Yahoo Forum Archive

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Title: Lamentation . Author: Dreamflower . Genres: Drama (includes Angst):
Post-Ring War . ID: 919
Reviewer: Bodkin . 2005-09-17 07:02:59
I love the vision of Pippin being the strong one - and releasing his grief
through music. The picture of him standing beside the Brandywine and sending
his grief downstream to the wide sea is beautiful and lyrical.
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Title: Spring Planting . Author: Branwyn . Genres: Drama (includes Angst):
Gondor . ID: 170
Reviewer: Bodkin . 2005-09-17 07:09:16
It must be hard on children to be the offspring of Those In Power and have
to learn from their early years a self-control of which most adults are
incapable. I love the hopeful look on Boromir's face after enduring a
morning of tedium. And while Boromir knows to be there and be silent, little
Faramir is young enough to be allowed to play in the dirt.

Denethor is managing to be a very alert father as well as a lord here. Not
only is he noticing Boromir, he is very aware of what Faramir is doing - and
is ready to intervene. Both sons trust him too - shining eyes and hopeful
looks and he clearly loves them. Great - and rare - look at a positive
relationship.

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Title: The Last Stand . Author: Soledad . Races/Places: Villains: Orcs . ID:
76
Reviewer: nerwen_calaelen . 2005-09-17 14:39:49
A fascinating view into the lives and cultures of the orcs. Knowing what is
going to happened due to canon events adds an interesting level to the
story, showing more about the disisions and their results even as the story
unwinds. The pacing of the tale is good and uses the knowledge of the reader
to add to it, without adding in too much detail of things that the reader
already knows. This makes it much easier to read than many stories as well
as encouraging the reader that they are expected to be able to follow it
without eveyrthing being spelt out for them. Your developement of the
different cultures and lives of the orcs of different types is intreaging.
These details add to the plot to make this story very interesting to read.
The way you tell the story is very vivid, especailly in the battle scene at
the end. It is a very interestly told tale in that it makes the reader
reconsider the uruk-hai and their actions and turns them into characters
that the reader can feel at least some simpathy for. You characterisation of
the different orcs is very cleverly done and the way you keep the story told
through the voice of Ugluk is very effective and makes it move vivid. All in
all a very interesting and compelling story to read. Your characterisation
of Eomer is very clever, especially considering the percpective his is shown
through, it is really interesting to see how you combine the canon
information with this viewpoint.
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Title: Homecoming . Author: Tanaqui . Genres: Romance . ID: 541
Reviewer: obsidianj . 2005-09-17 18:01:55
Very interesting take on the workings of a real relationship. Eowyn and
Faramir are both very lonely and self-reliant people in my opinion. To learn
that they have now someone else to rely on will take some time.

I love the subject of learning about each other in this story<g>. I remember
it being one of the most difficult and embarrassing things at the beginning
of my marriage, but at the same time very enjoyable. I love the way Eowyn
and Faramir are talking (or not talking) about what they like and dislike
and that not everything works great at once.
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Title: Renewed Acquaintance . Author: Tanaqui . Books/Time: The Lord of The
Rings: Drabble . ID: 548
Reviewer: Marta . 2005-09-17 18:31:52
I loved the ways that you saw Boromir was like Denethor: superficially in
their looks, but also in their almost jingoistic nationalism, seeing
everything through Gondor's needs. It was touching that Aragorn wwould look
for something that was unlike Denethor as well, because Denethor is one "in
whom the blood of Numenor runs true". Yet there are faults in that as well,
and Aragorn is wise to see that.
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Title: Love Sweet As Poison . Author: Dwimordene . Genres: Romance . ID: 694
Reviewer: obsidianj . 2005-09-17 19:50:49
This is a very sad tale. It is chilling to watch Denethor and Finduilas
causing each other so much pain. It is really a miracle that Boromir and
Faramir grew up to be the men we get to know in LOTR. With parents like
these... Brrr.
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Title: Discovery . Author: Isabeau of Greenlea . Genres: Romance . ID: 740
Reviewer: obsidianj . 2005-09-17 19:52:59
This is a sequel to Discretion, but the connection to the first story is
just a means to an end. Denethor thinks he found the perfect weapon to get
rid of Andrahar and get domination over his brother-in-law, but he didn't
count on Boromir to be an apt pupil in the art of extortion.

A great story about the art of politics made heartbreaking by the emotional
impact of the deeds of the protagonists. The characters come alive with
their motivations in this dance about power.
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Title: Ugly Beautiful . Author: MagicalRachel . Genres: Drama (includes
Angst) . ID: 1343
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan . 2005-09-17 20:05:14
Here is a fascinating look at Eowyn who is trapped between conflicting
training, hopes, and expectations, shortly before Gandalf and the others
arrive.
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Title: Night Course in Pet Care . Author: Werecat . Genres: Humor: Animals .
ID: 360
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan . 2005-09-17 20:43:58
Oh, this is a clever tale! It isn't easy to get the characters of a dottish
orc, the Witch King, a clever cat and a susceptible Fell Beast right but
Werecat has done it here.

What fun!
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Title: Under the Bed . Author: Piplover (aka Pipfan) . Genres: Humor:
Hobbits . ID: 1192
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan . 2005-09-17 20:56:26
I howled with laughter the first time I read this, and I'm grinning from ear
to ear now. A magnificent combination of the Fellowship in Minas Tirith and
a flashback to the Bag End of Pippin's childhood visits, this tale has deft
characterizations, a fantastic Bilbo, a hilarious plot and bonus! a
marvelous Bilbo to top things all off. And unlike many stories, it gives a
nice place to Sam, which, of course, I always appreciate.
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Title: Nothing to fear but fear itself . Author: Tanaqui . Genres: Romance:
Drabble . ID: 1350
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan . 2005-09-17 20:59:49
This gentle drabble has a nice touch of joyful memory for leaven to
Faramir's doubts.
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Title: Wandering in the Wild . Author: Tanaqui . Genres: Romance: Drabble .
ID: 1391
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan . 2005-09-17 21:01:13
A very nice glimpse of Aragorn during his years as a wanderer!
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Title: End Games . Author: Lyllyn . Genres: Movie-verse: Vignette . ID: 469
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan . 2005-09-17 21:06:14
Ah! This vignette not only gives us Aragorn's point of view as Arwen finds
him, it also gives us an insight into the kind of relationship he has had
with her and her brothers over the years. Most enjoyable.
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Title: A Long, Unexpected Drabble . Author: Elena Tiriel . Genres: Humor:
Metafic . ID: 193
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan . 2005-09-17 21:09:15
Oh, I do love metafic! Especially the "twaddle", oh yesssss....

This sounds very familiar, or it ought to, to anyone who has ever drabbled.
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Title: Beauty . Author: Nickey . Races/Places: Hobbits: Post-Ring War . ID:
1099
Reviewer: Rabidsamfan . 2005-09-17 21:16:33
Sam's sorrow is palpable here, as is Frodo's grief and regret at not being
able to explain exactly why he is forced to seek other shores. Chilling
imagery gives us the reason however, in a most compelling way.
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Title: Moriquendi: The Gendered Other in Tolkien Fanfiction . Author:
adn_heming . Genres: Non-Fiction: Elves . ID: 58
Reviewer: Dwimordene . 2005-09-17 23:21:51
This is a nice example of psychoanalytic theory at work, and I only wish I
had the kind of training and familiarity with this particular branch of
philosophy to really do justice to the article I'm reviewing at the moment.
I wish I could analyze it more competently from within that tradition and
conceptual framework, but I know just enough to know I don't know *squat*
and to avoid trying to take stabs at it from other perspectives unless I'm
feeling like getting my butt kicked. :-)

One of the more derisory comments one can make of someone's characterization
is that it is "feminized", by which the reviewer usually means a very
specific set of traits that are listed off in detail and which vary somewhat
according to the fic. What's missing in that litany is the analysis of the
relational field in which the character (and the author) move. We know
there's patriarchy; we know this means "something" for fandom (we think);
but how to give that expression that counts as evidence and explanation is
very difficult often times, the more so since we're dealing with a double
reflection: the author's relation to his or her cultural context, and the
relationship of characters within the imaginary context of the story, which
itself is symptomatic of the first relationship. Psychoanalysis, despite its
controversial assumptions and formulations, can give us a powerful means of
addressing these points, as Adn_heming shows.

So even though I always suspect psychoanalysis of harboring what I call, for
lack of a better term, a "transcendental sexism", I certainly appreciate its
unparalleled ability to get at the phenomenon of the perverse (in the
non-technical sense of that word) that is the obverse of "masculine
enlightenment rationality", and show up the unwanted but inevitable
connections between them. As the author of the article notes, it's sometimes
when we say that we are being sympathetic or rational or "liberated" (taking
on all those positively charged positions) with regard to the canon we're
writing about that we find that that perverse obverse of our own claimed
position is, as it were, "in us more than ourselves", and it shows up in our
fiction.
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