Re: These Roads We Travel (5)

[Mad-Hamlet@xxxxxxx]

Greetings,
Well..
Well, wellety, well, well, well....

Hmm..well..(Hey reruns, cool.) 
Let's start at the begining and wind our way from there foward what 
say? 
Sal'right?
Sal'right.

The entire roads series has been quite something. Very long, very 
convuluted, and pretty darn engrosssing. Oh heck, let's not call it a 
series, let's give it something a bit more flashy..let's call it an 
'Epic'. Epic sounds good to me..let's run with it.

So. The Roads Epic(Patent Pending) has been a pretty darn good ride. 
Secrets, prophecies, conspiracies, traitors and even reacurring bad 
guys(Which, in some ways, isn't that satisfying. When we gonna get to 
see em go crunch? And I mean, locked in a car crusher without the 
benifet of a car, type crunch.) 

Now, I'm going to be a bit brusqe here. This is _FEEDBACK_ not Fluff.
There's a difference. However this is not going to be C&C either as I 
don't want to go over every bleeding line and have to say things like 
'OOOOO!! You left out a COMMA!'

Alright, so..we'll go by the numbers.

Part 1.
The imagry was nice, or..disturbing actually. Specifically the mental 
picture of a Willow playing the role of a major epileptic with the 
added bonus of having umteen bajillionm volts going through her 
system. Ouch, rather nasty imagry come to think of it. 
But that's good! Disturbing is the way to go when you want a reader to 
think 'Oh..God..I have to find out what happens!' and continue to read 
the story to make sure, for their own sakes as well as the characters, 
that everything winds up okay. Which is what you did. Go you! 
The whole..Laura (Lau-Lau? Sounds like a Monkcheechee..Moncheechee, 
Moncheechee..oh so soft and cuddley...I'm Evil. You'll never get that 
tune out of your head for the rest of the day! Wahahaa!)
thing was a bit confusing but..that's was more based on a sieve like 
memory than anything else and it sorted itself out quite nicely. 
I'm still a little confused over how, after _everything_ they've been 
through that Willow could justify to herself, or Giles, that being so 
secretive was a good idea? Just explaining it as 'Rosenburg 
stubborness' doesn't fly. There's stubborn and then there's 'Hey, lets 
drive off that cliff and see if gravity is still working' class 
stupidity. 
Jesse..that was a nice touch..even though he wasn't real. 
Sorta..kinda. Whatever..moving on.

Part the Second
Part the second what? Red Sea? Hah ha..I kill me..urgle..let's get 
back to the feedback what say? 

Again, good characterzation, angst, denial..I like denial, it makes 
humans so intresting and watching their entire worlds go 'Pop' when 
denial fails is always a headjob expierience. In a ..minor..MINOR..way 
it reminded me of Buffy in the S2 premire 'When She Was Bad'.
We meet a bit more of Lisa and my hackles went up instantly. Call it 
instinct..call it..a certain..gene se quoi(Whatever that means.) but I 
knew it was going to be more than just a possible romantic interest.
Now...one thing I do have a bit of a gripe over is the passage of 
time. In the first chapter it was just over six months since Willow's 
experiments in the cobustibility potential of an immortal(Surprisingly 
high!). At the last chapter it's been over a year. Add to that the 
wierd passage of time in Limbo(What..a day there is a week in the 
'real' world.) it sometimes really through me off and without it I 
found I had a hard time feeling things 'building to a head'

Part the Third.
Same as above, time factor really isn't mentioned much, but hey, what 
the hell eh? There was a bit that seemed to be copied twice, three or 
four pages that doubled over but that's just a mechanical error. So 
why I am I mentioning it? I have no idea. So, Buffy's gotten over her 
denial and things seem to be picking up with Faith. Angst ensues, at 
least for Lau-Lau. (MONCHEECHEE!!)
We also have been getting hammered about with Prophecies, predictions, 
and threats of death. Again. 
The questioning of her feelings,(Feelings? Impulses..whatever..) for 
Lisa are pretty darn good. And the 'Teen' rebellion streak sounds 
somewhat familiar so harks back nicely to Buffy. I was wondering 
though, besides innate computer skills, a tendacy to babble, and the 
physical features of Willow, what else does this daughter of The 
Slayer have that makes her Willow's? Everything else seemed to be pure 
Buffy. (Quite well done Pure Buffy mind you.) The 'Withholding' of 
feelings, not being open, planning things and, no matter how much of a 
level of Family she has with those around her, not quite trusting them 
with everything. So that's good too.
We beging picking up on the Faith Factor as well..just a tidbit here 
and there. Mmm..facinating. I must read to learn more...and I did just 
that.

Part the Fourth
Ah..big time action going on here. Willow's back, we got the whole 
Threads of Fate thing going.(VERY well done, I don't know too many 
references to the second names of the The Maiden, The Mother, and the 
Crone, so..bully for you!) They make a convincing argument for the 
passage of fate even though such a idea, from a personal standpoint, 
just honks me right off. (That standpoint being that, yes everyone has 
a purpose and will, or will not, leave a mark and the ..power of that 
mark is predesitned but not HOW the mark will be left. Good or bad, 
light or dark, that's still up to the induvidual. I'm sorry but I just 
can't swallow the idea that every time I have to use the bathroom it's 
'Fated'.)
We also learn some things about, have some suspicisions 
confirmed..(Hope..ah. That was a sweet, sweet moment. I got a 
WAFFY!..er..that means 'Warm and Fuzzy Feeling'.) and..this last bit 
came as quite a shocker, meet the villain..villains. Whatever.
Look..will you just BLOODY WELL KILL THEM ALREADY??!!
(Again, I recomend a car crusher.)
The Whole Prophecy deal also take a bit more weight and with a certain 
life of it's own. A real aphrehensions is palatable behind all the 
reunifications of family and friends going on. Nice touch that. It 
also wets the readers appetite to find out what's going to happen, 
when, where, why, who..and are our heroes really and trully painted 
into a corner. 
What's the deal with Buffy's Anti-Angel thing anyway though? That was 
never really explained. Or maybe I just missed it. Cest La Guerre.
The whole Lau-Lau's interest in Angel was just..eww..eww..no..BAAAAAD. 
Another nice touch actully. Though I'm thinking Angel should have less 
'I can't do this' and more 'I won't do this.' making it indicate the 
feelings were merely one sided from Lau's part..and if they 
were't..ooh..Cordelia is going to be pissed!


So to sum up.
We're left with a whole bunch of questions.
What was the ulterior purpose of Willow deciding to play 'Jigsaw' with 
herself? And how has thing changed her?
Frostbite? Well..they say the layers between worlds are kinda cold.

What is the Prophecy and why are the 'Bad Guys' fighting so hard 
against it? 
Just how many new and exciting shapes will Faith bend the Bad Guys 
into when she finds out what they did to 'J'?
How many licks _DOES_ it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
(Sorry, I just had too.)

And many, many more. Which makes for an excellent story as, if we want 
the answers, we have to read the rest! Of course this puts a whole 
hell of a lot of pressure on your shoulders as people will be 
hammering and yammering at you to get the next part out Pronto Tonto!
Doesn't it feel so nice to be needed?

The plot was excellent, the issues pretty intense and, despite the 
fantastic surrounding, humanesque enough to hold the interest. 
Timing was a little rough as, I mentioned, I myself, had little or no 
understaing of just how much time was passing. 
Characters were darn good too, Buffy being the best, seconded by 
Giles(Wow, he was viscious with that little Watcher So & So over the 
phone. I read it twice just for the massive chortle factor!).
Faith was pretty good too, I could buy the 'Somewhat mellowed' factor 
that was there and the feelings of lonliness that drove her to 
confront, yet another, demon from her past after 'Red' popped back. 
Which, as I said, was a sweet, sweet scene.
Lau, and Lisa were a bit hard to get into as they are your creation 
and you have them in your mind far better than any of us could, but 
what was there was 'Quality' work.
Surprisningly I rather liked 'J' and it bothered me quite a bit to 
find out he wasn't..wasn't. So I felt very sorry for the man in the 
chair, I hope that works out.
Was good to see new work from you Kimber.
A great addition to a great Epic.

So.
WHERE THE HELL WAS SPIKE? HUH? WELL??
Sure..excuses, excuses...

I remain, as always,
Mad-Hamlet(MONCHEECHEE!)