Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Victoria Goddard
User reviews
LibraryThing member quondame
Tamsin awakes unsure of where he is or how he came there - but free of the physical pain he's endured for actual ages, though full of painful memories. This is his journey home from war, of becoming himself from a different direction, a long lyric meditation on the artist who has destroyed much
Show More
through unfortunate application of his art. It is secondarily the story of the home and lover he left with so many others and which and who changed in response to all the losses. Show Less
LibraryThing member jsburbidge
One's initial impression is that this is fanfic involving Maglor, with a patina to protect it from the Tolkien estate.
Gradually it begins to dawn that there are enough differences for this to be an unfair description:
1) The Feanor-equivalent is not attached to the work of his own hands, but only to
2) Said gods are not onstage. Although the plot depends on some massive Deus ex machina management (or the author's thumb on the scales) there is no equivalent to the Valar here.
3) The equivalent of Morgoth is essentially a superpowered elf. He can be killed by being stabbed through the neck. There is thus no equivalent to the Doom of Mandos.
4) The "elves" aren't. Tolkien's elves. like those of Crowley or Knox, are deliberately and essentially other -- like humans but essentially different so as to be not entirely comprehensible to humans. The elves here are essentially immortal humans. This was probably necessary to present first person narration (or very tight third) from an "elvish" perspective.
5) The Maglor-equivalent is not just a significant figure: he's a super-genius, the best bard ever, best warrior ever, indomitable, unconquered... Goddard has a tendency to make her characters far more perfect than they need to be, and it's visible here in spades.
This has Goddard's strengths -- sympathetic characterization, some effective scene-setting -- but it also showcases her weaknesses. Nobody expects her (or anyone) to be Tolkien, but invoking him even indirectly showcases the ways in which she falls well short.
Gradually it begins to dawn that there are enough differences for this to be an unfair description:
1) The Feanor-equivalent is not attached to the work of his own hands, but only to
Show More
light which he had retrieved from the gods. The moral dimensions involved in the Oath of Feanor collapse.2) Said gods are not onstage. Although the plot depends on some massive Deus ex machina management (or the author's thumb on the scales) there is no equivalent to the Valar here.
3) The equivalent of Morgoth is essentially a superpowered elf. He can be killed by being stabbed through the neck. There is thus no equivalent to the Doom of Mandos.
4) The "elves" aren't. Tolkien's elves. like those of Crowley or Knox, are deliberately and essentially other -- like humans but essentially different so as to be not entirely comprehensible to humans. The elves here are essentially immortal humans. This was probably necessary to present first person narration (or very tight third) from an "elvish" perspective.
5) The Maglor-equivalent is not just a significant figure: he's a super-genius, the best bard ever, best warrior ever, indomitable, unconquered... Goddard has a tendency to make her characters far more perfect than they need to be, and it's visible here in spades.
This has Goddard's strengths -- sympathetic characterization, some effective scene-setting -- but it also showcases her weaknesses. Nobody expects her (or anyone) to be Tolkien, but invoking him even indirectly showcases the ways in which she falls well short.
Show Less
DDC/MDS
| Fic SF Goddard |