the same story. Characters such as Eowyn and Lothiriel also make their way into the story at times, as part of the context of the recovering world.
All of this goes with Virtuella's stunning use of imagery and symbolism to convey a rich world, no less beloved in peacetime than it was in war.
Title: A Pretense at Civility · Author: Larner · Genres: Humor: Eriador or Shire · ID: 666
Reviewer: Celeritas · 2010-12-15 10:46:13
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
This is a wonderful sketch of what a meeting between the Shire's two most notorious harridans might have looked like. Larner uses saccharine civility to outline the less than civil thoughts that must be going through both these hobbits' minds, and in so doing, shows the old tension between the old monied and the nouveau riche. Well done!
Title: Under a Silent Sky · Author: Marta · Times: Ring War: Mixed Drabbles · ID: 530
Reviewer: Kara's Aunty · 2010-12-15 10:53:20
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
Very enjoyable drabbles. Loved the theme, too. The drabbles may have been based on different moments throughout the Quest, but they blended nicely together because Marta used the same character's pov. I really felt for poor, weary Gandalf when he realised he'd have to bid his friends farewell and battle the Balrog alone. His awakening among the Valar was but a brief respite, and I could almost swear I heard his heart sink when he realised that, despite death, his service to Middle Earth was still required. Even in victory his mind seems troubled, yet at least then he has the time to properly explore his thoughts in leisure.
The only small niggle I had was a vocabularic one. I must admit to being a bit stymied by the word [whiterfor], used in the second drabble; Marta has it spot on with her assumption that the Valar would probably use a more formal, elegant vocabulary that harkens back to yester-year - I think that's how we all see them. But I've never heard that particular word before, and it strikes me as wrong, somehow: like 'whiter' and 'for' stuck together. Of course, it could be perfectly correct and I could be wrong (in which case, Marta, I'm sorry!). Still, it was enough to distract me from the flow of the drabbles as I attempted to work it out.
Despite this, Marta has crafted a delicious trio of drabbles for Gandalf fans (and everyone else, too!) which I thoroughly enjoyed. Great work!
Title: Ring-bearers, Aging, and Life in Aman · Author: GamgeeFest · Genres: Non-Fiction · ID: 176
Reviewer: Celeritas · 2010-12-15 10:53:46
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
GamgeeFest deserves full accolades just for having the guts to write this essay, which should stand as a clear warning to writers that, if they're going to have Frodo survive to Sam's arrival--despite the fact that this would mean he'd live well over the typical hobbit life expectancy, despite the extent to which his burdens may have shortened his life, and despite the fact that Aman actually seems to shorten a mortal's life (candle burning at both ends, doncha know)--they'd better have a darn good explanation for it. Going against the wishful thinking of many authors--including herself, it should be added--this essay is a bold piece of well-researched scholarship that I hope will have an effect on the way authors think about, and present, Eressea. It certainly has had an effect on me!
Title: Or Perchance, When the Last Little Star · Author: Larner · Genres: Longer Works: Incomplete · ID: 600
Reviewer: Celeritas · 2010-12-15 11:02:17
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
My favorite pieces by Larner always involve original or underdeveloped canon characters at the fore, and this look at Gondor in the years just before the War of the Ring is lovely. Lynesse is a sharp-witted young woman seeking, if possible, to escape the match-making designs of her mother, and in so doing she lands herself a position as the talented chatelaine of the Steward's household. While her mother goes into ecstasies over the possibility of a match with one of the Steward's two sons, however, she finds herself increasingly drawn to the much older Hurin, Warden of the Keys. The setting of Minas Tirith, Gondor, and all its accompanying politics in the age of the Stewards is effectively characterized, and is at once a living, breathing place and consonant with what it will become when, depleted of all but soldiers and healers, we encounter it for the first time in Tolkien.
Larner notes in her author's notes that this story is [continuing to grow in the telling to my consternation]. What is a [consternation] to Larner continues to be a blessing to her readers, and I hope that the tale continues to grow into a satisfying conclusion.
Title: Unripened Fruit · Author: Gwynnyd · Genres: Humor: Gondor · ID: 520
Reviewer: Celeritas · 2010-12-15 11:12:46
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
This is a wonderful family romp that displays at once Eldarion's youth, the way his father encourages him to come into his own, and Eldarion's learning how to win and manage the hearts of people the way a good king should. I know it's classified as humor, but in my mind it has more to do with the growing sparks of leadership than anything particularly funny... although, come to think of it, a mostly-harmless oliphaunt rampage is pretty funny.
Gwynnyd also gets bonus points for naming multiple characters in the same place the same name, which adds an element of realism seldom seen in any fiction, even Tolkien's.
Title: The Journal of Alatáriel, Missionary · Author: Clodia · Times: First Age and Prior: Noldorin Elves · ID: 77
Reviewer: Celeritas · 2010-12-15 11:20:28
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
This has to be one of the most original fics I've encountered in this past year, using all of the tools available to an academic to create a (rather snarkily) annotated text that explains, once and for all, why Tolkien encountered so many variant texts on Celeborn and Galadriel.
The satire of the Victorian missionary genre is perfect, as is the extrapolation of what happens when the rumor mill meets with immortal eyewitness accounts, and the final hints as to who wrote this thing and why are icing on the proverbial cake.
Title: A Bit of Rope · Author: Aiwendiel · Genres: Alternate Universe: Incomplete · ID: 197
Reviewer: Celeritas · 2010-12-15 11:28:11
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Okay, so I just clicked around to see how many reviews the remaining (numerous) stories on my wish list have, and--what? This only has four reviews right now? Injustice!
A Bit of Rope is a phenomenal take on my favorite kind of AU--the butterfly effect one in which you change one thing (in this case, Sam's packing rope in Rivendell to rescue Gandalf from his fall) and see what happens next. Aiwendiel's respect for the original course of events shines through, though, as the reader is given little bits and pieces of "maybe things weren't supposed to happen this way?"
At the moment, however, things look to be about as hopeful as hopeless as they ever were in the original, with some things changed for the better and others for far the worse. The idea of Gandalf sacrificing himself at Minas Morgul (and Frodo oh-so-cleverly figuring this out), and handing Narya off to Sam is a stroke of genius, and one which I, at least, hope will mean that the two of them have a less trying time in Mordor. Things everywhere else, however, look a good deal more ambiguous--yes, Theodred is alive, but there's trouble brewing with Theoden, and Aragorn is injured and pushing himself farther and farther. I simply cannot wait to see how this all is going to--or not--work out, because, after all, in an AU anything can happen.
A fine "might have been" that gives the reader a greater appreciation for "what really did."
Title: Gilraen, the Fair · Author: Gwynnyd · Genres: Romance: Dunedain · ID: 106
Reviewer: Celeritas · 2010-12-15 11:33:39
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
I loved this different take on Gilraen when I first read it--who is to say what meaning of "the Fair" actually stood for? Arathorn (we may be fortunate) has just the same preconception after he is introduced to Gilraen as the rest of us. His realization as fate slides into place (Gilraen, figured this out long ago, in an earlier fic) is breathtaking to read.
Also deserves kudos as having been written in response to fan film Born of Hope, which had yet another take on the meaning of the word "fair."
Title: How I Wish · Author: Dawn Felagund · Genres: Poetry: Drama · ID: 109
Reviewer: Celeritas · 2010-12-15 11:36:49
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Finrod/Amarie has to be one of my favorite pairings from the Silmarillion, mostly because of Finrod. Which is why I loved Dawn's take on Amarie's side of the story, saying so much in fourteen lines that fit the Shakespearean mode of the sonnet (and the scansion, and the rhyme scheme) so impeccably well. The final couplet, with all the contradictions of being in love with an Exile, is as swift and sharp as a guillotine's blade.
Sometimes less really is more.
Title: Starship · Author: shirebound · Genres: Alternate Universe · ID: 50
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2010-12-15 11:42:30
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
One of the best stories of the Ringbearers in Aman that I can remember reading - I adore the concept of Sam's being carried into the West by Vingilot herself, captained by Earendil. The physical details are suffused with magic - Sam's clothes being dusted with Silmarillish stardust, the singing tree in Tol Eressea (I love how it is named, and what)...What a wonderful way to reunite Frodo and Sam!
Title: Dark Power Arising · Author: Shemyaza1 · Races: Cross-Cultural · ID: 235
Reviewer: Larner · 2010-12-15 11:43:43
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
Again I must say that I can't believe I read the whole thing--and enjoyed it quite a good deal! This continuation of [A Singular Honor] has proved as entertaining and original as the first tale in what we are assured will be a trilogy, the third story being written and posted at this time.
Gary Matthews has finally come to full awareness of himself as the Maia Eonwe, Herald to Manwe Sulimo himself, sent into the former Middle Earth to help restore balance between good and evil, sent at the direction of Eru Himself, having grown up in the body of a mortal Man. He and his wife and three-year-old daughter must again fight against the forces of Morgoth, led by one of the former Numenorian lords turned to evil by Sauron during the second age. Herumor intends to free Morgoth from the Void, using an army of vampires and werewolves as well as orcs and dragons and a Balrog or two. Vampires and werewolves aren't quite what they used to be, however, and some object to Herumor's plans and ally themselves with Eonwe, only to learn there are far more forces for good and evil than any had dreamed in their philosophies.
Needs work with punctuation here and there, and the working in of three different genres is at times ponderous, but for the most part is very well done.
Recommended!
Title: Reckoning · Author: Dwimordene · Times: Post-Ring War and Beyond: Vignettes · ID: 623
Reviewer: Kara's Aunty · 2010-12-15 11:56:37
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
Heartfelt and touching tale on the lingering memories of Frodo's and Sam's individual times as Ring-bearer. One would be inhuman not to feel for Frodo as he struggles to cope with the aftermath of his Quest - something made all the more poignant because we all know how his struggle ends. I love the dialogue in this ficlet, and I truly feel for both Frodo and Sam - particularly Sam, for his conversation with Frodo can only compund the fact that there are some demons the faithful gardener simply can't help his master fight.
Very good work, Dwimordene.
Title: Hastaina · Author: Dawn Felagund · Genres: Horror · ID: 144
Reviewer: Anna Wing · 2010-12-15 12:12:38
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
A most impressive bit of Lovecraftian pastiche, though to a considerable extent it fails in being notably more readable than the original. The air of overwrought emotionalism is very true to the spirit of the Nutter of New England. Many nice turns of phrase. The premise is a sound one and an entirely valid reading of the Ainulindale. The One is an artist, after all, and an artist is concerned with the overall effect, not with every little element that goes into the whole (and the Numenorean genocide should have put paid to any idea of the One being essentially of a benevolent disposition). I'm not terribly convinced about the negative economic effects of the theft of the swanships upon Alqualonde, though obviously they are meant to add atmosphere and verisimilitude. Still, the impact might have been greater had Valinor actually been portrayed as a happy place; consider "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". Also, it is unclear what persuades the narrator that Melkor's version of things is the accurate one. Still in general, it had originality and charm and I enjoyed it.
Title: Fighting Enemies · Author: Larner · Genres: Humor: Parody or Black Humor · ID: 33
Reviewer: Kara's Aunty · 2010-12-15 12:19:00
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
Heavens! Elrohir can be a bit graphic with his war stories, can't he? Something I found strangely delightful, as it seems so at odds with the gentle nature of an elf. Then again, the elf in question is a seasoned warrior, and rather spirited to boot. Poor Bilbo! No wonder he felt sick. With the addition of Elladan's input, then Aragorn's, his stomach didn't stand a chance. Good on Arwen for giving tham a piece of her mind and a suitable punishment! The thought of two great elven lords and one future king doubling as chambermaids is no end of amusing!
[... and had a wraith's own time killing off that last lot.] - best line of the lot. I nearly choked laughing at the image that conjured!
Brilliant work, Larner!
Title: Roads Not Taken · Author: clotho123 · Genres: Ficlet: The Silmarillion · ID: 450
Reviewer: Anna Wing · 2010-12-15 12:25:47
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
An interesting and insightful lookat ways in which the course of events in the War of the Jewels and after could have played out, some baed on ideas tried out but discarded by Tolkien. The Gondolin one was distinctly creepy. The one about Celegorm and Beren is a very nice look at the characters of Celegorm and Curufin, and fits well with a bit in HoME where Curufin meets Eol on the latter's way to Gondolin. Tolkien says in his note on the piece that Curufin could have killed Eol, but did not, because it would have been a dishonourable act; he wanted to show that Curufin was not simply a one-dimensional storybook villain. This complexity to both Curufin and Celegorm comes out very well here. The one on Feanor did not convince me, since surely Feanor would have risen to the challenge. It's not as if he had been prevented from thinking unimaginably deep thoughts by his injury. And Curufin would have been there to do the spadework. Now if it had been a pre-frontal lobotomy, that would have been another thing.
Title: A price worth paying · Author: Tanaqui · Races: Men: Drabbles · ID: 550
Reviewer: Kara's Aunty · 2010-12-15 12:26:27
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
The first Isildur story/drabble I've ever read, and it is a stark reminder to us all that Aragorn's ancestor was an exceptionally brave and noble man in his day, despite his later fall to the power of the One Ring. Very enjoyable indeed.
Title: Once Upon a Twilit Time · Author: Clodia · Times: First Age and Prior: Mixed Drabbles · ID: 444
Reviewer: Anna Wing · 2010-12-15 12:32:13
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Very beautiful. Poetic and moving, while taking thought for worldbuilding and logic. Menegroth's brightness in a world without the Sun and Moon, the invention of currency by the Dwarves (of course), the shift among years and times, all elegantly and economically told. A fine and lovely series of vignettes.
Title: Dawn & Dusk · Author: Clodia · Times: First Age and Prior: Mixed Drabbles · ID: 160
Reviewer: Anna Wing · 2010-12-15 12:34:14
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Vivid, sharp and ferocious. Brief, eloquent fragments implying much more than they say. Very nice.
Title: Murder in the White City · Author: Jedi Sapphire · Races: Cross-Cultural: Incomplete · ID: 611
Reviewer: picara · 2010-12-15 12:54:53
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
I am absolutely, thoroughly enjoying this story. The interaction between Aragorn and Legolas is great. And you are doing a great job keeping the tension and suspense and mystery going. I hope you finish it soon!
Title: The Noldo is IN · Author: Beruthiel's Cat · Genres: Humor: Comedy/Drama · ID: 433
Reviewer: Esteliel · 2010-12-15 12:56:25
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
This made me laugh. It is tremendously funny, and quite a different take on the usual dynamics in the house of Elrond. The mental image of Elrond wearing a long, white beard made from poor Asfaloth's tail is going to stick with me for a long time!
Title: First Snowfall · Author: curiouswombat · Races: Elves: Drabbles · ID: 5
Reviewer: Kara's Aunty · 2010-12-15 13:12:20
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
A very imaginative comparison between the first snowfall and the inevitable decline of Lothlorien after the departure of the elves. Beautifully worded, very evocative and deeply haunting, this drabble brings home to the reader exactly what the elves sacrificed in order to save the lands they loved so much. Heartbreaking, wonderful work!
Title: The Embalmer's Apprentice · Author: Lyra · Genres: Longer Works: Incomplete · ID: 156
Reviewer: pandemonium_213 · 2010-12-15 13:30:51
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
Spoilers!
The setting and people of Númenor are not always the most favored subjects of Silmarillion fan fiction writers and readers. However, I am among those who find the Land of the Gift and its residents to be fascinating, and Lyra's [The Embalmer's Apprentice] is a superb example of not only Númenórean fan fiction, but *any* kind of fiction. She has crafted a society and the people that inhabit it that are fully informed by Tolkien's legendarium, a society that is plausible and very rich in detail.
As reader and writer, I love original characters, in Tolkienian fan fiction, particularly those who count among the ordinary folk rather than the high and mighty. With her OMC Azruhâr, his wife and those he joins in the embalmer's guild, Lyra delivers and how! I have become heavily invested in these characters and their fates as they negotiate the increasing turmoil in their cloistered world. The insder's look at the mortuary culture of Númenor is wonderfully drawn with background drawn from our primary world's history and technology that fits seamlessly into a Tolkienian framework.
The dialog is great with a naturalistic feel, and the descriptive prose works oh, so well -- enough to paint vivid images in my imagination, but not overdone so that the narrative bogs down. The narrative proceeds with a good pace, pulling me along in the story. Azruhâr's voice is strong and consistent.
All in all, Lyra's [The Embalmer's Apprentice] stands tall among the the better writing of Tolkien-based fan fiction, and among subjects Númenórean, it is outstanding. I look forward to reading future installments of this WIP and watching Azruhâr's story unfold. I am also entirely sympathetic as to why it takes some time to complete a WIP like this!
Title: A Beleriand Treasury of Childish Tales · Author: Clodia · Genres: Drama: Incomplete · ID: 365
Reviewer: Anna Wing · 2010-12-15 13:31:36
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
A rather brilliant series of ficlets, each perfectly in the style of a different author. A masterpiece of pastiche. While the Discworld tale of the trolls is brilliant, I admire the impressive tale of the waking of the Balrog under Moria (in the style of Lovecraft but more readable). I am fond of Erestor and Melinna, the author's continuing characters. The Gondolin piece imitates Dunsany brilliantly, with added creepiness Altogether very fine.
Title: A Pretense at Civility · Author: Larner · Genres: Humor: Eriador or Shire · ID: 666
Reviewer: The Lauderdale · 2010-12-15 13:32:54
Enter New Review or Edit Existing Draft/Hidden Review · Add To Wish List · Skip
I've actually never read a story about Lalia before (all I remembered about her were the crushing circumstances of her death) but I'm going to have to seek out more stories. Anyway, this is an entertaining meeting between her and the new Lobelia Sackville-Baggins: younger here, but still as grasping and unpleasant as ever. Fortunately it seems that she has met her match in the cutting "civility" of Lalia, who takes positive pleasure in tormenting Lobelia. I only wish I could have seen what happened in the sunroom!