Comment on Mirrors

  1. Lily (Guest) on Chapter 1 Mon 14 Feb 2022 02:24AM UTC

    I’ve been meaning to leave a comment here for a long time but haven’t found the words to encompass just how much this story means to me until now.

    **** Spoilers below for new readers ***

    To begin with, you are a masterful author and this book is one that should be bound and published to sit on everyone’s shelves. (I’ve tried to print and bind it for myself for the maximum experience but I’m still building up that particular skill set)

    Beyond that the care and love you have devoted to all of your characters no matter how big or small of a role they have in the story has left them all feeling like main characters. You have so fully fleshed out everyone that I can feel the emotional arcs they go through, their motivations and fears, and the little unique things that make them real people.
    My best example of this is how you treated Henri and how his story could have been such an overlooked, last minute character to give Adam extra man power in the story but your care for him left me feeling as if he could have been the star of his own book. I could feel the pain and loss as he tried to fight for his family and refuse to believe that he had to let them go. I could understand the struggles he had rebuilding his life and why his craft as a blacksmith means so much to him. I saw the joy in meeting Sophie and growing to love her as he reunited with his son and built a new family. He could have been such a small character but he has so much depth to him that speaks multitudes about your writing.

    I loved how you wrote Circe and how easy it could have been to just write her a one dimensional villain but by the end she is such a dynamic character who you understand and feel for but still never loose the understanding that she she is irrevocably wrong and a villain. You mourn for the child she was, for the abandonment she endured. You understood why she clung to her magic so tightly and understand that through that fear she grew to lack any comprehension of true human connection. You see how even in her quest for power and vengeance and all the terrible things she did that she still protected the slave girls because even for villains there is a line that can’t be crossed. That she came to understand how far gone she had sunk into darkness and then she was able to see what she had become and choose differently. That choice didn’t erase all the bad she did or make her less of a villain but supported the idea that we can learn from our mistakes even if we learn that lesson too late.

    I loved the restarted timeline and how it brought fulfillment and opportunity for all the characters. It rounded out their characterization and their goals while illustrating that people will reach their potential with proper support and love as the characters, big and small, got in the new timeline. My favorite examples of this were the triplets and the other village children. The new support and education they got changed their life’s trajectory and is just another example of masterful writing on your part.

    And then in all the little ways throughout the book I loved how you integrated lines from the movie, especially when the context was completely changed but the lines were perfectly fitting.

    I loved how Giles was a gay man but that wasn’t central to his character. His love for Jean was not measured up against anyone else’s relationship, to either validate its existence or to put it above heterosexual relationships. Jean was just someone Giles loved wholeheartedly and the pure love he felt was equal to that of any other character, bring with it the commentary that the recipient of the love didn’t matter as much as the quality and quantity of love did. He was a gay man whose character was defined by his sense of duty and commitment to the protection of his people. It is a fantastic representation for LGBT+ individuals and you did him justice.

    All in all a wonderful, masterful, spellbinding work. Belle has always been my favorite princess despite being unsatisfied with Adam’s storyline and how he became cursed. You did so much justice to Adam’s story and to Belle’s essence. She is strong and intelligent and kind. He is protective and kind and scholarly. They are everything that made the original tale so important to younger me. This is a fantastic story and soothed something within me that I didn’t even know I needed to address by walking through all the fear and problems with kindness and an opportunity to learn and grow emotionally. You did an amazing job and even though I’ve rambled a lot, this doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the wonderful things that this story is.

    So from me to you with all the sincerity in my heart: Thank you!

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