News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| May the Valar Protect Them by Nilmandra | 18 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| endorearwen | Reviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 7/9/2013 |
| This review is for the entire story rather than just the last chapter. I'm positively stunned at how beautifully you write! The characters are engaging immediately from the first word we read of them! Tathiel in particular is very inspiring. The tenderness and love that permeates the interactions between the characters is excellent. There is a sense of true feeling, genuine caring, between these people who are not blood relatives but who are as devoted as family to each other by choice. The strength of the bond between Tathiel and Legolas mirrored so completely the true bonding of mother and child that all you did with them in the story felt 'real', if I may be permitted to use the word! The detail included about Legolas' personality enchanted me and I instantly fell in love with this little elfling! I must also thank you for having written Thranduil as such a compassionate he-elf towards Tathiel. The gentleness of his approach when he asks her to continue acting as surrogate mother to Legolas was more than heartwarming. This was only one of the moments in the book when I must admit to having shed tears, so connected had I become to the 'reality' of their lives! Thranduil, as you have written him, is a King I could easily discover loyalty towards within myself. I must also compliment you on the plot development of the story. The highs and lows have been written with sufficient frequency to make this reader feel she had also been on an exodus! To bring the reader so often so close to reaching the goal and then cast them on to another series of tormenting delays is difficult to do without making the reader feel discouraged. Yet, you have achieved it so well that your twists and turns served only to strengthen my resolve to 'stick with them' until they finally are found by the elven warriors. I thoroughly enjoyed getting a greater insight into the 'feelings' a warrior might have when on such an endeavour and which provide them with the motivation to soldier on despite the sense of uncertainty that dogs them throughout their journey. I loved the teasing you incorporated into the dialogue between the warriors! It was a perfect way to release the stress of all that must be passed through as the plot continues and provides us with a sense of how close these characters are to one another (something mere mortals cannot share as we do not live for thousands of years in each other's company!) You manage to achieve such tremendous depth of connection with so few words - an art to be sure! I would never have thought the ‘Watcher’ of that long, hard winter to be one of the Maiar! Until the very end, the question of who he was and how he was connected to the characters lingered in my mind. Unexpected as it was for him to be such a being, I cannot imagine how much more perfectly he could otherwise have been explained! As you might have guessed by now, I think you've written an absolutely DELIGHTFUL story, full of emotion that draws its readers in and so consistent with the Middle-Earth that JRR Tolkien created that I was sorry to see the story end! KUDOS to you on a job well done!! | |
| Red Squirrel | Reviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 5/22/2013 |
| I have read all of Daw's wonderful tales and I noticed that you were her beta so I decided to check your work out and I am certainly glad that I did! I LOVED that large family! Each member played such a unique part in the family unit. I also liked Thranduil...he is one of my favorites. It was so nice to see a story about love and sacrifice. I rejoiced with them when they finally returned home! I am certainly going to go and read more of your work! Thank you so much for sharing it with us! | |
| Shlain | Reviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 4/6/2009 |
| Oh this was such a good story! I can't wait to read the rest. I was so angry and gasped at the ill treatment poor Legolas received from Hazad and his bad seed of a brother. Pitty his youngest died. Would like to have read that he got happily married. I was so glad when you paired Tathiel and Rawien. He is just what "Tafiel" needed. I had tears in my eyes at the family reunion. You are really a talented writer. Good job on keeping us guessing about the watcher. I thought it was Maglor *scoff* Keep it up! Shlain | |
| Josie | Reviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 7/26/2007 |
| I just wanted to say- that was amazing! I've read several of you other stories, and they are all wonderful. You capture the known characters so well, and your own fit in perfectly. The relationships between the characters, and the voice and personalities of each are perfect. Its obvious from this tale and the others that you've spent a good deal of time around children, and can recreate their free and uninhibited spirits, as well as how they respond to different situations. Well done! Coming from a large family myself, with two younger siblings, I can picture many of the scenes without any trouble! ;-) Good job, and keep writing! Author Reply: Thanks, Josie, I am glad you enjoyed the story. It will always remain dear to me as the first story I wrote, but also due to the attachments I made to the characters. | |
| runnerbeast | Reviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 4/16/2007 |
| My review is late in coming, but I just read your fabulous story! (in book form) =) This was just WONDERFUL! Once I got started I couldn't put it down. Almost all original characters, you know, and they were all priceless! I loved how you wrote the ones you borrowed from Tolkien, too, of course. I loved the trips you took back to Thranduil's halls and the way Lathron's relationship with his father grew and how he could keep tabs on Legolas - that was heart wrenching. You made me struggle along with the 4 lost ones to get them home and keep them safe. I couldn't say what part was better or best. I just loved it all. I'm glad we found out more of who the Watcher was in the end, thank Eru for him! =D Thank you so much for this story. I can't wait to read more of their adventures as Legolas grows! | |
| moonshine | Reviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 4/6/2005 |
| Wow, what an ending that was. I loved it and even cried myself. Lol! This story is really good. The writing for it was perfect, and the plot was excellent. I like the fact that you have a tiny bit of humor mixed in with all the suspense and drama. It is a very good story, and I can`t wait to read the sequel! Author Reply: I love it when people laugh and cry at my stories - life is that way, I think, with wonderful moments of laughter and joy even in times of great despair and sorrow. I am glad you liked it, and I hope you enjoy reading more of Legolas as he grows up. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 9/3/2004 |
| This was the very first long Lord of the Rings story I read after I discovered the genre back around Christmas. I've read a lot since then. I still love this one, though. So I suppose that makes you responsible for me taking up my pen - or keyboard - and writing my own. Author Reply: I shouldn't admit it, but Tathiel and Lathron are my two favorite OC's that I've written. I'm glad you still like this story after reading more of what is out there - it was my first attempt and I have to admit I see all the technical aspects of my writing that needed improving! (daw whips me into shape). And if I am responsible, then I count myself forutnate! I like your stories, although I see I am behind - again! But a new chapter of HLII will be up this weekend. Its nearing completion. :-) | |
| Lianna | Reviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 8/5/2004 |
| It is almost superfluous to add another gushing review to your already overflowing collection, but I had to tell you how much I enjoyed this story. I was especially impressed with Elenath's blessing at the festival -- certainly one of the most touching scenes I have ever read. And the special link between Lathron and Legolas was a wonderful idea. It is truly amazing what you have done with a story that consists almost entirely of OCs (except for Thranduil). I am amazed that I could care so much for people whom I did not know at all before starting your story. Author Reply: I am so glad you did! That scene with Elenath was a tearjerker to write too. One of the themes of Tolkien I liked is the closeness of elven families and community, and that scene was one way to show that. I am glad you liked that. I am going to have to admit that I fell in love with Lathron while writing him - and I am very glad you came to care for these characters! Thank you for the review - I very much appreciate it. | |
| Duchess | Reviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 5/17/2004 |
| Oh what a wonderful story and it finally had the happy ending I was looking for. Sheesh you put these characters through a lot and reading this was emotionally exhausting! lol I found myself screaming at the "bad men" along with little Legolas and having a hissy fit to see them all pay dearly for the harm they'd both done and intended against the lost Elves. *relieved sigh* I'm glad they paid, but felt sorry for Tal Elmar (or however you spell his name) that he died too. *pout* I'd like to think he wound up with his wife who died before him and they are happy in whatever version of heaven Men of Arda went to. I also like to envision the hell his evil family members are going through for eternity. *vb~wicked~g* Well written and I loved it dearly. I'm almost afraid to start reading the sequel because I get so caught up in the characters you've created I neglect everything else and I really ought to get SOME work done today. *giggle* Author Reply: Thanks, Duchess, I am glad you liked it. Little Legolas was endearing and I thought *his* ellyth and Tathiel were wonderfully brave to survive such conditions. I felt bad for Tal-Elmar too, but he was an example of how innocent people can surely be harmed by those around them. Thank you for reviewing! | |
| lwarren | Reviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 4/28/2004 |
| I read this story about eight months ago (I was brand new to fanfiction) and never reviewed it until I realized it was posted here. I think this was one of the first epic-length stories I ever tried. I remember staying after school a couple of hours extra to read it for the several days it took, and have reread it several more times since then. I love Legles! What a sweetie - his place in the story, and especially after he started talking, are priceless. All of the other characters are great, too. I really liked Lathron, 'tho, and his connection to his baby brother. Wonderful stuff! The ending and reunion with his family, his naneth and Aglos is pretty much perfect...the only way to improve on it would be to make it longer :) . Thank you for such a terrific intro to the extended world of the elves. I've been partaking (er.. can you say "overdosing?") ever since! linda Author Reply: Linda, it is so kind of you to come back and review this now. I can tell you it thrills me that people like this story enough to re-read it. I love Lathron too. Someone compared him to Faramir once, and I rather agree with that. He is the gentle brother who is a competent soldier, but really would rather not fight. Legolas is fortunate to have him. :-) | |