Rohan
Official Voting Ballot
(No subcategories)
Rh1: Bitter Watches of the Night by Sharpeslass
Oh, so creepy, but also sort of sad. Score one for a not-usually-
done POV character. "'Six hours, maybe ten.' It was the time I was
to have with her, to convince her of my devotion, my love." ... the
sense of plaintive desperation is so clear here.
Rh2: Complicated Allies by Sun Queen
The image of Gimli as a ferocious warrior (thankfully *not* as comic
relief) was a big heck-yeah moment for all us dwarf fanciers, or at
least it was for this one. Thank you for it.
Rh4: For the Dark by Forodwaith
There is some fancy and impressive research going on here. It shows
in the immersive texture of your Rohan. Devil's in the details, they
say, and you certainly got those details right.
Rh8: Myth and Memory by Ainaechoiriel
The chatty, folksy narrative voice just sucked me in and propelled
me to continue reading. The piece was over almost before I knew it,
and I found myself wanting it to continue. I appreciated the sense
of suspicion about elves -- "We couldn't leave an Elf loose in the
line, Yonwin said. Who knew what such a creature might do if allowed
to go freely among us?" -- which was wholly believable, given the
context. Plus, that last line pretty much summed up Tolkien's entire
point, I think.
Rh9: Namesake by Ainaechoiriel
And finally, we know who the "you" in "Myth and Memory" is. Very
smooth way of tying those two stories together. His voice also
changes subtly; you can tell that he's older in this one. Some of
the folksy charm has muted into formality, but not so much that it
seems like a wholly different character. Did you mean to progress
him as a character? If this was intentional, it was very deftly done.
Rh10: Promises to Keep by Nessime
"Battle hardened warriors they had seemed," ... This sort of
inverted sentence structure is so Rohirric, the way Tolkien might
have written it. You plucked JRR's narrative voice right out of
those Rohan chapters and recreated it here in your own story. Very
impressive. Now, I won't ruin the POV twist for those who don't want
to know, but it was charming. And believable.
AUTHORS (remember to comment on the writer as regards to the
category, not the story, here):
RhA1: Ainaechoiriel
Myth and Memory, Namesake
I hadn't read your work before, but I will definitely do so after
reading these two stories. You ease a reader into the story so
smoothly, I never felt the resistant pull of boredom, as is so
common with fic. You set the stage, but didn't overdo it; you evoked
a certain tone, but didn't take it over the top. This is good
writing.
RhA6: Nessime
Promises to Keep
I said it in the story review, but I'll repeat the point here: You
have a skill for writing Rohan as Tolkien did it. I don't know if
you can just hear the cadence, or if you've done a lot of linguistic
research and pondering, but your narrative voice is right on.
This category ends on October 5th at 11:59pm Central US time