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All That Glisters  by Lindelea 429 Review(s)
Hai TookReviewed Chapter: 70 on 1/14/2005
I certainly missed a lot over the last couple of weeks! The whole kidnapping was terrible! Tom ended up with the right hobbit lad he just didn't know truly which was the right one. To think the "extra" child would have been the one he needed and most likely the one dropped in the River!

Denny's whol part in this was wonderful! He did such a good job protecting the hobbits even though he couldn't ultimately keep the little ones from being taken. So brave! I'm glad you didn't keep it so that he died. That would have been very sad. I'm glad that he and Pippin seemed to keep each other company so well there in the House of Healing. Kept each other out of trouble to an extent as well ;)

Sam did well! I love that though he was hurt he sprang forward to do what was needed. Interferred enough that perhaps he kept Denny from being taken out much sooner. Wonderful how it all worked out that no one was permanently damaged.

Oh dear, is Jack really gone? I mean we haven't heard about his body being found, right? I was glad he was there for surely the little ones wouldn't have been returned safely without his intervention but he still has to boys of his own to look after! Surely you aren't leaving that as a loose end? Now Will and Rob are alone, hopefully we will be finding out about them soon?

Poor Pippin-lad, I'm sorry he was so frightened of the big folk but I'm so happy he was able to get over it. Arwen I'm sure would be a calming influence in that regaurd.

I'm glad Hilly didn't refuse the Queen's gift. For a moment I thought he wouldn't but thank goodness he did. I'm sure that having the chance to live with his Posey and for her to be without pain was too much for him to resist.

My Pippin certainly did a job about keeping things to himself and damaging his health! His logic was frightening in the way he thought he was going to be spending the remainder of his life! Elessar is truly very wise.

I'm sure there is more that I had wanted to comment on but just didn't quite remember at this time. This wasn't the end was it? I think you said in the notes that that time hadn't quite come yet. So until it does: looking forward to more! ;)

Author Reply: O my! I don't think I ever saw this lovely review, with all of your thoughtful comments!

So pardon the terribly long delay between your review and my reply.

Thankfully, most of your questions were undoubtedly answered in the Epilogue to this story.

And we haven't seen the last of Jack. He's about to pop up in one of the current WIPs that I'm posting here at SoA. (Although much earlier on the timeline, so perhaps I ought to say you haven't seen the "first" of Jack, rather than the last!)

Belated thanks for taking the time to comment.

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 1/13/2005
You are one of the most organized writers in all of Fan Fiction. I think that by posting this you have answered a great many questions for readers who might not have read the other fictions that precede ths one and the ones that come after it in your time-frame. I wish everyone did this. Everything hooks together so nicely this way! I also like the reference links. I plan to visit those over the weekend. I also enjoyed your description of Shire Justice. Everything makes perfect sense. I am looking forward to the rest of this one and may just have to re-read "At The End of His Rope". I believe that I read that one quite some time ago and this one makes me want to read it again.

Author Reply: Just wish I could be so organised in other areas! (Homekeeping, for example)

Glad to get the feedback on the justice making sense. A lot of brainstorming went into it. Helps to be related to lawyers, though of course they're horrified by the traditional "guilty until proved innocent" attitude.

Well, if you do re-read "Rope" drop me a line here and there to let me know you were there. It's always nice to hear that someone has visited a story (as you undoubtedly know).

Thanks!

FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 1/13/2005
When I saw that these notes are published (again) I thought for a moment you were done with the story. But there are a few loose ends still to tie up - What about Jack being the biggest one in my mind. Did the king's men make an attempt to find him? Did he hide outside the hall during the judgement of the ruffian, or has he bolted? He was, at least before the incident at the falls, planning to lay low during the hobbits' visit and stay in the town afterward. Has being recognized changed his mind? Where will his band wander to next?

I had almost forgotten about the ruffian myself, though I expect Pippin could not, as his vacation wore on and he watched his family around him. The king has worked it out quite cleverly to take Pippin back for the trial, but how will it be explained to the hobbits?

Author Reply: When you see the chapter title "Epilogue" you'll know the story is at an end. It is not the next chapter to be posted (as of this reply) but perhaps the one after that. Jack's loose end will be tied up in the Epilogue.

How the trial will be explained to the hobbits is a part of the next chapter to be posted after "Trial by Law".

Thanks! I certainly appreciate it when you pose questions, as sometimes you remind me of things I'd forgotten and still need to take care of! (Though thankfully today I see from the draft that your questions posed in this particular review are pretty much covered.)

The hamster is still quite the hit around here. What a personality the little critter has!

Author Reply: p.s. Oddly the hamster is losing all the hair on her belly. We are worried but don't have a clue what to do.

A vet bill would be several times the cost of a new hamster. Hope that doesn't sound callous. It's a reality of life. But try to explain that to a little one.

Connie B.Reviewed Chapter: 70 on 1/13/2005
Pippin is even more compassionate than he realizes. To have nearly lost his only son to a plot that this man was a part of and still want mercy shown to the criminal is amazing. I know my parental instincts would not let me be so generous. I'd want to see the so-and-so hanged. Shame on me, but I admit that I'm only human. Hobbits really are more evolved socially than we are, whether we wnat to admit it or not.

Thanks.

Connie B.

Author Reply: I'm not sure I could be so compassionate as Pippin, myself. But then he is a hobbit, and related to Frodo, whom Bilbo considered one of the best.

The ruffian was a pitiable figure, not necessarily evil in himself, but weak, and fallen under the influence of evil companions. And thus, condemned. Makes me shudder.

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

HarrowcatReviewed Chapter: 70 on 1/13/2005
This chapter took me by surprise - I had forgotten the ruffian. I love the way that you have Pippin feeling empathy for him. It is one of the strength's of the way Gollum is portrayed in the movie-verse. 'There, but for the grace...go I'. Who knows what we might do if time or circumstances were different. You are going to resolve the 'Jack and the mithril flask conundrum' soon aren't you?

Author Reply: Well, Jack's story, at least, will be resolved in the Epilogue, just a couple of chapters away, I think.

Thanks!

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 70 on 1/13/2005
Painful - but inevitable, as Pippin knows. Slight sense that his protest was on principle, rather than because he feels Bill merits mercy. But on the information provided, it couldn't happen to a nicer bloke. Unless it was Tom.

Author Reply: Couldn't happen to a nicer guy... interesting turn of phrase.

Thanks!

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 69 on 1/13/2005
Click the heels of your ruby slippers - 'there's no place like home; there's no place like home!'

True, really. It's one think going to Gondor once Diamond's gone and Farry is grown-up, but it would be like exile to Pippin now. He couldn't be happy dragging them with him and he couldn't be happy leaving them behind. Better to take his chance in the Shire. Though spending the winter living above ground might be better for him. I can't help but feel that smials must be damp.

I liked seeing Arwen bully Denethor so pleasantly.

'‘I feel half-clad,’ Denethor grumbled.

‘Then put this on,’ Bergil said, thrusting surcoat at him. ‘At least you’ll be three-quarters clad.'

Great lines. It's the Bergil and Denny Show.

Anyway, Pippin's got to provide the Shire with an additional collection of Tooklets.


Author Reply: The "Bergil and Denny" show. *snork* It's enough to make me want to write more. "The Adventures of Bergil and Denny". Hmm, got a ring to it. After all, Denny's like a cat--he must have nine lives. He's starting on at least his second (if not his third--remembering that he got a battlefield promotion to the King's bodyguard, it must have been a harrowing experience at best), considering he was not supposed to survive being spitted during the picnic.

Thanks!

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 69 on 1/12/2005
I like Pippin's reasoning on this and even if I didn't know what I do, I would still think he was right. Gondor is a very nice place to visit now that there is a King, but I don't think Pippin would enjoy living there without his family and away from Merry and Sam. I hope Aragorn takes this as well as Merry did. I wonder if he might already suspect Pippin's answer. I found the fact that Pippin considered leaving the Shire as punishment for his crime. So, if Aragorn was listening then I am sure that he knows that Pippin could not be happy in Gondor.

Author Reply: Too true. Merry might press Pippin hard to move to Gondor, knowing that he (Merry) was likely to visit with relative frequency, but Diamond has no such comfort.

I suspect Elessar realised Pippin's attitude during the "trial", that "Gondor" without Diamond and Farry meant a longer life (perhaps) that was not worth the living, in Pippin's eyes.

Thanks!

p.s. enjoying your 12Days story. Very clever!

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 68 on 1/12/2005
Poor Pippin! Now I only hope that Aragorn and Arwen are able to convince him that he doesn't deserve to hang. I sensed that Merry knew that Aragorn would not punich Pippin, but I do think that Diamond got caught up in it all with her grief over possibly losing Pippin and if not for Merry, might have charged forth. I thought Hilly's objections showed his loyality to the Thain and his friendship for Pippin very well. He was nearly as good at making excuses in this issue as Pippin would have been.

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 69 on 1/12/2005
I knew that Pippin was going to make this choice, and I even guessed some of the reasons, but it had not occurred to me about little Farry, and his fear of his son growing up away from the Shire and exposed to the customs and foibles of Men.
Excellent, and very like Pippin!
It's a shame they can't know that everything is going to be all right after all.
And no, I don't find this a bit anti-climatic. You still have some loose ends to tie up. It's no more anti-climatic than everything that happened in LotR after the Ring was destroyed.

Author Reply: Thanks! O and if you've noticed that I leave any loose ends hanging after the last chapter is posted ("Epilogue") do be sure to let me know. In such a long story it is all too possible to drop a thread or three.

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