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| Deific Flame by Bejai | 4 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Sphinx | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 8/27/2019 |
| Too impatient to sign in. I'm reading this after years and years and years, and it is still so very good. If you ever bend your mind back here and back to these elves, I'd give an arm and a leg to see this complete. Also, hello. :D Author Reply: Ah, hello old friend! Quite a surprise to get a review on this old story. It still pokes me, from time to time. I'd probably have to read LotR, the Silm, and Unfinished Tales again to remember what I was talking about! One of these days, though .... | |
| Redheredh | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 11/28/2006 |
| !!**Happy Dance**!! These chapter openings with Sauron (your version of him rocks) are always so arresting and entertaining! I really enjoyed getting a glimpse at his human general's problematic service. And getting that fellow's perspective on Gil-galad's strategy. Yay! for the return of bonnie Calandil! Little Valandil is an absolutely wonderful character through which to view this not-quite final victory. Certainly Estel's predecessor in a long line of fostered princes. Seeing Celeborn/Calandil in Elrond/Glorfindel's role was very satisfying - establishing the pattern, so to speak. Poor Valandil, though. So young to have witnessed the sorrow of the elves and to be embarrassed about his fellow mortals. You made him a very real boy, vigorously running about and pulling at his collar. But, mostly by having him share his innocent heart. Celborn's insightful remarks about the next generation accusing his kind of not setting the ills of world right during their turn, as he accused the Valar, had me nodding at its sad eternal truth. What a neat way to announce the not-victory having each person feel it within the way of his own nature! Ah, the fair, perilous Lady! The child's reaction was so pure, astonishment - not fear. Will it be the same when he is grown? You do both Lord and Lady justice in your depiction of them. Lovely reunion. And having you post here again is a lovely reunion, as well. Your writing is such a great treat to read. Always leaves one craving more. :) Author Reply: Thanks, Redheredh. A dose of LotR from my roommate this weekend, as well as the unexpected appearance of some old online friends in my life (like you, for example) helped get this chapter off the ground at last. Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, Sauron. He remains facinating. Fun to write a character who is just plain evil, without trying to come up with excuses for him or be nuanced. He is who he is, and proud of it :) Glad you enjoyed Valandil. It was a change for me writing a young character. I had to work with him for a while to get him to settle into it. When you write characters who are thousands of years old, it can be tough to nail an eleven year old in a way that is believable. (Especially since I don't know many eleven year olds). I'm glad to hear that it was successful. So glad you picked up on Celeborn's comment about not righting the ills of the world when he had the chance. That's going to be a theme for a while. This was the best way I could think of to write the end of the war and Isildur's taking of the ring. I really didn't want to rehash that familiar episode. Coming to some clear way of acknowledging such a major event without having to write it really fouled me up for a long time. This works, I think. Thanks so much for your kind comments, and for sticking with this story despite the embarrassingly long delay. I have some new direction and excitement for moving forward, and I'm recommitting to writing this story. So here is hoping for chapters a little closer together than annually :) | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 11/28/2006 |
| Not easy to get away from Sauron once he's got you in his power. And what a campaign. For sheer nastiness, it couldn't have been much worse, really. I love Valandil, though. I sense future echoes of his descendant - that semi-orphaned Dunadan at the end of another age. Brought up with elves and having to relearn his place among men. And aren't boys always like this - longing to grow up and take their place among the warriors, while their carers want to keep them as children for those last precious days. Calandil is lovely - and makes an excellent substitute father. One willing to delay his reunion with his wife because the boy needed him. The reunion of Celeborn and Galadriel is absolutely beautiful. So understated and yet gleaming with joy. I should think the echoes of it are ringing throughout Imladris. I was so thrilled to see this - and I love Valandil's perspective on the events that ended an age. I'm looking forward to when you get a chance to move this further forward. Such a treat. Author Reply: Sauron's certainly not getting any nicer. I find I still enjoy writing him, just for that reason :) Valandil is an interesting character who serves as a nice parallel for a lot of things. Estel's predecessor, certainly. He is also a boy who is about to have his father's kingship shoved onto him--not unlike Amroth's situation. The more I worked with him in this chapter, the more he was exactly the right character to move this story forward. It just took me forever to figure that out. I adore Calandil as well. I find that he is an amalgum of many of the strong, wise (and teasing) men of my childhood. I must admit, the reunion was my favorite part of this chapter :) Those two get to me every time. Thanks so much for reviewing, and for sticking with me despite the embarassingly long gap between chapters. The next is already half written, with more ideas coming, and I'm excited to move forward again as I haven't been in some time. So stay tuned :) | |
| perelleth | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 11/28/2006 |
| Well, it was well worth the wait indeed. I am always awed by how easily you draw the ethereal quality of elves while picturing them as strong, powerful beings, and Valandil's eyes here did the job perfectly. I loved the atmosphere in Imladris, the way they all felt what had been going on, how they understand the weight of what has passed yet manage to keep the child bissfully ignorant of the worst parts of it. Undesrtated yet clear, the atmosphere of a very dearly bought victory is clear here, yet still I had to gap in joy and amazement with Valandil at the sight of the two lovers reunited. You write beautifully, Bejai, please do not leave us here? :-) Author Reply: Thank you. I had the hardest time figuring out how to do the fall of Sauron without actually writing it. This seemed to work, and I'm glad to hear that it did. Valandil has some interesting parallels that I want to explore in the next chapter or two, and this was a good way to introduce him and set him up while still moving the plot forward. Glad you enjoyed the lovers reunited. I wanted them to have a nice one for once. Just a decade apart this time :) I'm certainly not leaving you here. I have a good portion of the next chapter written, and a pretty clear idea of where I want to go with it. My difficulty has been summoning the will to write for fun (I write at work all day), but having gotten back into the swing of it, I'm excited to move forward again. Thanks so much for your kind words. Lovely to "see" you again. | |