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Just Desserts  by Lindelea 7 Review(s)
BodkinReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/6/2005
What a lovely start. And there's Seledrith pondering on the attractions of Gwillam - reserved and gentle, not a hero, self-effacing - and I'm thinking if she only knew he has spent all his adult life so far in fear of being hanged and dare not shove his nose above the parapet. And yet - and yet he is still a kind-hearted loving gentle person. Not bitter or defensive or resentful at the situation Jack put him in when he was scarcely more than a child.

It must be hard for Jack to have to hide, too. His history with hobbits dates back so far - and was so positive, on the whole. I'm not sure that Aragorn's edict was entirely sensible. It has its points but smacks a little of an apartheid established for the best possible motives, but actually creating a division between two of the free peoples - and enhancing the hobbits' xenophobia, whilst encouraging men to look on them as mythical creatures.

I'm longing to know what happens next.

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/5/2005
I, too, went back to re-read All that glisters. Short version or long invloved plot this promises to be just as good.

Author Reply: Great! Hope it lives up to its promise.

(wrestling plot to the ground; let's see who wins...)

Anso the HobbitReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/5/2005
Oh, lovely. I am very excited to see how this unfolds. :D More soon please!

Author Reply: More on the morrow, I hope. And your request exists in summary; now all it needs is the writing.

ElentarielReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/4/2005
Sounds great, please update soon

Author Reply: Will do my best!

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/4/2005
Alas--terror, I suspect, unnecessary. I hope Pippin gets it all sorted out appropriately before Aragorn.

Author Reply: I certainly hope *somebody* gets it all sorted out. It's in its third revision (can you believe it?) and important things keep changing.

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/4/2005
Oh dear! All this time, poor Jack, living in fear of the hobbits because of his actions, and yet if truth be known, he's a hero among them. I am sure there will be a legal tangle, but after the coup you pulled off in "As the Gentle Rain", I am quite sure that Elessar will find the right solution here. (Just as Beregond and Bergil how clever the King is with loopholes.) But it looks like there will be lots of angst along the way.

Author Reply: An incredible legal tangle. Elessar ought to be carefuller about his edicts, I think, especially when they deal with hobbits, who after you've known them some centuries can still surprise you, as I'm sure Gandalf told him.

FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/4/2005
I had to go back and read the epilogue to Glisters to properly get into the headspace for this story, and I got involved reading whole chapters, and then some of the original reviews. What a body of work you have gifted us with!

I wonder how long this is going to be? Obviously Diamond has told the secret, thinking Pippin will want to give his thanks in person - it really should take only a couple of chapters to describe the confrontation that's about to happen. But remembering the devious way you have with plot, anything could happen afterwards, and we might end up with another 70 chapter epic! Did you ever make plans for Jack and Will and Robin, past this point (we've already seen them turn up at Bilbo's)?

Reading the original story, I was again moved by how heartbroken Pippin was about his actions, and how he blamed himself for his malice and ill intent, I wonder exactly what he will have to say to Jack. Many things have happened since then, and Pippin has continued to grow and mature, but this (as well as the parallel 'kidnapping' in Runaway) were certainly key events in that early coming to terms with his own limitations.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Author Reply: Thank you for the vote of confidence!

At the moment the first draft looks more like a five-to-ten chapter work, but it's been revised twice already and who knows what is about to happen? It started out in three chapters, after all, and keeps growing like a mushroom.

There is one more (unpublished) "Jack" story, another meeting with Pippin when Pippin is a little older. It is still pretty nebulous, but it's possible that Jack gets to meet Frodo again as well, after Bilbo has left the Shire. Hope so, anyhow, if I can get it worked out.

Pippin's speech before the King in defence of Jack hinges on the exact points you mentioned. But that is nearly giving away plot points, and the plot points are still under construction, so I had better quit whilst I'm ahead.

Thanks again.

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