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| Web of Treason by Linda Hoyland | 181 Review(s) |
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| Lady Saruman | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/15/2006 |
| My apologies for the extremely late review. I have an excuse!!! I mentioned it on my other review for "The Hidden Days of Healing" (should you read this review first). Aragorn is right. Marrying children to one another?! Simply outrageous! First of all, marriage isn't legal until you're eighteen from where I live and though it may be different in Middle Earth, it seems very ludicrous. Someone should get to choose who they love instead of a forced and loveless marriage, which is totally heartless. These men are certainly insolent and have no respect (which makes me think of them as stupid, for some reason.) And as Faramir said, his father would have certainly punished them. Anyone who read the RoTK would have seen the cruelness of Denethor expressed in his actions. Aragorn's protectiveness over his beloved wife and son from the fever is just. Those men have no right to demand to see them, because they are of loyalty, and these are just lords, who are lower in ranking. Arwen and Eldarion should be protected from the fever for two reasons: First of all, if Eldarion succumbs to the fever and dies it'll break the parents' heart immensely, and should both Arwen and her son die it may influence Aragorn to act rashly. In Aragorn's rage about a loveless marriage, he has spoken rashly and said the wrong things. He's right about his son making is own choice, as stated: "It is not an easy task being King, so my son should at least choose his own Queen to stand beside him as his helpmeet." However, these are his rash words: "I would never countenance a union for my son with a girl from a family of such instability either!" In his anger the king has used the wrong words, referring "a family of such instability" as Hanna being the mother, because Hanna is not sane. However, he has forgotten about Denethor. Faramir must have really loved his father (though he probably protested because of his position) if he defends him, though he did not recieve the same love Boromir had had. The men are notoriously obnoxious. What right do lords have to wed a prince to an illegitimite child? Aragorn's healing earlier must have been taxing and exhausting, and he should get all the rest he can get before something else happens. A really nicely done story. =) -Lady Saruman | |
| Radbooks | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 4/10/2006 |
| Where is he? What did you do to him? You mean, cruel, author you! :) Poor Faramir for not knowing where he is and of course poor Aragorn for whatever is happening to him. I felt bad that Aragorn was running himself down so much that now he has no strength to fight off whatever has happened to him. Of course, now Faramir is going to feel guilty... sigh. Maybe he is just lost in the city? :) Nicely done! Author Reply: Yes,I am very cruel to my poor characters I fear and this story is a real roller coaster! You are right that Aragorn has no strength to fight and poor Faramir is is for a very rough time.Many thanks for your much appreciated review. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 4/10/2006 |
| Aragorn has taken his eye off the ball here. Bad move, even if understandable. It enabled the Lords of Misrule to get their hands on him when his attention was elsewhere. And Faramir is suffering from phantom pain that I feel might have something to do with foreshadowing. It's going to get worse before it gets better! I'm only glad I've read ahead! Author Reply: Many thanks for your much appreciated review.I am honoured you are reading this again if you read it before and hope this version will be a little more polished. I think poor Aragorn believed Gondor was relatively safe after so manyyears hiding from Sauron on his travels.Not that that he could easily he harmed if he were not so drained from prolonged healing.It certainly will get much worse ! | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 4/10/2006 |
| Faramir really should have appointed some Rangers to shadow Aragorn on those trips to and from the Houses of Healing, since Aragorn wouldn't allow guards. Aragorn's not returning after all that time seems very, very ominous, not to mention Faramir's feeling pain for no reason. Note To Faramir: Invent Secret Service for Aragorn. Note To Aragorn: A collar with cat bells wouldn't hurt, big guy. Note To healers at Houses of Healing: Should've given the King drugged wine to give him a nice long sleep nap in a private room nstead of allowing him to go off alone and tired at two in the morning. Note To Gondor: Trouble Ahead! Author Reply: Many thanks for your much appreciated review.I just love your lists,they always make me laugh while being full of sound advice for our heroes.I think FAramir might well take your advice, a good idea for a future story,maybe ?Or perhaps one of my cats should lend him a bell? | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/2/2006 |
| Aragorn isn't spending enough time paying attention to the idiocies of the aristocracy. Shame Arwen isn't there - she's really far more experienced in dealing with running large-scale enterprises. Elbeth has resurfaced... You can see why new kings have traditionally made a point of disposing of all possible alternatives. Not that Aragorn would, of course! Or Faramir. They're much too noble. But still... Author Reply: Many thanks for your much appreciated review.ARagorn does need Arwen's wisdom.He is still rather inexperienced at dealing with scheming nobles. Poor Elbethcould be the most dangerous person in Gondor.What you mention will come up eventually. | |
| Radbooks | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/1/2006 |
| I would certainly not like to be on the receiving end of one of Aragorn's outbursts! I am sure that it did hurt Faramir deeply when Aragorn made that comment, though Denethor's madness came more from the Palantir than anything else, I think. Aragorn is fortunate to have Faramir to look after him, but he needs to think of his own needs, too! :) Author Reply: Many thanks for your much appreciated review. I think both Aragorn and Faramir are exhausted and on edge which makes them more tactlessand bad tempered than usual.Aragorn seems to think of everyone's needs save his own, which is why we love him, I think.He will find just how fortunate he is to have Faramir before this is over ! | |
| Radbooks | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 4/1/2006 |
| Wonderful start to this story, Linda, though the section from chapter 23 makes me very nervous. I remember that in Burden of Guilt these Lords were all upset with Aragorn... do none of them like him? Poor Aragorn and Faramir! I've decided to read this story here as it is posted rather than all at once on the other site... that way I can give you the proper reviews you deserve! :) I just never seem to get back to them... Author Reply: Many thanks for your much appreciated review and welcome to the story !You should get a slightly more polished version here, I hope ! There are some lords loyal to Aragorn but unfotunately,some of the most powerful are not. I think this is perhaps my angiest story yet, which makes "Burden of Guilt" seem like a vicarage tea party by comparison ! | |
| harrowcat | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/1/2006 |
| I am so glad that you have started putting this one here as you have hooked me on the other site. But are you going to make us wait til you catch up here because I already have withdrawal symptoms waiting Linda?! Author Reply: Many thanks for your much appreciated review.I have been busy revising HDOH for this site,which only has a few more chapters. I will start work on my new chapter tonight,as I don't want my loyal readers to suffer ! | |
| Lady Saruman | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 3/26/2006 |
| Hmmmmmmmmm...I am pondering something....oh yeah, didn't you have a prologue for this story? Something about Faramir apologizing to the king about the deed he was about to do...Aragorn having a fever and all that...you know, I think that if you posted the prologue first many readers will have a new interest stirred in them than if you posted this...but that's just a suggestion. Anyways, this chapter had a pretty good beginning to it. Towards the middle a conflict occurs between the king and his steward versus. the other men and lords. Well, a conversation like that will soon arouse conflict sooner or later. The Lord of Lamedon certainly has quite a say in the matter. It seems as if he HAS to speak up and argue against everything the king has to say. Imrahil of Dol Amroth doesn't seem to be helping much either. And whether or not Boromir did marry Hanna and had a child--Elbeth, it sounds as if the Lord of Lamedon made it up, and if he did, it sounds pretty unconvincing to me--and lame, if you think about it twice. Faramir is right by standing up to them, though the part about him being furious sounds pretty scary to me. From your last story, a gentle and forgiving man becoming furious sounds like a really big change to me. Ah, the men at the beginning of the story. They are pretty daring, aren't they, to question the king's authority of closing the inns and bars. But I suppose anyone would have done that if they were suffering from cold and went to a place where they thought would definitely provide shelter for them and as they arrive, to discover that the place is closed. I would probably be angry too, if I went there and was nearly freezing to death and find the place closed. I might even have to return home, which might even be several hundred miles away from here, depending on the location. Well, the owner of the tavern explaining the outbreak of fever certainly explains a lot about the prologue (which has Aragorn himself in a fever). I wonder what could have happened...I would dearly love to go on your other site where you posted the chapters, but I hardly have time for anything that I enjoy most now...only just a tidbit of time every now and then. And yes, March 25th is certainly a great date for posting this new story. Everyone will be at leisure (except for me) and if they start cruising this site then they'll eventually find this story, read it, and if they had a heart, review. Haha thanks a lot for this chapter (though I think that you didn't really need to read the prologue in order to understand this chapter--though, as I've said before, it'll completely add to the suspense and the mood). Let me suggest the best date for posting the next chapter: March 26th. Haha just kidding--that'd be nice though. However, if you DID post it on that date, that would totally ruin the suspense of everything. And, as you know as a writer, suspense is EVERYTHING. -Lady Saruman ^_^ Author Reply: Many thanks for your much appreciated review. I may well restore the prologue later, but I did not wish to give too much away at an early stage in the story. Have you read about Elbeth in "Shadow and Thought" where I first introduce her ? Faramir is a gentle man but any questioning of his honour or the King's makes him angry.He will have a very painful path to follow in this story. I don't imagine Aragorn as the sort of King who would punish people for what they said. I hope you will get a better version of the story by following it on this site, as I polish it further. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 3/26/2006 |
| It is so realistic that, once the glory of victory wore off, that there would be those who began to chafe at the rule of this rough Ranger from the North, husband to an elven wife. And who would be sufficiently blinkered not to remember that Denethor would have cut their legs out from under them in less time than it would take to engage in traitorous mutterings. (I might skip some chapters of this - I don't deal well with some things!) Author Reply: Many thanks for your much appreciated review. I am glad that you found the mutterings of the crowd realistic.I Imagine Aragorn would allow free speech but cannot see Denethor as so easy going,as you rightly say. I promise, I shall post a warning on any chapter which might distress my readers,so that you can choose not to read them. Most of the torture, with one notable exception,takes place off stage so to speak,and that chapter will carry a warning. | |