Yahoo Forum Archive

Hi all,

This week there were a lot of reviews written the past week (great job
you all!!), so today 50 reviews in two batches.

Title: The Shield-maid's Dance of Death · Author: Marta · Times: The
Great Years: Poetry · ID: 694
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 16:35:24
This poem is excellent! I love the skill of the rhyme and meter--perfect
scansion, and the description of Eowyn's state of mind utterly perfect
as well. I also appreciated the Author's Note, and plan to seek out her
model!
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Title: The Spy · Author: daw the minstrel · Races: Elves · ID: 268
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 17:21:11
I really enjoyed this story. Beliond is one of the author's oft-used
OCs, but one doesn't have to be familiar with the backstory to
appreciate this. It's a bit of a romp, really, as he acts as an
instigator to stop a palace coup in a city of men. I love his
impersonation of a minstrel, and the serving women's appreciation of his
bottom, LOL! A very fun story!
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Title: King's Man · Author: Gandalfs apprentice · Times: The Great
Years: Vignette · ID: 197
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 17:25:09
The night before the battle, Aragorn and Halbarad spend an evening in
remembrance of times past; Aragorn's words about still needing Halbarad
were especially poignant, as we know the fate that will await him.
Bittersweet and full of feeling.
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Title: A Creature Of Fire · Author: daw the minstrel · Races: Elves:
Featuring Mirkwood Elves · ID: 956
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 17:27:58
An enthralling story, as we see the onslaught of Smaug upon Erebor from
the POV of the Mirkwood Elves. The suspense and danger of the story are
ratcheted up by Legolas' budding romance with an Elven lass who dwells
in the danger zone. Exciting and angsty by turns, it brings to life an
event that gets only short mention in canon.
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Title: The Prince and the Pea · Author: Karri · Genres: Humor: Children
· ID: 158
Reviewer: Branwyn · 2006-09-27 17:33:35
I enjoyed this glimpse of the lighter side of the elves. Their sense of
humor and love of merriment were clearly evident in "The Hobbit" and to
a lesser degree in the LOTR. I loved the hints that this was a joke of
long-standing and that this was not the first time that Legolas had been
put to the test. He plays along with the good grace that one would
expect of a prince. It was too funny that the mattresses had been
"borrowed" from a certain pair of elves. His elders seem to treat Estel
like any younger member of the household--right down to teasing him
mercilessly--which is evidence that he has been accepted into the
extended family of his elven hosts.

A well-written and very funny fic! Thanks for sharing it with us.
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Title: What Better Companion? · Author: Space Weavil · Races: Elves ·
ID: 175
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 17:37:29
Oh my! I am impressed. This is the Olorin who would become beloved
Gandalf--his openness, curiousity, love and wisdom are already manifest.
And, yes, who better for him to learn the ways of the embodied than
Glorindel? Wonderful!
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Title: The Road Not Taken · Author: Branwyn · Races: Men: Vignette · ID: 104
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 17:46:01
A nice little vignette, of Boromir being set on his way out of Rohan,
when he journeyed North. I enjoyed the discussion of the swan, and his
answer to it with his own horn! Very nicely done.
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Title: Iridescence · Author: Larner · Times: The Great Years: Vignette ·
ID: 121
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 17:48:44
This is a delightful look at something that could easily have happened
when the hobbits were in the White City! I can see Pippin's curiousity
and eagerness being aroused by such strange birds--and yes, he would
have hurried to share his discovery with his friends! The idea that they
had never seen peacocks before, and their fascination with all that
beauty was delightful.

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Title: Here You Cannot Leave Me · Author: Alassante · Genres: Drama:
Poetry · ID: 356
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 17:50:53
A very nice poem on the death of Aragorn. Very nicely done--reminds me
of a medieval ballad.
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Title: Shadows of a Nameless Fear · Author: Budgielover · Genres: Drama:
Incomplete · ID: 640
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 17:55:46
This is a WIP for which I eagerly await each update! It is very exciting
and suspenseful, every chapter ends in a nail-biting cliffie!

I especially love the characterizations of the hobbits in this. They are
not helpless little beings who need rescuing--they are heroes in their
own right, and will rescue one another if they can. Which is not to say
that the rest of the Fellowship doesn't shine as well, or that rescue
has to be effected. I love Frodo's stubbornness, Pippin's bravery, Sam's
determination, and Merry's courage! I can't wait for more!
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Title: In the Service of the King · Author: grey_wonderer · Times: The
Great Years: Post-Sauron's Fall · ID: 138
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 18:01:25
This is one of GW's rare "serious" stories, which is not to say it is
devoid of humor (I think she's incapable of leaving it out), but it's
not one of her side-splitters, either. Pippin seems somewhat distracted
from his duties in Minas Tirith after the War is over--or is he? Somehow
the things he is doing have more importance than first appears on the
surface. It's beautifully handled, from his cousin's concerns to the
final solution. One of her best stories, I'd say.
-----------------------------------
Title: Holding the Line · Author: Marta · Times: The Great Years: Gondor
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 581
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 18:04:47
An interesting look at movie-verse Legolas' thoughts during the battle
of Pelennor, when he was about to attack the oliphaunt.
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Title: Antiphon to Light · Author: Thevina Finduilas · Races: Dwarves ·
ID: 155
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 18:12:33
Three lovely vignettes dealing with Gimli's reaction to Galadriel. All
of them are thoughtful and insightful, but I must confess I like his
conversation with Pippin best. And I love the Dwarvish name that Gimli
made for her.
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Title: Elfwine · Author: annmarwalk · Genres: Humor: Fixed-Length Ficlet
· ID: 70
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 18:14:36
This made me grin. Such a perfectly accurate and realistic reaction to
the welcome news. I could just see it in my mind!
-----------------------------------
Title: Banished · Author: shirelinghpc · Times: Fourth Age and Beyond:
Gondor · ID: 993
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 18:19:17
This was a very cute little bit of silliness, and made me giggle
unashamedly. I could easily imagine Pippin coming up with exactly a
scheme like that! What a funny scenario!
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Title: Dust On My Saddle · Author: Rous · Races: Elves: Other
Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 630
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 18:20:38
This little snippet actually made me wish for more!
-----------------------------------
Title: Call yourself Thorongil · Author: Nilmandra · Times: Late Third
Age · ID: 731
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 18:23:02
An interesting take on the meeting between Gandalf and Aragorn, and on
Aragorn's decision to ride south into Rohan and Gondor as Thorongil. A
good beginning to a long and firm friendship, and very plausible as
well, as most of this author's stories are.
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Title: Of Falcons and Mûmakil · Author: Lialathuveril · Genres: Romance:
Lothíriel & Éomer · ID: 97
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 18:27:21
A few months ago, there was a sudden spate of Eomer/Lothiriel romances
at my favorite archive. This was the first of them I read, and remains
my favorite. I love the very feisty Lothiriel, as well as her friendship
with Eowyn. And the way she gets off on the wrong track with Eomer, and
the way she defends herself when necessary. A very good read, with
romance, angst and humor in equal measure.
-----------------------------------
Title: Inheritance · Author: Primsong · Times: Late Third Age: The Shire
· ID: 310
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-09-27 18:29:12
A very chilling and frightening AU indeed, and one that I scarcely like
to contemplate. Yet if the right care had not been taken, it *could*
have happened--and then what? All M-e covered in darkness. Excellent bit
of speculation.
-----------------------------------
Title: Tom Bombadil and the Four Travellers · Author: Dreamflower ·
Times: The Great Years: Poetry · ID: 887
Reviewer: Branwyn · 2006-09-28 00:54:48
Dreamflower seamlessly interweaves quotes from Tom's verses and dialogue
in "The Fellowship" with her own poetry written in his idiosyncratic
style. (She does differentiate the quotes from Tolkien by setting them
in italics.) Tom's meeting with Farmer Maggot is a nice touch (if memory
serves, Tolkien insinuates in the book that these two are acquainted),
and I like how Old Man Willow resentfully refers to the hobbits as [the
legged ones]. The scholarly "notes" are very well done, right down to
the citation of a fictitious reference.

This is a charming piece about a character who is rarely seen in fanfic.

-----------------------------------
Title: Reaping · Author: Dreamflower · Races: Hobbits: Post-Sauron's
Fall · ID: 169
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-09-28 03:24:08
I thought I had already reviewed this story, but evidently I hadn't...

Anyway, this is a hobbit tragedy, a story as old as time, the fate of
the collaborator, who, betraying his own people to puff himself up,
eventually reaps what he has sown. Only here, the hobbit Ted Sandyman
reaps a terrible harvest for his seeds of petty evil.

Ted is characterised wonderfully here. He doesn't think that he is evil,
unlike Melkor or Sauron, he never made a clear choice, he just went the
easiest way and indulged his own meanness; and paid off some old scores,
never realizing that he had taken the path to darkness just as certainly
as if he had followed a road with a neon sign flashing 'EVIL'.

Frodo, Merry and Sam are also well-written, even through the tainted
glass of Ted's memory.

This is not easy or comfortable reading. But it is worthwhile, an
excellent look at the taint that Saruman and Grima and Lotho brought to
the Shire.

-----------------------------------
Title: Inheritance · Author: Primsong · Times: Late Third Age: The Shire
· ID: 310
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-09-28 03:31:48
Brrrrrr - a sly might-have-been AU which shows a horrible twist in the
destiny of the One Ring that is almost funny, but could have happened,
and is logically and convincingly written here.

Excellent characterisation of all the hobbits, and the preoccupation
with convention that is one of the Shire's less attractive qualities.


-----------------------------------
Title: The Letter · Author: Gryffinjack · Races: Hobbits: Post-Sauron's
Fall · ID: 955
Reviewer: Bodkin · 2006-09-28 05:25:33
Yes, it would be rather an impossible letter to write. Too little
information wouldn't seem worth writing - and too much and they would
all (ruffians willing) come charging down to Minas Tirith to check that
the four of them had survived. I'm not surprised writing that letter
took a lot of thought.

Love Pippin's single-breathed summary.

And the way his parents responded to the letter - and their realisation
that he knew nothing about what was happening in the Shire. And that he
was on the way home.


-----------------------------------
Title: Forlorn Hope · Author: Nancy Brooke · Races: Men: Steward's Sons
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 301
Reviewer: Linda Hoyland · 2006-09-28 06:19:21
A poetic and moving fictlet. I especially liked the last line as though
little does Faramir know it,but "Hope" will restore the tree together
with his life. I liked the clever title given the history of the phase.
-----------------------------------
Title: The Letter · Author: Gryffinjack · Races: Hobbits: Post-Sauron's
Fall · ID: 955
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-09-28 07:51:56
Outside of the MEFAs, I don't read too many hobbit fanfiction stories,
but I'm going to reread this one. It's excellent - funny and a bit sad,
and very hobbity all around.

Loved Pippin's summaries of the perils he and the other hobbits have
endured, all the things that he wouldn't really want to tell in a letter
to his parents for fear of scaring them out of their wits. And the
saddest thing is that he believes, as he finally writes the letter, that
the Shire is the same beautiful, untouched, peaceful place he left it.
It's ironic that the letter reaches a Shire shadowed and brutalized -
but it gives Pippin's parents hope.

And Pippin's line about not having to say [Until the King returns]
anymore is funny in a very exasperated, frustrated way that nonetheless
carries the reality of change better than his other words about the
Ranger-king.

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