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| The Seeds of Time by daw the minstrel | 33 Review(s) |
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| Purplesmackers | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 4/11/2007 |
| Hi Daw! It is great seeing yet another story from you! This is my favorite story universe that I have ever followed. I especially enjoyed reading this story, since up until now, we never got a really good idea about Legolas' mother. After finishing this story, I went back and reread 'When Shadow Touches Home', and by reading this story, it added so much more emotion to that story. My favorite part of reading this story was that every time Lorellin thought or talked about wanting to visit her family, I would cringe, or want to reach into the story and knock some sense into her! lol You are a wonderful author, Daw, and I look forward to many more stories from you. My only question left unanswered, and I was slightly disappointed in not finding out the answer in this story is...what did Legolas do to not be allowed to go along with Lorellin to visit her family? Hopefully at some point, we will learn what the tantrum was about. lol Even though, you have once said you would have no idea how to write a sequel of sorts for 'A Question of Duty', I am still holding out hope that one day you will enlighten us all with such a story. I would love to read about how Legolas' family reacts to him not returning with Beliond, and of course the reaction of his family and friends when he did in fact return home. I am turning 30 in the next year, and hmm...such a story would be a great present..*hint hint*...j/k! :) ~Roni Author Reply: This story was a lot of fun to write. When I was planning it, I listed what I wanted to accomplish, and one of the things was writing as much as I could from Lorellin's POV because I hadn't done that at all before. She turned out to be stronger and more flawed than I thought ahead of time, but she was also so central to her family. Thranduil was a different person around her. That tantrum thing makes me groan. I was talking to my beta about it last night before I posted. I wrote about that happening several years ago and if I had it to do over, I'd probably do something different. In the meantime, I have to fit my stories around what I already have. What a pain! I don't know what the tantrum was about. I can't even guess! At the moment, my next writing project is revising an original novel I drafted over the winter. Fanfic is a great break from that. It's pure play. daw | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 4/11/2007 |
| I'm glad Lorellin has approved Elowen - and cottoned on to the weaknesses of Turgon's parents. But she shouldn't go and see her family! Thranduil should make more effort to keep her safe in the Stronghold! (Foreknowledge can be a terrible thing!) Although Lorellin knows perfectly well who is the right one for Eilian - he just needs a few more centuries to get the idea himself. She understands Eilian so much better than he understands himself. And certainly better than Thranduil does. Legolas's delight at having a friend call for him is so charming! And Eilian is very mature in deciding that he needs to keep a firm eye on his little brother - at least until Naneth turns up, when he can go off to collect his winnings! A lovely story of happiness and family togetherness. But the black cloud is far too close. Author Reply: One of the things I like about writing fanfic is the resonance it gains from our foreknowledge. So when we write tales of the Fellowship as children, for instance, everything that happens takes on a significance it wouldn't have otherwise. The Legolas parts of this story were an utter delight to write. I love writing from the POV of a little kid. He's so innocent here, and so secure. Poor baby. | |
| DJ | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 4/11/2007 |
| Hi, Daw. Wonderful to have another story from you! I keep wishing you would write more, because I love your stories so much. But I do understand that your writing time is taken up with original fiction--I just hope it gets published so I can go buy it and read it. And I don't care if it's YA fiction; I _love_ YA fiction. This story is funny, exciting, scary, and heartbreaking all at the same time. I love seeing Legolas make friends outside of his family for the first time. Anneal and Turgon and Legolas together for the first time. Anneal seemed shyer in this story than in ones set later, but I think that's natural for the beginning of a friendship. Turgon about broke my heart. He was so brave, and encouraging, and good-hearted, without any of the belligerent overtones that come out in stories where he is older. I really wanted to smack his mother upside the head for claiming she's watching the elflings, when she's really off in her own world. I wonder how much intervention Lorellin (or Thranduil if he knew) could have provided had she lived. Can the queen or king step in when they see parents ignoring their elflings? (I can't see elves physically abusing their elflings.) The elflings' ride down the river scared me. Even though I know they survive to appear in later stories, I did not want them to get hurt. The "glow worms" that lighted the river creeped me out. I don't care if the elves thought of them as beautiful stars; they're creepy, slimey worms that could have fallen on one of the characters at any time. Then Eilian decides to swim the river to find the elflings, and once he does, he has to leave to get help. Both sections of his swim were exciting, and his acrobatics to get back into the stronghold were incredible. You really surprised me when Lorellin decided she was going to pilot the boat down the river to rescue the elflings. And neither Eilian nor Thranduil could stop her! It shows how strong she is--somehow, I can't see Thranduil being attracted to an elleth with a doormat personality. It shows her maternal protectiveness--no one is coming between her and her "baby." I don't know if you intended it, but Lorellin's trip down the river reminded me that Tolkien said elvish society did not dictate traditional human-type roles for males and females--that each elf was free to choose the path that fufilled his or her own destiny. Lorellin was certainly competent in her handling of the boat, something that we (or at least I) thing of as a male role in a society that predates our own. This showed elvish society did give males and females equal opportunities. I loved the scene with Legolas tucked into bed between his parents. I know it was probably more to illustrate Thranduil's and Lorellin's need to reassure themselves their "bably" was safe, but I think it also reassured Legolas that his parents would always take care of him. If they'd put him to bed in his own room, I think all of them would have had nightmares about the river. It's heartbreaking to know that Lorellin won't be there much longer. She seems to really anchor the family together. Wonderful story! DJ Author Reply: I had a good time writing this. I feel freer to experiment in fanfic because it's low stakes. But I'm ready to go back and revise a novel whose first draft I finished about two months ago. I can see all its flaws so much better now. Turgon had such potential, but I think as he grew older, he was able to see that things weren't quite right at home and it bothered him. He had to fend for himself far too young. I don't know how much Thranduil could have done officially. Tolkien says elves were organized into houses, so I think family was very strong. But I do think Lorellin would have taken Turgon under her wing more if she'd lived and things might have turned out differently. I saw glow worms in New Zealand and they were beautiful. They didn't seem creepy at all, but I suppose if you think about them too hard, they are kind of slimy. Lorellin surprised me a little in this story. Her family tends to remember her in glowing terms and she mostly deserves them, but she was both stronger and more flawed than they recall. Glad you liked it. daw | |