News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| The King and the Steward by Itarille | 52 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 3/15/2025 |
| You're very welcome! I'm glad the reviews have been encouraging. (For my part, I find that reading reviews often feeds the fires of creativity; if it works the same way for you, I will be delighted at the idea of reading further stories of yours!) Donuts are a wonderful but necessarily rare treat. They taste heavenly but make me feel physically awful. Therefore, I most often enjoy them vicariously, seeing and smelling them and telling people who are eating them to have one for me, too! (Oddly enough, I could eat almost anything when we recently visited the UK – except raw tomatoes, for some reason – without triggering an autoimmune flare. Much of the food in the US is not safe for me to eat, and I have to be very careful or it makes me miserably sick and leaves me in pain for days. Such is life. I don't know if it might be the pesticides that are banned in Europe, or perhaps the GMOs? I avoid any foods labeled "GMO" here, but I wonder just how "natural" and safe even organic foods are in the US. We are talking about what we'd need to do to move to the UK... it's almost overwhelming to contemplate, but my partner thinks it would be worth it just so I could eat anything I wanted again. But it would also mean leaving our adult children behind. I don't want to think about that. Sorry if this is TMI.) | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 3/13/2025 |
| I'm very glad to see this chapter today. I was feeling very low when I brought up the laptop, but reading this final chapter has been heartening. Oh! Now I want donuts! (I will have to enjoy them vicariously. I hope at least one of your characters sinks their teeth into one and the text describes the flavors and textures and smells and all that.) "This is part of the work." I'm not at all surprised. Now I want to see the crooked house, too! Imagining a city tour conducted by the Steward is an intriguing thought. “I have to go now. I must uphold my renown against the ants, after all” and Nothing in the City seemed to escape the Steward’s notice. Not to mention his skill and diplomacy in reconciling the builders to accepting Dwarvish aid. And not his fault, but his responsibility. It is no wonder that those of the City, especially his Men, love and revere him and would follow him to Hell and back (in a manner of speaking). I love your characterization of Faramir; have I mentioned that before? I lost track of the basket of fried bread; where did it end up? (Did I miss something in reading? It happens more often than I'd like it to.) Oh yes. Invite Gimli to that meeting. And your description of the building process is fascinating. I appreciate your description of the lessons Faramir has been learning from the Northerners. The renderings of Annúminas are a thoughtful gift. In my own imaginings of the restoration of the Northern kingdom, I have seen part of the old ruins left as a warning and a lesson and a monument to the folly of Men (sort of along the lines of the Gedächtniskirche in Berlin), another part restored, and much new construction, culminating in "New Annúminas". This has been an absorbing, encouraging, wonderful treat! I'm sorry to see it end but remain hopeful that more ideas will tug at your sleeve and ask to be written down and shared. Author Reply: Lindelea, I'm so glad you found this chapter heartening. I hope you got your donuts--unless you've given up such treats for Lent? You mentioned enjoying them vicariously. "I must uphold my renown against the ants, after all" and "Not my fault, but my responsibility" are my favourite lines from this chapter, too. You are right-- Faramir's men love and revere him and would follow him to Hell and back. I'm thrilled you enjoy my interpretation of Faramir! A city tour conducted by the Steward --ah yes, maybe one day I'll sit down and write it. I love your idea of leaving a part of the old ruins as a warning. That is very fitting. Thank you so much for reading and leaving a review on every chapter! It's been very encouraging. | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 3/13/2025 |
| I enjoyed this story so much, and this is a lovely ending. Such a bond has now been formed between north and south! Dirhael relished the familiar taste: nothing fancy, only homely comfort. This makes me hungry. :) Thank you for sharing this wonderful tale. Author Reply: Shirebound, Thank you so much for reading and leaving a review in each chapter! I really appreciate it. | |
| Erulissé | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 3/13/2025 |
| Wow. I could not have imagined a better ending myself if I had tried! That was an awesome finish!!! I loved it. It was wonderful to have this view of their friendship growing. Good for Dirhael, if he could help Faramir see that he needn't always make do and be content. And of course Faramir would be up late into the night to gain a glimpse of the Northern Kingdom in its heyday, especially to gift to a friend. Thank you so much! That was amazing. Slán go fóil! Author Reply: Thank you for reading and leaving a review! I'm so glad you enjoyed the story and the ending. Yes, Faramir needs others to remind him he doesn't always have to be the one giving. | |
| Erulissé | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 3/6/2025 |
| I love this story. It all feels so right! I was so excited to see Dirhael and Faramir make it up and the beginning to what could be an amazing friendship! Dirhael is correct, the more you know about him, the harder it is to dislike Faramir. I feel as if I know Dirhael already, even though I don't know that much about him. I love the interaction with prickly old Lord Hador. He is quite a character! He certainly has some cheek. Thank you for the encouragement! I am so excited to see it published and finally get to hold a physical copy of all that hard work. It's been a long time in the making. Author Reply: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the story. The more you know about him, the harder it is to dislike Faramir-- exactly! | |
| UTfrog | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 3/4/2025 |
| Still loving this story. Thank you Author Reply: Thank you for letting me know! I hope you have recovered from your cold and headache! | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 3/4/2025 |
| (or perhaps the Steward is not the messenger but simply making condolence visits? Even so, it speaks to his conscience, empathy, and sense of duty to his people) Author Reply: Faramir purposely visited the boy. Not to break the news of his father's death (that happened much earlier, the father was killed during the siege), but to reach out to him. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 3/4/2025 |
| Oh! That wonderful smell of art supplies! You capture the store, as seen through Dirhael's perspective, very effectively. I am guessing that the blacksmith is dead, and that is why no one is working at the eleventh hour, and the Steward has just brought the news to his son (or maybe apprentice, but the depth of anger and despair speaks of a son hearing of his father). O man o man, you don't know with what anticipation I was watching to see how Faramir would deal with Lord Hador's cutting (or trying to cut) Dirhael... thus they may claim the closest kinship to the men of the North... Beautifully done! Incredible diplomacy. And this gave me shivers (in a good way): “What I heard gave me hope that even if Minas Tirith should fall, and we were reduced to exile, it would not be the end of Gondor. You endured, and kept doing your duty—if you could do it, so must we.” "another son who had lost his father" – Oh, you've reduced me to tears now. While I'm also remembering that Faramir is yet another son who has lost his father, and in the same war... Faramir is not making it easy for Dirhael to maintain his grudge or keep his distance, is he? To quote from the classic Casablanca, in the scene where two men walk away into the fog: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Very well done. I am liking Faramir (and Dirhael) more and more (though it doesn't seem possible). Author Reply: The blacksmith was not dead, he just had a family matter to attend to, and finished earlier that day (eleventh hour is 5pm). The boy was the newest apprentice, so the cleaning tasks fell to him. His father (not the blacksmith) was killed during the siege, and he did have reason to blame Faramir about that. At least in his mind. But that's another story. I like writing about Lord Hador :) I pictured him as an annoying but harmless character. Complained about everything under the sun, haughty and hungry for power, but would fight valiantly to defend his land whenever needed. Ah yes, Faramir also lost his father. And unlike Dirhael, he didn't have the consolation that his father died valiantly in battle. I like the allusion to Casablanca. Thank you so much! | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 3/4/2025 |
| You endured, and kept doing your duty—if you could do it, so must we. I like that. :) Author Reply: Thank you! I'd like to think the Northern Dunedain would like that as well. | |
| Robbie | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 3/4/2025 |
| I love this story! i'm a great Faramir fan, and treasure stories describing him as a new steward. I especially like the way you describe him, letting us see all those traits we love, but not exaggerating and heaping feats, but telling gently, hinting and often through the eyes of others. I always look forward to the new chapters of this story. I also found I not just like to see the others from the fellowship interact with Faramir, but for the developments with Dirhael, and am even becoming in Dirhael, himself, a bit. (A lot of OCs don't get that far with me.) I also read your other stories, and (begging your pardon for saying as I shouldn't, as Sam would say, and for lacking in the right words to say this better) wanted to tell you I like them, too, and in my opinion your writing style has improved over time and wanted to let you know.Thank you for sharing! Author Reply: Thank you! It's always a pleasure to hear from a fellow Faramir admirer. I'm glad you found my description "not exaggerating, but hinting". I tried hard to achieve that,though sometimes I slip into heaping compliments :) I'm glad you liked Dirhael. And thank you for commenting on some improvement on my writing style! I do hope to keep improving over time, as I read and write more. | |