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| Pearl of Great Price by Lindelea | 110 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 12/28/2003 |
| Yeah for Hally and Rosemary! I do wonder what Lalia did to get her son to push for the marriage to Rosemary. Can't wait to see the plan in action; it and the fall out should prove most interesting. Author Reply: Lalia's promise to her son will come out in a future chapter. Thanks for reviewing! | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 12/28/2003 |
| Half the escape told, I think, and I'm as confused as the Tooks will be. Hally has gone, but Rosemary is sleeping in his clothes in his bed? When the hour before dawn comes, it will be discovered she is gone, but she's not really. They will search for her, but I suppose Bittersweet can keep anyone out of the infirmary, claiming Hally is contagious. So then they will search outside the Smial, in Tuckborough, I suppose. She won't be found there either. Nobody is looking for Hally, so even if he's seen walking away it's no problem. But I don't understand how they will get Rosemary out of the Smials; even dressed in Hally's clothes she won't fool anyone. I guess I'll just have to stay confused and patient, and let you spin out the story! Author Reply: All will come clear in the next chapter (or two), I hope. | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 12/27/2003 |
| There sure is a lot going on in this chapter! First, Ferdi is coming back to himself, even after another shock of seeing the yule log lit. It seems that the stakes are high enough: his need to respond to the threat to Rosemary's welfare has broken through his misery. When there's something important enough to say, he says it. Secondly, Lalia! She's very cunning, and she has probably been waiting for the perfect situation to present itself for a while. Ferdinand can't refuse, but it only appears that Rosemary has nobody to protect her. Here we see that there are plenty who are willing to defy the Mistress - she never counted on that. The interesting sentence to me is, "She was willing to risk scandal and gossip to get her way, but then what else is new?" That seemed to be the weak point in her plan. Marrying off a girl under her protection to her son, old enough to be her grandfather, is scandalous. The Talk would run wild, but the gentry of the Smials are used to the idea of arranged marriages, as well as they are used to the overbearing ways of the Mistress: would there be enough outrage generated within the upper classes to derail the plan? The servant classes would probably feel more powerless and afraid than outraged. The surprise nature of the announcement and relatively short amount of time before the wedding also acts in her favor. So the plan of Bittersweet, Viola and the Bolgers is very daring. They have next to no time to act. For Viola and Bittersweet, they are risking exile if their part is discovered. And though the Bolgers have their land free and clear, I am sure that Lalia will find some way to retaliate. You leave the chapter in a very exciting spot - I can't wait to see exactly how they'll pull it off and who else will be involved. Author Reply: First, just as Bittersweet predicted, when it was important, Ferdi found his voice. Second, Lalia, indeed! I think if she could set the wedding for First Day, she would. As it is, she'll have it set as soon as possible, if nothing interferes. Dressing Rosemary as an adult is part of the softening-up process. Viola and Bittersweet must be very careful, arranging so that they can answer honestly when questioned, as you'll see in soon-to-come chapters. This is the trickiest part of the story, trying to make all this come out plausibly. Let me know if anything rings false, please? | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 12/27/2003 |
| I'm so happy for Pearl but poor Rosemary! Some of these Tooks are making life difficult! I still hold out hope for a happy ending. Author Reply: I always aim at a happy ending, for sure! Sometimes it shades into bittersweet, but I do my best. Thanks! | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 12/27/2003 |
| I feel so sorry for Pearl missing her family and afraid that they won't be able to get there through the snow. I hope they make it as she really needs to see them or at least some of them. Author Reply: As Isum said, Paladin is the most determined hobbit he knows besides Mistress Lalia! Besides, Eglantine would probably nag him mercilessly to ensure Pearl is not "alone" at Yule. (Even though she'd be surrounded by Smials Tooks, it wouldn't be the same without her own family!) Thanks! | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 12/26/2003 |
| Now we see the source of Rosemary's estrangement from her father. Old Ferdinand feels keenly the bite of having to take the Thain's charity, and in some way this is paying him back by giving him the only thing Ferdinand still has that Ferumbras could want - Rosemary. So Ferumbras is eager to get a heir? It is implied that his mother thinks better of him, for the plans that are being made. Perhaps Lalia wishes to mold the future Mistress to her satisfaction while she still can. I find it a bit curious that Ferumbras is so willing to oblige her. That relationship is rather strange - he either has no ambition at all for himself, and is content to remain under her thumb as a spoiled dandy, or he has to have a lot of really repressed anger to deal with at some time in the future. Marrying or not marrying seems like the last bit of control he has, the last card he could play against his mother. I wonder why he's so eager to spend it? Author Reply: Ferdinand is also under coercion, which I think becomes clearer later in the story. He's not thrilled about the situation, but he feels he has no choice in the matter. At this point, Lalia recognizes the lack of potential marriage partners amongst the gentry (Rosemary is descended from the Old Took, after all); daughters in the Great Families who are of child-bearing age are not likely to favor Ferumbras, and unmarried females of a similar age to the Thain are too old to bear children! I should also imagine none of them being willing to live under Lalia's thumb if they have any brains at all. So it may not be so much a choice to rob the cradle in order to get someone she can control but rather the lack of other candidates is driving her to take desperate measures. Ferumbras's reasons for what he does will become clearer as the story continues. Thanks! | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 12/26/2003 |
| Isembold is living up to his name, isn't he? Pearl seems to be settling in well at the Smials. She's made friends among the girls and attracted the attention of the lads. Lalia is proving managable, and there's enough work to make Pearl feel useful as the Yule approaches. I love seeing a younger version of Everard - he's just as serious as he will be later. This whole chapter is a lovely character study - all the personalities are clear, except for Ferdi. He's still in his own world, and although we know he will recover, even later he has a tacturn and reserved quality to his speech, doesn't he? It's nice that you're writing these Yule scenes at Christmas time. The scent of cinnamon and pine in the background just seems to fit. Author Reply: I think she caught his eye on that first visit of his to the farm with Thain Ferumbras at the beginning of the story. D'you suppose he was one of the people who said a good word to Lalia about here when the subject of choosing a new companion came up? I love to hear your thoughts about the impressions the characters make on you. I find it so helpful to see them through someone else's eyes! I have to admit, it's been fun to imagine how Yule might be celebrated in the Shire. In the Great Smials, at least! I may have to think about how a farmer's family in a smallholding or an innkeeper or a craftsperson or a healer might celebrate, or what differences there are between the Tooks' and the Brandybucks' observances... Thanks! | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 12/22/2003 |
| The Woodcarvers are wonderful. I love your hobbit tradition of setting candles adrift - I did that with my Girl Scout troop as a child and it was amazing (even if the little holders kept capsizing!). Is this tradition a hint to the days when Smeagol's people, the ancestors of the Stoors, lived along the river? Author Reply: Belated thanks for reading and stopping to share your thoughts on the chapter. Y'know, I hadn't thought of it dating back to the ancestors of the Stoors, but that's a reasonable guess! | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 12/22/2003 |
| Poor Rosemary - its hard to have to be the strong one. Now that Ferdi is improving she'll have to grieve. Mother, uncle, and the entire life shes known gone in a night, plus her father and brother are forever scarred in ways she can't begin to understand. While having no dowry might be a problem for her, it could also be a boon since the Thain and his mother won't want a pauper for his bride. Young Regi was very much like his older self, he always seems to be protecting those who are unable to look after themselves as well as they need to. I adored his chapter even if it did mention fruitcakes; the best use I've ever found for one has been a doorstop. Author Reply: LOL! I actually had a good fruitcake once! My sister made it, and instead of those artificial-looking/tasting red and green cherries, she used apricots and pecans (and other fruit that I can't remember. Dates? Candied orange?). The cake part was light and golden in color. Like traditional fruitcake, it was baked ahead of time and cured with applications of brandy, I think, but I could be mistaken. Unfortunately, when I asked her for the recipe several years later, she didn't remember where she'd found it anymore. I do like Regi and how he's evolved over the course of the stories I've written. And twenty-some years after he first appeared, he's still evolving! I discovered rather recently that he has the heart of a poet and might have been a troubadour or whatever the Shire equivalent might be, if there is one, had his life worked out differently. Some kind of musician playing in the pub and at weddings and celebrations, possibly. This is a sad and difficult time for Rosemary, and I probably could not have written this part of her story if I didn't already know her outcome. Belated thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts about the characters and the story progression. Such good food for thought! | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 12/19/2003 |
| I have been reading this one and it gets more interesting with each new chapter. The little boats with their candles sound like such a lovely tribute and remind me of the luminaries that are lit here for those that have died of cancer suring our yearly walk for cancer. I could picture all of the little boats floating in the water. You discribe it so well. Author Reply: Thank you! I appreciate the review. The luminaries sound beautiful, and sad somehow. I've lost grandfather, father, aunt, and brother to cancer. I have used "Remembering Day" in several stories, and it is beginning to seem the most natural thing in the world. Wonder what people would do if anybody set floating candles on the river for real? Have been enjoying (in an angsty kind of way) Pippin's knock on the noggin in your current story. Hope he gets his memory back soon... poor Merry! | |