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Interrupted Journeys: Part 2 Journeys Perforce  by elliska 3 Review(s)
French PonyReviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/26/2004
Yay, more story!

Sorry I didn't get to this earlier. I had a dance performance last night, and massive rehearsal leading up to that. But it's all over now, we danced beautifully, I looked just like a hobbit. . . but I digress. . .

I liked the device of having Lindomiel stay flat in the boat and not being able to see the battle. It's so hard to write battles convincingly, and they're kind of like sex scenes -- too many of them, and they all start to sound alike. But if you do something different, like concentrate on a character who is only getting the vaguest impressions of what's going on, that makes it much more powerful. Especially when the guards are getting shot right in the boat. It's good to see that Miss Lindomiel has learned to obey the guards when they tell her to do something.

There were a couple of odd moments here. Fresh fish roasting over a fire smell appetizing, but "pungent" is probably not a word I'd use to describe it. If fish smell "pungent," then they are at least a week old, and you don't want to be eating them. And the rowers must be pretty good to maneuver the boat from its moorings. I've been rowing since I was nine, and I worked on a riverboat for a summer, and it was my impression that you loose the moorings before you start rowing. Rowers can push a boat away from a dock (and if you're in a crew shell, it is a mildly tricky maneuver that you have to practice), or they can slip a mooring line by hand, but maneuvering the boat out of a line by rowing power alone just doesn't work.

I did like the way the Elves reacted to the danger. Suddenly, everyone goes in an instant from being carefree and chattering to silent and alert. Just like a herd of deer or a bunch of squirrels will do. That seems very Elvish to me, to be able to do that.

She's been married nine hundred years and still she cries when she leaves her parents? What a tender heart. No wonder Thranduil loves her. A little sentimental for my tastes, though.

Author Reply: Congrats on your dance performance. That sounds like a lot of fun. I used to be involved in stuff like that when I taught and I miss it so much. I'm jealous. At some point you are going to have to mention what it is you are studying (for what degree--you've mentioned a bunch of your classes). I am so jealous. It sounds like a great program.

I definitely agree with you about battle/sex scenes (I was actually saying exactly that to someone else yesterday in an IM and thinking about your comments about the epilogue in the last story when I was--funny). That's why I did this that way. There are a couple of them in this story and I had to play with ways to describe them to make it not repetitive.

I am not fond of fish. I will eat it but do NOT cook it in my house. It simply smells 'pungent' to me. :) I didn't intend it when I wrote that scene but somebody asked me if the smell of the fish attracted the orcs--I bet it could have, you can smell that stuff cooking a mile away. The neighbors cook their catch on their grill every weekend--not pleasant. Thanks for pointing that out about 'moorings.' I canoe but nothing else. All we do is take our canoe off our car and push it in the intercoastal. I will be the first to admit I know very little about boating (its a disgrace since I live in Florida). I will change some wording there so it will make more sense.

I can't see anyone crying to get away from Amglaur. :) But some people are like this. It kind of bugs me too. Everytime I go with my husband to visit my in-laws (and they are very nice) his mother cries when we leave and his father stands there and shakes my husband's hand for what seems like twenty minutes. It drives me insane. :)

Thanks for the review. We are watching transformers blow along the main street near my house. So we expect electricity to go soon but still hoping for the best because this is the longest we've gone and kept electricity. At any rate, I'm glad I got to see this review before we loose power.

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/25/2004
Excellent start - very dramatic. I'm glad I'm not in a boat having orcs fire arrows at me!

So it's been a millennium already. I suppose that means they're not newly weds any more. And the tensions between Amglaur and Thranduil still exist!

Aradunnon had better get round to being serious with Amoneth soon - she had exhibited extreme patience and deserves to be rewarded.

Looking forward to more. Hope Jeanne proves less dangerous than the previous hurricanes. And 40 is a good age - mature, confident, but well before decrepitude. Enjoy it.

Author Reply: I'm glad that the tension came across. I wasn't sure how that scene would work in the reader's mind since you didn't actually see the battle. But sometimes what you don't see is scarier. Amglaur's attitude is better, as you will see, but they are not great friends :) Aradunnon will get a lot of opportunity to be serious in many ways in this story. I hope you continue to enjoy and as always I very much appreciate the reviews!

Decrepitude! LOL! I'll just keep telling myself that its a good age. I know it is, seriously. But still--its the age my teenage friends and I joked life ended at and I still think of myself as a college student. What's up with that?! :)

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/25/2004
That battle scene from Lindomiel's pov was terrifying even though she saw very little of it. Well done!

I don't blame Thranduil for being angry, but I'm glad I'm not the one who has to deal with him. I think you said we'd see more of Aradunnon in this story. I'm looking forward to that.

Author Reply: That opening scene was actually what I wrote last for this particular story. There are quite a few battle scenes in this so to make them different, they get seen a number of different ways. I had a little fun playing with that. Sometimes what you don't see and can only imagine is scarier than what you actually see. I imagine that she has not seen a battle, having been born in the Third Age. Even Greenwood was relatively safe then. Since she'd never seen one, I thought I wanted that first battle to be seen from her perspective.

No, I would not want to deal with Thranduil if I was on watch when nasty things started moving into his forest. It could not be good. :) Aradunnon plays a good role here, poor thing. Thanks for the review. I love them, as you know.

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