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| Pearl of Great Price by Lindelea | 146 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 26 on 1/8/2004 |
| Ferdi's doing well as a hunter and Pearl is making Lalia very happy... the calm before the storm. Author Reply: You hit the nail on the head. Exactly right. Sort of like the pause as the rollercoaster reaches the top of the steep hill... Thanks! | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/8/2004 |
| I wouldn't want to be in Pearl's shoes, er, feet, having to answer the same questions day after day after day. I feel so sorry for everyone at this point in the story and I can't wait to see how they manage to get on with things. Author Reply: Thanks for the review. The next chapter after "Resting Comfortably" is a nice respite before the angst rears up again. | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 1/8/2004 |
| Two weeks is a long time to be ill - especially for one who is no spring chicken. Wonder if there will be complications or if I'm mixing your story with one lurking in an unfinished state on my evil hard drive where Ferumbras becomes incapable of fathering children after an illness. Lalia seems more hobbity and vulnerable in this chapter. A friend of mine (who hates to review) that I forced to read this story and "Flames" thinks that Lalia and Thain Paladin have a lot in common. They are put into positions of authority where the only checks are distant and no one can really gainsay them and really aren't prepared. So they are corrupted. Not as bad as Denethor, but as close as hobbits really can get without losing hobbitness. 'Resting Comfortably' seems to mean the same thing as my sister's 'fine' which includes everything from an inch shy of dead to doing well. Author Reply: Thanks for the faithful reviews! I am suffering bronchitis at the moment and the reviews are very cheering. I think I would just chuck the writing until I feel better, if I didn't have the concrete evidence that people were reading each new chapter. And I must admit that the process of writing brings a satisfaction that helps me to feel better anyhow. You forced a friend to read "Pearl" and "Flames"? LOL. I don't know quite why but this strikes me very funny! I hope your friend didn't suffer too terribly. Very insightful comment from one who hates to review... Yup. "Resting comfortably" means "still breathing" I think... and I doubt Lalia was fooled. | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 24 on 1/7/2004 |
| It looks like I have missed reviewing several chapters of this story - I feel guilty when I eagerly read a new chapter of something you have written, but neglect to find the time to send you my impressions. I don't want you to think I'm not appreciative of your wonderful efforts - I really am. Thank you, in case I forget to say it. I think there's a battle ahead in more ways than one. It seems Ferumbras really is doing what he can under the thumb of his willful and capricious mother. He's smart enough to anticipate her vindictive strike against Paladin, and compassionate enough to preempt it - and that earns him some big brownie points in my book. Yet, now he's falling ill, and Bittersweet's really worried he's in for a bad time for concealing his illness. There's not going to be anyone to protect the one member of Paladin's family who's most vulnerable, by virtue of proximity - Pearl. I hope she's up to the battle, if it comes to it. I've been trying to figure out what is the illness that is running through the Smials right now. Fever, eye irritation, sore throat, headache. None of that is very specific - could be a million things. I had the wild idea that it could be mumps, which can cause sterility when contracted by an adult male. That would certainly change the dynamic of the succession! A wild idea, as I said - that's probably not where you're going at all. It would be nice to see how Rosemary's getting on. Hally would I'm sure like to court her a little, and sooner or later Lalia's going to find out who was the other hobbit in the handfasting. There's no reason, however, for her to find out sooner as most likely nobody at Brandy Hall would know him, and they're far enough away from Tuckborough as to have little contact. I'm also looking forward to seeing Ferdi interacting more with Pearl as he comes back to himself some. Pearl is good with all kinds of people, and for the sake of her sister and her father will I'm sure take as much of an interest in Ferdi as her schedule allows. Author Reply: A belated answer... The illness I was thinking of was strep, which can lead to scarlet fever and/or rheumatic fever. I remember when we didn't have money for a doctor and I got strep twice and it came back both times not long after the course of antibiotics was finished each time, and came back worse with each recurrence. The third time I got it, I decided to "tough it out" and let my body fight it and build up immunities (probably a stupid decision) instead of spending grocery money on doctor and antibiotics. I knew enough to watch for a purplish rash, in which case I would have gone in for more antibiotics. Thankfully the rash did not appear. However, I have never been so sick in my life... Even mononucleosis (twenty years ago) was mild compared to that bout of strep. The mercy was that evidently my body did build up some sort of defense while fighting the strep, because it hasn't come back in about two years. If only I could say the same about the pneumonia that threatens every winter... thankfully this bout of bronchitis did not progress any further and has nearly cleared up. I suppose mumps might fit the description, but since I haven't researched mumps (thought I remember hearing about the sterility issue) I can say that this was probably not the illness in the story. | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 24 on 1/4/2004 |
| Poor Paladin! Having to lie to protect his family and his home must be killing him. I am so involved in this one and can hardly wait for more. Author Reply: Thank you for the kind words! I notice that your story-in-progress is coming along nicely as well... Only about five chapters left, unless I change my mind and add more to what has already been written in the first draft. | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 24 on 1/4/2004 |
| Didn't think I'd say this, but - Poor Ferumbras. Very clever to twist events and make it seem as though the Tooks were tossed out by the Brandybucks to protect them. The Thain is becoming a more sympathetic figure by the chapter, a flawed character but still sympathetic. Author Reply: Yes, I found that too as the writing flowed from the outline. He could have been a good Thain, I think, had his mother not been so dominating. He's been brought up to drift along, and I think that probably continues even after his mother is gone. | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 23 on 1/3/2004 |
| WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT THE ARRANGED MARRIAGE OF ONE LASS COULD CAUSE SO MUCH TROUBLE FOR THOSE NOT EVEN INVOLVED? A WONDERFUL STORY THAT KEEPS GETTING BETTER. I FELT SO SORRY FOR PALADIN AND FOR MERRY. PALADIN BECAUSE HE HAD NO CHOICE IN WHAT HE WAS FORCED TO DO AND MERRY BECAUSE HE WAS BEING AFFECTED BY SOMETHING THAT HE HAD NO PART IN. Author Reply: Belated thanks for taking time to read and leave a review! I'm glad you enjoyed the story. You're right; Paladin was forced to act in self-defense rather than doing what he knew would be the right thing, and Merry has no power in the situation. He's as helpless as his unfortunate mother who at this point, for all practical purposes, has been disowned just as Rosemary was, and for the same selfish, spiteful reasons on Lalia's part. | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 23 on 1/2/2004 |
| Poor Paladin! Being dragged into politics whether he will or no. At least Rosemary is safe. Wonder how long until Lalia figures out who Rosemary handfasted... Author Reply: Lalia may be sly and clever, but I don't think she's smart. Plus she's stirred up resentment due to her high-handedness, and the hobbits around her have learned to act out of caution rather than loyalty. Bittersweet knows she can trust Viola but takes pains to mislead everyone else; Hally and Gundy are in on the plot but also rather vulnerable, so they're not going to tell anyone; the Brandybucks aren't going to try to mend the relationship with Lalia by betraying the Bolgers to her for several reasons (not only are they principled, but the Master has known her for a long time and knows her capacity for spitefulness and holding a grudge). All that to say, I don't think she ever figures it out in the time remaining to her. Belated thanks for reading and pausing to share your thoughts! | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 1/1/2004 |
| So Hally and Rosemary are legally handfasted. Lalia's reaction should be highly entertaining though I suspect there might be some sighs of relief at the Great Smials, just because she's been disowned doesn't mean she'll be forgotten. Rosemary will find out she's already been disowned from Paladin and his family. Interesting with all the uproar of this that he still arranges marriages for his own children. By the way, I was confused about something - in "Jewels" the arrangement concerning Pippin and Estella was said to have been in place since Estella was born. At the time Pippin would have been just a well-to-do farmer's son. I can't see them wanting to marry their only daughter to anyone less than a wealthy hobbit. Was the timing reported by Esmerelda an exageration or did the Bolger's see which way the wind was blowing with the Tooks and figure on Pippin as a future Thain since Ferumbras was unwed and unlikely to alter his state and even if he did marry any offspring would be too young to follow him. Arranged marriages are endlessly fascinating to me (in fiction) in case you haven't noticed. You mentioned some far-reaching consequences in one of your author replies, will a souring of the Paladin-Esmeralda relationship be among them or does that result from his personality change upon becoming Thain? In a way the Brandybuck's actions could be seen to reflect badly on Paladin's family with Esmeralda being wed to Saradoc, the recent visit, the Tooks honour, and Paladin's own arrival at Brandy Hall coming soon. I suspect that a nice, quite, visit it won't be since "Jewels" tells us that Paladin doesn't travel at all until he visits Pippin and meets Farry. Stopping what appears to have been regular travels to see your close relatives says a great deal. At least we know Merry and Pippin remain close even if their parents don't. Paladin knows the pain of losing the Pippin to his Merry and isn't apparently willing to inflict that upon his son or nephew. Wow... a very long review. And since I neglected to say it earlier in my dissertation on this chapter - I throughly enjoyed the latest addition to this story. Each chapter is a pearl. Author Reply: Ironically perhaps, at the time I wrote Jewels I wasn't aware that Paladin wasn't Thain when Pippin left on the Quest or in line to become Thain when Pippin was born (which is something that crept into later stories)! I didn't even realize that Estella was older than Pippin! Jewels might very well have been the first story I ever wrote about the Shire. (I'm fairly sure it is, but it's hard to remember.) Therefore, the original story had quite a few errors as far as Tolkien "canon" goes. Many of those issues were addressed during the beta-reading process, but even then, some were missed. The worst one, maybe, was my mistake making Estella ten years younger than she is (thus, five years younger rather than five years older than Pippin). A beta-reader questioned her age, but I didn't understand the implications of the question she asked until years later because of the way my brain works (or doesn't). I love reading long reviews on my stories as well as other people's stories! JRRT's world has pulled me in ever deeper the more I have pondered the layers and details he included (or even just hinted at) in his creation. Belated thanks for reading and taking the time to type out your thoughts. | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 21 on 12/31/2003 |
| Rosemary's been disowned very quickly - even before her whereabouts were known. I was kind of hoping to read the scene where Ferdinand disowned his daughter (hint, hint), but maybe another chapter. The Ferdi and Regi conversation harkened to future discussions in "Flames" - in particular I was reminded of the discussion between them in the pub when Paladin went to visit Pippin. Ferdi, like his sister, has more friends and allies than he knows. Author Reply: In this belated reply, I have to say I remember imagining the scene, but I don't think I ever wrote it down as it was too heartbreaking. I have, however, written a couple scenes related to her disownment being reversed, at least one of which will appear in The Proposal and the other is still under consideration. Hobbits may be clannish and resistant to change, but they're also what an older relative of mine used to call "salt of the earth" and described in terms of "would give you the shirt off their back" when talking about such people helping others. You're right about the pub conversation! I hadn't made that connection, but there is a certain similarity. Thanks for that insight! | |