News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| Evensong by Rose Sared | 6 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 7/18/2005 | |
| "Aragorn groaned and dropped his head. It appeared that it was his fate on this trip to tangle with every magical being left in Middle-earth." Poor guy. Between morning stiffness and encountering characters from a time before his soldiers were born I can see where Aragorn would be feeling his age. But that line made me laugh. I could just see it. I enjoyed more of Legolas being stern with the river daughter, her spitefulness in giving him seagulls for guides and Aragorn's subtly lending support to the elf. I hadn't thought of Radagast being a fixture of Legolas' childhood, but it makes sense. Now I just want to read on and see where all of this stuff is leading. Godd tale! ~TF Author Reply: Yes well she is a minx that river daughter - still all the magic in M-e is involved in this tale. Hence our poor beleagured King! LOL. Thanks as ever for the support. Rose | |
| lwarren | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 6/17/2005 |
| This was a lovely chapter, Rose, full of delightful images and Legolas! LOL (Although I was ready to slap that sprite for sticking him with two gulls for guides...how mean was that?) I loved Aragorn waking up and trying to slap some sense into his sleepy head - and hearing the gulls and freaking out slightly for Legolas' sake - and rushing to join them "via the privy". Rose!!! The King of Gondor has to...you know........go? Well, I never! The conversation with Melusina was so elf-y...magic calls to magic indeed! I loved how she tells Legolas he is focusing on the wrong person...that "she" is draining the world and if he would leave off his association with mortals and pay attention, he just might realize it! That's a scary thought, that the association with mortals hinders Legolas' natural ability to "communicate" with the world of nature that he is usually so attuned to. (Very nice wrench there, Rose, to throw into the works...I'll bet it causes all kinds of problems!) :-) I love your visual word-pictures of the gulls in flight - have you been able to watch them a great deal? You seem to have a great feel for the way they move and how they look as they move. Comparing them to the tail of a kite, or the way they shift on the air like beads on a string *sighs and bows* Wonderful! (I also have to say I had a visual of the gulls all sitting lined up - reminds me of Nemo and the gulls all sitting around saying, "MINE"! I know, I know, I'm a goose! LOL) I love Ascallon already! 'nough said! :-) And the fact that Aragorn and Gimli are so supportive of Legolas (I almost cried when you said they could almost see the waves of the sea crashing behind his eyes *sniff*). Yes, the call is strong! I love Gimli - goofy dwarf (good friend), and I loved the reaction of the men to Radagast and how Aragorn warned them that if they didn't want to be a "different" shape in the morning, they wouldn't meddle in the affairs of wizards. Great chapter, Rose. I'm on to the next! linda Author Reply: Ahh Linda, I do love your reviews, thankyou. Here I am half way through ch10 and trying to work out how to move these stubborn people so they can find out what is going on, and agonising over who's point of view to tell the story from, and gosh I get fed up with the sound of the voice in my head. Then I get this lovely e-mail from you, and you 'like'my stories, and it makes it all worth while. I live about seventy paces from the sea, gulls are very close companions, daft birds that they are, Nemo got them almost completly right - loved it! I love making Ascallon do all the silly and illogical things that beloved horses all do, soft I am. Must go, muses are calling. Rose | |
| Imrahoil | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 6/15/2005 |
| Hm, faugh, very nice touch, like it. *grin* Gulls as guides? River daughters do like to hold grudges, don't they? That gives me lots and lots of wonderful ideas what Goldberry might do when Tom Bombadillo is getting on her nerves ... Like that even more. The plot thickens well, contrasting G/L/A/A not - yet - being able to deal with mortality with what happens when you're unable to accept death and act upon it. But of course you had to steer clear of N/C again for a whole chapter and leave us suspended. Authors do like power too much for my taste. Oh, I forgot: How lovely to hear from you, Rose. *grin again* Author Reply: Yes, well, N/C will get up to questionable good in the background until I can wrestle these very stubborn characters over to Fangorn. So far they are resisting my best efforts, digging their heels in and lingering in the valley of the Snowbourne. The tale keeps sprouting threads like a potato kept too long in the cupboard, and every OC wants his or her own time in the sun. It is most annoying. (So much for the authorial authority - I have a mutiny on my hands!) Thanks for your review, as always, it made my day. Rose | |
| ziggy | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 6/11/2005 |
| Oh brilliant- I love surprises! Radagast has always struck me as being rather undervalued and under rated- even by Tolkien (hush ma mouth!) She is a little minx that naughty Melusina- I am getting quite fond of her in a weird way. And ohmigod! Aragorn? Goes to the loo? Surely not! Thsi has got to be the FIRST ever when the Great Man has a need to visit the privy- and htat is what makes this wonderfully real and convincing. All the characters really do exist, and all the little details are used to make that happen. The crease between Legolas' eyes- he really does that. I like the way Melusina reprimands Legolas and tells him to attend to the business of elves instead of humans. I think there are a couple of others who would be surprised to find themselves agreeing with her, and you explore that relationship that will ultimately casue Legolas more pain than anyone - you have really made me think about that, the cost. In reply to your relpy (do you think Tolkien was a great one for great heroic epics where good triumphs over evil (every story just about is like this) but at a cost to the individuals - the Fellowship contains such a sadness: I can never read the appendices. And I never read the last chapter - just go back to the first. He always writes about loss in the end. You are managing this very well- exploring that idea but not terrifying me that they are all going to die! Thank you for the update ... little hint from impatient reader. I keep thinknig about Narvi... and Celebrimbor. What work? Is it hte same work as AUle spoke of to Gimli? So is Gimli come to help or destroy? ANd there is still that anguish to come when Legolas realsies what he will have to face. Author Reply: Heh heh heh. Sometimes it is much more fun to be the author than the reader- Narvi and Celembrimbor are beavering away in the background - never fear, rather a lot of the action is going to happen in their presence, so you will find out more about just what they are doing, and how our heroes aid or hinder that effort. I am sorry about the prevailing air of bittersweet sadness - it has always been a very compelling part of the story arc for me. This whole story sequence, right through from Adagio has been an attempt to resolve some of my issues around the good of the many balancing or at least affecting choices for the good of the one. Gracious, Aragorn's little attention to morning necessities has garnered some comment! I do try to make my characters as alive as possible, I am glad you are appreciating it. Fear not, they are not all going to die (yet anyway,) this is set in FA110 most of them have another decade, at least. Thanks for the review. Rose | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 6/10/2005 |
| Oh, very good. I like Radagast disappearing with Legolas and Gimli. Probably just as well Aragorn was left behind to stop the panic. (And he's feeling his age - I can't imagine he spends too much time on the road now. But what do you mean, he visits the privy? Surely Middle Earth was a privy-free zone!) '“And let your fen carry the cost? Not willingly, madam.” The river-daughter’s gaze intensified, “So now you begin to understand, Legolas. Free me,” she paused, seemed to fight some internal battle. “Please?”' . Interesting. Power drawing on the natural world - and improper use of power being destructive. Gulls as guides is a bit mean. But she is an elemental, I suppose. And calling them Peep and Squawk will probably help. It's difficult to be overly affected by creatures with ridiculous names. (Gimli is clever!) Aragorn groaned and dropped his head. It appeared that it was his fate on this trip to tangle with every magical being left in Middle-earth. Poor Aragorn. But take a deep breath and think - No Tom Bombadil. (Yet.) You can cope with the rest as long as there is no explosion of bad rhymes! I hope the muses are being cossetted and treated to all their favourite indulgences - I can't wait to see what they come up with next. Author Reply: Hah! No Tom is someone, thank goodness, who is staying a nice long way away from my imagination. Who knows, if my famous folk ever get to poke around on the borders of the shire - I suspect he could not keep his irrepresible self away from my sleepless nights. Thanks for the kind words, as ever your feeding does more to keep the muses alive than a bucket of champagne. Rose. Author Reply: PS I think a privy free world would either become a little congested or rather smelly - LOL. Rose | |
| daw the minstrel | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 6/9/2005 |
| A string of gulls lifted into the air like the tail of a kite What a striking and true image. The men's reaction to Radagast was funny, and it drove home how time has passed so that Gimli and Aragorn are aging. I'm really enjoying this, Rose. I hadn't realized how much I missed your writing. Author Reply: Thank you, daw - I miss your writing when you have a pause too! I am glad you liked my image, I do like to write with some descriptors ( mainly, I think, because I see these tales as videos which I then have to transcribe -lol) but it is hard to be accurate and original. Gulls I have by the bucket load though, I live by the sea, so their behaviour is easier than some! The encouraging words are working - Ch9 next week I hope. Rose | |