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Msg# 5328

27 Final Reviews today 9/8/2005 Posted by Ainaechoiriel September 08, 2005 - 23:51:35 Topic ID# 5328
Title: A Meeting in the Woods · Author: Thundera Tiger · Races/Places: Cross-Cultural: Pre-War of the Ring · ID: 1313
Reviewer: Bodkin · 2005-09-08 02:08:35
I love the way Primula responds to Elladan. The wariness - the rabbit in the headlights reaction - the goose-walking-over-the-grave reaction to his moment of foresight - and, of course, her desperate wish to be reassured that he really was there and it really did happen.

This is an absolutely delightful episode - a hobbit whose decisions affect the fate of the world. Just as well Elladan's words get her to look again at Drogo. . .
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Title: A Mid-Year's Walking Trip · Author: GamgeeFest · Races/Places: Hobbits: Children · ID: 1238
Reviewer: Bodkin · 2005-09-08 02:20:14
This is a most enjoyable story. I love the relationships between Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Sam - especially Sam's cunning plan for controlling Pippin, which frustrates Merry no end! There are some interesting sidelines on social class, too, and the frustration of trying to have Sam as a friend rather than an employee or social inferior - dealing with which is undoubtedly a good growing experience for Merry. Good fun.
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Title: We Will Follow · Author: pippinfan88 · Races/Places: Hobbits · ID: 1250
Reviewer: Bodkin · 2005-09-08 02:33:33
Poor Frodo. I'm not sure he entirely grasped the politics of it all. And I think that, despite being grown up, he would probably rather have been involved in the pay off with Merry and Pippin. I like Pervinca - she's a good character. Good story.
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Title: Ho, Ho! My Lads · Author: Dreamflower/Marigold CoAuthors · Races/Places: Cross-Cultural: Pre-War of the Ring · ID: 1170
Reviewer: Bodkin · 2005-09-08 03:21:45
Little Pippin, on a sugar high, detailing every single second of the process of making honey cakes - while wondering why he needed to use WATER to wash hands he had licked perfectly clean! What a vision. And, in the meantime, a group of hobbits and dwarves devote serious time to eating. I love the spying hobbit lads - and the sound of the gifts - and Frodo's awareness-from-experience. This is a very feel-good story.
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Title: For the Common Man · Author: Anoriath · Books/Time: Gap-Filler: War of the Ring · ID: 661
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 07:47:35
A hilarious look at the aftermath of the battle. I guess a rooster can bring cheer in more than one way to weary soldiers.
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Title: Lightness · Author: Dana · Books/Time: Gap-Filler: Hobbits · ID: 1230
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 07:52:02
<i>"You can trust a Brandybuck to know when to say too much," </i> says Pippin in this story, but it isn't too much at all. It's just right. Especially the way that Merry's angst and self-blame transform once Pippin finally does waken and they are together.
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Title: In the Keeping of the King · Author: Shirebound · Books/Time: Gap-Filler: Drama · ID: 1107
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 08:01:56
Hooray for Cormallen fics! This is another old favorite of mine, and I love it for the way that the hobbits keep reverting to light-hearted teasing when their emotions get too strong. Aragorn and Gandalf are well drawn here too, concerned, but willing to enjoy the gentle joys of healing laughter along with their charges.
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Title: The Battle of Bywater · Author: Lulleny · Races/Places: Hobbits: Post-Ring War · ID: 1093
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 08:24:17
This is the best story I've ever found about the Battle of Bywater, and about the grief Frodo feels for a Shire which has been changed. It catches the tension between the hobbits like Merry who are ready to use force, and Frodo, who doesn't want to stoop too low, as well as the hotheads who might go too far. The interchange between Sam and Frodo, when Frodo insists on giving Sting to Sam is priceless.
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Title: Intertwined · Author: Karri · Books/Time: The Lord of The Rings · ID: 105
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 09:05:00
Ah, this is the joy of the MEFAs -- finding stories I'd never have encountered otherwise. In Hollin, Sam asks Legolas about a woven bracelet of hair, and Legolas explains it to him, Merry and Pippin in a story that left me laughing and touched. Not only are the hobbits done well, but Legolas -- so often just a sober cipher -- is fully realized here. His loving laughter at the hobbits' plain desire to be included reminds me of Bilbo's first meeting with the Elves of Rivendell, and the joy that the older race is capable of. Wonderful!
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Title: Weapons Against The Enemy · Author: Nancy Brooke · Books/Time: The Lord of The Rings: Rivendell · ID: 631
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 09:13:33
Glorfindel shines in this meeting of elf and hobbit. I thoroughly enjoyed his considerations of how best to spend a peaceful evening, and enjoyed his discombobulation at Sam's cranky recognition as well. Once the two make peace the story turns thoughtful, but never loses its charm.
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Title: Reunion · Author: Vistula the Dunadan · Books/Time: Post-Ring War: Ithilien Drabble · ID: 634
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 09:15:42
This drabble definitely counts as a plotbunny waiting to bite. More! More!
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Title: Caught Between a Hammer and an Anvil · Author: BookHobbit · Genres: Drama (includes Angst): War of the Ring · ID: 814
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 10:12:41
In Pippin's eyes, the battle in Moria is confusing and catastrophic, but this story makes a compelling sense of the terror through vivid descriptions and a strong sense of Pippin as a character.

I particularly liked the words running through Pippin's head when he thought Frodo and Merry were dead. And this "Pippin threw a glance behind him and nearly tripped in shock - orcs were running toward them, and others of their kind were pouring from the roof as if they were in a corrupt hourglass."
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Title: In the Wild · Author: Forodwaith · Genres: Horror · ID: 304
Reviewer: Ainaechoiriel · 2005-09-08 11:04:06 Score: 3
A well-written, spooky story that cleverly put two minute mentions in Tolkien together. The return on the wraiths and Aragorn's setting out to the Wild. Add that to his sense that he'd met them before and this story fits perfectly. The OC, Mallor, was well-drawn, had personality and I felt his tragic demise. Well done throughout.

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Title: Lost and Found · Author: Bodkin · Books/Time: Post-Ring War · ID: 1253
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 11:08:22
This exposition, from a mother's point of view, does a fine job of uncovering the changes, both good and bad, in Pippin after the Quest. It's interesting how she compares the changes in Pippin to what has changed Frodo as well -- her description of Frodo as "boiled and bleached" brought a smile unwilling to my lips, for how hobbity it sounded in spite of the soberness of the topic.
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Title: The Rainstorm · Author: Easterlily · Books/Time: The Lord of The Rings: Incomplete · ID: 1262
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 11:42:47
This work in progress teases us with hints of a mystery surrounding the death of Frodo's parents. Poor Frodo is too traumatized to talk about it, even if he could remember many years later, but the story begins to unfold in flashback.

Begins... that's the operative word here... *waits impatiently*
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Title: The Hound Of The Bagginses · Author: grey_wonderer · Genres: Crossovers · ID: 766
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan · 2005-09-08 11:56:08
Oh, rapture, oh bliss! It isn't often that someone has the skill to parody two fandoms at once, but in this story both Sherlock Holmes and the Shire are skewed delightfully. Pippin takes place as a clueless Watson to Merry's Holmes, who is willing to go to great effort (with Lobelia!) to find out the truth!

I'll be grinning for a week!
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Title: The Healer's Gambit · Author: Melina · Genres: Drama (includes Angst): Fourth Age · ID: 1235
Reviewer: obsidianj · 2005-09-08 14:23:31
This is a nice story about the aftermath of the war on a personal level for the main characters. I love the warm friendship developing between Aragorn/Faramir and Eowyn/Arwen.

I especially like the scene with Eowyn learning Elvish and Arwen helping her.

Getting Faramir out of the city and to Lorien to help him cope with the past was a smart move on Aragorn's part. Faramir and his dreams. I like the start of the story where we were thrown into the middle of one of his nightmares with nightmarish descriptions.
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Title: Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit · Author: Alawa · Genres: Drama (includes Angst): Gapfiller · ID: 9
Reviewer: obsidianj · 2005-09-08 14:25:42
What a delightful gapfiller. Although the gap is a rather large one. We know next to nothing about Aragorn's early years with the rangers. I was surprised to see that the young ranger in this story was Aragorn. At first I thought it was about the Ithilien rangers, probably because of the title of this story.

The author manages to paint an Aragorn, the youngest of this group of rangers, who is still unsure of himself and inexperienced, but is already showing signs of his strong leadership qualities. The reader can already see that he knows how to use herbs for healing and cooking. I got the feeling that the smell of his stew was more dangerous than the fire for cooking ever was going to be<g>.
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Title: Swan Flight · Author: AmandaK · Genres: Drama (includes Angst): Gondor · ID: 84
Reviewer: obsidianj · 2005-09-08 15:34:42
That was some flight. I can see Denethor's panic and temper when he realizes what Boromir is doing and why. I liked the beginning when Imrahil was nearly the only one in the dark.
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Title: Dandelion Clocks · Author: Alawa · Books/Time: Post-Ring War: Gondor Drabble · ID: 17
Reviewer: Azalais · 2005-09-08 16:20:50
Lovely, poignant use of the imagery of the ephemeral flower, full of bleakness in the last line.
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Title: Travellers' Tales · Author: Alawa · Books/Time: The Hobbit · ID: 75
Reviewer: Azalais · 2005-09-08 16:22:32
A great character study of Bilbo which captures so much about him - impatience, wanderlust, nostalgia, fussiness, love of food and drink and friendship - in a little space. The "challenge words" are woven in quite naturally to the heart of the story, and Bilbo's switch of mood at the arrival of his old friend Aragorn brings a vignette which began in depressing greyness to a heartwarming conclusion.
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Title: A Betrothal and Wedding · Author: Isil Elensar · Genres: Romance: Elves · ID: 1198
Reviewer: LOTR_lover · 2005-09-08 21:53:25
Cute story about happy times in the lives of Finarfin, his wife Earwen and Artanis. Even the most powerful elves need a respite from angst and drama. Good use of elven wedding customs, and the frame gives the perfect excuse for Earwen to reminisce. Nice foreshadowing at the end, too.
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Title: The Weaving is the Easy Part · Author: Gwynnyd · Races/Places: Elves: Drabble · ID: 1305
Reviewer: LOTR_lover · 2005-09-08 22:00:20
Lovely, poetic language. Imagine the effort Arwen made in sewing that banner for Aragorn and Gondor! Just the thought -- she's using her own hair as thread, tying the jewels in place just so. It's amazing that you can express Arwen's devotion, determination and effort in so few words!
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Title: Optics II · Author: Dwimordene · Races/Places: Elves: Drabble · ID: 1186
Reviewer: LOTR_lover · 2005-09-08 22:06:03
Lovely, very mysterious and elvish. The singer as soothsayer indeed -- how better to remember the mother she will never see again. Very evocative with a minimum of words.
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Title: Refuge · Author: Tanaqui · Races/Places: Elves: Drabble · ID: 1375
Reviewer: LOTR_lover · 2005-09-08 22:10:36
Ah, a sense of homecoming and peace to give refuge to the war-torn and weary. The riven dell, home of waterfalls and the very image of the nightingale herself. Lovely and poetic and evocative indeed.
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Title: Three for the Elven-lords · Author: Marta · Races/Places: Elves: Drabble · ID: 961
Reviewer: LOTR_lover · 2005-09-08 22:14:37
Solid and steadfast, an anchor that grounds Galadriel in Middle-earth's own version of reality and away from the edge of doom itself: Celeborn. Here indeed is a perfectly complementary couple. Marta, your Celeborn is always a delight.
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Title: Under Siege · Author: Forodwaith · Races/Places: Elves: Drabble · ID: 387
Reviewer: LOTR_lover · 2005-09-08 22:19:57
I love to read about what the elven realms were facing while the story concentrated on Gondor, Rohan and the rest of the world of men. We know a bit about what battles Mirkwood and Lothlorien were fighting, but nothing at all about Rivendell. This is a lovely glimpse into what other things Arwen may have been doing besides sewing that banner.
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