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| Many fruitless victories by perelleth | 3 Review(s) |
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| elliska | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 6/26/2005 |
| I found this when you were on the Chapter 3 update but I got distracted and forgot to review it, so I will now. I have only read two other 'modern' stories past the first chapter. I generally dislike them, but this one is outstanding. I love the theme--our destruction of the environment is something that I take very seriously in RL, so I enjoy seeing the theme in lit. And I love the way you handled it here. Greenwood Great! Love it! And I love the idea of Celeborn, Thranduil, Daeron and Maglor! Zero ecological imprint! If only we could do it. Great! And I found I really liked your OC, Cyrus. He was a good mix for Thranduil and Celeborn. A Man who had also spent his life fighting. (“I’ll never give up, though!” he stated calmly, and left the office without looking back. I loved that reaction). I was glad to see that in the end his contributions mattered and Camp Feldman was an excellent touch. I am also glad that in the end, Celeborn told him somethings (their names, about the Song of Arda). That was very moving to me for some reason. The story of the albatrosses in chapter 3 (I think) moved me to tears. I absolutely love birds and I've been on a number pelagic birding tours to see the birds one can normally only find at sea. This was a wonderful description and portrays our dying planet very well. And the puma! We have a smaller, Florida variety of those where I live. Very endangered. I held a young one born in captivity once. It was awesome. I love Warrior!Thranduil and this was an incredible, if sad, view of him. I think I was as awed as Cyrus was. Those two stories were very powerful. But what impressed me the most was your ability to portray Thranduil and Celeborn in character so nicely in modern settings. I absolutely loved the conversation in chapter 2 when Cyrus is quizzing Greenwood about his 'sect' and all its different branches. That was great. And as I said, I love Thranduil with the albatrosses and the puma. And I love Silvertree's personality--he seemed to hold everything together to me. The end was so sad. “Say better another fruitless victory, for fight we must, even if there’s no possible victory in the end, except beyond our limited sight...” “You hope, still? “Always. That’s our gift.” “Hope?” “We call it Estel, hope beyond knowledge…” That was great. I love that the Elves, who had always helped mankind, did so one last time to achieve their fate beyond the bound of Arda. I loved the Epilogue. Silvertree and Greenwood's last conversation about why they stayed. Great! Seeing the four of them sail away with Eärendil was wonderful but sad. And I liked this: First it was like the distant rolling of the waves on a rocky beach, but then it grew to a deep sound, an overwhelming melody of impossible beauty that seemed to come from the very light and pulse around them as the radiance grew in intensity shrouding them and seeping into their bones. Very well done. Very powerful. This was a wonderful story all the way around. Thanks for sharing! Author Reply: Hi elliska! I'm glad you made it through the prologue and found it worth your time and interest! I'm still a bit embarassed myself, since I don't read modern time elven stories, and lo! here I am! I must say that first chapter hit me almost in its actual form one day, after a couple of particularly frustrating months. It was me the speaker in the empty meeting room, only it wasn't an elegant and misterious Celeborn offering me the light at the end of the tunnel, but an angry looking security chap urging me to clear out after a quite discouraging meeting... and the rest.. just... came about. You're a bird watcher? That's amazing, isn't it? I love sea birds, above all. I once was lucky enough to watch a pair of wandering albatrosses in their mating sail and it did bring tears to my eyes. I don't remember the cold,or the relnetless wind or the boat pitching madly, I only remember the awe at the sight of those two birds dancing so perfectly... Wonderful. I'm so glad you found Celeborn and Thranduil are in character. I think that environmental protection suited them perfectly, with their long time vision their patience and compassion and their love for all living things. And the sense of humour. Sense of humour to me always pairs with spiritual peace, and these four, if anguished by the dying earth, must have been so deeply attuned to it that were able to find peace even in their direst situation. Wish I were! Heartfelt thanks for your long and kind review. it is amazing to see my words quoted, they look entirely different in your review. And thanks to you for sharing. It was a rewarding experience, to purge all this out of my system, but it was doubly rewarding to hear from readers who enjoyed it, too. | |
| Redheredh | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 6/4/2005 |
This is a very promising opening. Doomsday stories are actually very hopeful if you beleive the protagonists with prevail and stave off the End-of-the-world. But, can *this* be stopped? And why try? Just for the sake of the good fight and noble defeat? - Nice choice of title. Your quick introduction was very skillfully written. If you writing this in an effort to show how to do modern-times stories right, you have made a perfect start. Author Reply: Thank you for your kind words,Redheredh! I suppose that some things are what they are, and how we face them is what matters, despite the result. That's what I love about Tolkien's approach in LoTR ( and can be traced in the Silm, too) "If you writing this in an effort to show how to do modern-times stories right, you have made a perfect start." You made me blush! You se, the thing is I do not read modern-times stories as a rule, and then Whack! this hit me. I've had a couple of very busy months travelling qround and seeing thisng, and. I guess the elves were lurking there....I'm so happy you liked it! | |
| daw the minstrel | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 6/4/2005 |
| This is exactly what I think the Elves would have been doing if they'd lived into our age! What a great start. You do this very well too, Perelleth. You introduce your characters and set up the situation without dumping a backstory on us. Lovely. Author Reply: Welcome on board! Yes, I always expect to run into one of them out there, doing exactly this, althoguh I haven't yet succeded..:-( I particularly appreciate your comment on the Prologue, for the story is wholly drafted and almost finished, and the the whole prologue scene appeared before my eyes then, and I thought it would help set the tale. I'm so glad you think it worked, thanks, I'm so untrained in this thing...! | |