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| Truce by meckinock | 24 Review(s) |
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| French Pony | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/18/2007 |
| What a neat Denethor here! He's irascible, hungover, annoyed, and totally believable. You can see that he really does have most of the gifts of a formidable commander, and that being a Captain-general is something he's really good at. But he lacks the charisma of Thorongil, and so he ends up doing the work while Thorongil gets the credit. And Denethor ends up being the one to go after Thorongil to clean up his mess, too. He is not going to be a happy camper, especially coming home (with or without his father's favorite) to increased marriage pressure, which I'm sure is something that would just make him crumble into little bits. Author Reply: I'm glad you like irascible, hungover, annoyed, Denethor. He was much more enjoyable to write than I ever expected. You're so right; he's extremely gifted; he just doesn't have the charisma (and possibly, to be fair, that extra spark of intuitive genius) that Thorongil has. A really complex and intriguing personality. Thanks for reviewing! | |
| fliewatuet | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/18/2007 |
| I sincerely hope that this is not the end of the story? I mean ... how can you leave your readers hanging like that? Seriously: excellent beginning. You have me hooked :-) Author Reply: I sincerely hope that this is not the end of the story? No, there will be one more chapter (I think; two at the most). It was supposed to be a one-shot but when it got up to around 12,000 words I decided to chop it up. Glad you're enjoying :-) | |
| Ainu Laire | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/18/2007 |
| *squees in a most unnatural way* NEW STORY! And it's a birthday present! A shared birthday present! But that's still so sweet, especially since it's so dang long! I mean, it's not even done after the first chapter! I've never seen such a long birthday present! You know, I was reading Thorongil stories earlier today, and I was really craving some. How did you know? :P Oh oh oh, I'm so thrilled. Now time to compose my thoughts to make a somewhat coherent review... Denethor... you portray him excellently. He isn't evil (like I've seen him in other Thorongil-era stories... some have written him as extremely vicious), he isn't stupid, he isn't completely-over-the-top arrogant, and it seems that his biggest strife with Thorongil is for the admiration from the steward, which seems pretty understandable, especially considering his personality. I truly like how you portray him, and I am interested in seeing how he is in other chapters. Thorongil going after orcs with slaves... yep. Definitely him. Only something like that would make him disobey a direct order. I like your OCs too, as usual. They are completely believable, and they aren't completely flat like so many others write OCs. Oh, you truly are a great author, and whenever you update and complete this story, you better keep on writing ;) But dang, I can't wait to see what happens next! Don't make us wait *too* long! :) Author Reply: Hi, Laire, Yeah, it's a shared birthday present. I know that's kind of cheating, but when your birthday was coming up I really wanted to write something Aragorn-y for you, only I was so far behind already and I didn't want you to be in college before I got your story done. So, sorry for that. But glad you enjoyed it anyway. I'm glad you were in the mood for Thorongil. I promise that you'll actually get to see him in the next chapter, too LOL. Denethor, yeah. I never tried to write him before. I've read some great Denethor characterizations, but I have to admit it was the bad ones that really made me resolve to write him. I hate to see him portrayed as a Central Casting bad guy when he's so much more noble and layered and tragic than that. And yeah, Thorongil would so totally go after the escaped slaves :-) Glad you enjoyed it. | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/17/2007 |
| The story is off to a great start! I can't remember if you've written Denethor before, but you're doing a great job here. He's scrupulously fair in giving his rival credit where it's due, but begrudges Thorongil the love of Ecthelion, which is perhaps the bitterness of a son who wants to be the sole joy of his father's life, and perhaps a sign of the possessiveness that Denethor displays in ROTK. Denethor's mixture of compassion and disgust at the sight of the debilitated, exhausted Mordor-slave, is also characteristic. I think that Faramir would have felt mainly compassion. It's interesting that you paint Finduilas as being rather predatory; I will enjoy finding out if this is just Denethor's perception (i.e. he isn't used to being the object of a woman's desire, or she's tired of him being interested but making no move) or if Finduilas, who has been hallowed in most fanfic stories as a lovely gentle lady in love with Denethor or a tough-minded stateswoman also in love with Denethor, really is just an ambitious young woman pursuing the best catch in Gondor's marriage market. The only thing that didn't really work for me was the banter between Denethor and Turgon about Denethor's sister's sexuality/procreative qualities. I don't see Denethor being so cavalier in attitude, in conversation, about a sister of his, even if they weren't close or friendly. Update soon, please! Author Reply: Hi, Raksha, This is indeed my first stab at Denethor. He's such a complex, noble, tragic figure that he kept calling to me. That's a good observation about how Faramir would have seen the rescued slave mainly with compassion - I think you're right. There have been a lot of different takes on the Denethor-Finduilas relationship, haven't there? I don't feel like I have much new insight there, really. Denethor is acting like a comnmitment-phobic male because that's what he is :-), and Finduilas I think is responding fairly typically to that. As far as the brother-in-law goes, I was considering Denethor's attitude to be more chronically annoyed than cavalier, but that might not have been the way it came across. Thanks for reviewing! | |