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| The Farmer's Son by Lindelea | 129 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Eirinn Leigh | Reviewed Chapter: 30 on 6/7/2016 |
| Please say you are continuing this soon. I find myself as enamored of this history as I am already of your larger history (as told in Flames et co) Author Reply: Belated thanks for stopping and leaving a word of encouragement. I am back to writing and working at finishing the WIPs one at a time. (A stay-at-home order is quite helpful, at that.) At the moment, it's Bill's story, but this one is high on the list. I hope this finds you and yours well. (((hugs))) | |
| Eirinn Leigh | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/7/2016 |
| Oh goodness, Oh Goodness! Oh Goodness! Paladin not as Thain? And Ferdi and Nell married so much earlier and without the heartbreak of the everything Ferdi went through because of Paladin and Pippin. Oh! If as if every bag thing has come undone! Author Reply: Belatedly replying to say: Actually, in this version, Paladin is Thain, but the social structure of the Tookland is much different than in the other stories I've written. It still falls well within the framework JRRT left us, since he was focusing on the larger story and only gave hints as to what the Travellers had left behind. And so Paladin is "Thain", but the Thain is almost an honorary title these days. Considering the state of the Stock Road that JRRT reported early on in LOTR, he's not doing a whole lot to keep the roads for some mythical King. He's been head of the family since Ferubras's death (so Tooks will bring family matters to him), and he has the power to call a Muster if needed, but it's been a long time since a Muster was needed in the sleepy, peaceful Shire. Instead of having to remove to the Great Smials to oversee the Tookland, he is still a farmer, first and foremost, and only a sort of part-time Thain. But yes. This timeline is significantly different. Ferdinand and Ferdibrand's lives were not shattered by a stable fire, and there is no official Thain-imposed Ban in this story (though he still has the power to do so, and I imagine he exercises it in the case of some of the hobbits who collaborated with Sharkey and the ruffians, though I haven't got that far in fleshing out the draft). So yes, quite a few bad things have come undone, though times will still be hard, as JRRT intimated, necessitating leadership and the formation of a Resistance and Defence of the Tookland and all that. Thanks for listening. Hope this finds you well. | |
| Noleme | Reviewed Chapter: 30 on 5/5/2015 |
| Loving this story. Is there a new chapter coming soon, perhaps? It ends in such a cliffhanger for the characters involved! I'm really curious what their reaction will be when Gandalf shows up at Crickhollow, and they notice he too is dismayed. Poor families. You capture the hobbits so well, and your Black Riders are just as terrifying as in the FotR book. I really shouldn't have read the parts about them in the night, lol. Spooky. Author Reply: Belated thanks for the encouragement! We've been dealing with illness at our house for more than a week now, but I'm hoping that things will get back to normal (or what passes for normal) soon. I hope to have a new chapter in this one before the end of the month. Author Reply: Sigh. Life has a way of happening. I got pulled away from fanfic for a long time, but oddly enough, life kept happening and pulled me back to fanfic recently. In any event, thanks and apologies, and I am working on WIPs again. This one is high on the list. I hope this finds you and yours well. | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 30 on 5/24/2014 |
| The passing of the Black Riders across the Bridge must have felt as if winter were falling upon them ere it withdrew as suddenly as it came. How horrible it was for all those guarding the Bridge! And seeing Crickhollow turned upside-down like that must have terrified them all! Author Reply: I'm sure it must have been terrifying. I think JRRT said you could feel them coming, in growing fear -- he said their greatest weapon was fear, if I'm remembering right. | |
| Everlight | Reviewed Chapter: 30 on 5/23/2014 |
| It's truly started now. Poor Saradoc! It must have been a terrible shock to see the damage done at Crickhollow and still not know just what happened to his only son. The guards words in the last paragraph just sent a chill right through me. Author Reply: It must have been awful -- not knowing is awful. There was a little boy in the news here a few years back, who disappeared from his school. His parents kept the case before the public for months... but to this day, no one (except his abductor) knows what happened to him. How terrible, to know that something has happened, but not to know a loved one's fate. | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 30 on 5/23/2014 |
| And so it begins! Oh my, poor Saradoc! And now Paladin's going to be so confused. Author Reply: So it begins, indeed. My goodness, I just realised I have three separate stories set in the Shire at the time of the Troubles. I guess it would have been too cumbersome to wrap them all in one package. Rose and Hally's story started as mere background for "Flames" and "Rescue" and "Pearl of Great Price" and "Small and Passing Thing" and grew into a tale of its own, and still growing! Whew. And yet, I still haven't figured out how to reconcile this story with Rosemary's exile... or if the two must remain mutually exclusive. Still, it would be wise for Paladin to arrange to have spies outside of the Tookland, once he closes the borders. Ah well, that is some way off, yet. For Paladin, in this story, the Troubles are just beginning. | |
| Garnet Took | Reviewed Chapter: 30 on 5/23/2014 |
| And so the moment of truth has come. At least they've figured out that it wasn't the Old Forest but they'll soon come to the conclusion that the lads are dead because they went into the forest. I just wanted to shout the clues to the situation that they don't have to put the whole puzzle together. I'm assuming that a message will soon be on its way to Paladin about the supposed fate of his son and the invasion of Buckland. Not looking forward to what that message will do to him. Author Reply: There are conflicting accounts in the original. One says that something came out of the Old Forest and carried them off (if I'm remembering right), and another says they went into the Old Forest and died there (though we know they didn't). You're right, it's not the Forest itself, as in the time when the Forest attacked the Hedge. And apparently Freddy did not tell anyone that they went into the Old Forest willingly, on their way to Rivendell... So one of my stories, where I have him sweating under the questioning of Saradoc and Paladin about an apparent "prank", is off the mark, and I didn't realise it until I was working on just what the families left behind thought of the disappearance. Poor Paladin, and poor Eglantine! When someone walks out the door, we just assume they'll be back as planned... I keep reminding myself not to take my loved ones for granted. | |
| Everlight | Reviewed Chapter: 29 on 4/26/2014 |
| Poor Freddy! It's amazing that he could speak at all after that ordeal. I hope that they understand him soon and raise the alarm. Loved Merimac's interactions with Biscuit. Amazing what animals can sense but we cannot. Biscuit's behavior reminded me of stories about earthquakes and animals warning behaviors just before the danger. Author Reply: You're right about the earthquake behaviour, I hadn't thought of that! I was remembering the reaction of Farmer Maggot's dog(s) to the Black Rider who came inquiring about Frodo, and the horses in the stable at Bree, and thinking that it was plausible that the little dog would be able to sense evil passing by on the way to Crickhollow... Poor Freddy. Scared almost out of his wits. Thanks! | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 29 on 4/26/2014 |
| Oh, but I love the interaction between Mac and Biscuit--sounds like my dad and several of our dogs, although he finally lost all semblance of hating them when he and Rowdy became best of buds. And WE at least know why Fatty is so upset and out of his head with terror! Soon enough they'll realize Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Frodo are nowhere within the Shire after all. Author Reply: Awww, "best of buds"! You're right, they'll work it out eventually. In the next chapter it'll become clearer. Thanks! | |
| Garnet Took | Reviewed Chapter: 29 on 4/25/2014 |
| And the tension builds. Love the little dog. :) Poor Freddy. It would have been a huge help if he could have pulled it together but I don't think anyone would be calm after what he'd just been through. Now I'm going to wait anxiously to see what happens when word reaches Paladin that his lad is missing. You're doing great at cliffhangers this week. :) Author Reply: I think you're right. I'm amazed he's even able to form a few words, and very grateful that JRRT told us exactly what he said. Word will come to Paladin soon. I'm not sure if it's in the next chapter, or the one after -- it depends on how long the chapter goes, and if I have to break it off halfway to keep it from going too long. (My chapters have been getting longer lately, in several stories, whew, but thankfully Bill the Pony is still pretty concise.) We'll see! Thanks! Author Reply: (and I'm glad you like the little dog. In my mind he resembles a Jack Russell terrier, but he could be just about any breed of little yappy dog -- and aren't most little dogs yappy?) | |