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| The Blue Wizard Blues by GamgeeFest | 7 Review(s) |
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| Althea | Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 7/24/2007 |
| Your description of the vivid colored clothes, the music, and dancing at the feast was amazingly detailed. I feel as if I was there. I love the line about Sam being the wisest of ninnyhammers. It was good seeing everyone enjoying themselves after the horror of what they had been through. I am worried that things might not be quite over yet for Frodo, though. Author Reply: Thank you for your kind praise, Althea! It's always wonderful to hear when a reader feels a part of the story. :D The ninnyhammer line is my favorite also. I imagine Frodo saying it with much warmth and admiration, and Sam blushing shyly but proudly in response. :) I'm glad you liked it. As wonderful as this feast was, the best thing about it is knowing there will be more to follow. They have a long way to go to rebuild their kingdom, but the very fact that they can now do this is something to celebrate indeed. Frodo too still has some obstacles to overcome if he is to be free as well. Hopefully with all that he's learned and come to understand, he will now be able to do this. | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 7/23/2007 |
| What a beautiful and entrancing chapter, GF! You've done a marvelous job in combining the fruits of your research into a fascinating bit of unexplored Middle-earth. Sam's dream worries me. What's he going to find when he gets home to the Shire? Has Rosie finally been browbeaten into giving up on him? Oh dear! Author Reply: Thank you, DF! Khand and Harad continue to show me more and more with each chapter. It's been truly interesting glimpsing these little bits of life in these unexplored realms. Sam has much on his mind. Just as with the Quest to destroy the One Ring, once the quest was over and his master safe, Sam could allow himself to think more on what he left behind. This wasn't so much a vision as a glimpse into his own subconscious. Still, he is going to have some explaining to do! ;) | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 7/22/2007 |
| A most wonderful celebration, and well worth the joining by our fellows. And love the evening of dancing and singing. As for Frodo, the Great Shaman--Sam is a wise one indeed! Author Reply: It was a long overdue celebration and now the Khandrim won't have to wait nearly so long for the next one, or the one after. This is just the first of many to come. :) Sam has a way of simplifying a complicated situation. He gets right to the heart of it and neverminds about all the variables, which makes it very difficult to argue with him. Frodo may still be reluctant, but he'll play his part with more ease now. :) | |
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 7/22/2007 |
| Well, what can I say after those lovely reviews? This was excellent, GamgeeFest! Like the stories told a the feast, this chapter was full of colors. And it felt as if you were in the middle of it all! You should start a career as oriental storyteller :) Like Sam, Frodo had a "dream" or a vision. But Frodo's dream seemed to be rather disturbing. I would like to know what it was about. You will tell us, won't you? Author Reply: Thank you, sweetie! It was interesting to discover what sorts of tales the Khandrim would tell and how they would go about telling them. The women dance them, the men sing them or tell them. They haven't had much reason to celebrate for many long years, so they really went all out here. :) Frodo hasn't been having an easy time of it since his confrontation with the wizards. The cleansing ritual was essential for him, and by extension for Sam, but he still has much he needs to face and consider. We'll find out soon what he saw, no worries. ;) | |
| lovethosehobbits | Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 7/22/2007 |
| Oh what a master at weaving a tale, are you, dear one. This was entrancing and mesmerizing in all its glory. Author Reply: Thank you, dear! I'm doing my best with a story that has often surprised me, from its conception all the way to its eventual end. I'm so glad you are enjoying it! | |
| elanor winterflowers | Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 7/22/2007 |
| Again, fabulous world-building. This is a rich tapestry you are so expertly weaving, exotic and very human. I loved the music and dancing and story-telling, and Frodo and Sam's cleansing ritual was lovely! And poor Frodo! What new dreadfulness awaits his healing touch NOW? Fabulous story. Looking forward to more! Author Reply: Thank you dear! I'm glad you're enjoying these chapters. The story keeps expanding, even as it should be winding down. There's just so much left to cover. I now understand a teensy bit of what Tolkien must have gone through, thinking he would finish LOTR in four books, then five, only to eventually write six, plus appendices. I had to expand much of this section to make it into a full-length chapter, as it was originally supposed to end the last chapter. I'm glad it feels geniune and not just like a bunch of filler. I was glad to see more of the cleansing ritual for Frodo and Sam, as this was important for them both to rid themselves of the horrors of the fortress, at least physically. And anytime you can spend more time on a feast is just time well spent! The Khandrim had many more tales to tell than they originally hinted to me. ;) | |
| Queen Galadriel | Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 7/21/2007 |
| Did Sam have a glimpse into his and Rosie's future there? This concerns me though: It is some time before he realizes his master is sitting on the edge of his bench, his hands clutching the wood so hard his knuckles are white, and he is staring blankly at the lotus blossoms floating in the now half-empty bowl. What was that about? *tries to decide whether to be very concerned or not* Well, Frodo's doomed to play the part of shaman, isn't he? LOL But Sam's words to him are very wise: “Look at it this way. When you were naught but a wee faunt following your dad and mum all over, didn’t you think as they were invincible and that nothing really bad could happen while they were around? That’s a lie too, and you know that better’n anyone, but you need that when you’re young and you’d never get no sleep at night. When you get older, you figure out the lie of it, but by then you’re big enough to carry the truth with you and not let it crush you. These folks here, they’re just faunts in a way, if you take my meaning.” The feast was delightful and moving, and I love the inclusion of the instruments. Thanks also for providing the link--very cool, especially to a musical person like me! :) What next, what next? *bounces with excitement* God bless, Galadriel Author Reply: Sam has a lot on his mind. Just as we saw in LOTR, just because he's focusing on Frodo doesn't mean that he isn't also thinking about his own life that he left behind. Now that the quest is over, he's going to be wanting more and more to return to the Shire. Frodo too has a lot on his mind, and there is reason to be concerned. He still has a decision to make and it won't exactly be an easy one, nor one that he will have to make only once. But more on that later. ;) hehe Frodo may not have wanted the gig of Shaman, but he'll play the part while he's there. Of course, it might help if he knew what that part entailed. Thankfully, they won't be staying for very long. The feast was actually supposed to come at the end of the last chapter, but that was already getting long enough. I had to expand quite a bit to make it into its own chapter, the result being that we got to spend more time at the festivities, which is always a good thing I think. ;) Those instruments truly do sound amazing. I wanted to include more of them, but I was pushing believability enough as it was, giving them as many as they had given their rather destitute existence. I figured they probably accumulated the instruments from the previous owners, keeping them in a single hut (except for the tanbur) to use as offerings in case the Wizards came a'calling. These were likely then to be their last treasures within the village. | |