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| Jewels by Lindelea | 7 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 8/23/2025 |
| The start of pneumonia? He's known enough distress for it to start. Now--if a memory of Frodo will hearten him so he can hearten Merry when that day comes. Bless him for his care for Socks. Author Reply: Yes, when I was writing Jewels and posting it at HASA all those years ago, there were some wonderfully supportive people at the archive. I connected there with a medical worker who advised me on symptoms as well as treatments that would have been available under the Shire's level of medical knowledge and application. In fact, Lyllyn warned me (after reading some draft chapters) that the symptoms I had described implied permanent lung damage and disability! Because of my fixation with plausibility, I was faced with rewriting those chapters. (Horrors!) I sat with that feedback for a few days, and then I came up with the timeline and character development arc, culminating in Sam consulting with Treebeard and returning with some specially-brewed Ent draught to address Pippin's problems. Thus, my habitual avoidance of rewriting resulted in a wider scope for the imagination! (Probably not the first time a vice or failing led to a positive result, but certainly the most memorable.) Thanks! (p.s. I hope this reply makes sense. I am very distracted. Squeak is repeatedly cruising by my legs and head-bumping me vigorously each time she passes. I must close the laptop now and top off the cat dishes, I think, before she gets hungry enough to take a bite out of me.) | |
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 5/12/2025 |
| Lindelea! Oh no! This is where some of Pippin's health problems begin. Well sometimes we are forced to re-evaluate our life choices. Dear Pippin. (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: MM! You are exactly right. A long time ago, when I was still fairly new at fanfic-writing, this was known as "the infamous chapter 25". Arising almost by accident out of a discussion with someone who advised me on medical issues in my stories, it ended up shaping Pippin's character arc on my timeline of the Fourth Age Shire, all the way up to the year Sam travelled to Gondor and back, when the Mayor brought back a miraculous cure from Treebeard. (Whew. That was a long run-on sentence. I hope it's intelligible.) Thus, for a long stretch of years, Pippin has a built-in reminder of the consequences of leaping before he looks. He probably needs it though, for he's impulsive enough even when hampered by ill health that it takes him from this point until a few years after he becomes Thain for the lesson to sink in. All that said, he really is an engaging character... Again, thanks so much for reading and generously sharing your impressions. I appreciate your thoughtfulness! (((hugs))) Lin | |
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 5/12/2025 |
| Lindelea! Eeeeek Pippin! "Boromir's voice sounded close by. This cold will be the death of the halflings. He sounded worried. Cold? What cold? Pippin was feeling warmer by the moment." So not good!! "'It's naught but a cold,' Pippin said, fending off her questing hand. 'I'm fine! All I need is a bit of brandy!' He poured himself another half a glass and told another story. Not long after, he confessed, 'Come to think of it, I am feeling a little tired. I think I'll turn in.'" Pippin volunteering to go to bed! He is either actually sick...or planning something. LOL! "Pippin kept them laughing with his stories of Yule at Great Smials, and no one noticed that he was too busy talking to eat much." Pippin...not hungry!? Must dash to work! Will finish at break!" (((hugs))) MM P.S. The book came in! Have read a bit. I think it will be a wonderful reference book! Author Reply: MM! Oh! I'm glad you're enjoying the book! I know I have been enjoying it. I've found it hard to read in a straight line – I keep dipping into it here and there as the impulse strikes (or a question, or a thought, or...) You are an astute reader, and your suspicions are well-founded. Thanks so much for reading and pausing to share your thoughts! I'm always glad to hear from you. (((hugs))) Lin | |
| Periantari | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 4/10/2025 |
| Love Pippin h/c in this chapter- it was frightful when he slid in ice and had hypothermia, but glad he got found quickly and the healer and Merry are by his side! Author Reply: He is a stubborn fellow, and this misjudgement on his part will shape the next decades of his life... but they will also make him more thoughtful about everything he does. I love to read stories where one cousin rescues the other! (So it was natural to write one. Or several.) Thank you for reading and stopping to share your thoughts! | |
| PSW | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 3/1/2025 |
| Yikes - glad they found him in time! I’m sure it was different, traveling in the days when you didn’t know what kind of weather was coming. Now hopefully he can get this lingering cough kicked! (Though this being fanfic, I don’t necessarily expect it. ;-) Author Reply: Unfortunately, this is the root of the troubles that will plague him for the next couple decades, at least up until Samwise returns from the South-lands with a cure from Treebeard. When one of my beta-readers, who worked in a medical field, read this, she said that the scenario I'd written would result in permanent lung damage, and was I willing to deal with that? I hate rewriting. Isn't that silly? So I looked at my Fourth Age timeline, and I picked out Sam's visit to Gondor as the date when Pippin would be fully healed, and all the stories that followed Jewels were based on that reckoning. And I didn't have to rewrite Pippin's illness as an added bonus. Sometimes laziness has its benefits. Maybe it would have been easier simply to rewrite this part of Jewels. On the other hand, a lot of character growth was possible based on that timeline, and Pippin's health problems posed a challenge (both for him and for me) that added spice to the stew, so I guess it all worked out in the end. Thanks for your patience in listening to my thinking aloud... | |
| Pearl Took | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 8/30/2007 |
| I'm so glad they found him in time!! I recently read a book called "The Children's Blizzard" a true account about a prairie blizzard in the late 1800s that killed many school children because in much of the area, it hit during the day and they were sent home from the schools only to get caught out in the storm. This had me thinking of that book. I look forward to more :-) Author Reply: I remember reading a book about a more recent blizzard, in the 30s or 40s, I think, that hit Minnesota around Veteran's Day. A lot of hunters and fishermen perished, I think, and a whole train full of people were stranded. | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 8/30/2007 |
| A bad time to become ill, I fear. At least Socks followed orders and fetched help. But is this the start of the respiratory failure he faces in the future? Love Heart sitting by him afraid of waking him. Author Reply: Yes, a bad time. You're right, this is the start of his serious lung problems, compounding the damage done by the troll. This is also the start of Ferdi's downfall--he was supposed to be Pippin's escort, and Paladin (unfairly, perhaps) blames him for Pippin going out into an ice storm alone. Are you coming down Labor Day? We're still planning to do tea but not sure which day. | |