Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

The Flowers of Finduilas  by losselen 4 Review(s)
LindeleaReviewed Chapter: 1 on 8/28/2021
Lyrically told, like poetry in the guise of prose. It has the ring of an old, old tale, told often by firelight.

I loved the thought of this:
So it was since the return of the King that the City was ever wreathed in flowers, and spring returned year after year in brightness and color to its streets while Elessar was on the throne.

I like imagining this happening "year after year".

The part about the people of Minas Tirith remembering the horns of Rohan rings very true. It brings to mind JRRT describing Pippin: "And never in after years could he hear a horn blown in the distance without tears starting in his eyes."

Oh my. This gave me shivers up my spine: and those who knew well the two sons of Denethor would say: “Here is another in Boromir’s mold, and it is not a wonder that Faramir loves him so.”

(But I am interrupted, just as the children of Imrahil enter the picture, so I will have to come back later to finish.)

Author Reply: thank you for reading! i re-read this and i think the first section is really too long and paced strangely. glad to hear you like it, despite its flaws. :)

LindeleaReviewed Chapter: 1 on 8/28/2021
This looks like such a promising story! I must come back to read it. At the moment, I've just finished work for the day, and it's nearly 2 a.m., and my eyes are closing. I only checked the front page of SoA just now to motivate myself to get out of bed in the morning and treat myself to reading a chapter or two!

However, I'm sending you a review in hopes it reaches you at your email address. Someone has added a link to "replica watches" to this story's description on the SoA page. I'd like to suggest that you remove the link from the story description and change your password as soon as possible to prevent further hacking. I also emailed the SoA administrators about this.

Best wishes to you,

Lin

Author Reply: thank you for the heads up! that's very strange-- i changed my password (which is randomly generated anyway) and removed the link.... not sure where that came from.

AldwenReviewed Chapter: 1 on 8/1/2021
A beautiful story! I very much enjoyed the archaic language style and the alliterative verse. Thank you!

Author Reply: thanks! glad to hear it. :)

SueReviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/29/2021
I enjoyed your story. You have obviously done a great deal of research. But if I may criticize; your use of archaic speech patterns and the liberal sprinkle of OE words makes the the story's language seem stilted and forced. I think this does a disservice to your creativity and story-telling talent.

I look forward to reading other of your tales.

Author Reply: thanks for reading! i'm sorry that the language didn't work for you. i admit there are some rough parts (e.g. the introductory section, which mimics 'the tale of aragorn and arwen' and perhaps its chronicle-like tone doesn't mesh well with the more free indirect discourse of the middle sections), and i like to constantly retweak the wording in all my works. but if i may rebut: there are indeed no OE words in the main story (that is, OE words that are not extinct in modern English), aside from the verse and maegen, which has no ready contemporary translation. the more obscure (mostly geographical) terminology can be readily found in LOTR, so i deemed them fair game for tone-setting.

Return to Chapter List