Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search
swiss replica watches replica watches uk Replica Rolex DateJust Watches

The Road to Edoras  by Dreamflower 10 Review(s)
PIppinfan1988Reviewed Chapter: 26 on 9/30/2005
LOL, I really admire how you find these wonderful resources--and its nice that you share them! I still have dial up, so after a while of research, I give up. I tried to review this chapter yesterday, but suddenly my server began acting up; accessing anything was a chore, or it simply wasn't accessed. So, here I am this morning.

Okay, all bets are off about Legolas teaching the lasses to swim in one lesson. ;-) The prisoners are at it again...if Cado didn't learn his lesson with throwing the rock at Danulf in the first place, then there's no hope for his sorry self. As for Clovis, I hope he gets his in the end; he's just a rotten egg to begin with.

The suspense keeps getting better and better...with Danulf and Adrahil finding that farm, I'm on the edge of my seat wondering what is about to happen, good or ill. LOL, now I have to wait like everyone else for your next update...in the meantime I'll entertain myself with some of your other tales. :-) Take care.

Pippinfan



Author Reply: Well, I hope that you will be able to access the site sometime. I love to find these things out. It's fun to think to yourself: I wonder what kinds of mushrooms the hobbits would find in that part of the world in the summer? and then do a Google and find out, LOL! And it would be kind of selfish not to share when I find something so cool!

You'll soon see what's happening to everyone. I have very nearly finished with my shorter pieces--I still have a few to post, and one very special shorter story to finish. The MEFAs are rather keeping me from getting everything done at once,LOL! But they are nearly over.

I've got quite a lot of the next chapter ready, so an update by early or mid next week is probable. And after that, I'll get back to updating as often as possible.

Barring Hurricane Stan heading this way, of course.

ImrahoilReviewed Chapter: 26 on 9/2/2005
Thinking about you. I hope you and your family are well.

Author Reply: Thank you! I just now saw this. We are fine, unlike so many of our friends.
I hope to get back to this story soon.

KittyReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/26/2005
*grins*
A camp full of hungry hobbits, this thought is certainly nightmarish! And hobbits and mushrooms ... *shakes head* I will never understand it, as I myself don’t like them. Chocolate is so much better! Very un-hobbitish, isn’t it? Sometimes I wonder if there is even *one* hobbit in the Shire which isn’t so greedy for mushrooms? (I loved Legolas’ comparisation of that with the gold of the dwarves!)

So, the prisoners want to escape? I suppose even if they managed it, they wouldn’t get far on their own without weapons, provisions and all. Cado shows a bit sense, it is good he doesn’t back up his brother any longer, although I suspect strongly his reason to stay is a certain hobbit lass ;-)

Anso the HobbitReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/25/2005
Thank you for the mushroom link! That is always handy. :D I really should be better at research for my stories, lol

So, the captives are planning an escape now. Well, I don`t think they will be able to do so, but of course they are tempted. They might be able to live in the wild for some time but sooner or later they will be found out. And it`s only so long that you can live of the fame of relatives, lol.

Author Reply: Well, I find the research almost as much fun as the writing. It's easy to get sidetracked sometimes with these things, but little touches like that can add a bit of realism to the stories.

We shall see, we shall see...

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/25/2005
Cado had a smidgeon of a brain cell. I hope he sticks to his guns and Makes Good. He's not the thug that Clovis is, or the slimeball that Dago is, not yet the total grasping dimwit that is Clodio. And it would be nice to have redemption for the only possible one of the prisoners. Cado, I feel, could have been a decent hobbit if he had been fostered early in a decent family. Not a hero, perhaps, but an average hobbit.

I quite hope the two creeps run away and have a thoroughly nasty time. They deserve it.

Legolas makes a good swimming teacher. But I'm glad to see him being dismissed (kindly) so that Poppy and Viola can get down to the serious business of mushroom hunting. (I wonder if he will tell Gimli about the Dwarves' Ears. Just as he is biting into one.)

It must be a dangerous life being a farmer in the times that are (hopefully) passing. It's a bit hard to hide a farm. I don't blame them for facing passers-by while armed with pitchforks and axes.

I hope they calm down though. We don't want hungry hobbits.

Author Reply: Cado's got a long way to go, though. Just being disgusted with his brother is not quite enough. And he's got his own reasons, not just safety, for not wanting to escape right now anyway. But I do like your character assessments for each of the others--thug, slimeball and dimwit, LOL!

Well the two creeps have got an interesting time ahead of them, anyway...

*Snicker* I could see that!

I think that anyone so isolated would be wary. We will soon meet these folks and learn their story.

Hungry hobbits? Perish forbid!!

Baggins BabeReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/25/2005
Hmmmmmm! Why do I have the feeling that Dago and Clovis might do something stupid? *smacks forehead* Because they ARE stupid! At least Cado and his father are showing sense, and it is good that Cado is no longer so influenced by his brother.

Loved the mushrooms - yes, we do have a few 'improper' names for mushrooms in the UK! :-)) Nice that the sight of the mushrooms revived Poppy and Viola!

Lovely chapter, Dreamflower!

Author Reply: Well, Cado's showing a bit of sense, and Clodio's too depressed to do anything. And Cado has his own reasons for not wanting to leave the Men's encampment.

I thought the sight of mushrooms might be a "perker-upper", LOL! I loved all the mushroom names, some of them sounded very hobbity, but I had to rule out any common names that would not have fit into Middle-earth! That site is wonderful.

eilujReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/24/2005
I like that mushroom site also -- apparently one of the most useful for *British* mushrooms -- but I finally broke down and *bought mushroom guides.*

I find the books are infinitely more helpful than what I can find on the web. I now have the Audubon guide (which unfortunately separates text from photos) somewhere; a Dorling Kindersley/Smithsonian title which has the best of both worlds: DK's gorgeous graphics and the Smithsonian's authoritative text; and an info-rich Simon and Schuster guide which turned out to be a 1981 title from Italy, and not as knowledgeable as I'd like about American species -- but when speculating about what the hobbits ate, European can only be a plus.

Of course, it's always interesting when the different books disagree about edibility, quality, or season....

[Yes, someday maybe I too will need to know which mushrooms are available in the spring and which in the fall, and what hobbits might have called them.]

Author Reply: I find the internet useful when I need just a little bit of information--when I'm working on a story, and realize that for verisimilitude I need to know the names of plants that might be growing, or trees, or whether or not beavers would have been indigenous to a region, or what seashells from a certain area of Europe might have looked like, or I want to find a folk song or nursery rhyme that might sound hobbity... I've loads of sites I've bookmarked that I may never use again, LOL! But they are there if I *do* need them.

For anything in depth and of a more extensive nature, books are, of course, preferable.

CannaReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/24/2005
Dear Dreamflower,

I love your story. It has become one of the rare ones that I frantically seek out updates for.

I tend to be one of those who reviews very late on a story (or indead not at all!) but please note that I have followed it from the begining and have enjoyed it thoroughly throughout.

It is quite refreshing, mainly because of its originality - the angle of Post War of the Rings from a hobbits point of view from ones who were not in the least involved yet become aware/astounded (admit very slowly - yet that is approatiate for hobbits) by the impact of what their race has accomplished or what they are capable of. And they hold a pride in themselves regardless and any perception of others.

I love how you are taking time to flesh out all the characters. And I love how the hobbits have 'adopted' the others of the travelling group as 'theirs'.

Cheers ... Canna


Author Reply: Hullo, Canna! It's nice to hear from someone new (at least new to me, LOL!) I'm hoping soon to be able to update more frequently, but I've had several other projects going, so this story is going slower than my previous fics have done.

I recall that I was at first hesitant to start this sequel, as I was not sure how many people would be interested in a story that was almost all either minor canon characters or OCs, but I got enough encouragement to go ahead with it. You are right--none of them were involved in the War, save as it touched the Shire during the Troubles, and Freddy, of course at the beginning of the Conspiracy. But they are gradually learning. You are right, hobbits are a proud people, but they tend not to be proud of the same things as the other races--a land where gardeners are held in high esteem, as Faramir observed.

I am trying to give some personality to all of them, not an easy task with so many to deal with, though in some ways it is a smaller cast than "A New Reckoning" I have more people to work on, as in *that* story, most of the focus was on our four Travellers and their families, with the OCs on the periphery.

That is a kind of theme I have throughout "my" hobbity universe: that hobbits tend to "adopt" as family any people or group of people that they spend a great deal of time among. To me, it is a part of their hobbity nature--they are, by JRRT's own description a friendly, social race, and so as long as the people they were among were also friendly the rest would be inevitable.

I thank you for your comments; I love to read reviews of any sort, so feel free to drop in again if you wish!

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/24/2005
How nice to see them finding a place to possibly get some supplies, and being as diplomatic about it as possible.

And glad at least one of the prisoners is getting a clue at last. Nice to see some sense growing.

Author Reply: Yes, Aragorn and Eomer chose the Men they were sending carefully and wisely. None of them are likely to go off half-cocked or be demanding; they are very aware that they are on a diplomatic mission.

Cado's got a long way to go. But he has been thoroughly disillusioned by his brother, and he's been wary of Dago all along--Dago after all ran off and tried to abandon them at first. He at least is beginning to understand that he is safer under the protection of the embassy than he would be running about in the Wild, perhaps even ending up like Sandyman.

LindeleaReviewed Chapter: 26 on 8/24/2005
Whew! I certainly hope the worst is over! Poor Bergil!

And good for Cado... am curious to see how this plays out.

Author Reply: Yes, poor Bergil! But it had to happen, so Freddy could give him the flute--that scene's been in the planning stages for nearly a year!

Cado's got some ups and downs coming. I've yet to decide which of three fates will be his. But Dago and Clovis, on the other hand...

Return to Chapter List