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| Keep Alive the Memory by Celeritas | 114 Review(s) |
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| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 16 on 1/5/2009 |
| I can forgive you just about everything else you put Kira through: you let her meet Legolas and Gimli! That had been one of my fondest hopes from the time the story began, but I scarcely dared to mention it, lest my hopes be dashed. The two of them were beautifully in character, and having read the Book, it was no wonder Kira instantly recognized them. I also think that Kira has matured a great deal, in her ability to forge a truce with Tom. It's a hard thing to do, when a friend has broken friendship, and yet will not admit to being at fault--to overlook it and go on graciously. I know from sad experience that he has forever forfeited her trust. Forgiving does not always mean forgetting, contrary to the old saying. I still have hopes of Tom finally learning how wrong-headed he has been, and of realizing exactly what he ruined. (And while that might or might not include the Book, I am mostly talking about Kira's faith in him.) I very much am looking forward to the sequel, especially if it means revealing some of the reasons that the Proudfoots are so estranged from the Brandybuck side of the family. I also hope we will get to see Kira vindicated in some way, to her friends and her mother and the others who have used "good intentions" to squash her hopes and beliefs. Author Reply: *grin* Yeah, that encounter was a wee bit implausible but I decided to indulge my fangirlish side for once. Kira definitely needed to see for herself some sort of concrete proof that she was right and everyone else was wrong, so I had to put something like that in there. Very glad you thought they were IC, as well. I always get a bit nervous when writing canons, especially ones that I don't know quite as well. Well, one of the forms that I borrowed from for this whole tale was the "coming of age" genre that used to be so popular. Kira's truce with him shows that she realizes that some things in life you just can't avoid, so it's best to make it as easy as possible. But no, she's not going to forget, and she won't forgive him unless/until he actually says he's sorry (and not just for hurting her!). Till then, she'll at least tolerate him. We all have hopes concerning Tom, from his getting sense beaten into him quite literally to a full repentance and out-and-out romance (I will not, of course, say if I agree with this latter hope). I'm still very much in the exploratory stages of the Proudfoot side of Kira's family and how close/distant they are from the Brandybucks (we really haven't seen enough of them to say). But the reasons that Kira's mother doesn't like either, I hope, are fairly evident: they encouraged her father to overwork himself, which rather than building his strength shattered it. She blames them for his death. | |
| Esquire_of_Rohan | Reviewed Chapter: 16 on 1/5/2009 |
| Wow! This was an excellent story. Very well writen. I love it! Author Reply: Thank you so much! I hope (soon) to be able to put up (and hopefully complete) its sequel, which advances the plot of the story about twelve years and touches on the same themes. | |
| Kara's Aunty | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 1/4/2009 |
| Hello Celeritas, nice to see Kira recovering. Daffodil's an empty-headed bit of fluff, though! She was weak, and in her weakness she betrayed her friend - but Kira has a big heart, I suppose, and that's why she offers her forgiveness. What are the dreams symbolic of though, I wonder. And Daffodil appeared to be surprised that the pages of the book were ruined... M ;) Author Reply: Daffodil was even fluffier the first drafts of the story. Now I prefer to think that she's just hoping Kira will go back to pre-book Kira and deluding herself with a bit of wishful thinking. Generally speaking the dreams are a heightened form of whatever is going on in Kira's mind. They'll continue and progress throughout the tale so that you can keep track of them and read into them whatever you want. I don't think Daffodil had really thought about what would happen to the book, not really thought about it that is. So she's more surprised that something like that has changed so drastically even though she wasn't there. I imagine after she got help and saw Kira almost drowned they hustled her off the scene so she wouldn't be any more traumatized. | |
| Kara's Aunty | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 1/4/2009 |
| Hello Celeritas, Wow. Poor Frodo and Sam - what a ghastly storm, eradicating the flesh from their bones! But then, thankfully, it was only a fevered dream. I had worried that the Red Book was gone forever and was relieved when Aunt Penny handed it to her - until Kira opened it and all the words had disappeared through water-damage (did the cover not suffer some as well?). Those nasty boys have a lot to answer for, leaving our lass to almost die (even though they didn't mean it). I've gone right off them both. Bad Tom! Bad Roly! At least Daffodil redeemed herself somewhat by fetching help. M ;) Author Reply: And eradicating their bones, too... Expect Kira to get more really freaky dreams. *shivers and cackles simultaneously* The cover should have suffered some damage (probably all curled up) but it's just not as poetic that way so I didn't describe it. I have decided that the cover itself does not have any writing on it, so all the damage to it would have to be structural. Yes, they certainly do have a lot to answer for, but it remains to be seen whether they're really sorry or not. | |
| Agape4Gondor | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/1/2009 |
| Yikes! A VERY poor decision IMHO..... Author Reply: Yeah, it may work in the short term, but in the long term they're just shooting themselves in the foot and it is not altruistic in the least. Even worse, it's consigning Kira to a very difficult life, at least until she's of age, and this after they've all said they don't blame her. *facepalm* | |
| curiouswombat | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 12/31/2008 |
| Oh I so want to knock a few hobbit heads together - none of them Kira's. Author Reply: All right, but you'll have to get to the end of the line... lol! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 12/31/2008 |
| Aha. It seems that the descendants of the Travellers have not really pulled their weight and by keeping the memory within their families have become as much to blame for the general ignorance as the narrow-minded common hobbits are. And now they want to lock up their books even more. I wonder if anything will change their minds? Author Reply: Well, something happened initially to make them direct their minds towards this approach. But Kira's generation of readers (Kerry and Sandra, for instance) seems to be against that, so hopefully eventually things will turn around. | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 12/30/2008 |
| How sad; that they want to shut in all that knowledge and history. The last paragraph is particularly vivid and expressive. I hope there's a better end in store. Author Reply: I do like writing Kira's dreams; they give me a different way of expressing exactly what she's thinking. There must, of course, eventually be a good enough end in store that hobbits are willing to keep enough copies around for Tolkien to get his hands on one; and while the Thain's approach may be helpful in the short term, in the long term it's just going to stymie interest in the past, within the Travellers' families as well as outside them. But I hope the last chapter of this tale will give Kira enough hope that I can satisfactorily draw this portion of her life to a close. | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 12/30/2008 |
| *blink* *blink*blink* So, let me get this straight: Pippin's heir thinks that it will be better if books are kept locked up so no one can read them except the people who already *have* read them. Uh-huh! Yeah. It's a crying shame he *can't* have a visitation from his illustrious ancestor! I think Pippin would give him what-for, for such backward thinking!! I like Sam's descendant very much. He got to the real heart of the matter: It’s high time we had a talk with the person who was actually responsible for the loss of the book, isn’t it?” Yes, it is. And I know that this is all Kira's POV, but I most certainly hope we get an account of Tom's encounter with the Big Brass. Author Reply: ...Yup. And it took about 4 pages of backstory to square away Auduin's character with that of his illustrious ancestor. It's a good story, if I ever get around to it... anyway, suffice it to say that Kira does NOT like the Thain very much, at all, and rather wishes that Pippin's shade would come back just to disown him. But Holfast really is a nice one. That quoted bit only actually made it in today as I realized that I had never addressed what happened to Tom, and something did need to happen to him as an immediate consequence of his actions (aside from the licking he's already gotten from his dad. The really long-term consequences won't come for a while yet, but when they do they'll be gooooood *cackles*). Unfortunately the encounter happens right after this tale ends (I'll try to slip in a mention of it somewhere in the sequel) and although I don't know if Kira ever figures out exactly what happened she teases Tom mercilessly for it. | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 12/30/2008 |
| So, not teaching and not learning will somehow keep folks safe? What a crock! Author Reply: ...Yeah, pretty much. (In case you couldn't tell, this chapter is a shameless setup for the sequel.) | |