Yahoo Forum Archive

Title: The Dark of Night · Author: Ellie · Genres: Horror · ID: 484
Reviewer: Isabeau of Greenlea · 2008-08-27 02:13:20
Spoilers!
As an unrepentent elf-lover, I have suffered over the years through
stories which depicted my favorite beings in less than canonical
glory. Ellie's story is not one of these. Her "villain" is a
plausible, formidable one, and its attacks upon the Elves elicits the
same sort of horror among them that a real-life vampire would upon us.

All my favorite Elves are here-Elrond, Elladan, Elrohir, Celeborn,
Galadriel, Glorfindel, Haldir and his brothers. There are additional
well-depicted original Elven characters. Galadriel in particular
foreshadows her overthrow of Dol Guldur here, when she manages a feat
of magic that would be beyond anyone else. Despite the omnipresent
distrust between Noldor and Silvan that some of the characters feel,
the Elves nonetheless realize the value of cooperation, and together
they defeat the menace. A quick moving adventure, and a very enjoyable
read.

Title: The Houseless · Author: Jael · Genres: Horror · ID: 178
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2008-08-27 04:11:32
Spoilers!
Ooh, a Middle-earth ghost story. And it's a rather sweet and sad one;
concerning a young Legolas and a she-elf who only wanted to go home.

Very well-written, with a great air of mystery. I felt the age and old
secrets of the wood, and the wistful longing of the lost girl.

Title: A Fair Trial · Author: Maeve Riannon · Genres: Humor: Valar &
Maiar · ID: 403
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2008-08-27 04:22:09
Spoilers!
Quite an amusing story about two lonely souls about to face judgment
by the Valar, as represented by the very supercilious Eonwe. Very
funny characterisation of Sauron; and I liked the ending - there's a
pairing one doesn't see every day, even if Melian intends to ditch the
wolf at the first opportunity.

Title: Hammer · Author: Aranel Took · Races: Dwarves: Drabbles · ID: 468
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2008-08-27 12:20:17
Spoilers!
Oh dear. Classic bad pick up line, and even the spouter thereof knows
it! I suppose if the attraction is mutual, it really doesn't matter,
and even if Glóin is not the most creative of seducers when it comes
to inviting a girl over, he does seem to have the eye: he managed to
fall for someone who would take him up on it, bad line and all.

Although, given the metaphoricity of hammers, I do have to wonder
whether [stoked the fire in the forge] doesn't have some other than
literal meaning...



Title: Tonight We Are Alive · Author: Eyborg · Races: Dwarves · ID: 504
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2008-08-27 12:20:41
One hardly ever sees anything about Thorin's companions. Last partings
are always a good time to place a story, and one can well imagine
Kili's wife might have had her visionary moment.

Title: Home · Author: Aranel Took · Races: Dwarves: Drabbles · ID: 533
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2008-08-27 12:20:51
Spoilers!
Home is where one makes it - and in the case of Dwarves, the saying
works both figuratively and literally! Nice description, in a brief
space, of Gimli's building of his new home, and of the relationships
that have come to mean 'home' to him as even Erebor cannot.

Title: Homeward Bound · Author: Werecat · Genres: Alternate Universe ·
ID: 430
Reviewer: Angelica · 2008-08-27 13:04:48
I have a white cat with an [ample belly] who generously lent me her
name when I started playing in the Internet who maybe has an Elvish
name and memories of the Elder Days. What I'm quite certain is that
she would make friends or most likely try to seduce Isilme/Mr Whiskers
who is such a great feline character. He has all the distinctive
traits of great cats: impossibly elegant, a great hunter (no wonder
the little bird is terrified), endlessly lazy but at the end of the
day, caring about and even loyal to his human.
I particularly liked the description of the middle-aged lady/Queen
Beruthiel's black clothes where the hairs of the cat trace the White Tree.
The author has written a very sweet story for cat lovers which is sure
to appeal to everybody (dog people too)


Title: FAULT: The Doctor Is In · Author: Fiondil · Genres: Humor:
Valar & Maiar · ID: 545
Reviewer: Angelica · 2008-08-27 13:07:21
Spoilers!
In my country we usually say ["Freud se haría un picnic"] when
somebody is in obvious need of psychological counsel. Well, no bigger
picnic than among the Feanorian boys and all their issues with a
domineering father and a mother who abandons them (the horror!). But
who would have imagined Namo would also be in need of some sessions!
A very funny and original story

Title: Full Brothers in Blood · Author: Oshun · Genres: Humor · ID: 212
Reviewer: Angelica · 2008-08-27 13:09:25
Spoilers!
There are few stories that have Turgon as a central character outside
Gondolin. He seems to have trouble competing in writers' imagination
with his golden brother or the irresistible Feanorians. I've always
seen him as a rather stuffy, rather stuck-up type who thinks that
keeping everybody locked up is a good way of spending eternity (or
what eternity is possible in Middle-earth). This story shows the boy
who would eventually turn into that man and it all makes sense.
One of the things the author has done perfectly is that, in spite of
the fact that nothing much happens (a family and some unexpected
guests get together for dinner on a hot summer day), a lot is implied
about the way the different members of this extended family, both
those who are attending the dinner and those who aren't, relate to
each other. Additionally, a lot can be inferred about the
personalities of the different boys, what they will grow up into and
their future relationships. The dialogues, the description of everyday
events, the oblique references build up a very rich, very complex
picture of the family.

Title: A Smile · Author: Aria · Races: Elves: House of Finwe · ID: 321
Reviewer: Angelica · 2008-08-27 13:11:39
Spoilers!
There are some fanfic stories that make the reader go back to the text
and reconsider it. For me this is one of them: Why did Curufin smile?
I had never considered, I had never paid attention to this apparently
minor detail. After reading "A Smile" a whole new way of looking at
the canonical narrative opened in front of me and made me reconsider
both the characters and their behaviors.
The author doesn't portray Curufin at first in a very attractive
light: he is proud and stubborn and has not forgiven those who stayed
behind: his wife – he will not even name her - and his mother – he has
almost forgotten her. According to canon, he was most articulate and
persuasive in his speech but when it comes to talking to his son he
does not seem to be able to put his emotions into words. The story
conveys very well this difficulty to express his feelings and
especially his love for his son.
Additionally he has this terrible awareness that every parent must
have at some point: when did my child grow up? Where was I? What was I
doing all that time? When did I grow old if my baby is now such a man
(or woman)? And ultimately, will I be able to let go when the time comes?
Luckily for both of them, Curufin is able to let go and so we can
understand why he smiles as he leaves Nargothrond.



Title: Stars of the Lesser · Author: Dawn Felagund · Times: First Age
and Prior · ID: 74
Reviewer: Angelica · 2008-08-27 13:17:09
Spoilers!
This story is, in my opinion, remarkable on different levels.
The characterization is great: two teenage boys, a younger one and the
other one almost an adult, who both share a mix of dare and bravado,
trying on the one hand to find their own limits but on the other,
scared that their fathers might find out. This sea-saw between
childhood and adulthood is wonderfully conveyed. Celebrimbor is a
well-defined individual full of Feanorian intelligence, self
confidence and grace and bearing the weight of his name with pride.
Additionally, this story shows a marvelous insight into the clash
between two conceptions of learning and life: respect for traditions
and obedience to authority versus independence and thirst for new
knowledge, regardless of the dangers that this might entail [They]
that is, the Valar [ hated him]. Celebrimbor represents the spirit of
curiosity and questioning of traditional beliefs and assumptions that
his grandfather had most perfectly embodied. Pengolodh is bound to
received traditions, looks for reassurance and certainty from the
sources that Celebrimbor questions and is startled and unsettled by
this apparent lack of respect for the conceptions his parents and
society hold unquestioningly. Their confrontation can be seen as an
Elvish instance of the conflict between faith and reason.
The image of the naked boy trying to capture light by catching shiny
jellyfish in the cold winter ocean like his grandfather had caught the
light of the Trees in the Silmarils is on its own amazingly beautiful.


Title: Vodka · Author: Ford of Bruinen · Times: First Age and Prior:
House of Finwe · ID: 714
Reviewer: Angelica · 2008-08-27 13:18:02
Spoilers!
What makes this story most memorable is the author's depiction of
Maglor. He is usually portrayed as "the Good Feanorian", the most
temperate, reasonable, gentle and levelheaded of the brothers. Well,
this Maglor has a completely different personality.
To begin with, he is cynical and manipulative about everything, from
people who he should feel grateful to (Fingon, the Sindar) to his own
skills and works. His attitude to sex is, to say the least,
exploitative and his taste for hard drinks, is apparently nothing new.
He disregards Fingon with a condescending [the boy] and the way he
refers to the Sindar as [the local tribes] makes him sound like a
colonial master (no wonder the Noldor were not too popular among the
Sindar). On top, he seems to be deliberately nasty towards Maedhros
when he picks up the bottle with his right hand as if showing it to
him ("See, I still have it! Ha! Ha!").
On the other hand, he's writing the Noldolante ([a pretence of regret]
as he cynically refers to it) to give a voice to all the dead and to
try to attone for the suffering he and his family have inflicted. He
is also elaborating on his own feelings of guilt for all the dreadful
things he did (Alqualonde, Losgar) and what he didn't do (rescue his
brother) as the true artist he is.
All in all, this "politically incorrect" Maglor is a refreshing and
original take on the character.

Title: O Merry Mine · Author: Larner · Races: Hobbits: Hurt/Comfort ·
ID: 636
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2008-08-27 15:18:54
Spoilers!
An intriguing look at the growth processes of Merry and Frodo, viewed
through the situation, revisited, of one cousin awakening another when
they share a bed. The closeness of young Frodo and little Merry is
well established and natural, since the orphaned Frodo lives in
Merry's home, being mothered by Merry's mother who is of course
Frodo's aunt.

Through this repeated plot device of the two cousins waking up
together and talking, Larner cleverly conveys the young Frodo's
discontent with his life at Brandy Hall, however much he loves his
aunt and uncle and little cousin Merry, he feels stifled and is
over-protected by the loving relatives who fear to lose him to ill
health. The way Merry clings to his cousin, as a younger child would
indeed to an older relative he adores, is quite credible.

I loved the introduction of Pippin into the mix, as first a baby,
whose habits cause Frodo to reveal to Merry that Merry himself had
once been a baby who needed to be changed, and then as a little one
who crawls into Merry's bed the way Merry once crawled into Frodo's.
And the prophetic nightmares of both Merry and Pippin are a nice
touch, told in childish terms, but still heartbreakingly real to those
who have read FOTR and TTT.

And the final 'waking' of Merry, with Pippin, who rarely goes anywhere
without Merry, is a lovely moment and ending to this delightful tale.

Title: To Sleep, Perchance to Dream · Author: Ariel/Auntie
Meesh/Budgielover/Cathleen/Dreamflower/Gryffinjack/kellyfrankenfield/Lindelea/Pearl
Took/Rosie Took/SlightlyTookish CoAuthors · Times: Late Third Age:
Gondor · ID: 496
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-08-27 23:59:10
well, i try again, just lost my first review, all1300 characters or so.
so techenically this is now my second every review for mefawards.
wanted to vote for the most outstanding effort; i find it amazing that
you got this Spruce Goose off the water. the first time i saw this on
a site i passed this by thinking "this is why you shouldn't read wips,
look how long they have been writing that." i opened it from its
subcategory list thinking it was going to get read, and past over.
when the page opened i scrolled down to grif'n'jk's interlude and
never stopped chuckling. every chapter had so much going for it but my
vote was sealed by that great motivational efforts; thank you so much,
you let so many readers frustrations escape so peacefully. the various
authors have been entertaining and enlightening on their own and by
combining their voices they have made a beautiful symphany. so often
in the stories i have read there are these awkward moments where we
switch from one setting to another. in these masterpiece, when we
leave say pippin, frodo, and gandalf to go see what faramir is up to,
even if we backtrack in time, we are not left with whiplash of the
plot.each of you are worthy of every award you can get, but this
should take top honors in every class it enters. the sheer audacity of
trying to get ten people on the same story line, and pulling off the
ultimate prank.without giving the story away i think this is the maost
i should say.