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| The Book of Mazarbul by Soledad | 43 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 4/17/2024 |
| Oh my goodness! (please imagine the flabbergasted sound I am making...) I am so glad you added the first half of the chapter back in! I missed so much! Rei's stolen pony, the Rangers talking about going after the thief, Náli's approach to the Barrow, all of which added so much context... (the casual reference to going to the Barrows to look for the Chieftain, oh my, the thought took my breath away. Such loyalty, courage, and heartbreak...) I'm so glad I re-read this chapter before going on to the next. Author Reply: I'm glad the re-adding worked. I still don't understand how the dratted part vanished in the first place. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 4/15/2024 |
| Hmmm. I'm wondering where/how Hallavor learned about Dwarf culture and custom? Directly from Rei, or from some other source/adventure/thing. He also strikes me as amazingly open-minded, considering the role of a Ranger. Although he is pointing out alternative lifestyle choices that do not involve crime in the same way as thievery, so there is that... (Okay, so maybe not so open-minded as I first thought. I misread He must not remain a thief at first as He need not remain a thief. Completely different connotation, of course.) "sons and grandsons"... that's right, I am suddenly reminded that Dwarves live longer than even the relatively long-lived Dúnedain. I don't remember many details, though, like when the various races come of age or their relative lifespans. I've been concentrating on Hobbits, mostly, since returning to fanfic a few weeks ago. Yikes! Rei's reaction reminds me of that old folk song. Tell him to plough me an acre of land - parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme - between the saltwater and the sea sand; then he'll be a true love of mine. Uh oh. The Barrow Downs. I'm almost afraid to read on. Good thing it's still broad daylight here. Poor pony! (And now some whimsical part of me wonders if the pony will run to Tom Bombadil for refuge. He left his mount behind but "let go" rather than tying it to something or hobbling it.) Oh, and I love the descriptions of Náli's Dwarf senses and the nature of Dwarves and the hints at various technologies of this world. Embalmed bodies rather than carved likenesses? Creepy. (Death masks. Okay, that makes sense.) But "bony fingers" makes me think of skeletons... so the picture blurs a bit for me there and readjusts with a slightly different focus. Ooo, a sword from the Barrow Downs might come in handy if a Nazgul happens to show up... Protective gem? I don't remember reading about that before this point. Interesting. He may not be so doomed as I thought. I wonder if the gem protected him from the Wight? That scene was stuff of nightmares, indeed. The lad may need an athelas treatment before all is said and done. (Seems to me he may still have the sword though he lost everything else? I look forward to reading on, hopefully tomorrow.) Author Reply: Haha, the truth is, I originally meant "he does not NEED to remain a thief". As I am not a native speaker, I tend to mess up my prepositions; especially as I unconsciously tend to use English ones the was German ones work, since German is my second language. So sorry! Yes, Náli still does have the sword. I really had to think about it before answering; this particular chapter has been posted 16 years ago! | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 4/15/2024 |
| Um. The first part of the chapter seems to be cut off. I don't know if only a few words are missing or if it's rather more than that. I'll post my thoughts in a separate review so that you can delete this note if you wish. (p.s. Did you get my email? I was just wondering if I had the right address.) Author Reply: You are right: the first half of the story did get cut off somehow. I don't know when it happened - you the first one who's noticed it. I did not get your email; I'll have to check whether it has ended up in the Junk mail folder or not. My address is annaliess at hotmail dot com. This is the fannish one in any case, to which reviews and such should go. But I've realized that SoA is not mailing me any reviews lately, so I have to come here and check regularly. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/13/2024 |
| Oh! I find Náli a fascinating character already! And the different clans of Dwarves and their names; interesting and plausible. Are FireBeards redheaded, by chance? Yikes. The Barrow-Downs. I hope he knows what he's getting into. "fed graciously". Sounds like hobbits, all right. Thievery as an established Dwarf guild seems plausible, considering the hiring of a Burglar in a later story. Your descriptions of the landscape and the Pony are vivid and easy to visualise. Could it be Gandalf and Bilbo? No. Grungy Rangers! LOL (Even if it's more the habitation itself that stinks, it seems.) And the Rangers' nature and relationship is interesting to contemplate. Intriguing beginning. I will be looking forward to reading more. Author Reply: I decided that FireBeards had to get their name from somewhere, so I made them redheads as a whole. *g* | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 4/13/2024 |
| What fun! I am quite looking forward to this story, although I must admit that most of my reading fare is deliberately selected as having upbeat (or at worst bittersweet) endings. In my own stories, though the characters may go through "interesting times" (as in the old curse, Chinese, I think it might be?) to get to the end of my stories, I always have a satisfying (to me, anyhow) ending, already written, that I'm working through as I toil through the angst and chaos. That's the only way I'd be able to keep writing, I think. So kudos to you to tackle such a tragedy. That said... like you, I've long been fascinated by Balin's story and the "slashed and stabbed and partially burned" book the Fellowship found in Moria. This gap filler holds a lot of promise. (I must admit, I always thought the "women in beards" came from the films. Is there something in JRRT's original writings about that?) Author Reply: As far as I remember, Tolkien only said that they look so much like Dwarf men when travelling that other people can't spot the difference. So I invented the idea of them wearing fake beards when on the Road. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 16 on 4/8/2024 |
| Oh! I'm glad to see this story again! I forgot to make a note of it earlier. Now I will have to re-read the earlier chapters to figure out where I left off. Looking forward to it... Thanks. Author Reply: Awww, thank you! I've given up hope that anyone would still remember this tale. It has been too long... | |
| Walker-skye | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 11/4/2016 |
| Please, Soledad, add to this! Your characters are richly and fully formed, and your company is nearly complete. But the adventure still waits. As do your fans. Author Reply: Thank you for your kind words. :) The sad truth is, I haven't been able to write a single word of Tolkienfic since Fiondil's passing - I guess the shock was too great. But I do hope that eventually my Tolkien muse will recover and I'll be able to continue my never-ending WIPs. It's good to know that there are still people out there who are interested in this tale. | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 2/5/2016 |
| I can appreciate why the ancient Dwarves feel compelled to reenter Khazad-dum, for they might, just might find the means to cleanse the halls and avenge themselves on the creatures that robbed them of their ancient holdings. But WE know that they were unsuccessful, and grieve for them. A good deal of knowledge has been shared in this chapter. Now, to see how it will be dealt with by the various parties of Dwarves and Wizards. And loved the hint of Glorfindel's knowledge shared. Author Reply: Thank you, Larner, I'm glad you had fun with this chapter. As for Glorfindel... well, he is and ancient Elf and thus entitled to mystery, right? Besides, I thought he'd be interested in someone else who once faced a Balrog - or, at least, tried to. *g* | |
| someone | Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 1/31/2016 |
| It's interesting to see a story where the dwarves have a rich culture and history of their own. These dwarves are both proud and practical; it's nice to see that not everyone agrees that the expedition to Moria is a good thing, and everyone has their own reasons to go on the journey. If I may ask, how much this is edited? I have read this long ago, so are the earlier chapters still the same or should they be read again to understand the future chapters? Author Reply: Thank you, I'm really glad that you like the story. In fact, the earlier chapters have already been edited, I was just hesitating if it made any sense to cut out huge chunks of further ones - in the end, I decided to do it anyway, as I basically had to remove a plot aspect and despite that the story itself would still make sense. Or so I hope. You can read the unedited version on FF.Net, if you want. It has the same rating, no smut whatsoever, only some aspects of Dwarven culture that wouldn't fit with the rules of this archive. I'm Soledad over there, too. | |
| Barthand | Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 1/29/2016 |
| This is a whopper of a story. Please finish it. Barvi's Ring is brilliant. Is there a basis in Lore for Thrandruil being Thing's nephew? As I read it it occurred to me that PJ might want to make a movie of this! Author Reply: Why, thank you, I'm glad you like the story, though I won't allow PJ anywhere near it - I wouldn't recognize either the plot or the characters afterwards. Although the visuals would be probably gorgeous. *g* Re: Thranduil. The only somewhat firm canon consensus is, bases on a chapter of the Unfinished Tales IIRC, that the Sindarin Princes who chose to live among the woodland folk were related to Celeborn. The degree of that relation is uncertain, as there are at least three different versions of origins Tolkien came up with for Celeborn, one of them being that he was the grandson of Elmö, the youngest brother of Olwë and Thingol. I added Oropher as the other one of Elmö's sons, and several fanfic authors seem to agree with that theory, but it is by no way certain. | |