Reviewer: Miranda Fave Signed [Report This]
Date: 25 May 2015 23:09 Title: Chapter 1

Oh now that is a neat little ending there. What I appreciate most about it is that it could have been expected but to carry it off with aplomb and do so fitting the tone and tenor of the rest of the story was the challenge and one you did quite beautifully.

There's a lot to like in this piece. It has so many excellent components to it from the start that make it a sure fire great read - Spock, Spock thinking on Amanda, Saavik, Saavik and Spock, Spock on Vulcan, Vulcan culture, insights and expansions on canon and so much more. However, the tale is more than its ingredients, you weave a pleasurable tale that is well crafted and creates a very particular atmosphere that helped to render the quiet still mediative conversation of meditating Vulcans as well as imbuing the whole scene with a Vulcan ambience. There was perhaps a little abundance of thee and thy for my particular liking, less might have been less intrusive to the effect you were creating. The use of Vulcan terms was deft and nicely done.

The real boon of this however was the exploration of Spock and Saavik post Genesis and without any shipping focus. Instead, it was a focus on how to make this former friendship come mentorship work after so many rapid changes and development. It was also a real joy to read about Saavik becoming a part of Spcok's household thorugh Amanda's sponsorship. That's a wonderful notion and I wonder whether it is something you've explored more of in your writings. It is certainly not a relationship I've read about before but it just reads as being ripe for attention and lovely character stuff. Like here.

The thoughts turning to Amanda served to give Spock and Saavik a touchstone and a common ground to meet one another again, and the agreement to sharing minds is obviously very imprtant and a huge step for both parties and signifies the trust and depth of regard both hold for one another. It is perhaps but a beginning but one that will have a lasting impression.

And I do rather think Amanda was canny enough to know that her garden would endure long after her and that it would by sight and scent serve as a very potent reminder of the human who struggled and yet thrived among the sun baked forge of Vulcan like the plants in the garden. Hardy, resilient and yet with an undenfineable beauty and grace to them and to her. So many facets in this came together really well. 

Author's Response: Thank you so much for your marvellous review. I wanted to bridge the obvious gap left after Search For Spock. I imagined that when Spock recovered the whole of his memories there might have been some embarrassment at the knowledge of how far Saavik had 'helped' him through pon-farr. He could have handled it in a number of ways, but initially I thought he might shy away from meeting Saavik again. This ceremony after the passing of Amanda served to bring them together...leading to a more permanent, intimate relationship.