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| As the Gentle Rain by Lindelea | 248 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 53 on 6/14/2004 |
| Thank you. Lovely story. Happy ending. Most enjoyable. And twins, too! Author Reply: You're welcome. I do like a happy ending. I imagined twins in Diamond's family (she had twin sisters in "Jewels", and twins of her own--three sets!), and then we must remember that Rose Gamgee is a twin (she shares a birth year on the genealogy, and while I suppose she and her brother might be nine months apart, it's fun to contemplate them as twins), so it's not too surprising that Farry and Goldi might have twins together. Thanks for reviewing! | |
| Meldewen Ilce | Reviewed Chapter: 53 on 6/14/2004 |
| Oh Lindelea - what a LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY ending! I have tears in my eyes, both from the loveliness of the story and from sadness that it has drawn to a close! Author Reply: Thank you! It is so nice to get positive feedback from an author whose stories have given me enjoyment in their turn. I hardly can believe it's finished. Now what will I find to obsess on? (ahem. I mean, spend my spare thoughts on when performing routine tasks, or stuck in traffic, or whatever...) StarFire's fun, but much lighter fare. Guess I need a bit of a respite, come to think of it! Glad you enjoyed the story. Thanks for the advice you've given along the way. | |
| Beruthiel | Reviewed Chapter: 52 on 6/13/2004 |
| Maybe I'm a sick and twisted person, but I would have liked it if Merry had found the precedent and arrived too late. That would have been very angsty and ironic indeed. Nell impressed me greatly. Almost all of your hobbit ladies are remarkably strong and intelligent women. (I say almost because I do remember a few snobs and gossips from other stories of yours.) Love how they take no crap from the men, even though all of Middle-Earth seems to be male-dominated. Brant was the executioner's uncle?! That was quite a surprise. Does he have any living relatives who remember him from before the War? What would they say when they found out he was the Pilgrim? So sad the story's almost over, but at least there will be others to look forward to. Muse: Get to work on that Paladin-becomes-Thain story! Author Reply: You know, there was an alternate ending where Merry arrived too late, but I could not craft it to my liking and scrapped it. It is one of the reasons I fear being labelled "predictable". I'm a sucker for a satisfying (read that: "happy") ending. Since fanfic is relaxation for me, I tend to stay away from "downers". Sure there may be plenty of angst in the middle, but the ending had better make me feel better or I rue reading the story. (Would hate to rue writing such!) The Paladin story is coming along, nearly all outlined now. Hope to post the first chapter soon after finishing this story. In the meantime, "StarFire" is once more in production, and Ferdi is about to live up to the epithet "Fool of a Took", and all for your reading pleasure... (and mine, for I do enjoy reading reviews, as many as I can get) | |
| Beruthiel | Reviewed Chapter: 51 on 6/13/2004 |
| Good thing you posted the next chapter as well. That would have been a wicked cliffhanger! Fatty is a most remarkable hobbit. I have to keep reminding myself he's a fictional character, and then I'm always disappointed. The world needs more people like him. Am actually hoping the next chapter doesn't miraculously rescue Ulrich. That would begin to seem like Deus ex Machina at this point. Ulrich not being saved would be more realistic, showing that in real life, things don't always turn out the way you want. Excuse me, the deeper portions of my brain have informed me that if I don't get to that next chapter within the next two minutes, I will shrivel up and die of curiosity. Must be going. | |
| Meldewen Ilce | Reviewed Chapter: 52 on 6/13/2004 |
| You know I thought about what happened to Pilgrim/Brant, how Nell told them to hang him - and now that I think of it I can see she said it out of mercy more than anything else as the man living out his long years in complete madness was no mercy at all. I do hope time his neck was broken and he died the man was able to find some sort of peace because in a way you had to pity him - even with having said that I am also relieved that he is dead as I fear had he lived he would have found some way to hurt others. Again this has been a wonderful story and I hate to see it come to a close but then I anxiously await your next project(s)! | |
| Connie | Reviewed Chapter: 52 on 6/13/2004 |
| YES! Merry found the precedent, and the jurors saw reason. Yay! Nell certainly showed that mercy comes in all shapes. I think she impressed a lot of people, Ferdi and Merry not the least. Looks like all our heros are going to live. I knew you'd bring them through. Connie. | |
| Connie | Reviewed Chapter: 51 on 6/13/2004 |
| Thank God you didn't leave us "hanging". I'm gonna try to get the next chapter read before I have to leave. Connie. | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 52 on 6/13/2004 |
| Well, it seems Merry has saved the day with his bookishness. I wonder what it was exactly that he remembered about the story, that put him on this track? It is a comfort to know that sometimes justice can be served even when the strictest interpretation of the law is not. Somewhere is a very famous book it says that the law was made to serve man, and not man made to serve the law. At least in Gondor today, that proved true. I wonder how Ulrich would have fared in our courts. And though technically it is true that the jurors bent the truth to save Ulrich, in reality he is not the same person who tortured the hobbits. His story and Brant's are woven together. In each case a young man was placed in a situation that was too much for him, but Ulrich's choices marked him as different from Brant many times. Ulrich kept his honor at the end - he helped to defend the hobbits against the Pilgrim at the handfasting, he refused the opportunity to escape (though I doubt he really would have gotten far) and he would not take the life of a hobbit on the gallows, even though it was offered for the succor of his children. How many condenmed men would care so much for honor? I grieved for him, thinking as did all but Merry, that he was lost: but I didn't feel sorry for him, as he had made his peace. The one I felt sorry for was Brant. Even though I judge him guilty for his choices, I feel sympathy for the youth who was broken by the torture and horrors of war. It was chilling to watch his madness grow, and saddening for the Pilgrim to take everything from him at the end, though maybe Brant chose to go away to escape. The mercy that Elessar could offer him, of a dungeon for long years, was really no mercy at all. Nell again shows her wisdom and strength in accepting the responsibility of asking for the kinder but harder mercy. You really need to write a story focusing on the wonderful strong ladies of these hobbit families - they are as remarkable as their menfolk, though in a less showy and obvious way. You could do them justice, I think. So the next is the final chapter? I am looking forward to seeing Farry and Goldi again, and seeing how each group reacts to the other's adventures. | |
| Meldewen Ilce | Reviewed Chapter: 51 on 6/13/2004 |
| Oh I had another thought about Fredegar willing to give up his life to save Ulrich's and it is something Jesus said: Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends... And even though Ulrich refused it, I still can help but cry as it was a gesture of friendship as well as love... | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 51 on 6/13/2004 |
| I am now reading these last few chapters, and you have me sobbing into my tea. Ulrich is brave, Freddy is brave, Nell is brave, and all march on to the inevitable conclusion. Your writing here is very powerful and emotional and so gripping! And, it's not predicable at all. All the theories that I had were absolutely wrong - and I was trying to guess what you were going to do. After the hint you gave in a previous chapter, I knew it was Freddy that had offered his life as a guarantee for Ulrich, but I never imagined he would go through with it and ask to be hanged. Freddy has earned over again the reputation for bravery and selflessness that inspired him to become part of the original conspiracy and to become a leader of the rebellion. He may not have quite the fame of the travellers, but he is a hero nonetheless. Frodo would have been proud of him. | |