2005 Author Reviews for
Honesty

Honesty does something very dangerous in this horror story and gets away with it while pulling off spectacular results. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how this was accomplished, and I'd pay gold to know. But however it came about, the sheer amount of visceral, gut-wrenching imagery actually helps the story rather than detracting from it. I think part of the reason is that it becomes the subject of a defining moment for both Legolas and Gimli in the third chapter. And it serves as a very sharp contrast to Legolas's face and eyes in both chapter 2 and 3. It also seems to intensify the psychological strain in the first chapter by acting as a visual comparison. In any case, Honesty was absolutely brilliant in how all the imagery was used and did an amazing job of pulling a creating a very poignant story out of a very dire and graphic situation.

Honesty tends to go a little off the beaten track when portraying Gimli and Legolas. Her Gimli voice is absolutely beautiful, whether it's a slash piece with ?omer or his gravest of voices as he keeps watch over Legolas in "Time and Times and Half a Time"?she does right by that Dwarf, as few others do. She knows how to portray grief, yet she can also make you laugh, and she's not afraid to push the boundaries of canon if the story warrants it. Fortunately, she does it well, and the reader is well rewarded by her efforts.

Honesty laid a host of backstory in the course of this tale, and it's this backstory that really drovethe action because it provided the foundation for the conflict. The differences in culture and customs between evles and dwarves were fascinating, and along with great characterization of both Narvi and Celebrimbor, it made for a very complete story. As an added bonus, Honesty managed to weave the backstory into the plot in such a way that it never became boring or bogged down. And that's difficult to do.

Honesty tends to go a little off the beaten track when portraying Gimli and Legolas. Her Gimli voice is absolutely beautiful, whether it's a slash piece with ?omer or his gravest of voices as he keeps watch over Legolas in "Time and Times and Half a Time"?she does right by that Dwarf, as few others do. She knows how to portray grief, yet she can also make you laugh, and she's not afraid to push the boundaries of canon if the story warrants it. Fortunately, she does it well, and the reader is well rewarded by her efforts.