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| The Set of the Soul by Nilmandra | 46 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| nancylea57 | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 1/8/2009 |
| yes, just one more of the many many ways we protect and love our families. Author Reply: Thank you for the review, Nancylea | |
| perelleth | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 3/20/2008 |
| I was wondering about this story not so long ago! What a tense moment when Lathron's heart stopped beating! The tension was palpable all along! Only because it was Dot's birthday present I was sure it had a happy ending, but the tension was wonderfully managed! Author Reply: Here I am pretending to be Nilmandra, Perelleth. I'm glad you liked the chapter. I had a good time writing it. Nilmandra told me about the allergy and left me to deal with it! daw | |
| obsidianj | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 3/11/2008 |
| Whew! That was tense. Luckily they were all rescued. A wood-elf with an allergy to spider bites. That is quite a combination, and in this time pretty dangerous. That baby spider was cute in an evil sort of way. Luckily it drowned of it's own inexperience before it could do more damage. Hearing the comments of the spiders racked up the tension. Author Reply: This is daw pretending to be Nilmandra, Obsidianj. Nilmandra was devious to give Lathron an allergy. When she told me that, I had to really stop and think what to do with and about it. The baby spider was indeed born to be bad, but I had a good time with him. Glad you liked the chapter. daw | |
| elliska | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 3/2/2008 |
| I was so happy to see this continued! I hope Nilmandra feels 100% soon and in the meantime thanks to both of you for the continuation. And Holy Cow it was tense! Every bit of it kept me right on edge. I found myself wanting to skip to find the continuation of one thread of the story, but I managed to force myself not to do that. Great job! Author Reply: Hey, Elliska! I logged out of my own account and into this one. I have a double life. :-) Glad you thought this was tense. I never can tell. I was afraid I hadn't done the kids justice, especially Emlin, but then Nilmandra said that was the best part, so then I felt good. Whee! daw | |
| Gwynhyffar | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 3/2/2008 |
| Wow, daw! While I'm sorry that Nilmandra hasn't been well, I'm glad that our heros were finally rescued. If she couldn't do it herself, she couldn't have found a better rescuer than you. Lathron being bitten and near death was awful- as evidenced by Thranduil yelling and Tathiel 'hitting' him. Legolas wondering if Lathron had done something wrong in his venom induced fever and then wondering if Tathiel was going to hit him too was funny and sad at the same time. I loved the spider! Whee! He just wanted to chow on a little elf-flesh. Is that so wrong?? :D I enjoyed this a lot, thank you both! Thank you Nilmandra for letting the story be finished, and thank you daw for doing it! Author Reply: Hi, Gwyn. Here I am pretending to be Nilmandra again. :-) I was a little intimidated when Nilmandra first asked me to finish this story, but once I got into it, I had a terrific time. She'd set a great plot in motion. The baby spider was cute. Born to be bad, but cute! daw | |
| Redheredh | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 2/27/2008 |
| This was a such an great conclusion! Really exciting and enjoyable and entertaining! You guys aught to partner-up more often! And thanks to Dot for getting older! Author Reply: Thanks, Redheredh. This was a pleasure to write. Dot's just so persistent with that getting older stuff. :-) | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 2/26/2008 |
| The squirrel felt the danger and ran away, and now they know why. Sorry you've been ill, too, Nilmandra--flu and conjunctivitis are running through us here. Author Reply: The squirrel was lucky. The elves on the other hand were clever and brave. :-) Sorry to hear you've been ill, Larner. daw | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/26/2008 |
| Ah--he found a spider's nest of sorts in the odd flet. Do spiders build flets, then? Author Reply: Only when it is cheaper then leasing. ;) Sorry to hear your house has been hit with illness too. There seems to be a lot of stuff going around. :( | |
| Lianna | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 2/26/2008 |
| This is great. It had never occurred to me that the reason why Lathron was not a warrior was that there was something wrong with him -- perhaps because one of Thranduil's other sons in this universe, Celebrinduil, also is not a warrior. I just assumed that the king's sons had a choice of professions. But there's no reason why Lathron couldn't have a problem, and it certainly makes for a good (though terrifying) story. I'm glad, though, that Legolas does not seem to share Lathron's inordinate sensitivity to spider venom. It's obvious from what happens in this story that he has the makings of an excellent warrior. Author Reply: I didn't know about the allergy either until Nilmandra told me. :-) She's tricksy. And it made for an interesting complication, I thought. I don't know whether many people had allergies in the ancient world, though some scholar someplace probably has a sense of this. I tried to look it up because I wanted to know what word to use. "Allergy" sounded modern and turned out to be 20th century in origin, as far as I could tell. The Greeks knew about asthma. That word in used in the Iliad, which surprised me. But allergy? I have no idea. Anyway, it was interesting to write about. Glad you liked it, Lianna. daw | |
| Elena Tiriel | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 2/25/2008 |
| Woohoo! a collaboration between two of my favorite authors... what a treat! The first chapter starts out so light and sweet and beautiful, but the awareness of menace keeps growing and growing in an ominous way... we are so relieved when Lathron and Tinánia come to the rescue... but then to have Lathron injured! And Legolas is so courageous to return to his brother's side to protect him.... already signs of what he would be like as an adult. And then they get rescued again -- but we fear for the lives of those bitten by the spiders. And that's just the first chapter! (At that point, I assumed that Emlin and Tinánia had fled to safety.... silly me!) Lathron was still as a wax doll. This is so chilling! Lathron is my favorite of Nilmandra's great OCs (hmmmm... Lathron, Eilian... do I detect a pattern?), and I almost choked when I read that! Tathiel is the one who rescued and raised Legolas, right? (Sorry, it's been ages....) So what a wrench it must have been to see Legolas brought in, but realize that, as the most experienced healer there, she needed to attend to Lathron, who was most seriously ill. Triage cannot be fun for the people doing it... and then realizing that her daughter was still in danger.... What a strong character to keep her cool in such circumstances! But Tinánia and Emlin acquitted themselves well, too. These are three very strong female OCs, and I think you portrayed them well, Daw. (I bet Nilmandra was pleased!) Realization dawned. For Emlin's sake, she smothered a cry. The feeling of wrongness that had been nagging at her was not caused by the spiders. The part about Lathron's vision, and how Tinánia told him to take care of himself so he would be there for her (when she was in danger and must have wanted to grasp at his "contact") was compelling.... and so full of love on both sides! An ink-dark shape swung toward him, ripe with the stench of joy in destruction. *Shudders* I think one of the things that makes Tolkien's spiders so creepy, besides their size (which is quite bad enough, thankyouverymuch), is that they speak. And you make creepy use of that. (Though I smiled at the "Uh-oh") Anyway, this whole story was very effective... I couldn't stop reading it! Sorry for jumping around in this review, I was just going to say "Well done!" but kept being compelled to mention favorite parts... and I'm sure there were ones I missed, anyway.... Well done, Nilmandra and Daw! - Barbara Author Reply: Hi, ET! This is daw, pretending to be Nilmandra. Whee! Tathiel is indeed the one who rescued and raised Legolas. Seeing him injured and fouled with webbing must have about stopped her heart. Except of course, other bad things were going on at the same time--Lathron in deep trouble, Emlin missing. It's a great situation for writers! One of the things I've always admired about Tathiel is that she's very strong and heroic in "May the Valar Protect Them," but her heroism comes while doing something traditionally feminine, caring for children. It's such an unusual situation. Often, we make our female characters heroic by having them be warriors or whatever. And don't get me wrong: I love Tinania and Emlin with her rock. But there's something about the whole Tathiel and the kids thing that just struck me as brilliant. I also liked the part in "Valar" where Lathron has visions. That just fascinated me, so this was fun to write about here. Glad you liked it. daw | |