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| A Matter of Appearances by Lindelea | 271 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Pearl Took | Reviewed Chapter: 40 on 9/6/2006 |
| Things do seem to be getting all a-muddle again. I hope Merry and Pippin do indeed make it back in time. There's been more than enough stress in Tookland of late, and at the Smials. Author Reply: No not really a-muddle, except for Ferdi, who'll be on the mend for some days yet. Merry and Pippin are arriving just in the nick of time, I find (am typing in the next chapter, and if only the read-aloud lasts long enough I'll have possession of the computer long enough to finish and post). The young ruffian's burial takes up the whole of the next chapter, and then we have the Naming Day celebration which ends the story. It was all supposed to be one chapter, but our Internet is so wonky these days I have had to break it up into manageable pieces. Thanks for hanging in there! | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 40 on 9/6/2006 |
| I'm so glad they're doing this for Farry's sake. And they ought to have had the chance to do what they could for Boromir. Hmm. Another plot bunny? Author Reply: Hmmm. Could be, though it hasn't bit me yet. I have stories where they honour Boromir, remembering him, but nothing where they go back to Parth Galen. At least, not at the moment. Whew! Lunch break over, got to get back to school! | |
| cookiefleck | Reviewed Chapter: 40 on 9/6/2006 |
| "All the while Nell’s and Sweetie’s voices were swirling in the air around him, flocks of pigeons too restless to roost." What marvelous writing! Author Reply: Thanks! I love to watch flocks of pigeons swooping and swirling; they are amazing birds. | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 40 on 9/6/2006 |
| So, it looks as though they will all pretty much converge on the Great Smials at the same time--and in time, it looks, to lay the youngster to rest. Both Tolly, Sam, Pippin and Merry are all in for a pleasant shock, when they will arrive to find Ferdi there at the graveyard--alive and more or less well. And I do like the comparison of the youngster to Boromir. Of course, Merry and Pippin are quite right that Boromir was never a Ruffian. But thanks to the Ring, he *did* behave like one, for a few fateful moments--and he also paid for that moment of weakness with his life. The youngster, however, had at some point seemingly chosen willingly to take on the life of a ruffian, and was well down that path, when he is forced to encounter something that is just beyond what depravity he can do. Yet if the Fat one had not entrusted that cruel task to him, but to Red instead, he probably would have been grieved and sickened--but he would not have intervened. And then he would have tried to find a way to justify it to himself, and become the kind of hardened person the Fat one hoped to turn him into. I look forward to seeing the joy when Ferdi is revealed to be alive, and to hearing what sort of tribute Pippin and Farry find to give the youngster. Author Reply: Sam and Tolly will come a little belated--it looks like a ten- or twelve-hour trip from the Bounds, for them, for they have no pony-post ponies ready and waiting for a change of mount, but must ride their own as fast as they dare (not too fast, or they might use them up). After all, the ponies already made an overnight trip from the Hoard Hill to the Bounds. It is probable that they'll get back to the Smials shortly before teatime. Even the hobbits who rode with them to the Bounds probably won't get back until noontide. So Ferdi's in for being "discovered" several times this day. Wonder if he'll find it amusing or annoying? | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 39 on 9/5/2006 |
| Yes, he's too young to know that satisfaction and to need that reassurance; but he's far from the youngest or the most innocent. And Aragorn has read in his heart what was needful for the child. And now we're off to the celebrations. Hooray! Am in Gresham. Author Reply: We have violin lessons at 2, so perhaps we could meet after 3? Will call you in the morning. (Am on dh's computer so I can't email you at the moment.) Ah, Aragorn. | |
| Pearl Took | Reviewed Chapter: 39 on 9/5/2006 |
| "Farry nodded, and in a voice that was much too old for such a little lad, he said, ‘Good.’ And Pippin buried his face in his son’s shoulder, and breathed the living scent of his son, and felt Farry’s breaths filling his small torso, and relaxing again, one breath after another, steady breaths, and Farry’s hands came together to grasp his father’s hands, holding him, and they were warm and strong in their grip." Done and Done! I loved nell and Ferdi in the previous chapter, them just getting cuddly and the Little Lass decides she's hungry. Very typical of babies ;-) Author Reply: *Very* typical. Babies seem to have a built-in "inconvenience radar". LOL! | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 39 on 9/5/2006 |
| The High King is very wise. Faramir needed to know - really know that Red wouldn't be back. He might have been able to cope with the survival of Brawny who didn't threaten him directly - but Red is a creature of nightmare. Farry might be young, but he has seen more than many hobbits ten times his age. And sitting on your Da's lap with a fully belly and a warm fire to comfort you - what better way to look into a Palantir? And I love the observational nature of the first paragraph - rather like describing the movements of an aristo who had just come off rather the worse for a confrontation with Madame Guillotine. I do think Berendil's blade through the heart would be enough to convince even Tolly that these two wouldn't walk again. I sense winding up. I hope Ferdi is recovered enough for the naming of his little lass - and that Pippin returns in time for the burying of the poor young ruffian - one who was too good for the company he kept. Author Reply: What better way, I ask you? Perhaps the very first cinema, ever invented. Ah, yes, the first paragraph. It is easiest to write such things at a little distance, I find. We are winding up. It ought to have been just one very long chapter, but our Internet is really being ticklish and so am having to break it up and feed it through the phone line a little bit at a time. | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 39 on 9/5/2006 |
| Yes, it was disturbing to everyone--all of it--but it was necessary, too. The hobbits most affected by this regrettable incident *had* to know that the worst of the Bad Guys would not be returning to carry out some horrible revenge. Farry, especially, after his ordeal needed to know that. Poor Tolly, yet he was very brave. And for Pippin to be able to endure the palantir, and to allow Farry to see it, just shows both how desperate he was, but also how much love and trust he has for his King. Author Reply: EF has been telling me too many "returned from the dead" plots she's read/seen lately. It was getting so bad I was tempted to put a silver spike in Red's heart. But all's done and don't have to think about him any more. Nice summation in the last paragraph of your review. Desperation, love and trust. That was the crux of the scene. | |
| harrowcat | Reviewed Chapter: 39 on 9/5/2006 |
| 'The night is darkest just before the dawn'. And that is the feeling that I get from this chapter. I think that any victim of crime or assult would feel exactly like Tolly , Faramir and Pippin. Great idea to use the Seeing Stone and I love Pippin's first reaction to it. 'The burned hand teaches best.' I agree that Berendil really should have questioned the ruffians first but I don't think that I could have coped with reading an intererrgation scene as well. (Nor could you have borne writing it.) So more scruffy 'Rangers' lurking in corners will have to make up for it! *G* Author Reply: Good observation, I hadn't thought of that. You're right, the Light is coming, leaking into the story, and it won't be denied. I could not write such a scene, as you surmise. I find I wouldn't even want to imagine it. But I do enjoy imagining scruffy Rangers, I find. | |
| storyfish | Reviewed Chapter: 38 on 9/4/2006 |
| Very nice! I love the warm images that end this chapter--Pippin sleeping with his son and Nell and Ferdi and babe--parents and children reunited. I'm breathing a sigh of relief now, and I'm sure they are too. What's left is just ceremonies--I'm looking forward to reading about the coming naming day and the young ruffian's funeral. :-) Author Reply: How nice to have your reviews! I'm glad you're settled in. It is amazing to me that summer's over. Where did it go? There's one more chapter after this of loose-end-tying, and then you're right, ceremonies and celebrations to follow. (And that's the part I like best.) | |