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| A Matter of Honor by meckinock | 31 Review(s) |
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| washow | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/16/2005 |
| I'm so glad you finally finished this. When I didn't see it at the end of Feb like you promised I often thought of sending you an email but real life got in the way. I'm glad to see you're posting even though I didn't keep poking you. I really enjoyed this chapter, I love the interaction between the characters. I can't wait until they get to Imlandris because I have high hopes for the reunion between father and son. I check soa everyday hoping for an update so please don't keep me waiting too long. Author Reply: Thanks for hanging in there, Washow. People like you helped keep me plugging when all that Real Life stuff tried to derail me. RL kind of gets in the way of fun sometimes, doesn't it? Updates won't be as fast this time, but I'll try to keep them coming every week or two. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/16/2005 |
| Oh my goodness! This is great. The weather, the horses, the smells, the flies - the bad food! It's as if I'm there! And Halbarad! What a well-developed, multi-layered interesting character he is. With a fantastic choice of language - the northern Eriador plains feel like the bowels of Harad - and a well-developed philosophy, boiled down into few words! - “Know your place.” - combined with an understanding of what and where he feels that to be - planting his gaze squarely in the middle of Aragorn’s back. And Aragorn recognises his determination, as well. The whole Bree name thing is hilarious - I rather hope Dudo does reward E2 with Bree names - and I look forward to seeing their reaction. (I think Fred would suit one of them. And maybe George.) Lovely - and succinct - description of Rivendell. Concentrating on the aspects most likely to appeal to a hobbit. And I like Dudo's rather doubtful vision of elves. Especially the wings and flying horses. Reality might be disappointing. The farmer, his wife and the goat - great story, and enabling Aragorn to show himself as charming and entertaining, despite his ill-health. And I like the reflections on age. The suggestions on flooding are worrying, though. That Ranger needs to get to Elrond's house soonish if he is to survive to provoke his foster father further - and retain the use of the hand for future fighting. 'In truth, it was not the presence of something admirable that he valued about this barren place, but the very absence of things that demanded admiration. The unexpectant plainness of the land seemed to still all voices except land, sky, and stars. “Listen,” he said.' It takes a special eye to see this. And a special eye to know that it is there to be seen. Great group of characters - excellent start - terrific relationships - scenery - heat - well, all of it. I'm really looking forward to more! Author Reply: It's as if I'm there! In this case, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing... Finding out that Halbarad had layers took me a while. But it's been fun peeling back the onion. I started out thinking that to Halbarad, Rivendell was just the Hyatt Regency Eriador - a nice place to visit, but the more I thought about it I realized that in order not to become envious of this beautiful, perfect place with crystal waterfalls and ageless, beautiful people, he would have forced himself to turn his back on it and embrace the more rugged beauty of the wild. I don't think Dudo will be disappointed in the Elves! Even though they don't have wings... I grew up in a Mississippi river town, and spring flooding was frequent. Most of the time it resulted from rapid warming that melted the snow pack up in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We'll just hope Elrond did a good job on that bridge when he rebuilt it after History Lessons II! Thanks so so much for the review, Bodkin! The thought of giving E2 Bree names makes me cringe - let me think about it! But Fred and George are excellent suggestions. | |
| The Karenator | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/15/2005 |
| I was so excited to see this posted when I finally wandered over to SoA this morning. It's like a dream come true! I've been waiting and waiting.... But boy, it was worth the wait! Cracks knuckles. Okay, Johnny Halbarad, PI, is back! And he brought Raymond Chandler's dog.... Halbarad felt like he had been on the road longer than Gandalf had been looking for the Clairol counter at the Triangle Quick Stop. As if there wasn't enough to worry about in having to get a stubborn third cousin, once removed on his mother's side and vaguely related on his father's mother's father's father's side, to the All-Night Emergency Ward in Elf City--a place with no known address--he was saddled with the whining little chicken gutter he'd picked up by accident in a seedy little town with bad roofs and unpainted doors. No bad trip, Halbarad thought with disgust, would be complete without Olorin Gandalf, the forensic expert and suspected wizard, tagging along to send uncooperative travelers off to see the Sand Man. The PI knew that he couldn't turn his back on the dirt-encrusted, white-bunned old hippie, or he'd find himself cutting z's like a drunk barfly with free peanut skins stuck in his front teeth. Halbarad pulled back on the reins of his horse as he eyed the ride that Aragorn, AKA Sugar Dumpling to some chick who had been sending Aragorn love notes by carrier eagles--birds, he mused, that were the size of a Ford Thunderbird with flared fenders and chrome shiny enough to use to signal another country, or alert a suspicious looking tower that had a Visine-deprived red eye stuck on its roof--and wondered if his first mistake had been loaning the ride to the troll magnet to start with. In an uncharacteristic moment of pity, Halbarad had caved and sent his friend off to get into more trouble than his own mother could muster when she was losing at craps. Now said troll trollop was oozing green stuff that looked like smashed peas from his kneecap and sporting a fever that rivaled the temper of an insulted Elf. And the ER was still further away than Halbarad's retirement. Somewhere around a highway mile marker so faded it was nothing more than a wilted daisy, the infirmed cousin reared his head, spewing insults and slanderous accusations at him. Halbarad considered using the blunt end of his sword to put the gangrenous, gregarious, goatnapper back into blissful silence, but decided that he didn't want to have to carry the ailing ranger through heat that would curl Demi Moore's hair and let the guy go on with a tale about as accurate as Aragorn's ability to hit a troll at ten paces with an arrow equipped with a troll-seeking tip and exploding package. The PI figured the heat was finally getting to him when he admitted to the little kitchen wipe that there were real Elves in Elf City. The grumpy kid lit up like an aluminum Christmas on sale, babbling on about Spilly Milly, the skinny egg scrambler back at the joint where the kid had earned his keep by swabbing floors by day and snitching by night. Halbarad had seen this skinny stew stirrer before, slinking around in the shadows like a whiff of bad breath. There was no telling what kind of muck she had filled the diminutive crumb catcher's head with. With the kid yakking nonstop, the future of the remaining emergency run yawned in front of the gumshoe like an endless stretch of being stuck on a stalled elevator with nothing to keep him company but bad Muszak tunes courtesy of Barry Manilow. It was his own fault, he knew. But at least it kept the kid from fixating on the trichinosis treats they'd been dining on for the last four days. There was no going back now. The PI was stuck in the middle of the dusty highway to Hades with a sickly sword swisher, a whiskered wiseguy, and a dingy dishwasher that turned out to be more dainty than dangerous. All Johnny Halbarad, PI, needed was for Gandalf to get all starry eyed and start citing the hope mantra, or for the wizard to predict one more time that the hot sticky weather was hot and sticky, and Halbarad would leave so little of the guy that archeologist wouldn't be able to identify him with a driver's license pinned to his thigh bone and a departure ticket for Mandos tucked between his ribs. Still, the PI knew when he was licked. He knew his place and on this night when they stopped off at the Triple A Campsite for Flagrant Fools, it was only as close to a wizard with the knack for knockouts as he could stay and still get a mumak gagging on a warg between them. Somebody had to worry, and it might as well be him. Seriously, this was a wonderful introduction to your new story. I loved every word. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. Things aren't looking too good for the poor injured ranger. Ah, the trouble that awaits them. I'm sure there will be more adventures in store of the future king of Gondor and his cousin once removed on his mother's side and vaguely related.... This chapter was such a treat! I'm unabashedly excited! Ray's dog Author Reply: After all I've put you through, and you revived Ray's dog for me. I'm in tears. You're a great friend, and you're a much nicer beta than I am :-) | |
| grumpy | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/15/2005 |
| Yeah, I am another one that did a happy dance when I saw this story up, I so enjoyed your last story, one of the best I have every read. Loved the first chapter, the heat of the land, is very much like it has been here where I live. Love the story, of the naked ranger, the farmer's wife and the goat. Halbarad and Aragorn must have made quite a pair. looking forward to more. Author Reply: Grumpy! It is you! I missed you! I really enjoyed the reviews you left for "Hands" and I'm truly overjoyed to hear from you again. Strangely, it was still cold out when I wrote the opening scene (although at that time it was not the opening scene) and I think the heat wave was wishful thinking. Now that it's hot out, I'm almost wishing I had done snow again. The sweat is a little too realistic! | |
| Ainu Laire | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/15/2005 |
| *cheers* Yes! I am sosososo happy to see a sequel. I absolutely loved the first one... and I am so happy to see a sequel :D If you could email me whenever you continue, that would be fabulous. How often do you update? Author Reply: I'll try to update at least every two weeks; more often if I can manage. Thee story is basically finished but I always do a lot of last-minute tweaking before I post a chapter, and that takes time that I don't have much of right now! Thanks for the cheer, it makes me cheer to know I made you happy! Do I have your e-mail address? I will try to remember to e-mail you, but as a fall-back, SoA has a chapter alert function you can sign up for - it will send you an e-mail anytime one of your selected authors updates. Author Reply: Hey Ainu, Just a note to let you know Chapter 2 is up. | |
| Nilmandra | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/15/2005 |
| This was well worth waiting for. I just fell right back on to the trail with these characters as if we had never been apart. Two things overall struck me: one is the dialogue - it flows very smoothly and is very witty and yet believable. The other is the use of description - not overdone, but I feel like I am right there with them. Gandalf is as gruff and yet wise as we know him to be, but your Halbarad is the real show stealer here. What a great character. I also love the way they have wound Dudo up about going to Rivendell. Author Reply: I'm amazed anyone actually still remembers my other story after all this time (I know you do; from me droning on about "my story that I wrote umpteen gazillion years ago..."). Where to begin this story was an interesting problem - I didn't want to have to do the entire trip from Bree to Rivendell in real time (a la FOTR) but I liked the symmetry of beginning this story geographically in the same place as the other one - just going in the opposite direction. And I needed some set-up before the arrival in Rivendell. I decided that they couldn't deal with wound up!Dudo for the entire trip, but the kid needed a distraction. Of course it goes without saying that none of this would be here without you. Thank you! | |
| jules | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/15/2005 |
| You're back!!! I was so surprised and happy to see your story that it has jolted me out of lurker-dom - I am ashamed to confess I read and savoured every word of 'in the hands of the enemy' but never left a single review... It remains one of the best fanfictions I've read and I was so disappointed to eventually conclude that you'd given up on the promised sequel. But here you are and still on form by the look of it. Absolutely wonderful. (but please let Aragorn have just a little TLC before you go sending him off on quests, we know how *quests* always turn out - not exactly restful you know...) I may not get time to review regularly but rest assured that I (and no doubt many, many others) will be hanging on your every word. Author Reply: Gave me up for dead, huh? Well, me too, almost! It's great to hear from you and wonderful to know that you liked "In the Hands of the Enemy" so much. For a while I was worried that by the time I got this story published, everyone who read "Hands" would have left the fandom! I know that reviewing is not everyone's cup of tea, and that's fine (believe me, I can relate), but I'm delighted that you decided to de-lurk at least this once. Don't worry, I won't send Aragorn back out until he gets patched up. | |
| Dot | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/15/2005 |
| I’m just loving this so far! I had a silly grin on my face from start to finish. You descriptions are wonderful. I think I was sweating just reading about the heat. I would not want to be around when Halbarad eventually does take off those boots. “Bob?” *splutter* I’d forgotten about that!! LOL. I had to laugh at Dudo’s scepticism when Halbarad describes the beauty of Rivendell, the Ranger village. “Beautiful people singing lovely songs”? I wouldn’t have believed it either! One of the best lines of the chapter has to be what Halbarad learnt from Númenor: “Know your place.” Brilliant!! Actually, what I also really liked was the suggestion, as Halbarad looks at Aragorn, of where he thinks his place is. That was so well done. Speaking of Aragorn, I felt really bad for him. That is not a well man. But he’s still good for a laugh anyway. I just love how he and Halbarad play off each other, and the hints of the long history they’ve shared give more meaning to their friendship, as well as rousing my curiosity ;-) The story of the naked Rangers, a farmer’s wife and a goat had me howling with laughter. Those two certainly tell a good yarn. I love the little moments too of Halbarad thinking wistfully of the woman and of how short the lives of the people of Bree are. One of my favourite parts of this chapter is Halbarad trying to explain the beauty of this barren place in the back-end-of-nowhere. I love the line “In truth, it was not the presence of something admirable that he valued about this barren place, but the very absence of things that demanded admiration.” His love of simplicity and ability to appreciate and see beauty in the plainest of things is really touching and actually rather humbling too. I forgot to say how much I like Dudo. He’s so bright and funny, even when he’s complaining. In fairness, I’d be doing a heck of a lot more complaining if I were in his position. My backside is very fond of soft mattresses. My heart went out to him when he finally gave into his frustration and tiredness. I thought it was very moving that Halbarad knows and understands that he’s haunted by the boy’s death. “Do they have wings? Do they have silver hair? Do they ride flying horses?” LOL. If that’s what he thinks elves are like, then thin Milly was right. I love magic!Gandalf and his ability to put people to sleep. I do feel sorry for him and Halbarad, though, having to watch Aragorn suffer and being able to do very little about it. I hope they make it to Rivendell soon! The summary for this sounds so intriguing. And I’m completely hooked already. Thank you for giving me a good laugh :-) Author Reply: Dot! I have a silly grin on my face at getting a review from you! I dearly love reading your reviews of other people's stories and it's wonderful to have one of my very own! The weather has changed a lot in the few short (story) weeks since the events of "Hands," but here in the middle of the US, spring weather is very changeable like that. And I had already done snow to death. Besides, you know, I can never get enough of sweaty warriors in other people's stories, so I just decided to indulge myself a bit! One of the reasons this story took so long to evolve (I won't even say "write," because I wasn't doing much writing most of the time) is that when I finished "Hands" I still didn't see Halbarad as a conflicted character at all. I think I even said on one review reply that Halbarad doesn't have any issues with Rivendell (in contrast to Aragorn). But slowly I began to realize that he does. It took a while for me to crystallize what Rivendell represents to him and how he relates to it. His comment about Numenor and his appreciation of the barren wilderness is part of that. Dudo is a typical kid, I think. He thinks everything is wonderful for fifteen minutes but he still frustrates easily. And he still isn't convinced he's a good person after all. He has some strange ideas about Elves, for sure. I figured that in Bree, most people have probably never seen an Elf, and aren't sure they're even real. So they probably have acquired wings and pink tutus in the local mythology. They are in a bad position, trying to get Aragorn to Rivendell. No MediVac helicopters in ME. Thanks so much for the review, Dot. | |
| fliewatuet | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/15/2005 |
| Aah! The long awaited sequel. A very promising first chapter. I loved the light-hearted banter and storytelling between Aragorn and Halbarad. But I do wonder how soon you will throw trouble into their way. Eagerly awaiting more, fliewatuet Author Reply: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Trouble is not too far off, never fear. | |
| Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/15/2005 | |
| YAY!!! A sequel!!! Whoohoo! Sorry, I'm far too gleeful to leave a useful review, but..just...yay! (I'm sure you would find my happydance extremely amusing if you could see me right now) Hehe. And now I have a new threat: "be good or you'll be pitch forked to death!" Bwahaha. Author Reply: Gleeful? Wow, you being gleeful makes me gleeful. I wish I could see your happy dance! Thanks for the review. | |