2006 Author Reviews for
Soledad

Soledad\'s [\"The Last Yule in Halabor\"] really showcases her strengths as an author for me. Although she has written a wide variety of LotR fanfiction, I have only read some her stories set in Gondor so far. In these, I\'ve seen two qualities that make her stand out in my mind. First, her OCs are decidedly well-constructed. The PoVs of the stories I have read have mostly been OCs (and are entirely OCs in her MEFA nomination), and without exception they are realistic, believable and engaging - even when the actual individual is not at all likeable! I think this is a skill that cannot be underestimated - the ability to make me care about a character that I have no prior \"relationship\" with. Second, Soledad\'s attention to detail is nothing short of amazing. She created an entire town for the [\"Halabor\"] universe, based on existing medieval places and structures. The populace and their ways of life are built out of intensive research into actual skills needed at the time. All of this adds a high degree of realism to her stories. Similar detailed \"world-building\" has taken place in other works of hers, such as imagining an entire culture and religion for a region of Harad. I feel that her stories are enhanced by the level of detail, rather than overwhelmed, as she manages to deftly weave them in to the narrative.

I am envious of authors who can so fully develop their own world within Tolkien\'s, and blend the seams in so neatly you can scarcely tell they exist. Soledad is one of those authors, and her work demonstrates her skill in creating vivid, highly detailed portraits of characters, in all their complexity and concreteness, their differences and their class and ethnic roots. She gives them all unique voices, which seem appropriate to their ages and the backgrounds she sketches. And she does it all in so short a space! Soledad manages to keep an essentially episodic set of ficlets together--she\'s mastered the strategy of creating separate storylines that intersect at places, but go their own way, and which are held together only by a theme or a single, anticipated event which serves to foreground these stories which otherwise would not be easily held together. If you enjoy original world-building that sheds interesting light on the ethnic and sidelined communities of Middle-earth, try her work.

In a truly impressive example of world-building, Soledad brings to life a community, from environments and homes, the professions and businesses, to characters inhabiting all social strata, ages, morals and preoccupations. Careful physical and psychological details make everything and everyone distinct and memorable.