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A Conspiracy of Hobbits by Dreamflower	4 Review(s)
Gryffinjack	Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 11/8/2005
Well, it seems Merry and Pippin are enjoying not having any secrets from each other again! Those two need each other. It kind of makes you wonder how they can live so far apart from each other and manage to see one another for such long periods of time. "Fatty laughed. “Of course, that is my Folco we’re talking about.”" I really enjoyed the endearing way Freddy spoke of Folco. You can't help liking Folco once you understand him. "“Oi,” said Pippin indignantly. “I am sitting right here, and I am not just a piece of the furniture.” “If you were,” grinned Merry “you would not be going, so there! Don’t interrupt.”" LOL! I sure hope that if Pippin were a piece of furniture at Bag End that Merry would have tagged him to be sent along to Crickhollow or at least to a mathom room at Brandy Hall. Can you imagine Pippin if he were sold to the S.B.'s? Actually, I don't think the S.B.'s would stand a chance against him. lol! "“Mr. Merry, I just don’t know. He is a wizard. But I think his main idea is to keep Mr. Frodo safe. If you can convince him you will be a help and not a nuisance, then I think he’ll probably say yes. Only thing is, I’m not sure Mr. Frodo will; he’s right fond of you two, and won’t take kindly to the idea of taking you into danger, begging your pardon, Mr. Pippin, but especially you.”" Sam certainly knows Frodo and how he feels about things. He also has a pretty could handle on how Gandalf would feel. "Sam nodded. He always knew Mr. Merry was level-headed and practical, a lot like himself, in fact." It's good to see that Sam approves of his own personality traits! He's right, of course, Merry and Sam are both quite the level-headed and practical hobbits. It's so weird to see them talking about events that take place in the book when we already know what will happen. If only the worst thing on the trip from Bag End to Crickhollow were trying not to let their plans slip to Frodo. It would be nice if they didn't encounter Black Riders on the way. But then again, that would change the story and we wouldn't really want that to happen. You are very adept at mixing canon with your own story. Well done. Author Reply: Yes, Merry and Pippin are very relieved and happy to have the secrecy over with, that they just have to get their high spirits out. Freddy does know Folco; he probably knows Folco as well as Merry knows Pippin. He especially knows Folco can't keep a secret, LOL! So it's not hard for him to make use of him in this case. I know it was something I had to constantly keep in mind: whatever we know about what's going to happen, the characters don't. It makes foreshadowing tricky, too easy to overdo it, yet you really can't avoid it altogether. I know that I felt like I was tight-rope walking, writing these last few chapters that more and more had to blend with canon. It was really hard work.

trishette	Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 7/11/2004
Fatty smirked. “I just told Folco we had to plan a birthday surprise for Frodo, and that I wanted him to get Frodo out of the way for a while today. When he lets it slip, then of course, Frodo will be in no hurry to come back, lest he spoil the surprise.” Merry snorted. “ ‘When he lets it slip’?” Wow, Folco seriously reminds me of a friend of mine called Jessica, both because she has a mouth big enough to engulf the United States- and because she's actually let slip about birthday surprises. For my friend trisha's Sweet 16, there was to be a limo, said her dad, that Trish didn't know about. So of course when Trisha comes down, Jessica enthusiastically burst out "oh my gosh, this is gonna be my first time in a limo, Trish.. your party's gonna be so awesome!" when a confused trisha inquired, "What limo?" Jessica turned bright red and said "Oh.... crap." AND my friend Jessica has the proclivity to insult others in jokes. Oh, but For Folco git me very hard when I think of the parallels between Folco and Jessica! Poor Folco tears I don't know what I'd do if I lost Jessica, especially to manslaughter. Author Reply: Yes, well, I guess all of us have known someone like that a time or two, someone who never means any harm, and is really very sweet, but they just have no sense whatsoever about what they say--it seems like it comes straight out of their mouths without ever passing through their brain. Then they are sorry afterwards, but they usually don't quite understand what they did wrong. I had a couple of people I know in mind, too, when I thought of Folco's personality. And of course there is no way jerks like Lotho or Sandyman are going to understand. Naturally, since they are so mean, they think that Folco is being insulting on purpose, because that's what they'd do.

Pervinca	Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 4/2/2004
Oh, poor Folco. At least Fatty almost included in the conspirators group. I mean, keeping Frodo occupied was a very important mission :P I love the way you have the hobbits interact with each other! So very well done :) Author Reply: Well, keeping secrets would not be one of Folco's strong suits. But he has his good points. I'm glad you like the interaction. I'm so fascinated by their relationships, I love exploring that.

Grey Wonderer	Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 4/2/2004
I enjoyed the way they all used Falco to his best advantage on this one. Worked like a charm. I also like that Sam now knows everything. Thought the part where Sam was thinking how much he and Merry are alike was very good. I always thought they were both the planners in the group. Author Reply: To me Merry and Sam are very much kindred spirits. Both of them are practical, reliable, level-headed, mostly even-tempered, and very protective of the ones they love. I think they recognize this in one another.

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