Reviews for The Measure of Our Hearts

Reviews For: The Measure of Our Hearts

Tarshil 2008-06-08 ch 1,	abuse“I could not wed your son,” she said, “but I will always be your daughter.”..killed me with that one. I never thought much of Arianllyn, but your portrayal is intruguing. I like her, and want to read more about her. Clearly Adaon's equal, I love it. “It’s always this way, isn’t it,” she’d said, “the women remain behind while the men go off to get hurt. The heroes! If only they knew what trouble they cause!” The fear and despair of every woman, in medieval Europe but most of the ancient world wrought with war. I've read many real ife accounts of women in history describe their lives this way. So, even though it's to be expected of a woman seeing her lover off to a war campaign, I loved how with those few lines you conveyed the overall feel of what it was like to live in a "male-dominated warrior culture", for a woman. (Exept for Eilonwy, who follows Taran to the recesses of Annuvin thinking Taran a danger to himself without her by his side [smile]) I found it interesting how Cerys was the orginal owner of the brooch, since I always imagined Taliesin gave it to his son. Cerys has captured my attention here. A woman wandering bard, dressed in man's clothes. I'd like to read more about how she met Taliensin. I'm enamoured with Arianllyn and Adaon, and the few paragraph's on teir backstory's raptured me completely. Have you written anything delving deeper into it? I admit, I've never been interested in reading on Taliesin and Cerys since my favorite characters are Taran and Eilonwy, but I'm glad I read this. I'm more historical and descriptive of events and places with my own writing, so I become absolutedly emmersed in your colorful language conveying every emotion felt by the thoughts and actions of your characters. For example, Adaon thinking about Taran's feelings in the future after his eminent death and hoping he would not feel guilt. These thoughts enlaced his feelings of grief, love, worry, and guilt so pefectly because I felt them. Mind you I got as in Engish but I'm no expert, I'm just an amateur expressing what I felt. "heartstrings" - I love that word! A bardic woman who's heart lives in music, played by the grief in her life like a harp. {hugs you} I think I may develope an artists heart myslef readin your works!
Oboe-Wan 2007-06-18 ch 2,	abuseFirst of all, I’d like to apologize for the long delay in getting back to you. I got your message at a particularly busy time and… well…seeing as you’re a professor, you know quite well how grad school is. (I’m not quite sure why my email didn’t work for you? Maybe the underscores between the words were being obscured by the link – . I check it pretty often.) And now on to the review… Your description of Adaon’s dream is so vibrant. Particularly the “bare branches rattling like bone” gave me chills. Darn rattling bones get me every time. I like that you made Taliesin (I swear I have to check that spelling every single time) a bit of a seer himself, dreaming so vividly of the dead and the doomed. Your characterization of him fits very well. I genuinely like him, personally. It makes one easily see where Adaon came from. Not that he’s exactly like his father, but more that it would take such a wise and loving man to raise a person like Adaon. I also really like your Arianllyn. I kind of thought she was fun to play with, since we’re given almost nothing to work with from the Black Cauldron itself. But your Arianllyn has a lot more… sass than the way I wrote her, which is always good. I am in favor of sass. I very much liked the vivid backstory, as well. The “shabby manor packed with books and heirlooms” was an especially striking turn of phrase – kind of sounds like a fun place to grow up. In the scene were she first meets Adaon in the garden, I really liked the detail of having her mentally taking notes on the flowers for the future subject of her weaving. That sort of… constant awareness of the beauty of the natural world makes the reader see quite clearly why she’s such a good match for Adaon. [As a total side note – “grandiloquently.” What a great word.] I love how you expand on the Black Cauldron reader’s hindsight realization of why Adaon wouldn’t make the final decision to go to the Marshes of Morva – that he wouldn’t save his own life at the cost of the quest, nor would he knowingly doom himself. Sometimes prophecy just…well… sucks. Brief though it was, I also really enjoyed your exploration of the friendship between Adaon and Taran. The sort of… shared anxiety/ shared grief bond between Taliesin and Arianllyn is exceptionally well portrayed. I thought this was really the center of the whole very lovely piece. The metaphor of grief as a physical place was particularly moving. Okay, I’ve babbled a lot here, forgive me. I also greatly enjoyed your Author’s Note essay, partially because of your fluid prose, and partially because of how closely it mirrored my own first experience with reading the Black Cauldron (which, I’m a little ashamed to admit, was the first Prydain novel I read as it was the first I happened to get my hands on). I definitely chuckled out loud at the capitalization of the term “Favorite Character.” So very true. I’m very curious, I admit, as to who holds that title for you in Mr. Potter’s world. And I am profoundly touched that my own little foray into the Land of Prydain was some assistance in giving you a nudge to share such beautiful writing with us all. I’m very anxious to read the rest of your stories, as they seem to be plentiful! Hopefully it won’t take me quite as long to review this time…. To sum up all the babbling - Beautiful work.
Jedi-Aerin 2006-10-28 ch 2,	abuseI could not agree more. I was deeply affected by the Book of Three when I too was 11, coincidentally. What shocked me most specifically were the circumstances of Eilonwy's mother's death- an incredibly tragic irony. I digress- but in doing so I point out my similarities of emotion. I particularly loved the extended metaphor of grief as a continent- it surely is, with stages upon stages to get lost in and travel in circles. I always wanted to see more of Adaon, who then was more interesting than Taran himself (how does one handle being the son of so famous and complete a person as Taliesin?), and I thank you for this. I am running (not walking) to the forums you mentioned, and I might take up again my pen in an effort to express the emotions I talked about above.
Elouise82 2006-09-11 ch 1,	abuseI have been waiting to read this story for several weeks now; having just glanced at it, I instantly saw that it was one I was going to want to take as much time as needed to really absorb it. I'm glad I waited! The richness of this piece is amazing. Arianllyn is such a believable Alexander character--I am so glad you chose to portray her as a "real" person, not just a submissive, brainless, helpless-heroine type. All of his female charcters are so strong, in all his series, that it would just seem horribly out of place to not do that with Arianllyn. The background you gave to both of them was fitting, and seeing her as a weaver fits, as well. This entire piece is marvelous, but I think my favorite line is this: "All along, unknown to them, this untimely end had been the goal toward which his brilliant existence had tended." The idea that his death was not a traagic cutting off of a promising life, but rather the fitting finish, and what all his life had been building up toward ever since he was born, is perfect. Thank you for a heart-rending, beautiful, and thought-provoking piece!
Mizamour 2006-09-08 ch 1,	abuseI LOVE your writing! Singularly rich prose, beautiful and book-true characterization, and gorgeus description. I love it!
Nightwing6 2006-08-20 ch 1,	abuseWell my goodness. I am surprised and delighted at finding you. In January of 1971, for my eleventh birthday, I received The High King as a gift. Received rapturously, I must add. I had read the other four Prydain books and desperately needed to know how the tale ended. Adaon too, has touched my heart as no other fictional character. "The more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts" was the quote my husband and I used to begin our wedding invitation, thirteen years ago. Adaon had faded just a bit from my memory, but you brought him back, and I thank you for it. He is a fascinating character, and you restored the old questions and points I have always ruminated on. As you told us of Adaon's journeys, living among the common folk and learning the work of the forge, the loom and the potter's wheel, of course the parallel is drawn to Taran's later adventures as a Wanderer. I have always thought that Taran grew to be a man much like Adaon, though I do believe that the younger man is in a league of his own when it comes to angst! I cannot see Adaon ever reaching the depths of Taran's moments of self-doubt, but in every other respect they are very similar men. You appropriately focus on the pivotal moment of Adaon's life: his decision to sacrifice himself and not turn away from death, though he knows what the dream signifies. As a child, I could not fathom his choice. But when I grew older, it began to make sense to me, and I like to think that Adaon saw much more than he was able to tell Taran. Did the brooch give him a sense of Taran's destiny? Did he somehow know that in saving the young man's life, he would in truth be saving Prydain itself? Remember that the huntsman's dagger was not aimed at his breast. It was meant for Taran, and Adaon blocked the killing blow with his own body at the last moment. Perhaps he sensed that Taran would go on to accomplish things that no other man could, and that he must make this sacrifice for the good of all. I like this theory much better than what had bewildered me as a child - that Adaon had suddenly and inexplicably gone from being gentle to utterly passive. "OK, I'm going to die. Oh well, nothing to be done about it." I was terribly disappointed and dismayed that such a wise and honorable man, someone I had admired, would just lie down. There had to be a reason for it, and I believe I found it. This demonstrates beautifully what a skilled writer Lloyd Alexander is. He makes the child continue to gnaw on something well into adulthood. And again, in the matter of the brooch, Adaon might have sensed that it would be of use to Taran. Taran's decision regarding the brooch played a mighty part in putting an end to Arawn's use of the Crochan. I like to believe that Adaon "sensed" these things, but did not entirely know them for fact. I think that he was a man of immense faith who honestly believed that destiny, not random events, guided his life. Remember how he looked the day he died: "On his face was a look Taran had never seen before and could not fathom. In it was pride, yet more than that; for it held, as well, a light that seemed almost joyous". I do not think anyone can go to his death in such a way if he felt it was a useless event with no meaning. He knew it to be the right choice, that greater good would come of it. I never had any interest in Arianllyn, beyond a vague jealousy, and since I was jealous, I could easily dismiss her. I did enjoy your attempts to flesh her out, as I'm also certain that Adaon would not have gone for the ordinary submissive child-bearer of the day. He would certainly choose someone who matched his intellect and desire for self-betterment. I too have yearned for more on Adaon. We did not get enough of him, though the manner in which he touched Taran, Prydain and the readers of the books will not fade. He was an exceptional character in the world of fiction. One complaint, if you will allow me. I would have liked to see more detail, more of your story in the "now". There was too much telling, and not enough showing, if you know what I mean. Well, you've probably had enough of me. Just know that I will certainly check in to see if you post anything new. The immense sandbox that is Prydain just begs for good writers to jump in and play! --Nightwing
CompanionWanderer 2006-08-17 ch 1,	abuseLovely...heartrendingly, achingly so. Thank you a million times over for letting me know this was published. It's so enchanting to read such heartfelt and sophisticated fiction (particularly considering the dearth of such on this site, but I won't go into that, since after all the Prydain fandom is small and more literary than most, sparing us, by and large, the worst atrocities in the fanfiction genre). I adored the essay, instantly recognized the phenomenon of the Favorite Character (I'm sure you can guess mine), and keenly empathize with the startling obsessive quality of the series. Truly Mr. Alexander is a master of subtleties, that he can write such seemingly innocuous children's literature and cram it so bursting-full of gentle wisdom, wry commentary, and profound life-lessons. I'm glad to meet another who is so aware of the capacity to read between his lines at every subsequent visit to Prydain. Excellent!
fmlyhntr 2006-08-15 ch 1,	abuseIt's always wonderful to meet others so enchanted with Prydain. It is also one of my favorite series, and I'm still surprised that more people haven't read it. I enjoyed your story--and your essay. I'm going to go look for the companion book! (And I too suspect Harry Potter will leave me in tears...The High King always does.) Christina

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