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A Matter of Appearances  by Lindelea 6 Review(s)
demeter dReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/19/2006
And again, OOOOOHHHHH! Abraham, Isaac and the ram in the thicket! But being quickly blown up is too good for that lot. I see there is hope for the young one after all. And the one getting the gold was killed. I thought i had been keeping up with this. hmmm.

Author Reply: It might have been hard to catch up, as I've been posting as quickly as I could, just to get over the part that makes me squidgy. Um. If that's the right expression.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/19/2006
Redemption, and Iluvatar reenacts a Shire version of the sacrifice of Isaac....

Wonderful, but the POOR lamb!

Author Reply: Yes, indeed, I felt so badly for the poor little thing. I wonder how long it had been stranded there, unable to cry out?

Pearl TookReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/19/2006
This is a good chapter, Lin! I've read worse "gore" (this really isn't that bad). This has some good momentum and active tension. Farry is fortunate the young ruffian isn't yet hardened.

Most appropriate - a mute lamb.

Definitely anxious for the next chapter :)

Author Reply: Not that bad? Yikes, it's at my threshold of "barely able to stomach"!

I was just going to zip to the ending, but then I realised I was working on something I enjoyed--Ferdi's rescue from the grave--and so I slowed down again, to add more of the sort of detail that *I* like. So hope it doesn't plod too much, there!

Vicki TurnerReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/19/2006
Yes, young ruffian! Take the lamb and its eyes and tongue to use to fool the others!

Very good chapter! I like the twist of having a lamb stuck in the bushes to use. Just like Abraham and Issac...

I can't wait until your next chapter!

Author Reply: Yes, the "lamb twist" is the scene that this entire story is built around, together with another scene that will be coming along soon. I hope.

Thanks!

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/19/2006
Oh golly, Farry, poor baby, to listen to this!

Hurry Sam! Hurry!

And I was right about their destination!

The young ruffian has put himself in a cleft-stick and no mistake about it--but I do love the part at the end, echoing both the story of Abraham-Isaac and the story of Snow White (perhaps more the latter, as the youngster is probably feeling a good deal like the Evil Queen's Huntsman at the moment.)

But poor Farry, he is going to be so traumatized by this, I can't imagine how he gets over it enough to spend much time among Men after this. And I keep reminding myself that both he and Ferdi are going to survive and be fine, because you promised this is not an AU...

Hurry Sam!

And hurry Pippin and Merry!

Author Reply: Poor Farry!

(How resilient are hobbits, anyhow? I'm wondering what sort of fallout would be reasonable, after, while crafting the Epilogue.)

Snow White and the Huntsman, I hadn't thought of that, but you're right, it fits! "The heart of a pig!"

storyfishReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/19/2006
Oh, how horrifying! (The lines, the circle on Farry's heart... These are images I don't think I'll ever forget.)

Have people actually done this?? Did kidnappings really work this way at one point in history? ...or worse, do they still? I do hope this is just from a very dark place of imagining, but if "civilized" people can create ovens for genocide, I don't doubt that they're capable of this too, and worse.

But courage to the young ruffian to do the right thing! I love the Abraham and Isaac references here--I would never have guessed this plot twist, but it's perfect.... Another brilliant chapter--I'm eagerly awaiting the conclusion of this tale!

Author Reply: Not something I'll soon forget, I think.

I first ran across this idea in one of those amazing Darkover books by Marian Zimmer Bradley. But after our study of the Middle Ages last year, I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of thing had been common. Um. did that make sense? It's 90-something here and my brain is limp.

The substitutionary lamb was the grain from which this story grew, that caused it to be changed from the original comedy to this drama-horror-thing.

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