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| A Question of Duty by daw the minstrel | 28 Review(s) |
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| Lyllyn | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/30/2015 |
| Always delighted to read your stories. What is your original fic about? Author Reply: It's a YA fantasy. I call it my Mayan Calendar book. The calendar is about to change to the year 4000 and bad things will happen unless the kid and the girl thief who recruits him can save the day. I think of the MC and his older brother as younger versions of Eilian and Ithilden, born into a different world. Their father is dead and their mother has vanished, so the older brother keeps frantically trying to keep the younger one safe. Author Reply: Lyllyn: I meant to tell you the other day and totally forgot. I wrote a short story about the characters in my book. It's posted on my web site, where people are welcome to read, download, share, whatever they like. No obligation, of course. Turns out most people have lives to lead. :-) http://dawinsor.com/winterturn | |
| Radbooks | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/30/2015 |
| What a wonderful addition to the story! I'm currently re-reading your series so it was really nice to have something new to read about your characters - a little shocking in fact to click on SoA and see this after all this time. Thank you for taking some to write this for us. I liked reading the first meeting of Gimli and Thranduil from your perspective and the bittersweet talk between Legolas and his father about his impending departure. Very nicely done. Author Reply: Thanks, Radbooks. You can't possibly be more surprised that I wrote more fanfic, but I miss these guys, and it was meckinock's birthday. Also, I'm grateful to PJ for the movies, but I knew I was going to hate his Thranduil, and sure enough, I did. I, personally, love the guy. He's tough and you wouldn't want to cross him, but he's also smart and devoted to his people and his family. The king I saw at the end of Tolkien's Hobbit is not the one PJ shows. So it was nice to be able to slip into his POV again. PJ made me do it. daw PS. Is it summer yet? | |
| meckinock | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/30/2015 |
| Wow, daw, what a great birthday surprise - it feels like my birthday and Christmas wrapped into one. I think I'd given up on ever seeing another one of your fanfics. I suppose we've all moved on to other things, but I'm so happy you decided to take a detour back to this world where we spent so many happy times, just for a little while. Reading this chapter reminds how much you made me love these characters - your signature interpretation of Legolas and Thranduil as well as the whole cast of original characters that rounded out their world - Ithilden, Eilian, and especially poor Beliond. I think this story has always been one of my favorites, with its intersection of daw-verse and the Fellowship's quest. Thranduil's stoic acceptance first of Legolas's joining the Fellowship and then mirrored at the end with the revelation of his sea longing, really brings home the grim resignation that's at the heart of Tolkien - nobody really ever gets a happy ending, do they? But happiness is fleeting and love is forever, or something along those lines seems to be what Tolkien wanted to tell us. Your characters are full of love for one another. I loved Thranduil's reaction to Gimli, and the humor and dignity in his acceptance of his son's choice of friends. The optimism of them all in the face of a new world to rebuild, even as they know it too will be left behind before long. It's what we all face, I suppose. Daw, thanks for the birthday present and for bringing me back here where we had so many smiles and good times. Good luck with the book launch, I look forward to reading it in print! Author Reply: Thank you, meckinock. Happy birthday, old friend! As you say, I think Tolkien's endings are melancholy rather than happy. His most noble characters seem to be able to accept that and take what happiness they can but not expect anything to stay the same. It's a high bar, when you think of it, if it's what he's offering as a goal. I started thinking about Thranduil again after I saw PJ's version. I'm grateful for the movies, but on Thranduil, I think PJ went awry. When you read The Hobbit, the king looks frightening to the dwarves in the forest, but by the end, the person we see is certainly not a loveless monster. He's able to joke with Bilbo, for instance. He's complex in a way that differs from the disturbed nature PJ gives us. So anyway, it was nice to be in Thranduil's POV again. I'm glad you liked it. | |
| obsidianj | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/30/2015 |
| What a lovely surprise. Luckily, I get notified when you post something new or I would probably have missed it. Poor Thranduil. His baby comes home only to leave again. But there is still some time before Legolas sails. Beliond has a lot of courage to face Thranduil with the news that he let Legolas go. Although, what he could have done to stop him, I don't know and Thranduil probably doesn't know either. It's the worried father speaking here. If Thranduil would think it through he would realize it. I haven't read your stories in ages, but with a few words I was right back in your universe. Your description of Thranduil's family makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I think I have to read the stories again. Author Reply: Writing this came as kind of a surprise to me too! I've been thinking a lot about The Hobbit movies, though, because I have the EE of the first two and find the commentary interesting. As you might expect, I don't like PJ's Thranduil. So yeah, poor Thranduil. He's fighting the long battle and it's never truly over, which seems true to life to me. And since I think of him as a loving (though not gushy) father, Legolas's sea longing would come as a blow. He's worried for months, and then, against all odds, Legolas survives, and then Thranduil finds out his son is inevitably going to leave. But Thranduil is tough and, as always, he puts his own feelings aside. Glad you liked it. daw | |
| rikki | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/30/2015 |
| OMG! I logged on today and saw your update listed on the new stories. I almost logged out and logged back in as I thought something was wrong with the system. (smile). But it was true, you have put in a new chapter to one of the stories that I adored when it came out. I love this new chapter and I love how you have developed your writing over the years. Things are tight, you are able to paint a scene with just few sentences. It had just enough in it for me to connect this story with the story of when the rest of the family sailed. So much is in this chapter without having to rehash the battle in the woods and the fight to destroy the One ring. The only regret I have is that it is too short. It would have taken another chapter, but I would have loved to have seen Legolas and Annael meet again. Greedy soul that I am. Do make sure that you let all of us know when your book comes out so we can get a copy. Excited for you and hope you have a long career writing. Author Reply: Geez, SoA readers are nice. I knew this was short and after I posted it, I thought wow that was kind of a cheat, but sometimes I think that in terms of writing emotion, less is more. And in both halves of this, Thranduil is only just finding out that a terrifying thing is threatening his baby. Thranduil is tough, but he's loves his woods, his people, and most of all, his family. So shut up, PJ. Annael! Yes! It made me really happy when I married his daughter off to Thranduil's grandson, because then Annael was part of Legolas's family. He's the kind of friend we all want, I think. The books due in September. I hope, anyway. Things don't always run on time, it turns out. daw | |
| Zardi | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/30/2015 |
| I discovered your stories probably about a year ago, but since they were written so long ago, I figured you were long gone and never left a review :( I wish I had. It was so nice to see this random new chapter pop up and get to read a bit about Eilian and Ithilden again. If you ever get the itch to write more, I will be around to read :) Author Reply: I always wonder how new people ever find these stories because they're buried pretty deep in the archive, and I'm always thrilled when they do. It's like having a friend I didn't know about. I enjoyed having a chance to write about these guys again. Thanks for the review. daw | |
| curiouswombat | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/30/2015 |
| I am certainly still here reading. And how lovely to see this extra chapter to round things off. I have often wondered what sort of welcome Beliond would have had when he returned home, and quite what Thranduil would have made of Gimli, and now I know. Thank you. Author Reply: Thranduil is a complicated guy. I think he probably has some opening emotional response to events--anger or historically rooted suspicion, but he's also too smart to leave that emotion unreconsidered. I suspect it took him a while to really feel comfortable with dwarves though. Gimli must have had interesting times. | |
| Molly | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/30/2015 |
| So much fun to see these characters again! I've imagined Legolas's homecoming in your universe many times. Poor Thranduil, welcoming his baby home only to hear that baby is destined to sail--though probably not as soon as Thranduil thinks he will. This was a great Saturday surprise. Thanks for sharing! Author Reply: It was kind of a surprise to me too. But I wanted to say happy birthday to meckinock and this scene had been on my mind for some reason. Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it. daw | |