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Far Horizons  by Bodkin 4 Review(s)
daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 22 on 8/31/2004
I've been out of town and I get back to find two chapters. Cool!

I thought this chapter was very alive. As I read it, I became increasingly aware of how you've managed to create this complex society with a very large cast. I liked Thranduil and Calion. Calion would indeed have been in better hands if Thranduil had been his father.

I also liked the way that Galadriel's mother shook her up. I think we've talked before about how hard it is to fathom what generations would be like in elves. And I do like Elrond and his spies.

Author Reply: I hope you had fun in out-of-town-land. It's all getting on towards the end now, and I hope to add new chapters quite quickly.

I am glad this chapter worked for you - I am increasingly aware of how large the cast is and how much is going on! Hopefully it will end tidily - but with potential for more. If I feel I can. Calion would have been much better off with Thranduil as a father. Love, discipline, responsibilities, principles - not bad things to offer your offspring. I think he's been caught at a good moment though.

Mothers must be even more difficult for elves - the generation thing does intrigue me - there is no natural follow on and it must be incredibly difficult to go from being one of the oldest and most powerful elves on Middle Earth to a little girl. Especially - as you have said - as family and your House is a very important pillar of elven life. Age difference in marriage is interesting too - because why would it matter in people who do not age? Yet on the other hand, how old do you have to be before experience evens out?

And Elrond would have an intelligence network. He's too much a lore master not to realise the value of information.

SharonBReviewed Chapter: 22 on 8/29/2004
Ah, they are getting closer to Minastan. I do hope they capture him soon. It sounds like things are starting to fall down around him. It will be interesting to find out why he does hate Thranduil's family so.

Calion is growing so well in his stay in Thranduil's household. He certainly is learning what the elves from ME are like. How much more just some of them can be and less prejudiced overall.

And poor Galadriel, I do understand even at 48 it's hard to take some comments coming from parents. We all still feel like little children around them at times. Even Galadriel’s mother feels the same way, LOL. Hmm, I bet Galadriel would look good in blue though.

Author Reply: It won't be too long before the end now. Hopefully all will become clear.

Calion has grown on me - he seems to fit in to Thranduil's household quite well. I feel sorry for his brother, who has to stay at home with his adar.

Parents can be very difficult. (Of course so can children.) They are often at their most annoying when they are right. Somehow I think of Galadriel as being happier here in the Blessed Realm with Celeborn back and no ring. She should probably look at being less of a cliche. I think Celeborn would appreciate it!

Jay of LasgalenReviewed Chapter: 22 on 8/29/2004
The thick plottens, as someone once said. What a shame that someone (who?) scared Minastan off just because Elrond moved in - now where has he gone? So he was brought up by his grandparents, and hates the house of Oropher. Was his father killed at Dagorlad, and his mother died as a result? It could be - two-thirds of Oropher's army were killed, after all.

I really like Thranduil in this chapter. Thranduil leaned forward, a dangerous look on his face. ‘I want him, Elrond.’ I wouldn't want to be in Minastan's shoes when Thranduil catches up with him! Yet he was also great when asking for Calion's help.


Jay

Author Reply: Someone? Not telling. All will become clear in a chapter or two!

I have a bit of a problem with a suitable fate for the baddie - after all this is the Blessed Realm - but I will think of something!

I can't say too much because I'm currently trying to write chapter 28 and I don't want to give too much away.

Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 8/29/2004
I love the conversation between Galadriel and her mother. Mothers have a rare talent for making completely confident and secure daughters well into adulthood (I am 40) feel completely paranoid about themselves and Earwen hit it right on the head, didn't she? Very funny.

I also, as usual, love Thranduil in this. I loved the interaction in the beginning with Elrond (‘Where is he?’ Thranduil leaned forward, a dangerous look on his face. ‘I want him, Elrond.’-- so Thranduil!) but then I decided my favorite was the conversation with Calion. This is Thranduil at his best. Hard and fair. (‘I believe she is right,’ Thranduil told him wryly, ‘it is a habit of hers...--hilarious, I have so much fun with your Galadriel and Thranduil even when they are not in the same room.)

I am dying to see how this turns out but I will be so sorry when it ends. It is currently by far the story I look forward to most.

Author Reply: Mothers - the only thing that worries me is doing the same as above to my own children. It must be awful to come home after several ages and have your mother make you feel like a gawky girl - especially after long centuries of being the most powerful and feared female elf on Middle Earth!

Thranduil and Galadriel get on each other's nerves a bit - but they do know the other's good qualities. I'm glad you liked it!

I'm hoping the ending won't be too disappointing - it's proving more difficult than making the complications in the first place.

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