News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| Second Mum by Larner | 166 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/2/2007 |
| This is just brimming with love. :) Author Reply: Am so glad you find it so, Shirebound. I agree. | |
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/2/2007 |
| Brilliant, indeed! There are lots of little details that make this story vivid! Frodo's melodious crying for example and the fact that he liked to draw (on walls) and "write" at a very young age. Also the little details that showed how much he loved Esme! And last but not least, the rumors of a hobbit-like creature that was seen near the Brandywine, just before the boating accident of Frodo's parents happened! Was it Gollum? Well, he was searching for "Baggins" at that time, so I think it is likely for him to have come there. But if so, what happened on the Brandywine that night? I'm looking forward to reading more chapters! And I'm especially interested in the first meeting of Frodo and Merry :) I'm glad that I never read a fic where Esme is shown as "cold and scheming" - that's definitely not how I imagine her. And besides, could a "cold" woman have such an endearing son ;-) Author Reply: I can't imagine Frodo ever was exactly typical, even as an infant. I drew on walls, as have most intelligent small children I've been aware of--certainly Frodo, with the artistic temperament and proclivities I've ascribed to him, would have done so. There is a marvelous short fic on this site about how Gollum came to the Shire itself seeking the Thief Baggins and found a boat on the river at night; can't remember the title, but it was among the first I read here and is one that has stayed with me; and again I've woven a thread of someone else's fic into mine. I'm so glad most have appeared happy to recognize their work reflected in mine. I can't imagine Esme as cold and scheming, either. As for Frodo meeting Merry--well, that's coming. | |
| elanor winterflowers | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/2/2007 |
| I am astonished, as always, at the amazing breadth of kith and kin you bring to these stories, and the depth that it imparts. Superb! This is a wonderful portrait of Brandy Hall and the folk who live there, and a sensitive and revealing biography of Frodo in his formative years. Some excellent character studies-Esme, Bilbo, the loathsome Sackville-Bagginses--and an intriguing glimpse of Rory and Gilda. Too bad they never knew the fully adult incarnation of Meriadoc the Magnificent or, for that matter, the splendid Frodo Baggins! Author Reply: I am honored, Elanor. Frodo must have been an active, curious lad, and obviously he enchanted his relatives when he was little. And am so glad you like the character studies. And you are right--Menegilda and Rory failed to see just how wonderful Frodo and Merry and their other cousins were to become. Thanks so for the comments. | |
| Lily | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/2/2007 |
| A lovely beginning, dear. I very different Esmeralda than the one I know, at least where her relationship with the Bagginses is concerned (mine didn't have much to do with them until after her marriage), but still a wonderful second mother to Frodo. Is this turning into another epic? Author Reply: As Esme and Primula were cousins and as Frodo was related to Esme both as second cousin and in time first cousin's wife, it made sense to me that there would be a relationship between Primula and Esme similar to the relationship Frodo developed with Merry, as sort of a surrogate big sister. But I can also see your scenario as being possible, which is why I love it, too. Tolkien left us with so much scope for our imaginations, after all. Hopefully not an epic--it's planned as three chapters, but we'll see. As with "Go Out in Joy" it originally represented itself to me as a single-chapter story I was going to put into "Moments in Time," but again this turned out to be otherwise than it first showed itself when it crept out from behind my rocking chair. Heh! | |
| French Pony | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/2/2007 |
| This is a wonderful story. Not that all of your stories that I've read aren't wonderful, but I really enjoyed this one. I loved the little vignettes, the sense of how the time passed, and how the characters grew and changed, all in those little flashes. There's not a word wasted here, all the themes tightly woven together. And, of course, you have a fantastic way with Hobbit voices. They're real, living people here, and so much fun to read about, in all their joys and sorrows. Author Reply: I'd started to write this merely as flashes, but decided it would be better done in dialogue and interactions, so this has undergone significant rewriting as I've worked it through; and I wanted to so to show hints of some of the incidents I've written into my long story line to make them more real. Am so very glad you find these glimpses into the lives of Tolkien's characters so compelling. And am so glad you like the voices they have as well. Thank you SO much! | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/2/2007 |
| Larner! This is brilliant! I'm so glad you are doing this, and doing it *right*! It's the sort of thing I've wanted to see for years, to replace all those dreadful fics where Esmeralda is cold and scheming. I've never understood that. Your Esme is kind and caring and a good friend. I'm very much looking forward to the next few chapters, as she does her best with Frodo, and as Merry comes along to be the little brother Frodo needs to have. Also I love your hints about the accident. That's also a bunny I've had from time to time. It's certainly the sort of thing he could have had a slimy hand in. It's great to see that someone else thinks it could have been a possibility. Author Reply: I'm borrowing from a fic I read here where it was obvious that someone had come into the Shire seeking Bagginses and thieveses, oh yes, my Preciousssss. And you already know I tend to work other folks' themes into my own stories. But that a sighting might have been made and dismissed and forgotten seemed at least possible, so I hope whoever wrote that short fic doesn't mind I added to it. But no one can hold true ownership of the idea, I think. I'd love to see your take on it. I've not seen cold and scheming Esmeralda fics, I'm grateful to say, although I've seen some that have pictured anything but a loving marriage between Pippin and Diamond, a situtation I have difficulty imagining. But as close as Frodo came to be with Esme's son, it was obvious he had to truly have felt a familial bond to the Master's Heir and his wife. And that's the way I tend to write it. | |