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Let Sleeping Dogs Lie  by Lindelea 6 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/24/2024
I believe I am caught up with my prior reviews now. Haradrim and Gondorians together have prevailed, and Pippin and Bergil are saved along with the aide and Merry as well as the green grocery. Now--for the general to learn what has Mitten's attention!

Author Reply: How lovely it has been to read your reviews from re-reading. Thank you for your generosity in taking the time. What has the puppy's attention will become clear before the story ends, and I hope it makes you smile.

SparkyTASReviewed Chapter: 16 on 8/20/2021
What a fabulous story!Please please continue this amazing tale. You've built quite a fascinating plot of suspense and cross cultural intrigue. I have to know what happens to Ha’asal and Strider.

Author Reply: Thank you! I have been overloaded at work the past few months, but I have carved out some writing time and want to finish this one! (there really should not be many more chapters...)

Hai TookReviewed Chapter: 16 on 7/2/2021
Yay, an update! I'm so glad Strider has the errant Hobbit and boy under his care now! Where is the puppy?

I appreciate seeing the Haradrim's thoughts as he is met with things he doesn't understand. I also appreciated Strider's respect in regards to his face covering as he cared for him.

Looking forward to more!

Author Reply: Thank you! So am I (looking forward to more). This one is so close to being done, I really just buckle down and, as they say, "just do it".

Author Reply: p.s. The puppy ought to pop up again in Chapter 18.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 16 on 6/24/2021
Quite the rescue! The poor Haradri aide, not knowing what to think of the current impressions and fainting away! As for Merry and Frodo's reactions, I am surprised by neither. And Sam is the dear soul he always is.

Now, to see to the other injured Haradrim and the poor greengrocer. And where is the puppy in all of this? We have to find him, of course.

Author Reply: It was so good to see you the other day. I have been out of commission after a shingles vaccine this week, but I'm feeling better. Taking a few days off has also reminded me how lovely it is not to work 7 days a week, so that is a definite incentive to cut down may work schedule. I'd actually be tempted to write a bit now, when everyone's asleep, but Mr. Handsome (the king of the cats) is giving me the "eye" - that means I must be off to bed sooner than later, or suffer a bite to the tendon on the side of my knee - very motivating! He is quite persuasive when he wants the "children" to go to bed so that the "adults" may have the run of the house.

I have started writing again, so hopefully I'll be updating rather sooner than later.

Author Reply: p.s. The puppy comes back into the picture in Chapter 18.

MirkwoodmaidenReviewed Chapter: 16 on 6/11/2021
Lindelea!

This is simply lovely! You have a talent for storytelling that I do not believe I possess.

Poor Ha’asal not knowing what to believe. Your depiction of the Haradrim is interesting and very believable. You can see why they did as they did during the Ring War. Fascinating and entertaining.

Love the solicitude that both Aragorn and Éomer pay to the Hobbits and rightfully so. All in all the storytelling is inviting and engaging! Love it and the fact that you have found a little time to write and post! Wee-hee!!

Hope you and yours are well!

((hugs))

MM

Author Reply: Aw, don't sell yourself short. I love your characters, your descriptions of the settings of the scenes you pour onto the page, the depth of relationship you portray, so real and rich. I am always glad to see a new chapter from you, even if I hold back from reading for a day or two because I know (as in your current story) that the reading will be difficult as the story grows ever darker. I have to keep reminding myself of the joy that emerges at the end, on the wings of an Eagle's song, if I might mix my metaphors. (Yet not all sad things will be undone. Boromir and Theodred will still be lost. Sigh.)

Thank you for your observations! Part of the reason I write is to try and make sense of people's actions and motivations. If the Easterlings and Southrons were evil in themselves, there would be no peace after the Dark Lord was defeated. Yet Tolkien himself gave us a glimpse into their minds in the passage I quoted in this chapter, when the Power that drove them faltered, showing that they were under compulsion and not marching into battle of their own free will.

We are well, and enjoying a respite in between heat waves. Ah, blessed rain, interspersed with gentle sunlight. I certainly resonate with Pippin's memory of cool sunlight and green grass.

((hugs)) Hope this finds you and yours well. I'm glad you enjoyed your holiday.

shireboundReviewed Chapter: 16 on 6/10/2021
Poor Ha’asal, injured and confused and enduring so many conflicting thoughts and emotions. It wouldn't be easy to trust anything but what they've been conditioned and trained to believe.

Rescue at last, hooray! You know how happy I am! :)

Author Reply: I know how happy you are! I feel much the same. They were stuck under that fallen beam just about for-ever! (I almost wrote "for an Elf's age", but I don't know if Elves have Ages or if that is more of a Man thing.)

It will be such a relief to clear up the Haradrim's confusion and begin a new age of peace for Gondor. That chapter is already written, along with the last chapter in the story; I'm just making my way there... here's hoping life doesn't get complicated again for the next few weeks. (Really, there are only a handful of chapters left in the draft, so we'll see how it goes.)

Thank you so much for stopping to leave a good word. ((hugs))

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