Name: nott theodore (Signed) · Date: 17 Jun 2017 08:41 AM · For: Serenity

Deeds!  I'm back again for another of your wonderful stories - although you had to go and break my heart with this one, didn't you?  :(

 

I was a bit apprehensive when I started reading this story, because all I know about Luna's mum is that she died when one of her experiments went wrong.  But this was even more poignant and upsetting because of the wonderful way that you characterised Luna and Serenity Lovegood so that, even though I hadn't seen Serenity in a story before, I grew to love her through the course of this piece.

 

I loved this story, even if the ending was so cruel and sad to read.  As a family they're so cute and happy - I thought you captured them brilliantly.  Luna's personality is so sunny here and they all seem so curious and interested in life and discovering new things and having fun.  It's so easy to tell how much Luna loves her mum in this piece, as well - she hangs off her every word and is so excited to spend time with her and play and try new things.  But she loves her dad too, and wants them to be together as a family - and it's so upsetting that Xeno had to go out for work and leave them, because part of me wonders whether things would have ended the same way if he'd been there...

 

Serenity is such a wonderful mum.  Her name really fits her personality in this story.  She's so happy and radiant and fun, to the point of almost being childlike with her experiments, and that's when it goes wrong.

 

I can't believe that Luna had to watch her mum die </3 That's so heartbreaking to imagine, and the way that she's had to deal with that and try to get over the guilt that likely followed because they were playing together.  The description of her death was beautiful, though, the way that she glowed like the sun and then the light was extinguished - I thought the use of the metaphor fit really well here and maybe helped Luna as a child to understand what was happening, too.

 

The radish earrings!  I think that's what really stuck out to me from the end of the chapter, because we see Luna wearing them so often in the series and it seems like an odd thing to wear, but I love the way you've managed to link them back to her mum and the memories she treasures of her.  I felt so sorry for Luna and Xeno here but this was a wonderfully written story!

 

Sian :)

Author's Response:

Sian, 

 

You are too kind in all of your reviews. Thank you so much for this wonderful review. I can remember writing this story and really struggling through it because Luna is such a special character and I wanted her mother to be equally as special. Death is also difficult to write, especially when it is accidental. I felt terrible once I was done writing this story because her death could have been avoided. Accidents do happen I suppose. I'm really happy you liked Serenity though. There's something completely warm about her that almost makes her death a happy one.