| sidh | 09/05/12 04:06 am | 28: Author's Notes | Anonymous |
Now that was a tale and no question! You kept me on the edge of my seat, laughing amd crying with Aragorn and Halbarad and the whole lot of them.
I relished every chapter and cannot wait to print it out, so I can take it on vacation to read again, holding it in my hands like the cherished keepsake it is.
I really hope you come up with more.
sidh
sidhalley@comcast.net
Author's Response: Thanks, Sidh! So glad you enjoyed the entire story! There are more stories with Aragorn and his Rangers both here on this site and at Stories of Arda. Hope you find the others to your liking as well. :) |
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| sidh | 09/04/12 04:58 am | 16: Chapter 15 - To Windydale | Anonymous |
I am so captivated by your story, I have yet to take a breath or write a review. I have to work so early, but will be back tomorrow night to this wondrous tale.
You are an amazing writer. I hope you continue your stories.
sidh
sidhalley@comcast.net
Author's Response: Thank you, sidh! I'm so glad you're enjoying this. I have been continuing writing, though the pace is slower than it's been in the past, due to real-life issues. Even if all I manage is a sentence a day, I don't think I could ever completely stop writing LOTR fic. :)
(And I must ask: is your "Sid Halley" a reference to the Dick Francis character, or is that simply a coincidence? I adore Dick Francis mysteries and the Sid Halley ones especially!) |
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| ethuil | 11/11/11 05:51 am | 28: Author's Notes | Anonymous |
This is such a beautifully written story... it was exciting, heartbreaking and had a great ending- you really are a fantastic writer! Thank you so much for a wonderful read!
Author's Response: Thank you so much, ethuil! I'm glad you enjoyed this. It's getting to be such a long time ago that I wrote this that I'm actually thinking of doing some "cleaning up" of the places that I think I might have written better (if I ever get around to it), but I'm glad despite those things it still holds up as a good read. :) I appreciate your kind words! |
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| Elfinabottle | 11/13/09 10:31 am | 28: Author's Notes | Anonymous |
This was truly a magnificent story and I thank you for writing and posting it here. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a story as much as this one.
Author's Response: Thank you so much, Elfinabottle (love your name!) Those are very kind words and I'm glad you took a moment to let me know you loved the story. It was truly a labor of love for me, so it's always encouraging to hear from readers who enjoyed this. Thanks again! :) |
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| Amarok | 07/04/09 08:05 am | 1: Prologue | Signed |
This is a great story of hope lost and regained. I love this tale... all the action and emotion :-)..., I'll just point out a few things of the chapters that were really new to me, but I really liked it all.
I definitely liked your Glorfindel and your Erestor. I loved the others as well of course, but these two kind of surprised me :-). Sometimes they don't get a face of their own because they are minor characters, but you gave them life... Supportive Glorfindel and overdoing-it-with-explanations Erestor were very enjoyable - and believable - to me.
And I was also touched by all the pictures you created about what follows in war, after the actual battle is over, like the scenes in Windydale after the first attack. I loved how you wrote that, even though it was difficult to read, emotion wise. Hehe, and the 'Trotter'-Reference and other little things like that were very amusing.
OK, I'll also mention something I knew already: the Athelas scene, definitely among my favourites of this story – Halbarad’s worry and how Aragorn just barely manages to say what would aid him - is heartbreaking. And the recurring nightmare was great as well.
Well, I hope you'll soon tell us more about Aragorn and his chosen men - or alternatively about the hunt Gandalf and Aragorn are about to begin :-). (...and now I've just seen there are Appendices..., have to check them out :-) ...)
Author's Response: Thank you, Amarok! And thank you especially for all the help at the outset. I'm glad you enjoyed how it all turned out... I was definitely wondering what you'd think fo the entire tale. *grin* That entire beginning would not have turned out as well as it did without your urging me to show more, and I'll be ever grateful for that. And yes, there are more stories about Aragorn and his chosen men to come. I can't seem to leave Denlad and Halbarad out of a story. And eventually yes, there'll be stories about hte hunt for Gollum, so more of Aragorn and Gandalf, which I really enjoyed writing. Finding the time is the hardest part of it all at the moment. :) Enjoy the appendices... I have more to add to them, but that time thing is getting in the way! |
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| Mirach | 06/01/09 06:13 pm | 28: Author's Notes | Signed |
I thank you for writing this story. You did a wonderful job and brought all the characters to life. Your sense of detail didn't cease to amaze me through the whole story, just like the emotions that you manage to put behind the words. You are a very talented writer and I hope to read more stories about Aragorn's travels from you.
Author's Response: Thank you, Mirach, for hanging in there through the entire long tale, and I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And I'm still mortified that it took me so long to get to all your reviews. I will be writing more stories... some like this, some shorter and lighter. I go where the muse tells me, basically. Summer is usually not a good time for writing for me but hopefully by this fall I'll have another story ready to go. Thanks again for all the lovely reviews--they're so encouraging to a writer, and I appreciate them all very much. :) |
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| Mirach | 06/01/09 06:06 pm | 27: Epilogue - The Year That Followed, Part 2 | Signed |
Tolkien would be proud on the way how you've written Gandalf. He is the wizard with every unce. And it is a very good end for the story - to see the wider picture, but also the hope that returned, and the open doors to a sequel ;)
Author's Response: Thanks! I hope Tolkien would like my Gandalf... I did try to hew as close to the original as I could. And the door is definitely open to more--the placement of the story in Aragorn's life demands that the stories continue. How I'll actually do that, I'm not sure yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something. ;) Thanks again for the review! |
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| Mirach | 06/01/09 05:26 pm | 26: Epilogue - The Year That Followed, Part 1 | Signed |
You have very skillfully put together the mosaic of thoughts. I liked to see the hope returning, and the bits of humour, but there were serious thought that gave it real depth. I hoped that we will see Denlad with Naela before the end of the story.
Author's Response: Thank you... I'm glad you liked the epilogue even though it was written in such a different way than the rest of the story. I felt it better to let Aragorn say all of it himself. :) And I do think eventually we'll see more of Denlad and Neala in stories. I kind of like those two. :) Thanks again! |
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| Mirach | 06/01/09 04:39 pm | 25: Chapter 24 - These Wounds You Now Carry | Signed |
I could read this chapter over and over... It is so good to see the mutual love btween Elrond and Aragorn finally free of the misunderstandings. LOL, I love the hint on Trotter. Give Aragorn a peppermint stick for me!
Author's Response: Thank you! This was soooo interesting to write, and gratifying, because I felt it gave me the opportunity to set some things straight that the movies completely mangled. I have never seen Elrond and Aragorn being so estranged that Elrond was ever cruel or cold, but yet still... there is that tenstion between them over Arwen that has to be addressed at least a bit now and then. Thinks aren't perfect even yet, but at least Aragorn's misconceptions about being unwelcome have been banished. And I'll pass along the peppermint stick. *grin* |
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| Mirach | 06/01/09 01:33 pm | 24: Chapter 23 - On the Road of Returning | Signed |
I love the part of the story when everything begins to turn to good!
Author's Response: It's a relief, isn't it! I was glad myself to finally start letting some light into poor Aragorn's darkened world. Thanks! |
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| Mirach | 06/01/09 01:10 pm | 23: Chapter 22 - Deliverance | Signed |
That was so intense! Thank you, it was a beautiful chapter.
Author's Response: I'm glad you enjoyed that one... it was a bit intense to write it, so I'm always glad when it hits the right chord with readers. Thanks! |
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| Mirach | 06/01/09 12:41 pm | 22: Chapter 21 - At hope's Edge | Signed |
"‘Fine,’ he says!" Yeah, tha's what I was telling... "Like talking to the pendulum on Bilbo’s clock," made me laugh despite the overal mood of the chapter. I kept nodding to Gandalf through the whole chapter, as you made him reveal everything that the reader must be thinking by now, even the anger when Aragorn became unreasonable again. Good that he is there!
Author's Response: I'm glad you appreciated the humor ... I can't seem to write Gandalf without him getting a bit humorous; it just seems to be as much in his nature as wisdom and compassion. :) And I think it does give the reader a bit of a moment to catch a breath before more plunges. Gandalf definitely was a good spokesman for all of us here. Thanks for the review! |
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| Mirach | 06/01/09 12:13 pm | 21: Chapter 20 - Splintered Fragments | Signed |
Gandalf said exactly what I was thinking when Aragorn told him about his men reaching the end of their strength. "I'm fine." Of course, and the Mouth of Sauron was hired to advertise a toothpaste!
Author's Response: LOL!! That's a good line! And yes, I think everyone from Gandalf to the reader and certainly me let out a big loud disbelieving snort. Poor Aragorn, he's really in a state, isn't he! Thanks for the review! |
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| Mirach | 06/01/09 11:38 am | 20: Chapter 19 - No Answers | Signed |
Erestor the Endless Elocutionist :) I like how he cares for Aragorn like an old teacher that's worried for his pupil. This chapter felt like a real edge of hope, with the thoughts on suicide as the Black Breath is taking hold of him. But even there is his strength shown - I think that most would obey and end their life.
Author's Response: Thank you... I'm so glad you mentioned that you could still see Aragorn's strength even in his despair, because that's what I was trying to show. I think Aragorn can be pushed to the very edge, but his inherent sense of hope won't ever completely fail him. And Erestor... he's just fun to write, that guy! Thanks again for the review! |
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| Mirach | 06/01/09 10:27 am | 19: Chapter 18 - Ride Through A Nightmare | Signed |
Beautiful chapter! The ride through the night had a really dark atmosphere, and even a symbolic layer with the missing of Eärendil and the dawn. I liked the connection with the prologue through the naclace and how warm Elrond's welcome was.
Author's Response: First off, my sincere apologies for taking so long to respond to your reviews! Real life in June went absolutely berserk and somehow finishing up review responses got shoved too far onto the back burner. I'm so glad you liked this chapter... it was a bit of a wild ride for them both, wasn't it? Glad also you liked Elrond here. I just can't ever see him not wanting to his see his son, despite the tension between them. Thanks again for the review! |
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