Reviewed by: Lindelea -- Score: 2

Inkling is another of those authors whose name I watch for. I'd like to see more from her pen. Or keyboard. Or whatever. I especially like her characterisation of Frodo.

Reviewed by: Marigold -- Score: 2

Inkling has a very enjoyable style and is especially adept at capturing the emotions of her characters.

Reviewed by: Marta -- Score: 6

The twos tories Inkling has entered in this year's MEFAs both excel, but in very different ways. "Birnam Wood" is for me one of the best examples of what a crossover should be. It does not just take elements of Tolkien's word and elements of another world but really delves inbto how they would have played out. The fact that the "other world" is not a popular fandom but a classical work of drama ("Macbeth") only makes it more suitable to crossing over with something like Tolkien. The tones just match. But then in "Better Than Frodo Baggins" Inkling shows that she can write the dark side of hobbits without crossing so far into angst that it feels unhobbity. That piece was just vaguely unsettling, with some dark forecasting of events to come. The varied skills hint at a real versatility in this author, and I'd like to read more by her.

Reviewed by: Dwimordene -- Score: 9

Inkling's two stories display her deft hand at characterization and at setting the mood. She does very well to use two characters with opposite temperaments as foils--one of them confident, the other insecure, one humble, the other proud. Although sometimes we know where our sympathies lie immediately (and this gives us a slightly different view, perhaps, on Shakespeare's heroes), in others, we find ourselves able to see the way the psychological dynamics and the bad situation work to ensure that a generous gesture could never be accepted. Her ability to set the mood is particularly noticeable in her crossover piece, where she conjoins Shakespeare and Tolkien to bring Tolkien's vision of Birnam wood marching on MacBeth's stronghold to life. She chooses her devices well--the eerie crone-witch so appropriate to that play and symbol of the uncanny at work in the drama, is tied up with the 'old wives' tales' about the woods, which recalls the discussion between Theoden and Gandalf. The seams between the worlds are reknit without a trace, and the wood's effects upon the poor peasant lad leading the too-proud army to MacBeth sets us up marvelously for the climax.