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Title: The Importance of Being a Hobbit · Author: Lamiel · Races:
Hobbits: War of the Ring · ID: 961
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-12 16:37:51
I loved this tale when first I read it, and it only improves on a
re-reading. For one thing, it has some significant interaction between
Legolas and Merry, one on one. Not something I think I have ever seen
before, and it is beautifully and plausibly done. And the theme, that
"oridinary" is something good, something useful, is very much one of
JRRT's own themes. It's a lovely, lovely story!
-----------------------------------
Title: Cierre, Min Heorte (Turn, My Heart) · Author: SilverMoonLady ·
Races: Hobbits: Fixed-Length Ficlet series · ID: 108
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 16:41:02
This is one of the more unusual hobbit fics I have read, SilverMoonLady.
I didnt expect it to be involving at all, dramatically, initially
looking over my printed-out sheets. What is this? A series of drabbles
and poems? I was skeptical. But I wanted to read a story by you. This
was one of your nominations, so I waded into it. Waded was right; but
soon I was swept into a rushing river of hobbit history, which is what
the story became. It started out fast and narrow, a series of short but
vivid vignettes, then widened out and slowed down as it reached the
Third Age. I have read the HoME, the appendices, etc., but this story
really made dry (or humorous) notes about hobbit antecedents live for
me. Their trek west seemed as grave and adventurous and determined as
the Mormon exodus from New York State. ;)

And the poem! The poem you devised for the fic was just *super*. By the
time you had presented the third version of it, I was scrawling in the
margins of my print-out, This gives Bilbos walking songs SOOO much
history! And it did. The story made real the hobbits Tolkien had
developed by the time he had got to the end LotR. These were not the
cute little storybook characters who appeared in the opening of ["The
Hobbit"], but a real, historical people; an adult people. I thank you
for that. You gave me a picture of the hobbit-folks past, but you
didnt stop there; you stretched your history into the Fourth Age, into
the Shires future, where they still were singing a version of the same
handed-on song. I just loved that! The story of (musical) talent and the
associated heirlooms handed down through the generations, focusing in
the Brandybuck and Took families (especially the former), was set off
perfectly by this long overview.

This was a really an original story. I am guessing it arose out of a
chance image, or a snatch of a melody, or a bit of dialogue, but you
went ahead and started writing, taking some risks. I think it was worth it.

-----------------------------------
Title: Scattered Leaves · Author: Aratlithiel · Races: Hobbits:
Post-Sauron's Fall · ID: 110
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 16:48:02
Here is a really imaginatively-written story of Frodos second
anniversary illness from his wounding by the Witch Kings Morgul
blade. In the canon story, Sam finds his master in the study looking
very strange; very pale"; his eyes seem to see things far away. Sam
asks Frodo what the matter is; Frodo answers, I am wounded, wounded; it
will never really heal. The turn appears to pass and the next day Frodo
is quite himself. Afterwards, Sam remembers that it was October sixth,
the anniversary of Weathertop. With this paragraph from RotK as your
springboard, you take a leap and sink yourself into Frodos POV.

What might produce the behaviour Sam saw in his master, a person who
normally keeps all of his emotional cards so close to the vest? You have
imagined for Frodo visions that are deeply disturbing; waking
nightmares; but this is not implausible, considering the break Sam sees
in the mild manner that Frodo typically presents.

Your writing reflects the dark subject matter (literally black, since
Frodo [feels in colors, all of them black]): vivid, almost Gothic in
poetic excess, full of strong metaphors and contrasts. In the first full
paragraph you inundate the reader with a whole series of intense words
and images: a sea of desire/an ocean of despair overtakes and overwhelms
Frodo; his life lost, his soul wasted and dead; cold fingers (of the sea
of desire/ocean of despair) set fire to his mind/race through his veins
like molten iron/cleave to his heart [with the breach of forged
steel]; Frodo falls [drained and lifeless into the ruin of (his)
spirit]. Heavens! I thought, where will she go from here?

Ah, you were just warming up, preparing your readers for the ordeal to
come: "Hold onto your angst-seatbelts, folks, as we follow Frodo into
the crucible of guilty Ring-lust, where he [continues to pay the price
with the relentless rape of (his) soul]".

The most powerful section for me was the part in which Frodo (in the
sway of this terror and desire, which so distorts his thinking), sees
himself as a false front, cloaking his true repulsiveness from which his
friends would shrink from in horror if they only knew  marred, guilty,
and already rotting. He is convinced he has spoiled their happiness and
destroyed their lives, with (what he sees as) his poisoned love. The
Breughel-esque nightmare visions continue until Frodo is raving, the mad
man who haunts the streets in Tolkiens The Sea-bell. Finally, Sam
enters, [a brilliant nimbus of golden light]. Ah, relief at last, I
sigh. But no, its the most poignant moment in the story (although its
full effect is diminished by being too drawn out with too many similar
sentences):

[I look to speckled hazel and see the reflection of a friend
well-loved. Ah, yes  this picture of truth and good intentions is what
I was once. I will let him hold to it for a while longer. (&) I will not
shatter his illusions with the truth of myself. (&) I will not tell him
that I murdered the one he loves in cold blood (&) I will not tell him
that he holds to a corpse.]

It is here that you have Sam say, Whats the matter, Mr. Frodo?

You could have left the reader here, and had a very dramatic little
ending, but then you would have left your readers with a vanquished
Frodo. You did not do that, but went on to an even better ending.
The fit subsides, and Frodo recovers himself enough to demonstrate to
the reader that he will *not* lie down for this. Just as he stood up to
the Witch King at the ford, nearly fainting from the knife-wound, he
declares these demons will not have him. When they come back to haunt
him again, he says, he will be gone.

Bravo, Frodo!

-----------------------------------
Title: Merrys Present · Author: Mariole · Times: Late Third Age: The
Shire · ID: 639
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 16:55:26
This was a nicely extended character study of young-boy-Merry, Mariole.
Your depiction of him was sensitive and thoughtful. More than anything
else, what struck me about him in this story was his degree of courtesty
(especially in so small a child), his great warmth, and his serious
nature. Perhaps, too serious. Your Merry is as quick to ascribe blame to
himself as he is to ascribe finer feelings to others. Consistently, he
interprets what Frodo does in the most generous manner, while producing
apologies for his own thoughts, feelings, and actions, whether they call
for it or not.

But, luckily, you portray Frodo as a youth who is up to accepting the
responsibilties that come with such a childs friendship -- so caring,
so trusting and potentially woundable. In their finely-drawn exchanges,
each time Merry talks about one of Frodos behaviours  and rushes to
give it the most positive explanation -- Frodo sees it. He feels its
charm, but also the bit of a burden such a level of trust and high
opinion confers on him. Almost abashed by the spectacle of such
goodness, Frodo modulates what he does or says to accommodate it, as
shown in his most inspired accommodation, including Merry in the
commemoration of his parents death day. Your characterizations make me
feel confident that Frodo, so loving, so responsible, and so perceptive,
will be able to help Merry learn to accept truths as they are with
greater resiliance as he grows older.

Another note of appreciation: As ever, I very much appreciate the way
you depict the Shire as a good place to live and grow up; its families
mostly provided with kind, wise, caring parents, and its communities
with solid, decent folk. I have never found depictions of the Shire as a
dysfunctional place at all convincing, although such stories can make
for entertaining melodrama.

-----------------------------------
Title: Heralded By Storms · Author: SilverMoonLady · Genres: Romance:
Incomplete · ID: 128
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:01:20
When I saw this was a story about Esmeralda and Saradoc, I thought, Ho
hum. But, having heard so much praise about your work, I marked this
story off to read. Well! You really have a facility for presenting the
in-depth Shire, SilverMoonLady. I read and reviewed your Cierre, Min
Heorte yesterday, and this story, too, makes me feel as though I am in
good hands. You are a fic writer who seems to know, love, and respect
Tolkiens world. I really, really appreciate that.

As for the story itself, your opening, Part I, enthralled me at once,
although I wasnt always sure if Saradoc was speaking to someone else 
real or imagined  or to himself, when he heard the old hobbit
muttering to him. If he himself were not the old hobbit, who was?
Whoever it was, I was concerned and worried about Saradoc, clearly in
serious trouble. Then began a long flashback. In it, I was entertained
to settle back and be regaled with the remembered tale of Esmeralda and
Saradocs first meeting (quite exciting!), followed by a difficult
courtship, hampered by her father, the crotchety and quirky Aladgrim.
Esmeralda was quite the pistol, wasnt she? I kept thinking of
easy-going John Wayne attempting to court the beautiful but
blunt-spoken, fiery-tempered Maureen OHara in the old film, The Quiet
Man (a film which I enjoyed as a child on re-runs, and still enjoy).
Everything went along quite interestingly through Ch. 5, (when it was
revealed that Adalgrim had Alzheimer-like symptoms, but was, in his own
way, well-disposed towards Saradoc), and things looked rosey for
Esmeralda and Saradoc. And the chapter ended.

And the story ended! I looked for more, but there was no more. I cant
help feeling unsatisfied, Sil, by this ending. What happened to Saradoc,
lying out there? Did anyone happen along? Did he come to any sort of
reassessment of his life, lying there, injured, alone, possibly dying?

It was only when I realised there really was no more (I opened the link
twice) that I got out the family trees and saw that Saradoc died in
1432, the year you designated for your opening vignette. Obviously,
then, you meant this flashback to be the content of his last conscious
thoughts. But how many readers are going to remember that 1432 was
Saradocs death year? I didnt, and I consult the trees rather
frequently  but ONLY because I am writing fic myself. Therefore, I
think you should seriously consider writing a matching book-end sort of
finish for this fic to go with your opening  a little epilogue to
return the reader to 1432 -- so your readers can know that a) Saradoc
died, and b) what the whole intermediate section (from 1374) *meant* to
him, as a dying man.
-----------------------------------
Title: Counterpoint, Interfolio - Scherzo · Author: Daffodil Bolger ·
Races: Hobbits: Pre-Quest · ID: 617
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:03:59
I read this story as part of the full reading of Counterpoint this
past spring. I emailed you a comment then, what a fine little story this
was about young Pip, and what a good outside (literally!) glimpse it
gave of the relationship you created for Frodo and Merry. Re-reading it
for this competition, I was all the more impressed with this fic. This
is really an inspired bit of writing. Your picture of young Pippin is
one of the best character studies of young children Ive read. And the
child you describe, furthermore, is completely plausible as the sort of
child who might grow up to be the Pippin we see in LotR. Why are words
what they are? Why are some more attractive than others? Why do the
people and things I see look, sound, and act the way they do? How did
they get to be that way, and how will they affect me?

I always loved that scene in TTT (The Palantír) when older-tween
Pippin is riding before Gandalf on Shadowfax, being borne out of harms
way (having looked in the Seeing Stone  such a Pippin thing to do).
Gandalf says with benign exasperation, If the giving of information is
to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my
days in answering you . What more do you want to know? Pippin laughs,
The names of all the stars, and of all living things, and the whole
history of Middle-eath and Over-heaven and of the Sundering Seas & Of
course! What less? But I am not in a hurry tonight. At the moment I was
just wondering about the black shadow&. I think your story portrays
beautifully the child that the Pippin in that scene might have been.
Its not just a matter of being curious, but a profound desire to *know*.

I want to emphasize how much I LOVED the whole internal discourse Pippin
had with himself about ghosts, the dead, what it was like for ghosts,
what it would be like if he were dead, etc. It was funny, but, even
more, brilliant in how well it portrayed the workings of this childs
acute mind, enhanced by keen powers of observation and a good imagination.

Pippin in your story really comes through as a child who adores (in
fact, who cannot refrain from) speculating about things, turning
everything over; each experience, each *word*; to see every facet; to
know it. What a fine, natural scholar he would have made. Its not
everyone who has such a keen, pure thirst for knowledge. It is far more
than just, curiosity.
-----------------------------------
Title: Somewhere to Belong · Author: Lily · Races: Hobbits: Pre-Quest ·
ID: 942
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:07:43
This story has a really strong opening. The image of Frodo with his head
against the glass, looking out into the rainy night of a cold June sets
the mood well. From there, you went right into Frodo having to cope with
a suddenly very ill Pippin, left in his care. I felt as distressed as
the young heir of Bag End. Then the extreme illness of Pippin, along
with the childs natural openness, created the opportunity you needed
for Pippin to feel free to ask the questions that would allow Frodo (and
the reader) take a closer look at his feelings about the loss of his
parents and his happy life with them. I loved this beautifully observed
image of Frodo looking at the framed picture of his family&.

[Frodo drew a gentle finger across the features of Drogo and Primula
Baggins. He always did that when looking at their happy faces. Pippin
followed his example. They look awfully nice.]

But I thought the story lost a little of its intensity when you switched
to your flashback section, which seemed more sketchily indicated than
your beginning. For example, you wrote&.

[Yet it was only through Bilbo that Frodo had been able to make peace
with himself and there were no words that would ever describe how
grateful he was for that.]

I thought, Ah ha! Now we will have a juicy section showing how Bilbo
did this (helped Frodo make peace with his loss). But there was no such
section. Instead, you sent us back into the narrative present, Frodo
with Pippin curled up in his lap, and Frodo resolving that his true home
was now at Bag End with Bilbo. While that was a perfectly wise and just
observation on Frodos part, I would have liked to see more of how he
came to that conclusion. That is, I would like to have had more detail
on how Frodo came to terms with being an orphan, and how Bilbo helped
him make peace with losing his parents. Just my nosey-parker opinion, of
course.
-----------------------------------
Title: Breeze · Author: illyria-pffyffin · Races: Hobbits: War of the
Ring · ID: 974
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:11:11
Illyria, this is one of my favourite Frodo suffering in Mordor stories
Ive ever read, perhaps my favourite of all. When I read the summary,
[A fragment of Frodos journey in Mordor, seen from the POV of a
breeze,] I thought it was going to turn out to be something rather
light-weight. But, oh, no.

I have read another excellent Mordor story recently, written from the
POV of (what should be) another non-sentient being, a plant. By choosing
a breeze for your storyteller, you, too, are able to observe Frodo (and
Sam and Gollum) unawares, something accomplished by the other story.
However, because a breeze can move around, using this image has given
you a great deal of freedom. First of all, it gives the POV a lot of
narrative liberty in terms of space: your breeze can carry with it the
stirring, enlivening scent of its origins in the West: of purity and
hope and living things. At the same time, the breeze identifies its
experience with the hobbits: like them, it is a clean thing made dirty
and tainted by its sojourn in a dirty, tainted land. It *empathizes*
with the hobbits in their distress and travail.

But that was not all you did by choosing this (I think, brilliant)
conceit. Not only did it give you freedom in relation to space, but in
relation to time. The breeze could be right with the hobbits, in the
present, up close and personal, actually touching them, soothing them as
it passes over their sweaty faces and through their matted hair. But
*then* you let the breeze pull the perspective waaaay back; the breeze
has been everywhere and seen everything, you remind us. It danced around
Glorfindel when he fought the Balrog in the flight from burning
Gondolin, mourning for him when he fell; the breeze was with Turin as he
met their ends before Glaurung, wept for Niniel, full of horror and
pity. Reminded of these stories, the breeze gives the readers a sense of
the hobbits ordeal as set in the context of the *whole history of
Middle-earths travail*; evil against good, darkness against light. This
is what, I think, gave this story its poetry and its greatness. It could
have been just a moving little story about the hobbits suffering and
struggling in Mordor (and it IS moving; here I go, weeping again).
Instead its the centre jewel set within the crown of the whole epic.
For it never loses its heart, this story. The breeze never take us too
far back or away, but always returns to the close, intimate perspective
of the breeze, which seems to care for, even *love* the little ones over
and around whom it (she?) moves.

Just for the record, even if it doesnt count in the vote, I want to
quote the passage that most makes me weep, both from love for the hero
and admiration for the writing:

[But you, my dear one&. No trace of warlike blood runs in your veins.
Your life had been nothing but simple pleasures and contentment before;
you are hardly prepared for any kind of battle, least of all against the
embodiment of ultimate darkness. You look fragile and feeble in the vast
desolation of Mordor, yet you tread wearily on, steadily moving toward
the absolute doom, to challenge the supremem shadow at its very heart.
You, my loved one, a creature of gentle green hills, merry songs and
ample supper before dancing fire. How are you to surmount this ordeal?
What shall become of you in the end? Ash, dust, less than that? I
tremble in fear at the thought.]

-----------------------------------
Title: Sam's Voice · Author: illyria-pffyffin · Races: Hobbits:
Post-Sauron's Fall · ID: 964
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:12:08
This is an insightful, evocative study of how Sams voice  his talk,
his song, his mutterings, his cajolings and admonitions  all helped
call Frodo out of his bouts of ennui, nightmarish visions, depression,
and melancholy  in Bag End, as in Mordor. No wonder Frodo proposes that
Sam come and live with him. How Frodos heart must have sunk at first to
hear Sam hem and haw at his invitation  and how it must have soared to
hear why Sam was doing so: Sam and Rosie to marry, and both to live at
Bag End! *Two* dear ones talking, laughing, giggling, humming,
breathing, murmuring  *two* dear voices to help rescue him from demons
and despond.

Your fic helped expand my sense of what lay behind this section of the
canon tale for Frodo. Thank you!
-----------------------------------
Title: An Army of Tooks · Author: Mariole · Races: Hobbits:
Post-Sauron's Fall · ID: 831
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:16:50


Mariole, I read this story when you posted it along with its parallel
fanfic universe story, Devoted. Although I thought it excellent then,
I really did rush through it. I think I squeed a bit in a LJ few
comments, but that was all. Having read it again tonight for the MEFAs,
I copied and pasted a dozen memorable passages onto my workpage (and
that was restraining myself). For the sake of this competition, I will
just refer to them (however much I would like to post each extended
quotation), because they would take up too much space. From the first
paragraph, you had me as an eager listener  but I am used to that with
your fics. I have read many of them, as you are no doubt aware from my
comments; you are a mistress of the opening grab. I read on. More
great stuff. Ah, but maybe it would flag further on. But it never did! I
just added my insert page counter feature to my saved quotiations for
this fic, and it was up to page eight (!!).

Mariole, this fic was as canon as it could be  a *brilliant*
gap-filler, with on-target characterizations, super establishment of
place and milieu, and wonderful plotting. Really, I think this is the
best of all your fic I have ever read, and one of the best LotR fics I
have read, hobbits or orcs or Men or Elves or anything. Thank you so
much for having set it to paper (virtually speaking).

(I am saving a copy of this with all my "fave moments" saved, just for me.)
-----------------------------------
Title: Bad Step · Author: Mariole · Races: Hobbits: Incomplete · ID: 786
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:19:27
This was another super story, Mariole. I had seen this going up on your
LJ, but never started reading it for lack of time, seeing it had grown
to a multi-chapter extravaganza. I am so glad it was a MEFA nom, which
nudged me to go ahead and read it. Like An Army of Tooks, this is a
really fine example of what you do so well: deliver an involving,
accessible, reality-based drama (with wry comic touches), which draws
the reader in immediately and doesnt let go. It is not as though the
characterizations arent splendid, and plausible in canon, but your
talent for telling a tale  as such  is what makes your stories such a
pleasure to read. I joked in the comments for your fic (where you have
it posted on your LJ), just as the citizens of Hobbiton and Bywater kept
gathering to see what was going on with Sam and his rescuers, readers
kept pouring in to read this fic: the string of comments for each
chapter kept getting longer and longer. I work at a library; if this
were made into a mini-series, it would be one of the DVDs that would be
checked out *all* the time.

I could single out dozens of passages and moments I admired or which
moved me in ["Bad Step"], but Ill save that for LJ. What I want to
stress here is how much I appreciate and love the way you portray a
Shire that has so much the flavour of canon, its land, and, especially,
its people. With the invention of myriad small characters and the
fleshing out of named folk that appear in canon, you portray a Shire
full of hobbits who display the full array of minor vices and foibles
that Tolkien gave them, but also the ability to meet adversity well.
Just as you showed them pull together in An Army of Tooks, you show
them coming through here with the sort of courage, warmth, stamina, and
industry they will demonstrate in the Scouring and restoration of the Shire.

I so hope you can get back to this to finishing this, Mariole. But, even
if you are not able, thank heaven its pre-Quest: readers can take some
comfort knowing characters *will* survive what you put them through!
-----------------------------------
Title: Divinity · Author: illyria-pffyffin · Races: Hobbits · ID: 824
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:20:57
You are someone who can portray the Valar in a fanfic and do it well,
Illyria. Some writers make them too familiar, others too stiff and stagy
in their attempts to keep a sense of the Valars otherness and
elevated status in relation to the beings they helped create and/or
watch over. You let them be other -- high, lyrical-voiced, wise, and
beautiful -- but also accessible, emotionally; characters with whom we
can empathize.

What I most valued in this story was the way your enumeration of the
different Valar and their contributions towards the success of the Quest
helped lift up the fact that *so many* were supporting and furthering
the efforts of the Nine, eventually telescoping in on the mission of the
Ring-bearer and his faithful servant. How this might be experienced by
the Valar was made most poignant for me in Manwës section. Admonished
by Eru that there could be no direct intervention into Middle-earths
affairs, the anguished Vala watches helplessly, while the little ones
cross Gorgoroth and up the smoking mountain, where one of them will meet
his own stark doom in its fiery heart. Through Manwë's eyes and
sensibilities, you allow the reader to see their plight from this
larger, though no less heart-breaking perspective, too.
-----------------------------------
Title: Perspectives · Author: illyria-pffyffin · Races: Hobbits:
Post-Grey Havens · ID: 991
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:22:51
This story of Frodo conversing and consorting with various luminaries in
the Undying Lands was very original. The Finrod section, especially,
gave me an interesting look at how hearing about the darker parts of the
Elves history might have put Frodos sense of having failed in better
perspective. Perhaps reading of the truly dastardly things done by the
elder Children of Iluvatar  those whom Frodo had looked upon with only
awe and admiration  proved to be an eye-opener, if an unhappy one, at
first. But, by the end, you present a healed Frodo soaring along with
Earendil, only leaving the sky-mariner to dip down and float over
Middle-earth and take a look at things in the Shire, his invisible
presence wafting like a breeze. I kept picturing Sam or Rosie turning to
the other, saying, Did you smell that? Just now, when the wind lifted?
For a moment, I thought  I mean, I was reminded of  But, no, thats daft.
-----------------------------------
Title: The Bond Between Us · Author: Lily · Races: Hobbits · ID: 963
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:24:12
In this story, you show four very major events in Frodos life, all from
Pippins POV, in which Pippin, a very loving, deeply feeling sort of
person, is moved (extremely) by the spectacle of his older cousins
suffering. Further developed, each chapter could have been developed
into its own story. Yet you put them together into one work. Why?, I
wondered. It wasnt until the end that I felt I had got a feeling for
why you did it: you kept showing Pippin angsting over the sight of Frodo
in travail, not just for the angst of it (after all, gobs of Frodo
readers love that above everything), but so you could show Pippin having
a moment of revelation, a break-through, in which he finally was able to
work through his suffering on Frodos behalf and be happy for him (when
Frodo finally has the chance to go to a better life, sailing to the
Undying Lands).

Your last chapter, The Grey Havens  the cream of the story for me  was
very nicely-imagined. Pippins mind meld with Frodo did not detract; I
just chalked it off as a demonstration of the Tookish Sight. I
appreciated your last paragraph most of all, when Pippin, watching
Frodos farewell to Sam, finally, really and truly, feels better about
his cousins decision.

[(Pippin) heard the cries of the gulls and the murmur of the waves, and
smelled the salty smell fo the sea. A great calm took hold of his heart&.]

This whole passage had a very movie look to it, but I didnt mind. You
put it to good use. I have always wanted to get a clearer feel for the
way the three hobbits rode back in silence, according to the book; Merry
and Pippin only breaking into song when they had finally returned to
Hobbiton (what would that have been  at least a two-day journey? three?).

You have helped give greater richness to that passage in the canon text.
My only serious criticism is that some of your sentence structures and
English usage could use some additional beta work.
-----------------------------------
Title: Dear Diary · Author: Lily · Races: Hobbits: Pre-Quest · ID: 264
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:25:43
This story, [Dear Diary], I left for last. The reason was, well, I was
not looking forward to reading it. I read the opening blurb and thought,
"Oh, no. Another sentimental, drippy story about Primula with her
itsy-bisty, dear, darling little Frodo." But it wasn't! It turned out to
be a charming, moving, endearing piece of fic. It portrayed the mother
and father of Frodo Baggins in a way I really find plausible. I have
read many fics in which Primula is imagined as high-strung, difficult;
even mentally disturbed. Some of these stories have been very enjoyable
to read, but the Primulas they painted never seemed the sort of person
who would have been the real Frodo's mother.

You wrote in your opening note that you had never been pregnant. You
seemed worried that your fic, therefore, would not have the savour of
authenticity. You neednt have worried. Just as the writer of mystery
novels needn't have killed anyone to write a good thriller, you neednt
be a mother in real life. Yet you write with such sensitivity, such
understanding, such appreciation for what it is to carry, bear and care
for a little child, greatly beloved, it amazes me. How well you capture
so many moments, moments of great beauty, which are perfectly faithful
to reality.

I would lift up many, many moments for special mention; lovely, and
keenly observed, but I will only say that I deeply appreciate the way
you have portrayed Frodos parents. I thought I loved my child, but the
way you have drawn Primula and Drogo, I feel as though my love is a
little pedestrian by comparison. They really are wonderful, just the
sort of mother and father I would wish for the character I so love. The
feelings you portray, especially in Primula, and her fineness and
expressiveness writing about them, make me *ache* that Frodo was not
able to know her when he was older. Yet the love you depict is so
intense, so all-involving (in Primula), perhaps it was best she never
knew what befell her son. I think it would have hit her worse than his
actual death, seeing how his joy was taken away from him. If there is
one key thing I could single out in your characterization of Primula, it
would be her capacity for joy. For me, reading her diary was a journey
into joy  as it was for Frodo when he read it, I am sure. Reading it
would have given him pain, but the pain would have been sweet.
-----------------------------------
Title: Whispers of the Dragon · Author: Shirebound · Times: The Great
Years: The Fellowship · ID: 916
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 17:34:52
This is the third of your MEFA noms Ive read, and it only confirms that
you are an engaging storyteller, using a tale-like style very like that
of LotR, yet who is free to use her own imagination.

Your depiction of Frodo as intelligent, capable, and mentally sound is
very much appreciated. And he is so tirelessly thoughtful of others. In
quite a few places in the story he takes the time to let others know how
much he appreciates their efforts on his behalf, and how much they mean
to him. I am thinking particularly of the passage in Ch. 11, when Frodo
lets Gimli know how much he has valued Gimli as a friend and protector.
The interchange between them is convincing and heart-warming. (Actually,
Ch. 11 is probably my favourite the conversation between Frodo and
Aragorn is also excellent  all of it is super gap-filler fic.) Sam is
Sam-ish, and your Merry is caring and acute, able to improvise at need 
and with a wonderful head for maps! Your Pip is sweet-natured and
affectionate, providing the bulk of the lighter moments. He is a little
more childish than I imagine in a hobbit a few years shy of his coming
of age. In the sequences about lembas in Ch. 10, you show him maturing
through his changing attitude towards the delicious way bread he covets,
but its awfully like a primary school-childs transition from wolfing
down his treats at once, or keeping them to himself, to being able to
share them or delay gratification and save them for later. Elsewhere I
think you make perfect use of Pippins role as the most youthful member
of the Fellowship. The exchange quoted below is wonderful. You let
Pippin be droll (intentionally or not, I can't determine), but you let
him make a very astute observation at the same time:

[Pippin looked at Frodo. "Can you really feel the wraiths when they're
near?"

Frodo sighed. "Apparently so."

Pippin thought about that. "You're like Sting, then, aren't you? You can
sense the wraiths, and it can sense the Orcs." He grinned. "You're very
useful, cousin Frodo!" ]

Your Legolas is seamlessly canon. I feel as though you have got his
diction just right. Everything he says could have come right out of lost
drafts of LotR. I also very much like what you did with Gimli. You are
able to have a little with him, but never make him a laughing stock or
diminish him in any way. The way he warms to, even indulges the hobbits
is beautifully drawn, very true to life.

I most admire in this story the way you highlight Aragorns carefully
considered, shrewd, yet good-humoured leadership. I loved Mortensens
Aragorn, but he lacked ease in his role as King-to-be  well, it was
basic to the movie interpretation that Aragorn be conflicted about it!
Book Aragorn, I always found a little too high, too formal and reserved
to really love. But your Aragorn in this story seems to take the best of
both. He is always warm, concerned, and attentive, but also a true
leader: willingly, ably, naturally shouldering his responsibility, with
humility, grace, and skill. I thought you did very fine work giving me a
better look into what is going on internally for Boromir, and a very
real, very sympathetic Boromir he is.

My only reservation about your work in this fic is what you did with
Boromir in Ch. 12, when he tries to force Frodo to give him the Ring by
holding Sam at sword-edge. All the way through my reading, I had been
wondering, Why has she called this story, 'AU'? Except for the earlier
fire and boulder incidents (which *could* have been imagined into the
canon story as gap-filler moments), your tale was quite in sync with the
canon text. Therefore, it pulled me out of the story for a few
paragraphs when you had Boromir act out the desperate scenarios he had
been brooding over on the river. I think I was too unprepared for it 
not that he might have wished to do such a thing, but that he actually
did it, in what was otherwise a canon-based story.
-----------------------------------
Title: It's the Thought · Author: annmarwalk · Races: Men: Fixed-Length
Ficlets With Children · ID: 71
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 18:34:50

This story perplexed me at first, but, having read Heirlooms, as soon
as I saw that stuffed pony, I knew what was going on. Tears welled in my
eyes. Again, there is that theme of how actions taken in the moment, as
if by destiny, carry great weight in the future.

Those old toys of Theodreds were hushpuppies to the children who
turned out to be his cousins. But, like the legacy he would give them in
the form of his own life and example, the toys carried far more meaning
for their recipients than Theodred was conscious of.
-----------------------------------
Title: Inspirare · Author: Ariel · Races: Hobbits: Friendship · ID: 622
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 18:37:16
Of the stories of yours Ive read, Ariel, I think this is one of the
best youve written  perhaps the very best. The subject matter is
compelling, the characters beautifully and faithfully observed; the
writing is tight, lean, understated  and all the more effective because
of that.

I thought the idea of Rosie developing a nose during her pregnancy 
something women are known to do  and applying that heightened sense to
Frodos malaise was a brilliant conceit. It could have backfired, making
it seem as though Frodo actually stunk, but the impression I got was
that what Rosie smelled was actually something indefinable. [He
seemed perfectly healthy], Rosie noted & but hes always cold,
requiring a fire even through the summer. I understood the taint as
something she intuited, more than as a scent she smelled with her
physical nose.

Through Rosies normal-person, observant, concerned POV, you portrayed
Frodo vividly, and with insight. Well-mannered and courteous as ever, he
was, but increasingly reserved, as if consciously holding himself apart.
You use of him the words [unobtrusive]; [watchful]; he is
[present]; he [listens]. They all give a sense of him not just
moping around or off in a bad dream, but waiting, biding his time,
calculating the when of his leaving, not the whether. He is
withdrawing, she notes, already turning over his role as Master to her
and Sam (long before the journey to the Havens).

Even though I know it doesnt count in the vote, I want to lift up a
passage for special attention. Frodo has just spread out his baby things
before Rosie (in the beautifully, heart-breakingly modest and retiring
manner you have given him), telling her they are hers now, for the baby.
You make clear that Rosie understands what this means.

[She looked at him again and her lip trembled. Sam always said Mr. Frodo
was more than just a good master, that he was the best of hobbits and
had been honored by kings. She didnt know any kings. She didnt know
what it meant to be honored by one, but she wondered what could
compensate this dear, gentle soul for what he had lost. No mother or
father, wife or child nor even, it seemed, life left to live.]

Oh, heavens, what a paragraph! It shows just what I love about what you
have done in this tale. You could have said this in twice the space,
milking it for the tears, yet not squeeze one out of my eyes for all
your efforts. But, said so sparely, so concisely, with the plain
elegance of Rosies uneducated, but intelligent, clear-eyed observation,
it tells all there needs to be told, and tells it superbly. *weeps again*
-----------------------------------
Title: Hands of Healing · Author: Cuthalion · Genres: Romance: Rohan ·
ID: 102
Reviewer: Mechtild · 2006-08-12 18:43:16
This is another movie-based story in which you do some nice things with
foreshadowing. Éowyn tells this story, which gives a bit more of a feel
for interior life than watching the film. You begin by recalling the
film scene in which she meets Aragorn (Théodens exorcism and healing),
before bringing the reader into Éowyns present, the stable scene in
which Aragorn soothes the rearing, panicked horse of her cousin Théodred
 also the scene in which she falls in love with him.

I really didnt know what you were going to do for your ending, other
than follow the film scene to its conclusion, but you did something
different. I was very pleased by the way you let Aragorns healing of
the trapped, near-bolting horse; distressed but brave, beautiful and
nobly-bred; remind the reader of the healing to come. In the Houses of
Healing, distressed but brave, beautiful, nobly bred Éowyn will benefit
from his word and touch. The HOH healing scene doesnt appear in the
film (more is the pity), but every fan knows the book scene of Éowyns
healing, in which Aragorn demonstrates that the hands of the king are
the hands of a healer. Your foreshadowing of that, in the stable scene,
was moving and well-conceived.
-----------------------------------
Title: We Don't Say Goodbye · Author: iorhael · Genres: Drama: Featuring
Frodo or Sam · ID: 968
Reviewer: Marta · 2006-08-12 20:11:13
Aww, this was touching. I could really feel what Sam felt, and it seemed
really true to his character.
-----------------------------------
Title: Tales of Life · Author: Ainu Laire · Times: Multi-Age: Incomplete
· ID: 235
Reviewer: Nienor Niniel · 2006-08-12 21:39:21
As Aragorn is my second favourite character, I really enjoy Ainu Laire's
collection of Aragorn-centric one-shots. They feature scenes from the
different periods of his life, some of them humorous, others, like the
one featuring Halbarad's death, heart-wrenchingly sad. It is always a
surprise to see what the next part is about, as they come not in a
chronological order.

Some of the one-shots expand on canon events that we know about, but
have not seen in detail: like the giving of Roheryn from Arwen to
Aragorn. Others describe everyday events that canon does not show us:
typical events from the life of a Ranger, or Gilraen's introspection on
her son and husband.

Altogether, these vignettes show a deep understanding of canon and
Aragorn's character. I would not complain if they were longer - but this
is not a fault of the author, but my due to wish to read good Lord of
the Rings fics that center on the characters I like and expand on what
canon gives us without straying from it unnecessarily.
-----------------------------------
Title: Gandalf's No Good, Rotten, Really Bad Day · Author: Gandalfs
apprentice · Genres: Humor: Parody · ID: 146
Reviewer: Marta · 2006-08-12 21:45:02
Definitely cute. I hadn't thought of just how idiotic it was to leave
that note for anyone to find.
-----------------------------------
Title: Safe? · Author: Ainu Laire · Genres: Drama: Featuring Frodo or
Sam · ID: 271
Reviewer: Nienor Niniel · 2006-08-12 21:54:02
I am quite glad that I found this story through MEFAwards. It is
unusual, but very gripping.

The story begins with Frodo pondering a seemingly easy question: is he
safe? Can he even be safe with the Ring? Then we are taken to Aragorn,
who is experiencing a nightmare. I do not exaggerate when I say that
reading the description of it scared me quite a lot. I find it
interesting that Aragorn experiences blackness and a flood of water. The
similarities to Faramir's (and Tolkien's) returning nightmare probably
are intended.

It is notable that Lorien has a very different effect on both Frodo and
Aragorn, which may in Aragorn's case (as I guess) have to do with the
evil of the ring. So it is not surprising that the conclusion of the
story is that not even Lorien is a safe place anymore. But still the
story ends on a somewhat optimistic note, which we, who know the ending,
know to be true.

As mentioned before: a somewhat unusual fic that explores an aspect of
the story that I have rarely seen in writing and does so in a very
gripping way.
-----------------------------------
Title: My Eyes! My Eyes! · Author: Alassante · Genres: Humor:
Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 358
Reviewer: Nienor Niniel · 2006-08-12 21:56:46
A funny little scene that gives the ultimate explanation for Arwen's
choice of husband. Although I am not entirely sure that Tolkien would
approve of it...
-----------------------------------
Title: A Yule Visit · Author: SlightlyTookish · Races: Hobbits:
Friendship · ID: 981
Reviewer: Marta · 2006-08-12 22:15:26
This little snippet is set two years after Frodo returns from the Quest,
and one might expect Frodo to be in bad shape. He has the remnants of
the October illness, but besides that it's remarkably fluffy. It's nice
to imagine Frodo having some good memories from this time, though I
suspect in the end the contrast only caused him more pain. This author
catches the daily life as well as she ever does, and I really enjoyed
this little window into a lighthearted family Yule gathering.
-----------------------------------