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Fear  by Ariel 12 Review(s)
Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 22 on 12/8/2005
Aww! I don't want it to be over! LOL! Wow, Ariel! This is incredible! I love the way you portray Frodo, and your original characters are quite amazing! I was *glad* to see that wretched, disgusting Clearwater (Bottoms?) fellow go to the dust! Ha! He deserved no less, and perhaps more than he got. His own mother...ugh! At the beginning I didn't think I could ever like Dody, but now I find myself wishing you'd told more about him. And how perfectly you portray a parent's feelings when a child is near death: the desperate hope, the sickening fear, being unable to realise it's over when it is. And the ending is so very beautiful! I'm so happy for all the characters...and I think I'd like to meet Daisy Burrows! Excellently done! Namarie, and God bless,
Galadriel

Author Reply: Oh, it was SO good to hear this! Really, it is such a delight to me to hear that I gave someone some pleasure with one of my stories! Especially one I put this much work into. Really! It's like the best Christmas present ever! Low calorie, matches everything and looks really good on both giver and receiver! LOL!

I do have plans for my little guy. He's got a fellow orphan to comfort and a love affair to have. Don't worry. You may be just starting to read fanfic but I haven't finished with Dody.

Thanks again! You made my evening!

PeriantariReviewed Chapter: 22 on 1/11/2005
I love this story...so very love it. Your prose is wonderful for advancing the story and your introspections into especially the feelings of Primula and Dody are wonderful.
Dody is a great OC that you've described and written about throughout and i'm so glad for how he becomes in the end.
The dialogue and the instance of "losing" Frodo in the woods in the last section of the story was a great close. Forgiveness and learning to have trust again--being one of your major themes of the story are written about in a way that is very integral to the story and seamlessly placed in to have significance, and i like the fact that the story goes full ciricle in telling how every character grew in his/her own way.

I remember reading the first... 15 chapters? in one great flourish because i was so concerned and worried about Frodo.. the story got better after the healing of Frodo and i'm amazed about the bredth and suspense of the story that keeps me wanting more and more.

Great close to a wonderful story and as i mentioned in a previous review, this remains my favorite of all time. :)

::hugs:: Great job, Ariel~ I look forward to reading more of "Turnabout". ;)

Author Reply: And I love getting your reviews...

I worked a long time on this fic and it took on a life of its own, demanding I give each chapter the attention it deserved. I am quite delighted that the work seems to have paid off in this case and you call it your favorite of all time. That is one of the best compliments I have ever received. Thank you!

InklingReviewed Chapter: 22 on 12/31/2004
What a lovely ending, so full of hope and redemption! The perfect note on which to end the old year and welcome the new…

Reading it, I was able to suspend my knowledge of the sadness to come and, like Primula, revel in the joy of that moment in time you created for them. While I would enjoy an epilogue in which Dody comforts Frodo after his parents’ death, as some of your readers have suggested, I almost think it’s nicer to end on this happy note. Poor Frodo doesn’t get that too often! ;)

Thank you so much, Ariel, for writing this wonderful, original story and sharing it with us.


Author Reply:

*claps hands with delight*

Now that all the hard work of writing this puppy is a little ways behind me, I can sit back and take enjoy the pleasure others are finding in it. It's like watching your kids on Christmas day and the warm glow you feel when they really love the present you spent AGES searching for!

That's what reviews are like to me. I just get such a kick out of them!

As to your question about an epilogue - if it runs the usual course, it will be quite a while before I manage to write one, but they are usually worth it. If you have ever read my 'Thicker than Blood' http://www.storiesofarda.com/chapterlistview.asp?SID=500, the last chapter (Sacrifice) was an epilogue that I wrote about 6 months after the main part of the story was posted. It's actually my favorite part of the story (and has gotten the most response) and I think the time gives me a chance to reflect and think back on the story as a whole before writing.

And as to your comment about ending on happy notes, most of my fics do. Though I am the Angst Maven™ ( :D ) I can't seem to write a fic that ends in total doom and gloom. I'm just not 'dark' enough to do it. So rest, assured. Any a fic of mine, even from that time period, would not be as depressing as it could be. Angsty, yes, but I always find the silver lining.

Ariel

Lily the HobbitReviewed Chapter: 22 on 12/6/2004
All right. I have spent almost eleven hours in front of the computer (with many short and longer pauses) to read this jewel among fanfiction and, though I am not good in leaving proper reviews I will try anyhow.

Did I recently mention that I love Drogo? And him and Bilbo together, my, that was a scene! I wouldn't have want to be the target of their anger.

But now at the story as a whole. The character of Dody was so well formed! I really felt for him. There were times I pitied him, times I hated him and times I loved him. It's marvellous to see how this character grew throughout the story.

As was Primula's character. First her fears and how she finally realised them and let them go.

This really was less a story of telling something (though it told a good deal as well) than it was of growing with the characters. I also liked the foreshadowing you used in several points.

Though I am a bit dizzy now myself, I don't feel sorry about reading this - but well, this was less a matter of reading than it was of devouring. I'm glad I've come to know you on LJ or probably I would never have ended here.

Author Reply:

((((((HUGS)))))))

Awwww! You have made my day, my dear! That is the kind of feedback every author dreams of. Thank you so much for presenting me with it. I haven't had many readers for this fic, but those I have had have been very kind and welcome. Thank you for being one of those precious few.


lovethosehobbitsReviewed Chapter: 22 on 11/30/2004
A great fic, my dear, and very well done indeed. I continue to admire the way you write and share your wonderful stories with us, and hope that, soon, we will once again be graced with another. love to you, tree

Author Reply:

I will most certainly try, my friend.

Ariel

PeriantariReviewed Chapter: 22 on 11/28/2004
awww how wonderful~!~
awww a wonderful, triumphant close...
ahh i'll write more later... i'm in a rush.. but wanted to say GREAT JOB
and this remains one of my favorite stories of all time.
=)
GREAT JOB ARIEL~!!! =)

Author Reply:

:D

You are ever so welcome, my friend. I am pleased to learn the ending was a satisfying one. And to hear that this is one of your favorite stories! *Snfff* That makes it seem very worth my while.

Thank you!

ElwenReviewed Chapter: 22 on 11/27/2004
Perfect.

So much foreshadowing of the future Frodo and his role in the world. And your thoughts on forgiveness . . . so very true.

Thank you for writing this masterpiece. I've thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope you write many more like it.

Author Reply:

*I hope you write many more like it.*

Blinks, eyelid twitches, cold sweat gathers on upper lip...

Well, I guess it shows you are into HURT/comfort... :p heheheh

This one was a LOT of work. I am actually planning on writing something easy next, like some mindless angst - h/c and then some equally mindless (though LONG on the back burner)and exceedingly hot smut. I think my brain deserves a break now before it breaks FOR me! LOL!

But, knowing me, I won't be able to avoid a plot. Even this thing started as a simple Frodohealers story.

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 22 on 11/27/2004
I am so glad you decided to finish this story here at SoA. I read most of it long ago, and thought it wonderful, but could not leave reviews there. This story is so full of depth, and your Dody is such a fully realized OC! The picture of young Frodo, with his fearless and fierce love, and his indomitable will is incredible. I would love to see Dody encounter Frodo on his return from the Quest; I think that he, of any who remained in the Shire, would have some understanding of what it had meant to be the Ringbearer.
A lovely, lovely story! Thank you for sharing it!

Author Reply:

And thank you for taking the time to read it! It's always hard, when you have a story with a promenant OC, to get folks interested in the story. Add to that a LONG time between chapters (I am such a slow writer! LOL!) and you are almost guaranteed to lose people. That is why the few that have stuck with this story and enjoyed it are so precious to me. If I have pleased you, I am delighted. That knowledge is the best reward I could have.

Thank you for sharing it with me!


Gentle HobbitReviewed Chapter: 22 on 11/26/2004
Oh...my. How I have enjoyed this story. I feel sad that it has ended, but you have written a very thought-provoking, *satisfying* ending that feels very right. I think that Dody has become my favourite OC in all the fics I've read. He is such a compelling character. He hasn't become pure as gold - there is still unresolved anger -- but the growth of maturity, sympathy and perception in him has been a joy to witness. Thank you so much for this lovely story. (And if Dody should ever reappear in another fic, let me assure you that I'll be there reading it!)

Author Reply:

Thank you very much, GH. He's been fun to write, and I am delighted to hear you say I have kept him interesting. I like original characters and often despair at the bad rep they have. Sometimes an OC is the only way to see a particular aspect of a story, and if you want to try your hand at writing original someday (which I do), you have to write a whole BUNCH of OCs! Might as well practice in fanfic, you know?

Thank you for reading along and letting me know that you have enjoyed this story. As you well know, appreciation is the only 'payment' we get. Thank you for being so generous all along the way. :D

Breon BriarwoodReviewed Chapter: 22 on 11/26/2004
Wow, at long last. What a great story! Any chance of an epilogue to see how Dody fares with his father, or a later meeting between him and Frodo? (say, at Drogo and Prim's funeral?)

Author Reply:

YOU are a mind reader....

Yes, the meeting at the funeral is exactly the epilogue I planned.

You always knew Frodo grew up too well adjusted to have been just left to fend for himself at Brandy Hall. I think Dody would have made a phenomeonal 'older brother' type, just as Merry probably became his 'younger brother', with Saradoc and Esmeralda as loving surrogate parents.

I am impressed!

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