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A Matter of Appearances by Lindelea	7 Review(s)
demeter d	Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 8/25/2006
I have got to start my reviews differently. I have overused an expression! good for Rosamunda. She got right down to business. And good for the young ruffian. "I hope I never do"... I also hope he does not. And I hope he does not get blown up when the cave goes! Author Reply: Huh. Don't think I saw this review. At least, I don't remember it. Thanks for taking the time to leave your impressions!

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 8/21/2006
Phew! Well I am back from my parents a couple of days later than I intended which puts paid to the camping trip I was planning but at least I get to read the last few chapters all in one go! I think I was glad to do it like that as I don't think I could have borne to read them one by one! Poor Woodruff - I am glad she got the message across but now we have her to worry about on top of all the rest! And poor little lamb! But better it than Farry! And I was pleased to see Merry using their own experiences and that of the Three Hinters to try and comfort Pippin. More Lindelea, more, pleeeeeeese! Author Reply: You have your wish. I'm trying to update daily as long as I have the writing time. Once the school year starts I'll have to cut down again. Such is life. How I wish I could post long chapters and get the agony over with quickly! But anything over 3000 words is very difficult to post or edit, with our slow dialup. Drat. Thanks!

FantasyFan	Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 8/21/2006
And I forgot to mention, I am almost afraid to read any upcoming scene where Pippin receives the "tokens". Could there be anything more horrible than holding in your hands evidence that your beloved child has been tortured, maimed, and is either in agony or, probably (hopefully?) now dead? Maybe you are planning to spare Pippin this, and have Farry freed before this ghastly package comes to him, although it would be a powerful and dramatic scene for Pippin who has seen so much horror, and is so fiercely protective of his family in order to spare them from exactly this type of madness. What this will do to him - I cannot even think of it. I cannot imagine a more horrible anguish for a parent to go through, and if you write it I might have to keep reminding myself that this is a story, and that that this never really happened (or maybe even the drastic step of reminding myself that hobbits are not real), in order to make it through the chapter at all. Author Reply: I'm sorry. I thought long and hard on that scene, and whether it was to happen at all, and after great deliberation it was indeed written and appears in the next chapter, but only because, in the end, it will lead to healing of sorts, of Pippin's fears. I hope that is something of a comfort (and not a spoiler, but sometimes I feel the need to "spoil" when the story feels too hard to me, too unfeeling? Not sure what word I'm groping after).

FantasyFan	Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 8/21/2006
Ferdi is saved! I thought he was saved before, by Ted and Woodruff, but almost as soon as that reassurance was offered it was whisked away. This time, I think he is saved for good. I loved the 'I’ve ears, haven’t I?' coming from the grave, and I noticed for all the swooning (and near swooning) going on, it is the strength and sense of the hobbit women that saves him. And Farry is saved too, at least for the moment, from a truly awful fate. Reading the previous chapters was very difficult. You have convinced me that these particular ruffians are truly evil. They can no way be mistaken for misguided, or foolish but goodhearted, or ignorant, or even mentally ill ruffians. I don't think there is a chance for redemption for this particular group, save perhaps the youngest. Oh, I am sympathetic to him, and grateful for what he has been able to do for Farry, but he has already made so many bad choices that I wonder if the consequences of them are not inescapable. Ferdi is saved. There is more hope for Farry than I would have given a chapter ago. And now I am beginning to really worry about the character death warning. Author Reply: The "I've ears, haven't I?" was one of the saving graces of this story, so far as I'm concerned. As is an upcoming conversation between still-muddled Ferdi and loving Nell. glad sigh You are very perceptive in your analysis of the ruffians, as you will see very soon, I think. The "character death" was a difficult decision for me to make, but I think it was necessary in the end, and EF (can you believe it?) helped me to craft it so that it did not seem such a waste or an ironic throwing-away of a life, as might have been the way the draft was written. And your review has helped, immensely, with that conflict I've been feeling. So double thanks. Author Reply: Goodness, I was just going over reviews during (second) breakfast and noticed, for the first time, your catalogue of ruffians, as I had written them in past stories, to answer the challenge: Take someone against whom there will be automatic prejudice, and make him a sympathetic character. Even if you don't find yourself rooting for him, at least you understand a little of what makes him what he is. Not that it makes you want to "let him off scot-free", in most cases (a few exceptions, of course. Jack and the boys, and the Mayor of Dindale among them). Just that you understand the journey that brought him to his fate. And maybe, cause one to find ways to invest or intervene in young lives around oneself, to keep them from growing up into monsters some day. Don't know if that sounds too idealistic. Author Reply: p.p.s. It is interesting to speculate. Could the "fat man" have been one like the "young ruffian", once upon a time? Could the "brawny man"? Red, I think, is mentally ill, in today's terms. Criminally mentally ill? The sort that ought to be locked away for the rest of their lives, to protect the rest of us. (An uncle of mine would have shaken his head and muttered something about "should have been drowned at birth". For he was a rough-and-ready fellow and had seen horrors on the battlefields of World War II.)

Pearl Took	Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 8/20/2006
"It was rather complicated by the fact that his healer-wife would not let them merely fasten a rope around Ferdi under his arms, to haul him up rather like a sack of taters," Wonderful imagery!!! "like a sack of taters" LOL what a mental picture!! LOL Bless the poor young ruffian. I hope a wee bit o' mercy is show to him if and when the Tooks catch up with the gang. Well done, Lin. Author Reply: Whew, thanks! I'm writing the part of the story that I like best, at the moment. There is another part or two that I don't like, but I'm going to try to get over them as quickly as might be. Poor young ruffian, his prospects are dim, doesn't it seem? He might go from frying pan to fire, escaping his murderous companions only to be caught by furious Tooks!

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 8/20/2006
I am impressed--a certain would-be ruffian has proven anything but, and will soon be freed from awful masters, I think. Bless the young Man. And at LAST Ferdi spoke! About bloody time! Author Reply: Yes, the young ruffian has no hope of escape, at the moment, but he's cast his fate to the wind, in a manner of speaking, and is trying to help Farry. Bless him. I do hope there's some sort of reward in store for him. Good ol' Ferdi. He's still deep in his dreaming. And suffering from a serious concussion into the bargain. (Or maybe as a part of the whole.)

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 8/20/2006
Yaay!!! Ferdi's out of the ground--and seemingly never knew what happened to him other than it was uncomfortable and confusing! That's a blessing, anyway--he won't have the horrors over it later--not like he would if he'd understood! Now I do feel sorry for the young ruffian--very much like the Evil Queen's Huntsman, only worse, for he's still got his "victim" on hand, who could by inadvertance, give his secret away! And now Farry really can offer no warning at all about the gun-powder... Hurry Sam! Hurry Merry and Pippin! (I seem to be saying that a lot lately!) Author Reply: You're exactly right about Ferdi. He hasn't a clue. His reply to Rosamunda stems from a real-life incident. An elderly man, on his deathbed, was evidently processing memories, for he was murmuring complete conversations with someone, though his loved ones couldn't make out any of the words. One of his older children leaned over him, to say urgently, "Was there anything you wanted to say to us, Dad?" (Perhaps looking for some last nugget of wisdom...) He smiled and said in a loud, clear voice, "Not particularly!" ...and then he went back to his subvocal conversations. Those were his last words to be spoken aloud. And so Ferdi, in a world of his own, answers what seems to him a monumentally stupid question. But I'm glad that he went on to convalesce, instead of the alternative. Sam, Merry and Pippin are hurrying! At least Sam has a clear trail to follow. But soon they'll have no doubt as to their destination. (Is that too much of a spoiler?)

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