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| From Wilderness to Cities White by Larner | 391 Review(s) |
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| Teresa | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 11/29/2010 |
| A most excellent ghost story! I loved seeing how Faramir gave not only the boys but Aragorn their chance to solve the mystery! I enjoyed seeing the friendship between the boys and their fathers! It was also nice to hear about the bond between Faramir and Boromir when they were children! Many thanks for this story! :) Author Reply: It was fun to write this one, and to imagine how the boys might have learned much about the history of the Citadel, and particularly from Faramir, who of course had grown up there himself. I once found a snowy owl in the basement of a house, undoubtedly having entered through a window, perhaps in search of a place to hide from a storm or perhaps in pursuit of prey. One ghosts over my property on summer nights, depleting the population of mice and rats in the taller grass. A friend tells me of the family that nests in his barn, and I'd be proud if one did so here as well. That owls might have at times nested inside the window of empty rooms just seems so possible, and the idea of that led to the rest of the story. | |
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 11/28/2010 |
| Great story! I enjoyed it a great deal. I liked your description of Denethor here, who allowed his sons to investigate on their own. I'm quite sure that on other occasions the two boys were faced with many restrictions due to their state as sons of the Steward. Author Reply: And I am certain that you are correct as to the restrictions they often face. Being the child of a national leader is always fraught with restrictions. Thank you so much! | |
| Armariel | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 11/28/2010 |
| Awww now that was sweet! Ghosty owls! That's a hoot! (sorry, couldn't resist;);)) ~~~~~{~@ ^oo^ Author Reply: Am glad you enjoy it. We had a family of pygmy owls that nested one year in our locust tree out front, and we took a number of photos as the babies grew up. The next year they returned, but nested in the woods out back where they wouldn't fall prey to our curiosity as much. And there is a great white owl here that hunts near the barn when the moon is full--I love watching him swoop soundlessly through the night. It was delightful to write this. | |
| Ellynn | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 11/28/2010 |
| Oh, this is so wonderful! I love this little mystery tale, especially the way Faramir acts, letting the boys discover the secret by themselves. The end is so lovely; it is a touch of wild nature in the Citadel. Yes, it would be nice to have a family of birds so near. :) Author Reply: I've already had peregrine falcons nesting on the window ledges, much as they do in many cities on the ledges of tall buildings. It was fun to add in a family of owls returning irregularly to nest on the ledge of the dormer beneath the clerestory window. And I imagine boys of each generation realizing that there were these spectral inhabitants of the Citadel and enjoying the knowledge of what really went BUMP in the night! Thanks so, Ellynn. | |
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 11/18/2010 |
| But he cared not for the Shire, they thought. Oh my! Will they never learn? Perhaps they would believe the King himself if *he* told them how much Frodo actually cared for the Shire. Thank you for this perfect drabble! Author Reply: Or perhaps they wouldn't begin to appreciate it even then! After all, they don't really know the King to believe him, I fear. Am so glad you liked it! | |
| Antane | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 11/18/2010 |
| Okay, now I understand from your response to the other review, what the last sentence meant which confused me before. How wrong they are to misunderstand Frodo who did all he did because he loved the Shire, and all Middle-earth, and was so wounded by what he did that he had to leave his beloved land. But such is beyond 'normal' hobbits to understand, at least now, more's the pity. Namarie, God bless, Antane :) Author Reply: I decided to change that last line just a bit so that it doesn't confuse others any further. No, they didn't begin to appreciate Frodo's desire to protect his own land and people at all. But more of the young ones will understand, I hope, as more grow up hearing Sam and Merry and Pippin's tales. | |
| AzureSkye | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 11/16/2010 |
| Interesting. Of course Aragorn's love for the four would have been seen, but for the Hobbits to think he didn't care for the Shire.....Interesting. Is it because he didn't come in, or just didn't really pay anyone else any attention? Author Reply: Actually, it is Frodo that most Hobbits are convinced didn't love the Shire, and they do not understand that grief that the King and Queen hold for his leaving of Middle Earth. By that time there was definitely in place the King's edict banning any Men from entering the Shire, and I would believe that Aragorn would especially hold himself to that law, for if he did not follow the law he himself enacted, who else would respect it? Thanks so! | |
| Tari | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/8/2010 |
| Spring is coming, and so is the liberation of Hobbiton. Lotho's days are numbered. Robin is right to be filled with cheer. Author Reply: Yes, the Shire will be freed of the tyranny of the Big Men. Too bad Lotho didn't get to taste the blessings of repentance and redemption in this life, but--well, I hate to say it but in large part he brought it on himself. Thanks so, Tari. | |
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/7/2010 |
| The crows rose from where they’d huddled in the tallest of the trees, crying aloud to herald the end of the darkness, seeming just as glad as Robin himself to see the end of the shadow that had hung for so long over the whole world, or so it had seemed to the Hobbit! Wonderfully done! The end of the Shadow as it was seen and felt by Robin Smallburrow in the Shire. He does not know yet that there will be even harder times for the hobbits, but he *knows* that these times will end soon. Then, he will meet his old friend Sam again who has a lot to say about Shiriffs ;-) Author Reply: If any Hobbit of the Shire should represent Everyman, I suppose Robin Smallburrow fits the bill! I've considered how Esmeralda might have experienced March 25th; why not Robin? Thanks so very much, Andrea. | |
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/6/2010 |
| A great glimpse of what life in the Shire must have been like in those dark days. Author Reply: There must have been so much bafflement as to how things had come to this pass, and as to why the spring that year seemed reluctant to start. That day must have lifted the hearts of more than just Rosie Cotton, or so I'd think. Thank you so, Linda. | |