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| An Unexpected Adventure [Permanent Hiatus] by KathyG | 58 Review(s) |
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| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 35 on 6/12/2026 |
| I was interrupted yesterday... Every time I see Boromir mentioned, I smile. I'm glad he's still in the picture. I wonder what critical role he will play in future days? Joey and Pippin make natural partners in | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 35 on 6/10/2026 |
| The kittens are quiet for the nonce. (only one is really a kitten, having just celebrated his first birthday; the other is technically a senior cat, but she plays as vigorously as a kitten and yells the loudest of the two) Wormtongue was also the one in the book who threw down the Seeing Stone. I see he falls to arrows here, as well, though they are the arrows of Legolas and the King's escort rather than of Shire-folk. So the Scouring of the Shire is once again up in the air, in a manner of speaking. At least, I'm having trouble envisioning it, and so maybe you and DF decided to leave it out. I recently read someone's argument that the Scouring was actually Tolkien's main point of the story (and the hero's journey), even more than the Quest itself, so it's at the forefront of my mind at the moment. I look forward to seeing the version you and DF worked out. I have loved DF's Eucastrophe (and Shirebound's alternate version, as well, where Frodo doesn't sail West, if I'm not mixing up authors... I'm muddled today.) | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 35 on 6/10/2026 |
| I thought I had left a review on this chapter a long time ago, but I didn't see one when I glanced through the reviews just now. So in re-reading, here are a few thoughts that popped up: As I think I said before, I love how gentle Glorfindel is with the little ones. I remember reading somewhere that Elves treasure children (because they have so few themselves? I can't remember, exactly.) For some reason, I want a hobbity proverb about wishes to rhyme, or sort of rhyme. I have no idea why. It's difficult, though! ("If wishes were biscuits, we all would have whiskers" was one I dredged up from my imagination. "If wishes were cakes, we'd be big as drakes" ... where "drake" would be understood as a dragon ... or maybe "if wishes were pies, we'd be dragon-sized" Silly of me, I know.) This will amuse you. I read "Megan" as "Mairen" singing the teapot song, and I thought, "How cute! Kaylee taught her the song!" I love that the dog responds to Elvish commands. Our dogs over the years learned a few German commands (passed down in my family) along with English. This chapter reminded me of a story here on SoA that I'd started to read but got interrupted and lost track of, about a woman taken in by Beorn (or maybe one of his descendants). I wish I could find it again. Woo-hoo, Radagast! (One of the reasons I took a break from reading was because I was writing Radagast in Bill's story, and I didn't want my mental picture of him to blur. Since I write from a mental movie of sorts, I have to avoid reading about the characters I'm writing until I get past the part where I'm writing about them.) Poor Haleth. Sigh. Cryptic Gandalf sounds so familiar even though he's no longer Grey. "It" will pass you by... sounds almost terrifying in its vagueness. I'm not dressed for a swim. made me laugh. It sounds as if the warriors surrounding him are rubbing off on Kevin. Of course I'm sure you know that I would be delighted to see Merry at any time. So I'm with Kevin here. I love seeing Merry at his most playful and mischievous, living up to his name here. It still gives me a jolt to read that Saruman is dead... And Gandalf sums up hobbits (and, frankly, why I find them so delightful) quite aptly, I think. More cheeky Merry! I love it! (I was coming to it, but I have been hindered by many other questions.) Imagine meeting Théoden King. Sigh. "smell like a sweaty horse!" High praise, indeed! (My mom hated horse-smell so much that when I came back from riding lessons, I had to change clothes in the entry of our house, a closed-in side porch not easily visible to passers-by, before opening the door to the main house. I never did understand the problem...) "Any friend of our brother's is a friend of ours" sounds Middle-earthish somehow. What do you think? It fits in with the values of earlier generations that I remember from long ago, like a man's handshake being as good as his word, which sadly does not seem to hold true these days for many of our public figures. ...the implications of finding pipe-weed in Isengard... Does that mean there will be a Scouring of the Shire? I wonder. My dad smoked a pipe. For years, smelling pipe smoke (at least, if it smelled similar to the pipe tobacco he favored) made me want to look around for him. O my. The young cats are playing vigorously and being very distracting with their incredibly realistic screams and pounding feet. I'm too distracted to write any more. If anything else crosses my mind, I'll try to include it in a future review. Of course, if all my meandering and rambling becomes annoying, be sure to let me know! | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 34 on 5/21/2026 |
| Aha! Was Saruman's death one of the three endings they filmed, I wonder? It was certainly jarring to see his ending in the film version. No Scouring of the Shire will take place, I assume? At least, that seems likely. Just when things seem desperate, the cavalry comes riding in, along with the M-e equivalent of Macbeth's Birnam Wood. Whew. Go Gandalf! Author Reply: Yeah! No kidding, huh? Only in Tolkien, the wood really did come! | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 33 on 5/21/2026 |
| Every time Kevin wished for modern weapons, my brain commented that he ought to be grateful for the lack of modern weapons in M-e. I shudder to think of Saruman's army equipped with fighter jets and bombers, or even bazookas and rocket launchers and machine guns. This chapter follows the film more closely than the book, I think? I admit, I haven't re-read the Rohan parts as recently as some of the other parts. I need to get back to my habit of an annual read-through. "I wonder where Frodo is now," said Pippin wistfully. "With Sam," answered Merry, "which means he's being taken care of." Awww. I think my heart just melted a little. And Joey wanting to play with the Huorns was so cute! (Even though he probably wouldn't like being called "cute".) His boredom is understandable. Actually, he's been doing quite well for having come from a place where he could probably find diversion at his fingertips any time he wanted it. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 32 on 5/21/2026 |
| I'm with Gail. Heights make me want to grab hold of something solid. A horse would not fit that category Raindeer! Snork. Éowyn's song made me tear up, too. Such an evocative scene. I'm thinking this is the part of the film where Aragorn's hand was caught in the Warg's harness and they went over the cliff? My screen reader does not sing the songs it reads aloud to me, but my brain fills in the melody anyhow. Whew. Oh those practical jokes... (While I hate practical jokes IRL, I love how gentle Glorfindel is with Kaylee here.) I haven't read all of Fiondil's "Redux" story. I think I started reading it and got interrupted, way back when, and never got back to it again. (I was probably quite absorbed by whatever "Elf Academy" volume was being published at the time. I've bookmarked it for future reading.) | |
| Kaylee Arafinwiel | Reviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 5/17/2026 |
| Dear KathyG, Thank you so much for this story, I have loved reading it as far as it went. I grieve that I haven't been keeping up with it on SoA, though I did try to read it at Ao3 whenever a new chapter went up there. I will greatly miss Dreamflower, as I know we all will. She and I were in communication on the phone and on Quora (she was the only reason I stayed on Quora, really). If there is anything that I can do for you or this story I would like to help. It seems too bad to leave the adventure of little Kaylee and her family unfinished. (I may be a bit attached.) Anyway, one of my email addresses is the same as my Stories of Arda username, just all one word, no uppercase letters. kayleearafinwiel (at) gmail (dot) com, if you'd like to stay in touch. Thank you for letting everyone know about Dreamflower. Kaylee Author Reply: Thanks, Kaylee. Lindelea has offered me her help, I'm thankful to say. I miss Dreamflower so much, and I know you do, too. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 31 on 4/19/2026 |
| I've been reading on my phone, but I can't easily review chapters there, so I'm re-reading on the laptop now... I can easily imagine Kevin being exhausted after riding all night long. I also wonder if he's saddle-sore – an uncomfortable topic. I love the cinematic descriptions! The writing makes it easy to form pictures in my mind's eye as I read. He realized he had not been without his weapons since leaving Rivendell. I'm sure it felt odd when he first started wearing weapons, but now he feels odd without them. For some reason, the idea made me chuckle. Oh, Gandalf, you old fox! Ewww. Gríma. I tend to avoid reading fanfic stories where he appears, but he's rather unavoidable in this one since you're revisiting the entire tale through the eyes of a modern family. (And now, having read this scene, I'm tempted to dust off the film once more.) It's almost a pity that Théoden didn't use his sword on Gríma. Kevin knew that expression: someone was about to be in big trouble. LOL! "The Look"! But oh, dear. I'm rather glad that Joey isn't there. If he stuck out his tongue at Wormtongue, that evil man would probably order the guards to cut it out. (And hooray for Gimli!) And Gandalf throws off his grey disguise and reveals his new-and-improved state. Théoden's healing was a powerful scene in the film, and you've captured it well here. "demon-possessed"? I suppose one might call Saruman a kind of demon, actually. Kevin hasn't met Saruman yet, as I recall. (Oh! I wonder if the children will witness the Scouring of the Shire! I would dearly love to see that part of the story through their eyes...) How interesting that a man can scrape away beard hairs with a rough stone! (My mental image of Dúnedain from reading LOTR is beardless, though I rather had the impression that it was because they didn't have facial hair. Of course, I could have been wrong. Let the child cling to hope, but he doubted that they would meet again. Oh, I hope they will meet again, no matter what the old hobbit's thoughts may be about the possibility. Ah, yes, the wine. Is that what they call the stirrup cup? I used to know the term for a farewell cup, but I'd have to look it up again since I've forgotten. LOL for Treebeard's poetry inducing sleep. Most nights, I leave an audiobook playing on a timer, and it quiets and focuses my mind and soothes me to sleep. Hmmm. Are Jennifer and Joey going to have a growth spurt soon? And of course Treebeard has endless patience. Last thought: "music of the falling stream" is a lovely turn of phrase. Two of my favorite things are ocean waves and waterfalls. Author Reply: Kevin's not even out of high school yet, and he's already a soldier! He probably *is* saddle-sore. Riding a horse is definitely not like riding in a car, is it? I suspect Theoden was rather tempted to do just that! Wouldn't it be good if Bilbo could meet with Kaylee again? Hmm, a stirrup cup? I wouldn't know. Maybe. A growth spurt? If not then, then at some point! | |
| demeter d | Reviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 4/15/2026 |
| Thank you so much, Kathy, and, Lindalea, also, for sharing the news of Dreamflower's passing "beyond the circles". Not being on Facebook with you all, I would not have seen that. I only knew her from here, SOA. But for twenty years I have read her stories and enjoyed her comments and insights for other folks stories. She is definitely on my list of people I hope to seek out and meet when I pass on. As always, thank you to all of you who keep this site the place of love and light that it is. And to everyone. When one of us passes and you know about it, please post when you find out. We miss that virtual presence, but without that tie to the "Real World' we would never find out. Love to all! demeter d Author Reply: Thanks, demeter d. We all miss her, I know; I've so enjoyed reading her great stories, and she was a great co-author to me while she was able to help me write our WIP, "An Unexpected Adventure." It helps that our administrators are able to find out when a SoA has passed on. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 4/14/2026 |
| You can email me by clicking on my author name at the top of my author page. Alternatively, type it into your email program: homesweeths (at) gmail (dot) com. Author Reply: Thanks! Got it. I've just sent you a test email. | |