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February 19, 2015 at 12:00 AM
First: I've read all your Orc fanfictions now and they are beautiful, really. All your characters feel so incredible real - as do the situations you put them in - and your Orcs are so loveable while still being Orcs. You've just got the right amount of humour and the best kind of quirky weirdos as cast. There are so many things to love. - The accent! I love how you write out the accent! Or Shagrat and Ludlow! I've always wanted to read a story where an Orc and a Hobbit meet ouside of a fight and you pull it off so perfectly well, too! There are far too few good stories in which Orcs get a chance at some lasting peace and happiness and being a person that always felt rather sorry for Tolkien's scapegoats, I am so happy to have found your account here. It's like a box full of unique treasures. ^^
And to this particular fanfiction: It's awesome that you've given Azof of all people his own love adventure. Even the greatest troublemaker of your Orcs turns out to be an incredibly complex person, I just want to shower him with all of my affections. And Julienne is such a rounded, realistic character, too. Her encounter with the other Orcs was really great to read. Melek just seems like an awesome pal and I've always liked Maz for some reason, since he first appeared.
I can't wait for Julienne to meet Shagrat face to face. Seeing those two trying to argue with each other could be really awkward in a hilarious way. Well, we all know that Shagrat is not really as grim as he sometimes likes to make himself out to be - even when Azof has always been a rather annoying fellow to him (and to almost everyone else). I really do worry about Azof, by the way - please update soon!
And to this particular fanfiction: It's awesome that you've given Azof of all people his own love adventure. Even the greatest troublemaker of your Orcs turns out to be an incredibly complex person, I just want to shower him with all of my affections. And Julienne is such a rounded, realistic character, too. Her encounter with the other Orcs was really great to read. Melek just seems like an awesome pal and I've always liked Maz for some reason, since he first appeared.
I can't wait for Julienne to meet Shagrat face to face. Seeing those two trying to argue with each other could be really awkward in a hilarious way. Well, we all know that Shagrat is not really as grim as he sometimes likes to make himself out to be - even when Azof has always been a rather annoying fellow to him (and to almost everyone else). I really do worry about Azof, by the way - please update soon!
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January 25, 2014 at 12:00 AM
Please! Please! Please update!!! I love this story and I want to know what happens next. So please update soon.
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December 21, 2013 at 12:00 AM
That's it?!!?!? It can't end with that!?!??!?!?!? MORE!!!!!!! Pleaaaaase <3
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September 2, 2013 at 12:00 AM
While I'm glad the whole mystery of what Azof's been up to has been revealed (and I marvel at the cleverness: a Middle Earth insurance scam!), the ending of the chapter left me a little sad for our lovely protagonists. I'll admit, to some extent, it *did* feel as though Azof was trying to scare her off, or at least, put her off (and, perhaps. for her own good), but I'm not sure he realized how far his little comments would go. At the very least, it left me sad for both of them. BUT, I would guess we still have more to go, so I will hope for some happy (or amiable) reconciliation.
It's a marvelous story. I sit on my hands waiting for updates (which means I have to keep checking in, since AFF, to my knowledge, does not send out email alerts). Well done and I look forward to the next chapter :D
It's a marvelous story. I sit on my hands waiting for updates (which means I have to keep checking in, since AFF, to my knowledge, does not send out email alerts). Well done and I look forward to the next chapter :D
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June 14, 2013 at 12:00 AM
I am truly sorry that I've neglected to review this story is so long, but rest assured—I read every chapter as it comes along, waiting for each with baited breath and nearly slavering when I do see an update. I've just been so remiss with my reviewing since school's really been keeping me busy. However, I did take the summer off, and thus, expect at least ten more chapters before August... =)
In any case, I am so happy for Julienne and Azof, and this consummation of theirs. Their relationship is so sweet, so strange, which is a good thing! I've always adored the way you write intimate scenes, but you know that. Julienne seems to hold herself back quite a bit still; she seems reserved in comparison to Azof, but it's rather understandable considering the dull, dispassionate apathy that was her previous married life. I don't know if you intended for her to come off that way, but even if you did not, it adds more interest to her character in my opinion, not to mention a type of rarity you seldom see in female characters, after all, they are often written as the emotional talkers, which isn't a bad thing, however, variety is the spice of life and all that.
And please, do grant an overworked pre-med student a couple more chapters this summer, yeah? =)
In any case, I am so happy for Julienne and Azof, and this consummation of theirs. Their relationship is so sweet, so strange, which is a good thing! I've always adored the way you write intimate scenes, but you know that. Julienne seems to hold herself back quite a bit still; she seems reserved in comparison to Azof, but it's rather understandable considering the dull, dispassionate apathy that was her previous married life. I don't know if you intended for her to come off that way, but even if you did not, it adds more interest to her character in my opinion, not to mention a type of rarity you seldom see in female characters, after all, they are often written as the emotional talkers, which isn't a bad thing, however, variety is the spice of life and all that.
And please, do grant an overworked pre-med student a couple more chapters this summer, yeah? =)
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March 30, 2013 at 12:00 AM
"In its way it was arousing, but - if only he’d stop talking, now!"
I actually love the way Azof can't shut up, whereas Jules really isn't much of a talker. Granted, in her sexual history, one imagines that any bids at giving or soliciting information were either quashed or just...died, with the progression of married life and her husband's general indifference in the bedroom (great bushy-bearded twat.*) So it could be either a sad comment the damper that was Julienne's old married life - or she may just find talking during sex kind of distracting.
Until she employs a little distraction of her own. (Heh. "Azof!")
I'm still being blocked on my home computer by that ridiculous nanny software, so (heh) fake nose and glasses it is. But this is such a sweet chapter. I love how he jumps into her routine. Feeding the freaking cat...mah gawd!
______
*Although in view of the fact that we've never really gotten Julienne's husband's take on it, maybe his cousin is sincerely the great love of his life and he could have lived very happily all along without well-meaning relatives bringing in a woman for him to marry. Thwarted but then ultimately triumphant love affair from his and his sweet leman's perspective. Of course the cousin thing seems to be convention itself among the extended Drew clan, so they weren't so star-crossed as all of that, but even outside that context, I don't imagine cousin-cousin is more unconventional than a woman and her Orc in Middle-earth (the opposite, really.)
I actually love the way Azof can't shut up, whereas Jules really isn't much of a talker. Granted, in her sexual history, one imagines that any bids at giving or soliciting information were either quashed or just...died, with the progression of married life and her husband's general indifference in the bedroom (great bushy-bearded twat.*) So it could be either a sad comment the damper that was Julienne's old married life - or she may just find talking during sex kind of distracting.
Until she employs a little distraction of her own. (Heh. "Azof!")
I'm still being blocked on my home computer by that ridiculous nanny software, so (heh) fake nose and glasses it is. But this is such a sweet chapter. I love how he jumps into her routine. Feeding the freaking cat...mah gawd!
______
*Although in view of the fact that we've never really gotten Julienne's husband's take on it, maybe his cousin is sincerely the great love of his life and he could have lived very happily all along without well-meaning relatives bringing in a woman for him to marry. Thwarted but then ultimately triumphant love affair from his and his sweet leman's perspective. Of course the cousin thing seems to be convention itself among the extended Drew clan, so they weren't so star-crossed as all of that, but even outside that context, I don't imagine cousin-cousin is more unconventional than a woman and her Orc in Middle-earth (the opposite, really.)
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March 16, 2013 at 12:00 AM
The degree of naturalist's knowledge you bring to your stories, where applicable, is a real strength. Dunno if I've mentioned that before, but for example, in a story like "Speaks to the Trees," the close attention of the narrative to the natural world is wonderful, even down to a throwaway line like Shagrat "with his head thrown back among the cuckoo-flowers and buttercups."
It's brief here, but when Azof brings his bouquet of blackthorn into the house, the description is both vivid and terrifically appealing: "The delicate flowers were shaped like little, white, apple-blossoms, and – as they were now - in season, covered the rough black branches like bubbles clinging from a soap-bath, clothing them with a frothy, frivolous-looking layer." There's a closeness and an enthusiasm there that is infectious - I mean in the sense that it conveys very readily to the reader. I couldn't have told you a blackthorn from an apple tree before, but I remember going to look it up when I first read this description. I looked it up again just now, getting ready to review, and wound up getting distracted on Wikipedia, learning about the phenomenon of "husband and wife" trees and inosculation.
Although it was a tangent, I quite liked it. It made me think about Azof and Jules, and their own slow grafting.
Azof's description of his woes, post-Ring War, is both sympathetic and funny, with the quick back and forth between his baldness and his impotence. "But me hair! It ain’t growing back at all!" as Jules tried to comfort him, made me laugh but also made me feel terrifically sorry for laughing. And this passage -
[Poor Azof! He was fishing, obviously, and Julienne shook her head at him. But what a ridiculous situation! The Orc had gotten ahead of himself, absurdly far in fact, and she had to struggle to suppress an almost overwhelming impulse to burst out laughing at any moment. Julienne wasn’t an unkind woman, and it was obvious that this would be exactly the wrong thing to do.]
- establishes, not just how far out an already vulnerable Azof is throwing himself in his awkwardness, but also the reaches of Julienne's empathy and generally classy personality. They really are very lucky to have found each other, as the chapters to come will bear out, giving each other what no one else has. Not necessarily because no one else could have, but because no one else seems to have been able to bother themselves.
Which makes me huff a little. I've become quite fond of these two characters: together, yeah, but also separately. I want them to have nice things.
Funny bits that warrant quoting, because I like them.
["An’ it’s not cos’ I don’t wanna. Cos’ I’d do it - I’d shag you, in a minute, if I could! I’m not fussy - I’d shag anyone, I would!"]
["It," he said, looking significantly at Julienne, so that she would be sure to understand what he was talking about, "don’t work no more. You get what I’m talking about?" He made a vague chopping gesture downwards, from the middle of his body. "Me candle. The ‘old man’. My todger. It. It."
Julienne did her best to look at anything, anything other than the sadly-afflicted region of the Orc’s person, but failed utterly and gave it a brief, searching look.
"Oh yeah, it’s still there."]
["People say it’s bad luck to take – that - in the house."
"Wot’s that? It’s only a bit of blackthorn! I’d never have thought you’d be one for believing such a load of ol’ rubbish! Some folk reckon it’s a sign it’s going to get cold again when it flowers, an’ what kind of nonsense does that sound like to you?"
"Yes! they call it the blackthorn winter! And look – blackthorn flowering! Don’t you see how it’s snowing right now?"
"Yeah. I s’pose."]
It's brief here, but when Azof brings his bouquet of blackthorn into the house, the description is both vivid and terrifically appealing: "The delicate flowers were shaped like little, white, apple-blossoms, and – as they were now - in season, covered the rough black branches like bubbles clinging from a soap-bath, clothing them with a frothy, frivolous-looking layer." There's a closeness and an enthusiasm there that is infectious - I mean in the sense that it conveys very readily to the reader. I couldn't have told you a blackthorn from an apple tree before, but I remember going to look it up when I first read this description. I looked it up again just now, getting ready to review, and wound up getting distracted on Wikipedia, learning about the phenomenon of "husband and wife" trees and inosculation.
Although it was a tangent, I quite liked it. It made me think about Azof and Jules, and their own slow grafting.
Azof's description of his woes, post-Ring War, is both sympathetic and funny, with the quick back and forth between his baldness and his impotence. "But me hair! It ain’t growing back at all!" as Jules tried to comfort him, made me laugh but also made me feel terrifically sorry for laughing. And this passage -
[Poor Azof! He was fishing, obviously, and Julienne shook her head at him. But what a ridiculous situation! The Orc had gotten ahead of himself, absurdly far in fact, and she had to struggle to suppress an almost overwhelming impulse to burst out laughing at any moment. Julienne wasn’t an unkind woman, and it was obvious that this would be exactly the wrong thing to do.]
- establishes, not just how far out an already vulnerable Azof is throwing himself in his awkwardness, but also the reaches of Julienne's empathy and generally classy personality. They really are very lucky to have found each other, as the chapters to come will bear out, giving each other what no one else has. Not necessarily because no one else could have, but because no one else seems to have been able to bother themselves.
Which makes me huff a little. I've become quite fond of these two characters: together, yeah, but also separately. I want them to have nice things.
Funny bits that warrant quoting, because I like them.
["An’ it’s not cos’ I don’t wanna. Cos’ I’d do it - I’d shag you, in a minute, if I could! I’m not fussy - I’d shag anyone, I would!"]
["It," he said, looking significantly at Julienne, so that she would be sure to understand what he was talking about, "don’t work no more. You get what I’m talking about?" He made a vague chopping gesture downwards, from the middle of his body. "Me candle. The ‘old man’. My todger. It. It."
Julienne did her best to look at anything, anything other than the sadly-afflicted region of the Orc’s person, but failed utterly and gave it a brief, searching look.
"Oh yeah, it’s still there."]
["People say it’s bad luck to take – that - in the house."
"Wot’s that? It’s only a bit of blackthorn! I’d never have thought you’d be one for believing such a load of ol’ rubbish! Some folk reckon it’s a sign it’s going to get cold again when it flowers, an’ what kind of nonsense does that sound like to you?"
"Yes! they call it the blackthorn winter! And look – blackthorn flowering! Don’t you see how it’s snowing right now?"
"Yeah. I s’pose."]
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March 11, 2013 at 12:00 AM
Reading this chapter again, I had a laugh at all the Drews. I'm not sure I really did differentiate them in my head, the previous occasions that I've read, but Farmer Drew, Distant Cousin Drew (icky, awful man) and Neighbor Drew (Old Drew?) are actually three separate men, aren't they? (And fresh cause to dislike Distant Cousin Drew after Chapter 9. What's WITH that guy, anyway?)
I've always liked this "first time" between Azof and Julienne - from the story-telling perspective, I mean - because of the suddenness of how it happens and the vividness of the action: Azof "waving sideways under their combined weight" and staggering up against a tree, "fighting his way through layers and layers of skirt and underskirt," and then the deed, the failed attempt to speak afterward, and final abrupt departure, absent any kind of explanation. The whole thing feels very real: not just for the "cinema picture" of the action in one's head, but for the way Jules' concern, and Azof's response to that concern, gives way to a kind of quick animalism (nothing that's ever happened to me, but it "feels" right in the story, like something that could happen between two people, not necessarily only these two people); the awkward spontaneity of it; and Jules' closely (almost too closely) realized disappointment afterward, when he just...LEAVES. I can still feel her confusion and her anger and her hurt.
I've always liked this "first time" between Azof and Julienne - from the story-telling perspective, I mean - because of the suddenness of how it happens and the vividness of the action: Azof "waving sideways under their combined weight" and staggering up against a tree, "fighting his way through layers and layers of skirt and underskirt," and then the deed, the failed attempt to speak afterward, and final abrupt departure, absent any kind of explanation. The whole thing feels very real: not just for the "cinema picture" of the action in one's head, but for the way Jules' concern, and Azof's response to that concern, gives way to a kind of quick animalism (nothing that's ever happened to me, but it "feels" right in the story, like something that could happen between two people, not necessarily only these two people); the awkward spontaneity of it; and Jules' closely (almost too closely) realized disappointment afterward, when he just...LEAVES. I can still feel her confusion and her anger and her hurt.
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March 10, 2013 at 12:00 AM
You know, of course, that I am well ahead on my reading for this story (right up to the present run of 9 chapters), but I think it was somewhere around Chapter 2 that I left my last review, and it's fun to go back again now that the relationship is more established and we know more - er, a bit more, anyway - of what Azof is up to on the side.
Even knowing Azof for the generally good sort that he will prove himself to be over the next chapters, it is hard to see Jules' dealings with him in the early days of Chapter 3 as anything other than ill-advised. Not that I think she's an idiot (although I don't necessarily read characters for their excellent reasoning or emotional intelligence), or some caricature of a sex-crazed grass widow. I do think she is terrifically lonely, though, and as such, taking some risks, and maybe even courting a bit of destruction, in these early dealings with Azof. People can do some not-so-smart things when they are lonely. She really is fortunate that he's such a good sort. (I won't say it's because of his challenges in the bedroom, either; that certainly hasn't stopped sexual predators in other RL scenarios.)
I'm woefully illiterate when it comes to film and television personalities, and not having read much Dickens, I tend not to watch a lot of material based on his work anyway. But I hit up Wikipedia and it looks like I do know Mr. Winstone from one film: 1999, "The War Zone." And isn't that a grand association to be having with him.
Even knowing Azof for the generally good sort that he will prove himself to be over the next chapters, it is hard to see Jules' dealings with him in the early days of Chapter 3 as anything other than ill-advised. Not that I think she's an idiot (although I don't necessarily read characters for their excellent reasoning or emotional intelligence), or some caricature of a sex-crazed grass widow. I do think she is terrifically lonely, though, and as such, taking some risks, and maybe even courting a bit of destruction, in these early dealings with Azof. People can do some not-so-smart things when they are lonely. She really is fortunate that he's such a good sort. (I won't say it's because of his challenges in the bedroom, either; that certainly hasn't stopped sexual predators in other RL scenarios.)
I'm woefully illiterate when it comes to film and television personalities, and not having read much Dickens, I tend not to watch a lot of material based on his work anyway. But I hit up Wikipedia and it looks like I do know Mr. Winstone from one film: 1999, "The War Zone." And isn't that a grand association to be having with him.
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January 26, 2013 at 12:00 AM
Oh how this has come along! I love how the relationship between these two has developed, the very real care they seem to have for one another, and Jules' new attraction to him. They both seem like lonely souls, and it is sweet that they have found some joy in one another. This last chapter is especially sweet (an quite sexy ;P), but more than the magic Julienne has worked on Azof, I love her regard for him at the end. Her thus-far absent husband seems like such a wretched thing, and I'm happy for her, that she's found a fella so eager to please (breakfast in bed, Azof you old romantic) and who enjoys her company. And, really, you write the most lovely, non tratitional sex scenes, along with a sort of gentle intimacy that is very sweet. I really like this pair.
Which is why I am very nervous about Azof's outings in previous chapters and their sudden drop off. I really hope things work out ok for these two. They deserve a happy home life at the end of it all.
Beautiful chapters, and I'm a bit cross with myself for waiting so long to check in on this (Laud kindly pointed me here today), but finding three new ones waiting for me was such a joy.
Which is why I am very nervous about Azof's outings in previous chapters and their sudden drop off. I really hope things work out ok for these two. They deserve a happy home life at the end of it all.
Beautiful chapters, and I'm a bit cross with myself for waiting so long to check in on this (Laud kindly pointed me here today), but finding three new ones waiting for me was such a joy.