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| Cities and Wilderness by Larner | 2 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 20 on 8/22/2026 |
| "one leg and one ear" One thing I appreciate about your stories is that you include less-than-perfect outcomes. So often in fanfic, a character falls ill or is injured but then heals completely. It reminds me of the television series I watched in my youth, where no matter what characters went through in the current episode, they'd show up as good as new in the next episode, with no apparent aftereffects. But RL isn't like that... Oh! Merry! And the way he tells his tale is so matter-of-fact, not embroidered at all, just the bald facts as they happened, told from a plainspoken hobbit's perspective. that might piercepierce him: he seems to falter at the thought of the Nazgūl Captain, and I don't blame him one bit. "as neat as neat, as Sam would say" so hobbity! I think I melted, just a bit, just now. And then going on to talk of how suspicious they all were back in Bree, and his casual mentions of Strider, and poor Derunol hasn't a clue as to the identity of the narrator or the others he's talking about... Poor lad. Lost his leg and his ear, and his brother's gone. Merry's repeated "They're so thin!" sounds just like the kind of detail a hobbit would fix on. The young Man's gradual dawning of understanding is well done. None of them is awake, even. How I love Cormallen stories! Especially knowing the joy and honor that will be coming soon. But oh, the agony of not-knowing. Merry's distress at Frodo's unconscious responses rings true. How will anyone else really understand? Most of the Shirefolk never did come to understand, sad to say. I can believe that Merry, knowing how well he has known Frodo, and having had his own encounter(s) with the Nazgūl Captain at Weathertop and Bree and before Minas Tirith (I'm trying to remember if it was the same Nazgūl that accosted him in Bree?), understands more than most. I like the hopeful conclusion quite a bit. (I am told to convey greetings from the fur-family along with the two-legged household members. We all hope this note finds you well.) | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 20 on 8/5/2026 |
| . If this Meriadoc Brandybuck could come back from the shadows as he had, then so could Derunol! Yes he will! What a marvelous, moving, and insightful conversation. Inner wounds are as real and life changing as outer wounds, and can be more challenging for people to understand. | |