News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| The Acceptable Sacrifice by Larner | 11 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 61 on 1/9/2006 |
| I just love the way Frodo speaks of Aragorn.He must miss him so much as there is no one to rely on now.It must be very hard with people asking nosey questions. Author Reply: Yes, I think Frodo's love for Aragorn would make itself felt, as well as the fact he missed being at the King's side. And the questions which he knows he will have difficulty answering and they will have difficulty understanding answers to are going to be a distinct trial. | |
| Baggins Babe | Reviewed Chapter: 61 on 1/7/2006 |
| I think Brendi is one of the best OCs ever - he's so sensible and sympathetic, and at least he believes Frodo, even if the story boggles his mind! He's heard of the Witch-King but didn't quite believe it, but he knows Frodo wouldn't make such things up. I loved Pease scolding Brendi for riding his pony too hard. Naturally he would be horrified. And how like Frodo to blame himself for so much - even Saruman's fall he sees as being the result of wanting the Ring for so long, and of course he knows all too well what it feels like to have that thing hooked into one's mind and will. Author Reply: I'm glad others also like Brendilac. He and Ruvemir I've both come to love so much since they introduced themselves into my imagination, Ruvemir from the space where the drawer's missing under the bed and Brendi in a tavern in Buckland. Frodo needs someone like Brendi right now, just as he needs someone like Mina right now. Brendi's about worn his poor pony out trying to make certain his beloved cousin and client is indeed home to the Shire safely; and of course someone like Pease is going to give him what for, and he'll accept it as his due because he knows he deserves it. Yet it was worth it to see Frodo. And Frodo does understand at the same time he can't completely understand. Frodo's lust for the Ring was planted and brought to flower by the Ring itself; to be lusting just for the IDEA of the Ring being available must seem in ways incomprehensible to him. | |
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 61 on 1/7/2006 |
| “What didn’t happen to me, Brendi?” he said softly. “Don’t waste your time feeling sorry for me--I’m not worth it.” It will never be a waste of time to pity someone! No-one knows this better than Frodo himself, for that's what he did his whole life and he never considered first if someone was worthy enough! Why can't he accept pity and comfort from others? It's just not fair! Brendi, however, does not so easily give in. He senses that something terrible happened to Frodo and he wants to know what it was - as a friend! I'm surprised how much Frodo finally told him, but on the other hand Brendi is the perfect audience. He is not so close to him as his cousins and Sam, or Sara and Esme, but also a real good friend and, being his lawyer, reliable to keep all secret. It was very hard for Frodo to speak of his journey, but I think it helped a lot. I'm really glad that Brendi arrived. BTW, will we meet Narcissa in this story, too? Author Reply: We tend to be so much harder on ourselves than we are on others, and Frodo cannot see his own standard of behavior he shows toward others is due him as well. Too bad our emotional selves aren't necessarily fair. Am glad you appreciate Brendi's arrival and presence, and the fact it's easier to speak with him than his cousins to whom he's more closely emotionally tied. And, yes, Narcissa will be here as well. | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 61 on 1/7/2006 |
| Poor Frodo. Looks like there's no peace for him anywhere. I don't know whether it's better or worse for him to be in a place where most people don't understand what he went to fight, and what he accomplished. Author Reply: I like how in Dreamflower's current story "A Chance Encounter" she has brought out how different people are seeking to capitalize on the Hobbit's fame to promote their own businesses or trying to pretend to be friends so they can try to get them to promote personal agendas or to promote a love affair or marriage; it is so true to what we see when folks are announced to have won large jackpots in state lottos or become famous and so on. And even in this story I used the commonplace habit of stealing underware and cutting off locks of hair and sneaking in just to stare at the sleeping Hobbits as justification for Aragorn keeping a guard on the enclosure in which Frodo and Sam sleep in Ithilien. Yet at home he's constantly being called upon to explain, except before he can finish others are talking over him to tell their own stories or don't have the experiential base to understand what he says or just don't WANT to believe. Or they're demanding explanations they then reject. Plus he wants to forget, and can't truly while all are questioning about the lost finger or whatever. He's in a Catch 22. So, no, there is no true peace for Frodo where everybody knows what he did, or where his exploits are unknown. In neither does he truly manage to come to peace with it. | |
| Radbooks | Reviewed Chapter: 61 on 1/7/2006 |
| I enjoyed reading Frodo's letter over his shoulder too! At least I had permission. :) This chapter reminded me of how much I like Brendi and makes me want to go back and re-read The Ties of Family for the 3rd or 4th time! :) I am so glad that he was able to get Frodo to share what had happened to him. Frodo needs other people to know what had truly gone on, even if that is only a small group of people. And Brendi is a safe person for him to share it with, he is both compassionate and brave. Loyal, too. And his love for Frodo is obvious. I loved how he held Frodo's hand and wept over it and wouldn't let Frodo pull it away and hide it from him... he wanted to know the truth. Sometimes you have to do that with people. It was all so very good. Very well done! Author Reply: The more Brendilac Brandybuck appears in my stories, the better I like him, too. And, yes, he is the love that wants to know the truth, and even though he doesn't understand it all, he at least asks to know it and accepts it and so helps Frodo begin to come to terms with it for here at home in the Shire. In time, because he's open to what Frodo tells him now, Brendi is ready to go to Gondor to see the fullness of it, to understand fully, to rejoice for Frodo as Frodo could only do in part for what Frodo accomplished. You've read "The Choice of Healing" that many times? I'm truly honored! And so glad you liked Frodo's letter. At least Mina saw the more personal parts, and will be better able to appreciate the nature of the King than many when he comes north. | |
| harrowcat | Reviewed Chapter: 61 on 1/7/2006 |
| I'm sorry I couldn't review this morning Larner but it was a case of read and run or read, review and be late! I got to work by the skin of my teeth and then found that both priests had over-slept and I was locked out! What a day. Another chapter full of lovely details like Brendi using his pony too hard and the reaction he gets; Brendi's noticing the quality of the tack and Frodo's reaction to his automatic instinct to cosset him. At last, someone, (not of the Fellowship,) who isn't afraid to touch and hold Frodo, at least his hand, and demand answers. It is all too easy to skirt around the truth when people are struggling to avoid pain for them and ourselves. I am glad that at least two people from within the Shire are getting him to talk and giving him honest reactions. But What a mark of trust from Brendi! “You’ll never believe it.” “You’ve never lied to me, Frodo Baggins.” Frodo is having to find words and comparisons that will allow at least some to understand something of the enormity of the events that have happened and enough to begin to make links with the outside world. The letter to Aragorn is great, especially the list of things that Frodo will miss. Author Reply: I was a bit late to work last night--didn't want to stop reading stories here, actually. Sounds like your day began with frustration. Glad you felt the way Brendi treated his pony was appropriately described as well as the reactions to it by old Pease. And also glad you liked how the tack was admired and its quality remarked upon. But Brendi is the type of person Frodo needs. So many aren't going to be able to understand; yet even though his experiential base is lacking, Brendi makes the effort and accepts what he's told, and demonstrates he truly loves Frodo, which at the moment Frodo needs desperately. And am so glad you appreciate Brendi's statement of trust. And so glad folk appreciate the letter! | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 61 on 1/7/2006 |
| Naughty Brendi, exhausting his poor horse. Although I can see why he wanted to get to Frodo. Frodo is being very obstinate about things like special teas - he really doesn't want to give in to any level of invalidism, and of course he makes himself worse. I think it's helping him seeing others around him - like Will - who are also suffering the effects of war. And it makes him stand out less at the moment, until those who are suffering from the Troubles recover and he doesn't. Author Reply: Yes, Brendi is being markedly irresponsible for the health of his pony; but feels the scolding and the danger are worth it to see for himself Frodo is there and still alive and, apparently at first, okay. The love he feels is demonstrated in a way Frodo can't help but realize. And you are certainly right on about the way Frodo's response to his own condition is expressed, and how it may be helped at first by the presence of others such as Will, others who for the most part will recover while he won't. So glad to see your comments and responses. | |
| Kitty | Reviewed Chapter: 61 on 1/7/2006 |
| Nice to see Brendi again! And somehow I am glad Frodo told him at least a bit about his journey, though it is so difficult for Frodo to talk about it. Brendi deserves to know it. But it hurts to see Frodo blaming himself for absolutely everything. Well, at least Aragorn is a topic he’s happy to talk about. It is truly sad they don’t meet again for hundred and twenty years. Author Reply: So glad others are also happy to see Brendilac appear in this story. It gives Frodo the knowledge that at least someone still loves him unconditionally who's known him fairly well for years, which he needs. But Aragorn is someone he'll always be able to speak about, I think. However, as deeply as the two are in one another's hearts, even that a hundred twenty-some years is worth it in the end, I think. | |
| Queen Galadriel | Reviewed Chapter: 61 on 1/6/2006 |
| Poor Frodo. I suppose it did him good to tell Brendie, but...I just don't know. And yes, I agree with what you said in the reply to my last review, and more heartily than I would have before reading this chapter. Frodo does indeed need some good plain looking after from someone he's not going to fight at every turn. He also needs some peace, without all those dratted business papers to show him in further detail the damage done to the Shire and what a mess there is to clean up. But it *is* good that he has something else to focus on besides his own grief and traumatic memories. I wish I could just jump right into the story and join Sam in making sure that he doesn't overdo. Can't wait for more now! God bless, Galadriel Author Reply: Yes, Frodo needs something worthwhile to do he knows is doing some actual good. And he needs those willing to listen and assure him he's worthwhile in spite of himself. It will make it easier to accept healing in the Undying Lands when that comes. I know what you mean about wanting to be there with Sam making Frodo relax from time to time, though. | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 61 on 1/6/2006 |
| “Frodo! What happened to you?” Frodo rose abruptly and pulled away. “What didn’t happen to me, Brendi?” he said softly. This just breaks my heart. *sigh* Author Reply: There's always something there to remind him he's not as he was, and that the last year wasn't but a dream of glory and horror. And he's still ashamed of what he didn't manage to do. And, from his perspective, it must feel at times as if everything possible had indeed happened to him. | |