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| Keep Alive the Memory by Celeritas | 114 Review(s) |
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| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 12/27/2008 |
| Oh, I'm so glad that Kira has re-established herself with Kerry and Sandra! Tom still irks the daylights out of me. His apology was so half-hearted it was pathetic. And then he tried to turn it around and put all the blame on Kira. I just wish that someone, somehow, would pound a bit of badly needed sense into his hard head! A really good chapter! Author Reply: *grin* I love Kira's bookish friends--but unfortunately they live so far away that I don't get to use them very often! I've always hated the "sorry if" apology, so often used by politicians today. It fails to recognize that some actions are objectively wrong, regardless of whether anyone was offended or not. So of course I had to put it in the lips of Tom, who may indeed be sorry, but if he is it's for all the wrong reasons. And you're not the first person to wish that Tom gets beaten up at some point... ^_^ Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the review! | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 12/27/2008 |
| Sad, but blessed in its way. Now to see if the blackness of the ink in her dream will now flow THROUGH her into seeing to it the story continues! Love the Tree Party. Sad that Aragorn and Elanor have died before Kira could meet them; but there's always the chance she'll get to meet Eldarion and/or his sisters! And I'm so glad to hear that memory of Elanor's! Author Reply: Yes, we're moving from despair to catharsis, so that hopefully Kira will be set to heal over the next few years. It was a real shame about Elanor's passing, but I couldn't in good conscience let her live long enough to know what happens to the book--that would have broken her spirit. Aragorn's death, on the other hand, was a conscious element of the setting--it's the time when almost all of the remaining relics of the Third Age pass beyond. I wish I could have done more with him than I have, but there you have it. And you're right; we've still got a number of canons out there for Kira to meet! Glad you liked the memory as well--Elanor has to be one of my favorite minor canon characters, so I had to give her something special (and put in an obligatory eyecolor jab, heh!). | |
| Agape4Gondor | Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 12/26/2008 |
| Excellent chapter - though all my hopes were dashed that the 'real' book was still, somehow, saved.... I loved the reunions - that was great - I do so hope that one day our little heroine will be able to spend 'real' time with these dear folk. Though - the hint of darkness does not portend well for Hobbiton - and perhaps for all of Middle-earth? What cataclsym might be upon Eldarion? Author Reply: *grin* Glad to have pleased, though, sorry, it really is gone and I'm not going to try to retcon it back in... I loved the reunions, too! Even though it may be a while, Kira will definitely spend 'real' time with them again--even if she has to wait till she's of age! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 12/26/2008 |
| The inclusion of the party tree and associated folklore is a lovely touch. Good for Kira that she gives Tom a right telling. I've been waiting very patiently to see Kerry and Sandra turn up again, so I've been rewarded. :D Delightful scene when Sandra explains how Sam taught Elanor to remember Frodo. Author Reply: I think just about all of the knowledge we have about the 4th Age Shire gets put into this story somewhere; I couldn't not use such juicy nuggets as the Tree and try to come up with what the hobbits themselves would have thought of it. I did like getting Kira angry enough to tell Tom off; unfortunately it seems to have had no effect. And yes, Kerry and Sandra were bound to turn up again; it just took them both a while! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 12/17/2008 |
| What a very touching chapter. The mother's advice is well-meant, but entirely counterproductive, but at last the aunt begins to understand. I'm wondering, did you invent this mystery disease or does it correspond to some real-life medical condition? A form of epilepsy, maybe? Author Reply: Although I try to go for realism in all of my fiction, I dislike writing that's set in the past in which there are medical conditions which, even though the characters can't recognize it, the modern-day reader can. It always throws me out of the story. So when I write about any sort of uncommon illness I deliberately try to make it the Mysterious Victorian Illness which, when it was used by authors, served whatever purpose the plot demanded. So Kira's condition isn't directly based on any sort of disease as recognized by modern medical professionals. That doesn't mean I haven't tried to analyze it in any way, so here's the best information I can give you. Kira's condition is almost entirely psychosomatic. As the vivid dreams show, she has a very, very active imagination that was only unleashed by her reading. Now that the Book is gone there's all of this creative energy and nowhere to put it. So what started out as a fairly innocuous faint, brought about by the shock and grief of the book's loss (compare with Sam's faint when he first thinks Frodo is dead--if the parallels are obvious it's because when I was researching I was trying to look for comparable events of hobbits reacting to grievous dire news) turns into an entire little world in Kira's heart that, as she encounters it, becomes more and more real to her. It's a suitable method of coping at first (because it stops the nightmares), but the more she relies on it the more it hurts her. After a winter of this being the only way she can begin to come to terms with her grief, it resolves into a permanent condition. If you can recognize any real-world illnesses in the blackness, though, by all means go ahead and read it in there. I can't guarantee that it'll match up, of course! ^_^ | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 12/17/2008 |
| Hmmm, somehow I don't think lace-making will really be the solution. ;-) But it will be a good distraction for a while. It was a nice touch that the aunt says "It’s not the end of the Shire" rather than "the end of the world" - showing yet again how narrow-minded most of these hobbits are. Author Reply: Nope, you can't get over the loss of the Book with distractions alone, but it's a nice thought. Excellent; I love hobbit idiom! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 12/17/2008 |
| The dream sequences in this chapter were absolutely excellent. Very eerie. And deary, deary me, the book is destroyed. Argh, what now? I also liked the very warm scenes between Kira and her mother and aunt. For the first time the mother seemed truly affectionate. Author Reply: *grin* Glad you liked the dream sequences; the first one freaked me out! What now? Well, that's what just about all of my writing in this "universe" will answer. The other chapters that are up right now show how Kira tries to cope; when Spring rolls around I'm able to show some of the rest of the Shire's actions. I'm afraid that up till now at least Kira's mother has had to take a bit of a back seat on the action and mostly serve as a guardrail against Kira's missteps. But there is (and always has been, even if I haven't been good about showing it) some genuine love there. Almost losing Kira is just going to make her show it a lot more. | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 12/17/2008 |
| Oh, dear. Sandra is going to regret the day she lent Kira the book! How unfortunate that Tom should feel so possessive about Kira that he turns downright nasty. I wonder if the book will survive? Good for Kira that she spoke her mind about it though! "She formed in her mind the image of Sam and Frodo, crawling up the Mountain in a task far more grave and far more hopeless, and slowly she stopped shaking." This was a lovely touch. One thing puzzled me: Why did it take Daffodil so long to catch up? Shouldn't she have been right behind Kira? Author Reply: Yes--although unfortunately I can't focus on Sandra in this tale as much as I'd like, she does have to deal with a lot of Angst for giving Kira the book. I think that for once the insanity of the whole situation jolted Daffodil into inaction, for maybe a minute. Then she walked there (Kira ran), either figuring that things couldn't have gotten that bad in so short a time or dreading to see what state they were in. Either that or 'because the plot required it.' *sigh* | |
| Agape4Gondor | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 12/16/2008 |
| Hmmm - interesting chapter. Author Reply: Interesting, and it should have some interesting implications down the road... I hope... | |
| Agape4Gondor | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 12/16/2008 |
| Yikes! I really, really could not forgive Daf so easily - I really couldn't - this little one is a much better person than I.... Though perhaps she does not REALLY understand what was lost........ Author Reply: Well, if it helps you feel better, Kira hasn't forgiven Daffodil quite to the extent that she says she has... it's a case of "fake it till you make it" and whether it works or not will become evident next chapter. I think Kira understands what was lost as much as anyone who's 16 and only just come into education can. And if she understood any more it'd hurt so much harder that I really couldn't wish that on her. | |