Yahoo Forum Archive

Title: The Wedding Gift · Author: annmarwalk · Genres: Romance: Other
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 40
Reviewer: Violin Ghost · 2008-05-12 14:20:11
Spoilers!
Your words create a lovely, dwarvish sort of atmosphere, beauty and
love of the craft mingled into a tapestry of words. (Your words are
inspiring me to use beautiful language too.)

What I especially like about this little oneshot, however, is that
though, throughout the piece, you show Gloin's tender love for the
making of beautiful things (shared by all Dwarves, of course!), he
surrenders to the fact that his wife is more beautiful than anything
he could ever make with his two hands.

A lovely oneshot, not overdone, but flowing with language as lovely as
Tolkien's own.

Title: Shadow King · Author: Claudia · Genres: Alternate Universe:
Angst/Tragedy · ID: 227
Reviewer: Violin Ghost · 2008-05-12 14:52:15
Spoilers!
That was truly chilling, especially the part about Aragorn coldly
chopping Frodo's fingers off and then "tenderly" bandaging them.

Title: Fulfilling Oaths · Author: Nieriel Raina · Times: Multi-Age ·
ID: 332
Reviewer: Lethe · 2008-05-12 17:11:45
Spoilers!
Tolkien created an epic myth and in that he wove back and forth
between ancient history and the time of the War of the Ring in the
Lord of the Rings. Authors who are familiar with his world show this
by the grace in which they can themselves be writing in perhaps a
later time frame, yet allude to earlier events without it sounding
heavy or by too much * telling * rather than showing. It requires a
delicate touch and wonderful writing skills and both are in evidence
in this short piece.

Even people who have only seen the film Lord of the Rings are familiar
with the image of Ring of Barahir upon the finger of Aragorn. fewer
are aware of the history behind it, which went back to a time before
the Sun and Moon. For, to quote the Boromir of the films; " so small a
thing. " it had a heritage far more illustrious than the One Ring and
far more tragic, being fashioned in Valinor by Finrod Felagund. Very
few things on Middle-earth, save the Palantiri have such ancient
origins, yet in the film it was little more than a decorative ring.

The author, who writes some wonderful friendships stories of Legolas
and Gimli has here used her beautifully characterized Legolas to close
the circle of the tale of the Ring of Barahir in a way that makes me
wish it were true. In fact I will probably mentally file it under: "
what should be. " She deals with the sense of failure within the heart
of Finrod and how he is vindicated at the very end.
Ages of time have passed since he died in the black depths of
Tol-in-Gaurhoth and the author brings a closure to his thoughts and to
the story of her Legolas on Middle-earth when he returns the Ring to
Barahir. There is such a sense of rightness to this. Her handling of
both Finrod and Legolas, one great among the Eldar, the other a
Wood-Elf of a latter Age is masterful, the reader can feel both the
discrepancies and the similarities between the two. Both fought
against Sauron, one face to face and was mastered and did not see
victory , the other fought supporting a great friend and did see the
end of darkness and that also gives them a sense of kinship.

As a short stand alone piece it is both poignant and satisfying and at
the end of reading it I had to comment that I wished it were true
because it is one of the stories which should be.

Title: The Ribbon · Author: Gentle Hobbit · Races: Hobbits:
Hurt/Comfort · ID: 336
Reviewer: SurgicalSteel · 2008-05-12 20:53:59
Spoilers!
Gentle Hobbit wrote this for me last summer, and it still brings tears
to my eyes. It's slightly AU, in that Frodo's still in Middle Earth
and Elanor is old enough to be running outside and playing, but it's
really beautifully done. In this tale, Rosie notices a ribbon that
Frodo's putting into Elanor's hair is cutting across his finger stump.
Rosie then asks Frodo about the stump of his missing finger, and if it
ever bothers him, and why it looks so neat and tidy considering how he
lost it. Frodo relates events from some of my stories, in which that
stump was revised in Minas Tirith. The gentle gratitude he expresses
for the healer's skill and caring brought tears to my eyes then, and
still does so now.

Title: Acquittance · Author: Aprilkat · Genres: Drama · ID: 337
Reviewer: SurgicalSteel · 2008-05-12 21:01:21
Spoilers!
This piece was my birthday gift from Aprilkat last year, and I love it
very much. She chose to write a small gapfiller for some of my other
tales. This one takes place immediately after my OFC healer, Serinde,
has been exiled from Minas Tirith. Some of her patients - people who
aren't among the rich or well-to-do of society, who'd be considered
part of the underbelly of society - have taken up a collection of
supplies which she may need along the way. It's a story about how even
small kindnesses are rewarded at unexpected moments and in ways we
never anticipate.

Title: The Search For Middle-earth · Author: Jules14 · Genres:
Alternate Universe: Incomplete · ID: 346
Reviewer: Lethe · 2008-05-13 18:51:34
Spoilers!
This story is a complete deviation from my usual choices, but since
first reading it, it has thoroughly engrossed me. It is impossible to
explain how and why without spoilers. The premise is one very close to
my heart, that Middle-earth did exist six to nine thousand years ago,
as Tolkien himself said. It is however set in the modern age and
believed to be a book and film.

It involves both characters from this era who grow from teenagers to
young adults during the course of the story and characters from
Tolkien who are recognizably those people. The author very plausibly
draws on in to a story of a few people searching for clues of a lost
time and civilizations, races who have seemingly died out. The modern
people are ones the reader can connect with, of very different
personalities, skeptical, even violently opposed to any such myth,
eager and passionately involved in the search. All of them are real
characters with real strength, weaknesses and faults and their
interaction with figures from something supposed to be fantasy is
entirely believable.

It's also a story which rouses the emotions; anger against the
cynicism and hostility of certain people against this crackpot theory,
sympathy toward those to whom it becomes their raison d'etre and deep
sorrow for certain canon characters who have lingered so very long
through forgotten ages. There were times when I wept and times I
wanted to grab a certain woman and slap her for her treatment of
some-one who was frankly so far above her she could never possibly
comprehend it.

There is a great pace to this book, despite the years which pass and
the melding of modern and myth is something I have rarely seen done so
well. The canon characters do not sound like the modern ones, they are
clearly of a far more antique origin. The blending reminds me of The
Dark Is Rising series of books since it is written so well and is not
at all awkward, one can imagine it happening now, as we read it.
Tolkien's characters are wonderfully handled as are the modern
original ones who are quite normal in most respects and therefore easy
to understand. Nothing happens which feels unbelievable, the research
done into geography and possible mistakes - perhaps deliberate - in
Tolkien's records of maps and distances, the reason for the
disappearance of that world is tackled with great skill and
intelligence. Completely different to the stories which usually grab
me, I think this author is a true story-teller who manages what few
can do, to weave together Middle-earth and the modern world with a
wholly believabel result.

Title: Essecarmë · Author: Dawn Felagund · Races: Elves: Family · ID: 247
Reviewer: Oshun · 2008-05-14 00:18:40
This is one of my absolute favorites of all of your stories that are
based in the universe of your novel [Another Man's Cage]. It is a
magnificent extension of those well-developed and much-loved
characters at a somewhat older age. The complexity of the relationship
between Maedhros and Feanor carefully considered in your personal
canon is to this point in your storytelling wrenchingly emotionally
valid, complex and heartbreaking.

One sees a moment of devastating rejection for Maedhros. It can be
interpreted as an almost petulant punitive reaction on the part of
Feanor, for real or imagined willfulness, self-assertion and/or
presumed lack of sufficient loyalty within the tangled mess of the
relations of Finwe's sons and grandsons. The moment also seems to have
been foreshadowed in AMC, while this story appears to look forward
into canon to a breach that will widen until the point at which
Maedhros steps back from the burning of the ships at Losgar.

As a huge fan of your personal canon of AMC I was so excited to read
this expansion and still am eagerly looking forward to what you will
do with character of Maedhros and the family relationships in future
stories that fit within this universe. (You had better find the time
to write these stories.) The point of view of Maglor is so human and
vivid as well. His reflections paint a picture of virtually every
single family member--well done, a really impressive feat of
storytelling in such a short piece. One can imagine from how Maglor
describes and interprets this incident the ripples of tension and
anxiety throughout their entire immediate family.


Title: Small Strengths · Author: Elwen · Races: Hobbits: Hurt/Comfort
· ID: 238
Reviewer: Antane · 2008-05-14 01:26:22
Love the ending! And of course, Sam's constant love, the embrace after
the spider bite, the stroking of the brow and Frodo's memories of that
love on the Quest.

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Title: The Revenge of Curufin's Horse · Author: Moreth · Genres: Humor
· ID: 139
Reviewer: Oshun · 2008-05-14 03:34:24
Oh, I love this too much. (Shortly before first reading this story I
was forced to spent a good deal of time looking for specific detailed
information in The Lay of Leithian. It really was not very much fun.
This was great revenge reading in response to that. Sorry, I'm a
philistine. I know.) I love the horse in this story and Celegorm and
Curufin are absolutely adorable. I could make a bunch of talking horse
jokes and I can think of some appropriate sons of Feanor quips as
well, but I have to be careful. Don't want to include spoilers on a
piece this brief. Yeah, even I respect spoilers when it is something
so short. I did make an accidental Curufin's horse joke in a chapter
earlier this year myself. It was quite a surprise when it was pointed
out to me. This, however, is a conscious and absolutely brilliant
short piece. I hope Professor Tolkien is laughing somewhere, although
I am afraid he might be spinning in his grave. I really look forward
to reading more of your stories as time goes by. You are a really
brilliant comic. Your sense of phrasing and timing is impeccable.
Congratulations on a truly entertaining and memorable story.

Title: The Work of Small Hands · Author: Dawn Felagund · Genres:
Longer Works · ID: 352
Reviewer: Lethe · 2008-05-14 06:25:19
Spoilers!
As a general rule as soon as I read of the Noldor leaving Tirion, I am
with them and I only ever vaguely wondered what happened to those left
behind.

In this story the author deals with the aftermath of the exile and the
kinslaying at Alqualonde and more importantly with how the death of
the Two Trees impacted upon the lives of those living in Aman. Told
specifically from the viewpoint of Earwen and involving the ladies
such as Nerdanel and Indis it is a no-holds-barred and deeply
sympathetic work which reminds me of the aftermath of disasters or
wars when there are food shortages and rationing and people are also
grieving over many deaths. In this case a great many of the Noldor
Houses had departed and so the women had to cope by themselves.

It is a wonderful exploration of these characters who we read so
little of in Tolkien; the women. Their characters are all different
and the way they deal with this aftermath uncovers their strengths and
ability to cope. It is doubly shocking since they were women who must
certainly have been used to a life of gracious ease, even if
emotionally those such as Nerdanel and Indis had to make decisions to
part for their spouses. While the Noldor are gone, these " small hands
" must deal with a darkened Valinor where food no longer grows, the
light source needed having been destroyed. Although as we know,
Finarfin does return, at the beginning he is so traumatized that he is
of little use; one can also understand this. It was the first time the
Eldar had seen the gory reality of battle and death and how horribly
people can die.

Earwen must deal with a husband who is losing the will to live and the
fact that the Noldor who remain are starving. It is so very realistic,
it has a feel of a city after a battle, desperation and cold and dark
are depicted with gritty realism and through it the emerging
personalities and inner strengths of the women begin to glow like lights.

As some-one who does not find the females of Tolkien's works very
interesting, this story has been a great surprise to me and in fact
has drawn me in with a vengeance. It reminds me of my grandmother
talking to me about the Second World War and the bombings and how she
had to live and cope, the " small hands " which try to keep things
together while the armies are away fighting and I find myself wanting
to discover more about their natures and how they live through this
time and after.

My hat is off to the author for so skilfully drawing these
personalities in a time and place of great grief and uncertainty and
making them so vivid and realistic. She has certainly opened out a
part of Tolkien's world that I have never seen explored and done so
with a sure and elegant touch.


Title: Turning Points · Author: Cathleen · Races: Hobbits: Incomplete
· ID: 357
Reviewer: Golden · 2008-05-14 19:37:09
Turning Points is a story, that gives us readers a look into a
specific time of life, that can be very difficult and confusive sometimes.
Here we see Peregrin Took entering that time and how heself and all
the people around him also ( like his parents and sisters, but also of
course Merry and Frodo), deal with the changes that happen to a
Hobbit, who leaves childhood and slowly enters into the adult status.
The story is a nice written piece, that also has lots of courage in
it, because it also tells about things, that people in the todays
world, better not talk about or things that is hard to talk about,
like very privat feelings and actions, that a t(w)eenager might feel
and try, also sexual ones.
Also the Took Sight is worked into this piece and shows us the
beginnings of Pippins family talent. That, combined with the already
difficult state of growing up, is no easy task for Peregrin.
Our dear Frodo Baggins plays in that a very special role and trys to
help our tookish lad to understand what this gift is. I very much like
when Frodo and Pippin talk about it a bit.
Also Sam and his little sister Marigold appear in the story and Pippin
has sort of a crush on Marigold and that is written very sweet.
A great start of a story and worth a read!

Title: Summer Heat · Author: chaotic_binky · Times: Modern Times · ID: 363
Reviewer: weepingnaiad · 2008-05-15 12:37:18
This story is gripping and intriguing and has a unique view of the
ubiquitous pairing of Glorfindel/Erestor. Taking place in modern times
and wrapped in a murder mystery, this is very reminiscent of a film
noir story.

Definitely entertaining and a great read!


Title: Painting a Golden Light · Author: chaotic_binky · Genres:
Drama: Featuring the Noldor · ID: 364
Reviewer: weepingnaiad · 2008-05-15 12:41:33
This is a beautifully written story that takes place in England during
WWI. It truly captures the sense of that time period and the dichotomy
of the war in the trenches and the bucolic existence of those living
in small town England.


Title: Moon of the Sea · Author: pandemonium_213 · Times: Second and
Early Third Age · ID: 213
Reviewer: Lethe · 2008-05-15 14:19:10
This story deals with one of the many unnamed women who abound in
Tolkien and brings her to life with staggering richness.

From the first chapter I felt there was something priestess-like about
the main female character, there is one particular passage which put
me in mind both of the birth of Aphrodite and the Ayesha, in the old
film ' She ' . When I read of her I think of a High Priestess dancing
in a temple devoted to the ancient, earthy rites of a Goddess, hidden
away from the eyes of men, with her feet drawing the strength from the
ground under her and her face lifted to the moon whose tides run in
her. She has that sort of mystique and charisma and to read of a woman
like that in Tolkien's world is incredible to me. There seems to me to
be no sensuality of this sort in Tolkien's females, they could of
course be incredibly beautiful, like Luthien, but none possessed what
my grandmother called the * it * quality, where a look promises rich
delights to the man who can win her. I am not certain if the author
intended this, but this is what comes to my mind as I read it.
She has given this unnamed women a character and personality which is
fascinating and by choice this is the kind of woman I would read of
since she is so vivid and she would be strong enough to carry a story
alone; here she is not a noble-woman who becomes a wife and mother but
some-one who is equal in all respects to the man she weds. One could
see her taking charge of defending a castle and running a huge nobles
household and yet also walking through shafts of moonbeams to her
husband's bed and becoming something quite different, a goddess who
men both desire and fear, yet her warmth and laughter would forever
warm him. he could trust her more implicitly than his closest
companion and warrior and draw from the strength in her, yet one feels
that she would ever be a mystery to him, wife and priestess of a
womanly power.

The atmosphere in this story is very different from anything else I
have read, it gives the time and place written of a very unique slant;
I could see it being ancient Greece, or India or that of the
civilization who built Angkor Wat. Usually one receives and impression
of the Medieval in Tolkien ( For the Elves and Men of the West and
Anglo-Saxon for the Rohirric culture ) and this fascinates me since
the time and place and peoples written of did not engage my interest
before this story.

This authors writing of female characters is one of the reasons I have
come back to reading stories which revolve about them; she and another
author I have reviewed have the maturity and depth and the imagination
to paint truly interesting and engrossing women who stand alone and
not simply as an adjunct to a famous male figure. And I believe this
was badly needed in the Tolkien fandom.


Title: Sunset Gates · Author: Ignoble Bard · Races: Dwarves: Drabbles
· ID: 342
Reviewer: Keiliss · 2008-05-15 21:07:46

Ah, I did not see that ending coming at all, what a pleasure. A twist
literally in the final line really makes a piece for me, be the story
long or short. The entire time I was reading this, I was doing exactly
what you intended: I could see Gimli on the shores of Middle-earth,
getting into the Last Ship, sailing to Valinor, the Lady waiting
specially for him at the dock… really kind of her. And where are we?
America.

Really cute tale, a big story put across in very few words!

~Kei.


Title: The Night That Covers Me · Author: Thranduil Oropherion Redux ·
Genres: Alternate Universe · ID: 379
Reviewer: Lethe · 2008-05-16 12:31:07
Spoilers!
This story is unusual in that it is an AU of an AU story written with
the permission and approval of the original author., Aislynn
Crowdaughter. The fact that it is an alternate of an alternate is in
itself a tribute to the power of the main story, Mael-Gul which,
however is strictly adult darkfic and is only posted on sites which
allow Adult ratings.

Mael-Gul is a dark Middl-earth where the power of the Three Elven
Rings is such that their bearers can be corrupted toward the dark and
Elrond is a a figure of cruelty. The Elves of Mirkwood are a subject
race and hostages and slaves are taken from their number to Imladris.
One of these is Legolas who is bound by a dark spell, the Mael-Gul by
Elrond and given in time to Aragorn, also a much darker character, in
fact with sadistic tendencies.

I read The Night That Covers Me before Mael-Gul - which I am now
following - and believe it to be a superb piece in it's own right. The
author gives this Legolas a different character, one less apt to
accept his slavery and in fact it is something that one wishes would
happen in Mael-Gul. However, this is not meant as a derogatory remark
against the original work, which is both deep and traumatic and
excellently written, it is simply that many people would love to see
Legolas think the thoughts which are explored in The Night. While it
is necessary to know the history of Mael-Gul and at least a summary,
the powerful, beautifully intense prose of this author gives this
piece a life of it's own. It is dark, for the Mael-Gul universe is
dark. It is a glimpse into the feelings, memories and intentions of
the slave Legolas and what seethes under his years of being so cruelly
bound to an Aragorn one cannot help hating. It does not concentrate on
sexual aspects except as they are indivisible to the plot, but here
they act as device for the Elf to delve into thoughts which he must
never say aloud, not for his own continued existance alone, but that
of all his people. This is done with empathic skill, since the slave
must accept all that is done to him, yet his mind is not cowed, rather
the opposite. And one cannot help smiling and nodding grimly at the
inner strength it takes to submit oneself to years of cruel usage and
yet remain mentally unbroken. A stern, elegant, shadowed piece of
writing which is wonderful to read alone or as a part of Mael-Gul.

Title: Fait Accompli · Author: Ignoble Bard · Genres: Mystery · ID: 381
Reviewer: Lethe · 2008-05-16 16:40:16
This tale of darkness, suspense and erotica had me trying to solve the
mystery until the end. I was unsuccessful in piecing together the
clues and was shocked to the core.

There is no real sense of when or where this is set, save that it is
obvious the main protagonist is of great power. At first I believed
the time-frame to be a great deal earlier than it in fact was. The
atmosphere is that of a tense psychological thriller spiced with dark
eroticism. The reader can feel oneself in the grip of the emotions the
character is experiencing, his helplessness, the lack - for a long
time - of any extraneous stimuli, the gradual demolition of the ego to
the one who toys with him.

The author handles all this with a effortless realism that is
intensely gripping. It is about power, it is about demanding complete
surrender, a mind-game played by some-one it is impossible to win
against. They are pitiless but subtle and sensual; they take delight
in the crumbling of the will and ego, in subjugating their captive,
yet there is not the bludgeoning lack of finesse one associates with,
for instance, Morgoth. This is why I believed the protagonist was not
Morgoth or Sauron although it did have me speculating until the end.

The story would be an excellent chiller would it not be for the
sensual charge, which is interwoven into the submission the
protagonist is determined to achieve; he seems to be playing, but is
deadly serious in desiring complete capitulation, in the captive
realizing he has no hope, that all his thoughts, his focus, everything
he is must be upon the captor, that he is owned, in fact. The captor,
in fact displays a cruel elegance which makes him both terrifying and
fascinating, he becomes the all-in-all and when one reaches the end
and realizes why this is and how and why it has come to pass it is
truly a revelation. It gave me the feeling of falling and protesting
that this could not be how the story ended, but it was so wonderfully
written that I have gone back to it again and again amazed at the
tension, the richly textured, black-velvet atmosphere and the finality
of the finish.

It made me think very deeply about what might have been and although
it seemed a dark and despairing finish to a shadowed, tale it is
enthralling and the sensuality threaded through it prevented it from
being simply depressing and hopeless, even though I could see little
hope. It engrossed me all the way through and shocked me rigid when I
came to the end. It also caused me to view the captor and protagonist
in a very different light and to wonder: " What if? "

Title: Murder The Dawn · Author: crowdaughter · Genres: Alternate
Universe: Incomplete · ID: 383
Reviewer: Lethe · 2008-05-17 09:09:37
Spoilers!
This story is a spin off of the authors main work Mael-Gul. That work,
which I am perusing at the moment, is very definitely adult. It is a
dark AU in which the Elves of Mirkwood are a subject people to
Imladris, whose lord, Elrond, is cruel, even tyrannical, due perhaps
in part to the unforeseen power of Vilya and also Sauron. It may seem
it would be impossible to suspend disbelief for one moment to believe
in a wicked Elrond and a sadistic Aragorn, but the author writes so
skilfully, that in fact it is no effort at all.

While that story must be rated adult, this shorter one is an M and is
an AU of events told in Mael-Gul, although if one reads the summary
and background it stands alone.

The Mael-Gul AU is extremely dark and this AU is set within that but
with events taking a different turn to those in the original. It deals
with thought and memories of slavery, torture and non-con, but is
specifically focused on the emotions of the character and his fate,
which is a race against time for him. This, the author deals with
superlatively as she did in Mael-Gul, I cannot even think of a
published book that has written of the psychological affect of slavery
and abuse and twisted love and it's long terms affects in such a
manner as to make it readable, not merely horrific or depressing. It
evokes sorrow, horror and anger in me to the extent that I have fired
off comments to her story saying I wish to see Elrond and Aragorn
impaled and die in agony. It has touched me that deeply. But it does
not only cause me fury, it puts me firmly in the camp of the victim,
Legolas.

When stories like this are written, I think it should be with a great
deal of understanding and empathy, not to shock, or to glorify such
subjects as rape and both physical and psychological abuse. Neither
Murder the Dawn, nor the original, Mael-Gul do this, they both explore
the devastating effects upon a subjugated person who is bound
unwillingly and yet loves the one who maltreats him; it is, I think, a
version of the Stockholm Syndrome and only in this and one other Adult
rated series have I seen it dealt with so sympathetically and deftly.
Both as a stand alone and a companion piece to Mael-Gul this story
possesses all the dark passion, drama and roller coaster readability
that the author weaves into all her writing.

Title: The Pillar Perished Is · Author: Imhiriel · Times: First Age
and Prior: House of Finwe · ID: 356
Reviewer: Marta · 2008-05-17 16:50:12
Spoilers!
This is a really nice read and does an excellent job of crawling into
Feanor's headspace. While I have occasionally written stories that
include him, even from his POV, it has always been out of interest for
the other people in his life, like Nerdanel and Maglor. He's not
someone I have a lot of sympathy for by nature. And yet, as I read
this story, I found myself really connecting with him. I think getting
a reader to empathize and connect with a character that they don't
naturally is one of the skills I most admire in a story.

Another thing that really impressed me about this story was the use of
detail (or perhaps the lack thereof). I've read some stories about
Alqualonde in particular that were wonderfully visceral in the disgust
and horror they caused. But this story takes a more distant view; the
only mention of mass murder is flames in the distance, and that's
compared to the flames of the still living other Noldor who were left
behind in Aman. I am not sure if it is depression/numbness talking
there, or if other people really do seem like ants to him - in either
case, it's very nice piece of categorization.

Speaking of that depression/numbness, I was completely blown away with
this author's use of Feanor's grief. It reminded me of what I've read
about people whose loved ones die unexpectedly - suicide or murder,
especially. Feanor seems to try to be convincing himself that what
happened REALLY ISN'T HIS FAULT, and of course it isn't, but that seed
of doubt is extremely well handled. It makes him much more human than
he seemed in canon (though perhaps that's not quite the right word...
more approachable in any case). But that approachability didn't make
him less imposing; rather, somehow it made Feanor's otherness feel
that much more imminent, and the emotional reality really hit home.

Really, this is a story that packs a lot of punch and does a damned
fine job with a difficult character. Brava, Imhiriel!

Title: Ed'ledhron · Author: Elanor Silmarien · Races: Hobbits · ID: 392
Reviewer: Antane · 2008-05-17 22:54:49
This is a powerful tale of Frodo's spiritual awakening in the West as
Elrond tells him of Iluvatar, after Frodo tells him of the emptiness
he feels. He is hungering after he doesn't know what. It's not the
Ring anymore. Elrond clears up the mystery for him. I think the Holy
Spirit, the Secret Fire, inspired Elanor to write this. God bless and
I hope to see this expanded one day! *hint hint* :)

Title: Trading Pledges · Author: Adaneth · Races: Dwarves · ID: 339
Reviewer: Oshun · 2008-05-18 23:50:58
This is a fascinating look in a culture not well-explored within
fanfiction, which is particularly interesting in that it gives a fresh
insight into one of the possibilities of what it might mean to be a
dwarf and be female. Written in the characteristic straight forward
style this author always brings to her stories.

Title: Painting a Golden Light · Author: chaotic_binky · Genres:
Drama: Featuring the Noldor · ID: 364
Reviewer: Oshun · 2008-05-19 00:07:07
This story is a real change of pace for the author. It is a
fascinating look into a specific time and place: post-World War I
England and a close look at English village life (with all that
implies relating to provinciality and a sly look at the behavior of
big ducks (the local village matrons) in a small pond). It contains
pathos, humor, and redemption, all with a backdrop of an examination
of the effect of post-traumatic stress syndrome on a rather surprising
victim. Contains mystery as well and a surprise ending. The author has
included some extremely interesting visual aids: photos and even press
clippings, which help set the mood of the location and the era in
which it takes place. This is one of the most unique
elves-in-the-modern-day stories I have yet encountered.

Title: Noldolantë · Author: Dawn Felagund · Races: Elves: House of
Finwe · ID: 253
Reviewer: Oshun · 2008-05-19 00:24:57
I am always reading reviews where people say, "I cried when I read
your story." And I'll think, "They cry a lot more easily than I do."
Or sometimes, "What is the matter with me? Do I have a heart of
stone." I have read stories of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and not cried. I
have read about or looked at pictures of Fingon's death (as you know
my very favorite character—for his big heart and reckless courage). So
wrong and so unfair I have thought that someone like that couldn't
have a happy ending, and yet I haven't cried. Fëanor's terrible fate
in light of all his incredible promise and indescribable achievements,
his capacity for such love despite his catastrophic pride, hurt me
deeply but I didn't cry. I think the second time that I read the
passage relating to the burning of ships at Losgar and Maedhros's
words and his turning away from his father and brothers, I closed the
book and put it aside for that day, I could read no further until I
had recovered, but I did not cry. The Noldor, for all their mistakes
and the wrongs they wrought, will never be anything less for me than
the biggest, larger-than-life and yet always believable to me, without
comparison or any close seconds (and whether the author intended them
to be or not), the greatest heroes of Tolkien's works. To watch
victories turn into defeats and their numbers decimated page-by-page
when reading The Silmarillion, never fails to move me deeply, but I
have never actually let it all go and had a great cry.

It's a standing joke between my daughter and that, when we see films
together, she will weep buckets not only at the tragic outcomes of
great love affairs and the deaths of much loved heroes, but at sappy,
clichéd close-ups of a child's face or even the wide trusting eyes of
a dog. Meanwhile, I sit there dry-eyed and rational, squeezing her
hand and patting her on the shoulder. Point is all that rambling is I
am not an easy crier.

Well, you got me with this story about the Noldolantë. I cried when I
read the first 700+ words: a simple scene of childhood, so familiar
and right to me. Yet, within it, you managed to describe Maglor's
intense sensitivity to sound and his capacity for strong emotion, and
give the reader a palpable sense of his incomparable genius. In
segment, when Maedhros holds his little brother and comforts him, you
completely touched upon the nobility and tragedy of Maedhros and
foreshadowed for me the inevitability of his final outcome.

Like Maglor doubtless intended with the Noldolantë, you summed it all
up and brought it together: the honor that the Noldor, particularly
Feanor and his sons, deserved, the dishonor they brought upon
themselves, their tremendous beauty and its destruction, their
heroism, and the injustice of the price they paid for their mistakes.
You unleashed what I had held back for years when reading the grand,
sad and beautiful stories of the Noldor and I cried.


Title: Wayward Sons · Author: Jael · Races: Elves · ID: 408
Reviewer: Lethe · 2008-05-19 17:55:10


I have read very few stories which deal with the * diminishing * of
the Elven body to become a soul alone and this one truly touched me on
many levels. I was initially horrified since the character who sees it
begin to happen to him is one I like very much. He is also a character
who tends to fade out of the histories leaving himself and his people
very much as unknowns. This has always seemed to be a great shame to
me, on the other hand, it gives fanfiction writers something to work
with, although this particular canon character is usually written of
earlier in his history.

The writing is so poignant at the beginning; there seems to be no
hope, no joy only an endless procession of days and years in his life
which comes across so strongly that I was close to tears and the first
chapter ended on such a note that I was certain that the story would
be about this gradual * fading * and it would be heart wrenching. This
author always writes with such empathy of the Elves that I could well
believe it was one writing, it is something only a small percentage of
writers can do, grasp their mentality and that it is different to
Mortals, their age and how time passes for them and that their very
thoughts do not run along the same paths as Mortals, although of
course both find joy in the same things, love, family, their people.
It is this sense of abandonment and that this character is facing his
own bodily dissolution apart from his family that is so very moving.
He has such a long history that to pass from it like this seems
impossibly sad.

To be able to get into the mind of an Elf and then write them with
such elegant ease takes so much talent that it is impossible to praise
it enough when one finds us. There is no sense of striving to write
this character, or any other in the story, they seem utterly realistic
and possessing beautifully realized dimensions and depth - the depth
and understanding always makes this authors writing stand out. It
looks easy, but a huge percentage of writers never quite manage it and
the ones that do are always those whose works enthrall and delight me.

Title: A Place for Gandalf · Author: Dreamflower · Times: Mid Third
Age: Eriador · ID: 391
Reviewer: Marta · 2008-05-21 20:50:15
Spoilers!
This is a fun romp, drawing together some nice events from the time
around Frodo's adoption. I particularly liked that the author gave the
hobbits a dark undertone (like with Frodo's suicidal thoughts, and
Bilbo's self-serving motives naming Frodo as his heir), but didn't
descend completely into angst. It seemed very in keeping with how
Tolkien portrayed this race as resilient and basically cheery. Good work!