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The Awakening  by MJ 6 Review(s)
FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/20/2010
LOL - now that I've read the other reviews, I know where I read this before. I read it on your website, of course, probably somewhere in the longer-ago reaches of the last 9 years. I haven't read the other story you're posting though, so I will continue to enjoy that. And I'll go back to the site, which I have bookmarked, and see what else I've missed. It's good to run into you again, after all this time, and that you're still writing.

FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/20/2010
Have I read at least the middle of this somewhere before? The part about Frodo having seen Gandalf's ring many years earlier, and guessing he was Ainu, seemed very familiar to me.

Well, if I have read it or not, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this time. The conversation is so natural and the characterization very true. It very well may have happend this way!

Author Reply: Hmm, I didn't use that passage in any of my other writing, but as this story has been around for... oh, about 18 years (though only about 9 on the internet), it's possible you read it before. Or maybe someone else quoted it. Or perhaps I was just channeling the Professor exceptionally well at that point? :) I'm glad you enjoyed it, whatever the case.

UTfrogReviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/20/2010
Lovely! Please keep it going!

Author Reply: I will certainly keep going, UTfrog, though not in this particular story (it's gone about as far as it can go). Thanks for the review!

eilujReviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/20/2010
As I began to read, I said, "This looks familiar" and then "I've read this before!" And then, about the time you mentioned the Voice, I said out loud, "It's W-----!"

This was one of the very first fanfics I read (I'd also read Eledhwen's early fics in 2002; IIRC she was on TORn too). [I didn't post much; you wouldn't remember me -- and even I don't remember my user-name. But oh I learned a lot eavesdropping in the Reading Room.]

For many years -- okay, decades -- I'd wondered what Frodo and Gandalf discussed in this scene (Tolkien really should have told us). And since the Sil came out I'd also wondered who knew Gandalf was a Maia. So this was a very satisfying first -- or second -- or fifth -- or tenth fanfic for me to find, seven or eight years ago.

And it was just as satisfying to re-read today, for the first time in several years (somewhere in all the unpacked moving boxes is a tattered print-out).

What can I say? Frodo is Frodo. Gandalf is Gandalf. It's a brilliant gap-filler. If I could write intelligent reviews at will, I would.

I bow.

Author Reply: I'd call that an intelligent review — you recognized me as Watson, after all. :) And the reason I wrote this, other than the exercise aspect, was because I'd always wondered why Tolkien didn't show us Frodo waking up, even though he woke first, and I really wanted to read that! Thanks for your review, and your kind praise.

Erulisse (one L)Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/19/2010
What a delight to read this well-crafted and well-rounded story. You have made this totally believeable, explanatory expose into the events after the fall of Sauron and have managed to do it with only two players. I loved it and I look forward to additional writings by you.

- Erulisse (one L)


Author Reply: Thank you, Erulisse (one L, but only one copy of the reply, unlike poor shirebound. Oops!). I'm really happy that people enjoyed this, because after putting so much effort into trying to channel the Professor, I never quite had the energy to try to go that far again! There will certainly be more writings, though a bit more in my own style. Hope you enjoy them, too.

shireboundReviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/19/2010
What a marvelous and well-crafted conversation! Indeed, this seems a chapter torn from the Professor's tale, gone missing until this moment.

"Would that even half the people in whom I have placed my trust would fail me so splendidly!"

I do love that line, and I enjoyed this story immensely. Well done.

Author Reply: Thanks, shirebound. That was one of my favorite lines, too. :) Once in a while, even the author knows when they get something right *blush*.

Author Reply: Thanks, shirebound. That was one of my favorite lines, too. :) Once in a while, even the author knows when they get something right *blush*.

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