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| The Way Home by Lindelea | 165 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 42 on 12/12/2025 |
| I love the reverence of "my lord Shadowfax". What a nice chapter! I do love Rangers. | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 41 on 12/9/2025 |
| My new friend bows to the lord of horses, and my companion inclines his head in response as if granting the Ranger permission to approach. Which the Man does. I love that small but important moment. Hooray for insightful Rangers! Author Reply: One of my favourite (but tragic) characters when I first read the book was Halbarad. I was so sad when he fell in battle. I'm glad to be able to honour him in this small way. Perhaps Gandalf shared the Ranger's campfire for a brief rest (and with the aim of gathering information from the Watchers) on his way to Weathertop, and Halbarad learned something from the wizard about the best way to approach one of the Mearas to make a good impression. I like imagining such a thing, anyhow. Thanks! | |
| KathyG | Reviewed Chapter: 41 on 12/8/2025 |
| I trust that the Rangers aren't plotting to capture Bill! Thank goodness they saved Shadowfax and Bill from the wolves. Author Reply: I'm sure that Rangers are smarter than that. Or maybe the word I want is "wiser"? Still, they will play a major role in the next few chapters. Thanks! | |
| KathyG | Reviewed Chapter: 40 on 12/8/2025 |
| Uh-oh! Here we go again. Into battle with wolves! Author Reply: Those pesky wolves! (However, I have been invited to meet someone's wolf IRL, and I am quite looking forward to making their acquaintance.) Thanks for reading and pausing to leave a comment. I definitely appreciate it. | |
| Lady Forlong | Reviewed Chapter: 40 on 12/6/2025 |
| Amazing switch -- all of a sudden Bill is the leader now. And Oh no! a cliffhanger... Author Reply: Quite amazing! Bill has certainly grown in wisdom and confidence. He is also in very familiar territory, and he has his mother's stories to guide him here. Have no fears; this particular cliffhanger is quickly resolved in the next chapter. Thanks! | |
| Lady Forlong | Reviewed Chapter: 39 on 12/6/2025 |
| I live in Alaska. I get it. And it really is too cold for fleas up here. “Task at hoof” – well, sure! The operative word is “best-laid” not just “best.” Even Shadowfax doesn’t get it. Bill has gone from considering himself “only a pony” to actively denying it. That’s real progress – in fact, I think he’s arrived (In the figurative, not the literal sense). I’m going to feel really stupid when I find out the answer to this question, but who is “the Master in the grassy dell on the western flank of that great hill?” Maybe I have my map of Middle-earth upside down or something. Author Reply: You live in Alaska! I have heard it is a beautiful place. We were planning an "Alaska cruise" to see some of the sights I've only see on video, just before Covid shut down the cruise industry, and I'm still sorry we were never able to make it work. We had only discovered cruises a year or two earlier and thoroughly enjoyed the short all-in-one vacations they provided. I'm also thinking that Alaska is where Fiondil located his Elf Academy, though I might be wrong. "No fleas", you say, but I'm told the mosquitos are enormous and bloodthirsty, is that right? It's easy to feel confused with a narrator like Bill who has his own names for the other characters. Just to clarify, throughout Part 1 and Part 2, Bill's name for Frodo is "(the) Master" because the pony connects so strongly to Sam – and Sam defers to Frodo. Also, the place where the Black Riders first attacked Aragorn and the four hobbits was a "bowl-shaped dell with grassy sides ... at the bottom of a sheltered hollow ... on the western flank of Weathertop". (The text inside the quotation marks here is directly quoted from FOTR, though not in the same order as in the book, and the italicized words – if I didn't mess up the formatting here – were taken directly from the original text, combined to make a new description, and inserted into the chapter). Also, in the interest of clarity, I said "first attacked" just now because they encountered the Black Riders again at the Ford. Beg pardon if I am belaboring the point; I'm feeling rather muddled this evening. Thus, Bill is remembering that both Gandalf/Shadowfax and Frodo (along with the rest of the party that started out from Bree, including Bill) were attacked on Weathertop by the Nazgûl, and he's thinking he ought to hurry past that great hill on his way to Rivendell. (I used to have a horse that would always hurry past a certain point on the trail we often rode where once a dog had barked at her. Equines can have long memories of upsetting events.) Hopefully that clears up any confusion. For my part, I often find pronouns difficult except when I use them (since I know exactly which character I'm referring to – I don't know whether to finish that statement with a sigh or "LOL"). When I encounter a lot of "they" or "he" or "she" in a passage someone else wrote, I can start to lose the thread and my mental movie of the action can blur. Thus, when I've made an assumption in writing a scene, or taken too much of a shortcut in describing something, I really appreciate it when someone asks for clarification. In short: Thanks! | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 40 on 12/6/2025 |
| My Sam is with me, in my heart and in my thoughts, and I am not about to let a few wolves come between us. Oh my. *sniff* This is indeed a love story, and no mistake. Author Reply: An animal's capacity for love and loyalty, along with trust, never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for reading and taking the time to share your thoughts! | |
| KathyG | Reviewed Chapter: 39 on 12/3/2025 |
| Hopefully, Bill and Shadowfax are nowhere near Weathertop at this point! How far from Bree are they, as of now, and how many days will it take them to get there, or wherever it is that they're seeking to get to? Seems to me that if Shadowfax is going to drop Bill off at The Prancing Pony, they'll have to enter the town somewhere! Author Reply: In case it wasn't clear, Bill's objective at this point is Rivendell. The horse and pony are bypassing Bree on their way to the East-West Road, or that is their intention at least. They are just out of easy sight for someone peering over Bree's walls or looking out from the Bree Hill, and passing south of the town towards the Chetwood and parts east. I'd imagine they would not retrace Aragorn's twisting path through the woods but would instead take a more direct route, travelling on the Road or not far to one side of the Road, just as they did when they were travelling northward while following the Greenway. But you know what they say about best laid plans... (Thanks!) | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 39 on 12/2/2025 |
| Part of my relief is that we are on the last leg of our journey, so to speak. Yes, such an accomplishment! This is truly a journey worthy of remembrance, as you are so wonderfully doing. Author Reply: How I have loved travelling with Bill on this journey! (And the next chapter has turned out to be quite satisfying, to my mind at least. Hopefully it will sound plausible to you as well. (!) As long as I don't relapse with whatever this bug was, a cold or a mild case of the flu despite – or maybe "mild" because of – the flu shot I got recently and end up in bed again, I plan to post the next chapter on Friday.) Thanks! | |
| KathyG | Reviewed Chapter: 38 on 12/1/2025 |
| I am so glad that Shadowfax will only be needed by Gandalf after he has safely escorted Bill to The Prancing Pony; I was hoping that would be the case! This way, Bill will make it there in one piece. Of course, you're right that the story won't be over at that point; it can't end until Bill has been reunited with Sam! =) It'll be interesting to see how the story proceeds during those months between Bill's arrival at the inn and the hobbits' and Gandalf's own arrival there. Author Reply: I'm glad to hear you're reassured on that point. Of course, we have Tolkien's word for it that Bill arrives in one piece, albeit "lean" and "shaggy". The gap-filler that occurred to me to account for Bill's time in Bree, waiting for Sam, makes me smile, so I hope it will cheer you as well. I didn't want to write his arrival in his stall at The Prancing Pony and then abruptly begin the next chapter by describing Bill's reunion with Sam ten or so months later! The thought was jarring, somehow. Thanks again for reading and pausing long enough to share your thoughts! | |