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| The Mirror of Angelica by Salsify | 6 Review(s) |
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| Imrahoil | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/5/2004 |
| You have a wonderful gift of bringing a minor character to life or filling the smallest hint of a gap. Remarkable. Oh, and I was glad to see Butterbur will be back again. I'm not stalking you, by the way, I stumbled over your LJ by mere chance. Author Reply: Thanks! I've always loved all the brief references to other stories that Tolkien scattered through his books. It's been such fun to see if I can figure out what would have happened around those little hints. And don't worry about upsetting me by finding my LJ - that's why I finally broke down and set one up! | |
| Le Rouret | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/29/2004 |
| Ah, nice fic! I enjoyed that very much. Very well-written and well-constructed; I especially liked the mirror coming full circle (no pun intended) in her life, and the change it wrought in her personality. It was engaging, interesting, and satisfying. Author Reply: Thank you. That mirror has been nagging at me for years - I can't think of another author who beats Tolkien at dropping hints of other stories into the main narrative. | |
| Karri | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/24/2004 |
| I'm not much of a hobbit fan (the creatures, not the book), but today seemed a good day for stepping outside the usual, and this was certainly the story to make it worth my time to do so. Very entertaining and well-written, and such a huge amount of characterization crammed into a relatively short space. Nicely done. Author Reply: Thanks! I'm all for trying different things, and I'm glad that my story made it worth your while. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/24/2004 |
| For at least the twelfth time that morning, Lily Baggins wondered why people ever thought they wanted to have clever children. This rings so true sometimes... Mosco in particular had an uncanny knack for understanding exactly what one hoped he wouldn’t and then blurting it out at every point where a reasonable person would have held his tongue. (and "It must be the Burrows side of the family." ! LOL) Yes, have had personal experience with this one. Simultaneous shouts of "Mosco, that's quite enough!" and "I am not vain!" echoed through the hole. Nice sense of timing O I do like Aldo! (careful not to unearth the mirror). I think I know what he's up to with Coral... will I be right? I was right! "You know," she said you might be right about seeing the future after all. I'm sure those two hobbits didn't entirely believe me, but they convinced the Men to leave me alone anyway. They still have some limits. Maybe the Shire isn't broken past mending yet, if we can only get a chance." What a tale! You stir such a range of emotions, from amusement to tension to the prick of tears and tight throat at the poignant ending. Very well done! Thanks! Author Reply: Amazing how children change your perspective on things, isn't it? Since I don't always write hobbit stories, I wonder a lot of times how well I'm pulling it off. I'm glad to hear that it worked for you. Author Reply: Oh, and I *finally* got that missing punctuation fixed! Thanks for letting me know about that. I never fail to make a mess with those last-second edits. | |
| purrlin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/24/2004 |
| Oh that was good! Is there more of your work around? This would be nice woven into a bigger picture of what happened in The Shire during those times. You have created some lovely characters that still stay truthful. I would love to read a continuance...as in how Angelica copes with the "gossip" and eventually (one would hope)out lives it. Most of these stories tend to be about the strengths of the "male" characters, its nice to see some strong female characters shine forth (hobbit women aren't soft...they can handle the hard stuff too!) I would love to read some more of your thoughts...please don't stop :) purrlin :) Author Reply: I have some ideas for a related story involving a lot of the same characters that would take place around the time of the Scouring of the Shire. Please don't hold your breath, though. I'm possibly the world's slowest writer, but I will get it done eventually. Angelica, Aldo and Coral are seeing to that! I've written several other pieces, and some of them are also hobbit-related, though not tied in with this story. However, I also write some fairly dark and twisted stuff that is definitely not everyone's cup of tea ("Dinner Guests" & "Children of Húrin", for example). Approach with caution. | |
| French Pony | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/24/2004 |
| I really liked this story. It was exciting, well-plotted, and kept a good clear eye on both the characters and the situation. Some of the details are very hobbity -- the gossip, the concern with tidiness and the routines of life. Some details, especially the moment when Angelica stands in the study after discovering the note and it all comes clear to her, those are straight from a Cold War spy novel. You really brought across a sense that the Men were twice Angelica's size and doubly scary because of it. I loved the family relationships, the way all of these really quite minor characters played off of each other. They showed that same streak of bravery and hard-nosedness that Gandalf always says is present in hobbits, just waiting to be awakened. I especially like that the hobbits seem to be fully aware adults. So many authors write hobbits as if they were eternal village idiots, prancing around in fairy-tale land, but they're not. Yours are real people, with real, adult concerns. And, in the latter half of the story, they do have pretty horrible concerns. Totalitarianism and famine just can't be taken lightly. And I loved the way in which the mirror saved everything in the end. Gossip never really dies. It just. . . mutates. Author Reply: Making hobbits into over-age children is something that never went down well with me either. I'm trying for sheltered and mature at the same time; the sort of thing I see in some of my older relatives (the ones who used to come for visits while I lived in the city and could never be convinced that the doors had to be kept locked even when we were home). Since there didn't seem to be a lot of reliance on a legal system and a police force, gossip and social pressure seemed inevitable as a way to control behavior. No doubt it worked pretty well pre-Lotho. Thanks so much for the review, and I'm glad you liked the story! | |