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Let Sleeping Dogs Lie  by Lindelea 99 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 17 on 3/24/2024
Best to recover somewhat rather than face the incipient chaos approaching the King and his guards and allies.

Author Reply: While Merry might disagree, I think he's outnumbered.

Thanks for reading and stopping to leave a good word.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/24/2024
I believe I am caught up with my prior reviews now. Haradrim and Gondorians together have prevailed, and Pippin and Bergil are saved along with the aide and Merry as well as the green grocery. Now--for the general to learn what has Mitten's attention!

Author Reply: How lovely it has been to read your reviews from re-reading. Thank you for your generosity in taking the time. What has the puppy's attention will become clear before the story ends, and I hope it makes you smile.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 6 on 3/24/2024
Have caught up to here, at least. They have no idea as to where Pippin, Mittens, and Bergil really are, I'm sorry to say. I'd forgotten how the three of them had gotten into this mess to begin with, and am now reminded.

A lovely pattern of days they follow--at least until Mittens became part of the household.

Author Reply: Yes, the three of them getting into trouble was a reflection of an incident with a previous dog, Clifford, the guide dog puppy we raised when Eldest was a preteen. The neighbor who lived across the street was chatting with a passerby, and Eldest came out of the house with Clifford on a leash to take him for a walk around the block. Clifford spotted PEOPLE across the street and ran to greet them, dragging Eldest along. She had wrapped the leash around her wrist...

A car was coming down the street, and our neighbor instantly saw the danger and sprang into the street, quickly followed by his friend, both of them waving their arms and shouting to get the car to stop. Then they helped untangle Eldest from the leash and brought her and the naughty puppy home again. After that, Eldest worked with the dog in fenced places or inside the gym where our 4H Puppy Raisers club met. Even as a puppy, that little yellow lab had grown too powerful for an eleven-year-old to handle - at least until he'd had more training to walk nicely on a leash and ignore distractions. He got the knack eventually and grew up to become a Guide Dog. We were so proud of him.

shireboundReviewed Chapter: 18 on 3/23/2024
As a drowning man who has fought his way to the surface of the raging waters

That's a marvelous description of Faramir!

Author Reply: Faramir is formidable when determined. He seems so mild-spoken, and yet...

Thanks for stopping and leaving a good word.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: Prologue on 3/20/2024
Am rereading from the beginning. Zoe, Btendi, and Pandora are now undoubtedly fastest of friends as they await our coming over the Rainbow Bridge, guided by Polychrome (or so I suspect--with a tip of the hat to Ruth Plumly Thompson).

Author Reply: And soon Panda will join them. I've asked Zoe, if she can hear me, to greet Panda warmly and watch over her, for Panda has ever remained something of a toddler in her attitude and actions (joy and mischief and discovery and delight), and Zoe was such a motherly soul for all her beauty queen diva-ness, I'm sure she'd embrace having another puppy to cosset. I still remember how she'd carefully place her plush seal head-first at her dinner bowl, so that Seal could eat first, and how she'd lift Seal to the windowsill so that they could look out the window together and watch the world go by, and how she'd lie down and put her head on the ground to be at the same level as the tiny dogs she adored.

I had not heard of Polychrome or Thompson before, so I looked them up. I will have to look into them further, I think, for one of the not-so-wee hobbits has long been an Oz fan and (I think) has read every one of L. Frank Baum's Oz books.

shireboundReviewed Chapter: 17 on 3/7/2024
Ohhhh, our healer-king ministering to his beloved hobbits, and being such a calming and comforting presence. *happy sigh*

Thank you for continuing your interesting tale.

Author Reply: So good to hear from you! I am (once again) retired and so have time to read and write (and the eyes to do so - editing tired the eyes and left me reading audiobooks at the end of the workday, and fanfic does not come in audio form, so far as I know). Let's hope it lasts this time.

I do so love the healing facet of Elessar's gifts.

Thank you for reading and stopping to leave a good word. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

SparkyTASReviewed Chapter: 16 on 8/20/2021
What a fabulous story!Please please continue this amazing tale. You've built quite a fascinating plot of suspense and cross cultural intrigue. I have to know what happens to Ha’asal and Strider.

Author Reply: Thank you! I have been overloaded at work the past few months, but I have carved out some writing time and want to finish this one! (there really should not be many more chapters...)

Hai TookReviewed Chapter: 16 on 7/2/2021
Yay, an update! I'm so glad Strider has the errant Hobbit and boy under his care now! Where is the puppy?

I appreciate seeing the Haradrim's thoughts as he is met with things he doesn't understand. I also appreciated Strider's respect in regards to his face covering as he cared for him.

Looking forward to more!

Author Reply: Thank you! So am I (looking forward to more). This one is so close to being done, I really just buckle down and, as they say, "just do it".

Author Reply: p.s. The puppy ought to pop up again in Chapter 18.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 16 on 6/24/2021
Quite the rescue! The poor Haradri aide, not knowing what to think of the current impressions and fainting away! As for Merry and Frodo's reactions, I am surprised by neither. And Sam is the dear soul he always is.

Now, to see to the other injured Haradrim and the poor greengrocer. And where is the puppy in all of this? We have to find him, of course.

Author Reply: It was so good to see you the other day. I have been out of commission after a shingles vaccine this week, but I'm feeling better. Taking a few days off has also reminded me how lovely it is not to work 7 days a week, so that is a definite incentive to cut down may work schedule. I'd actually be tempted to write a bit now, when everyone's asleep, but Mr. Handsome (the king of the cats) is giving me the "eye" - that means I must be off to bed sooner than later, or suffer a bite to the tendon on the side of my knee - very motivating! He is quite persuasive when he wants the "children" to go to bed so that the "adults" may have the run of the house.

I have started writing again, so hopefully I'll be updating rather sooner than later.

Author Reply: p.s. The puppy comes back into the picture in Chapter 18.

MirkwoodmaidenReviewed Chapter: 16 on 6/11/2021
Lindelea!

This is simply lovely! You have a talent for storytelling that I do not believe I possess.

Poor Ha’asal not knowing what to believe. Your depiction of the Haradrim is interesting and very believable. You can see why they did as they did during the Ring War. Fascinating and entertaining.

Love the solicitude that both Aragorn and Éomer pay to the Hobbits and rightfully so. All in all the storytelling is inviting and engaging! Love it and the fact that you have found a little time to write and post! Wee-hee!!

Hope you and yours are well!

((hugs))

MM

Author Reply: Aw, don't sell yourself short. I love your characters, your descriptions of the settings of the scenes you pour onto the page, the depth of relationship you portray, so real and rich. I am always glad to see a new chapter from you, even if I hold back from reading for a day or two because I know (as in your current story) that the reading will be difficult as the story grows ever darker. I have to keep reminding myself of the joy that emerges at the end, on the wings of an Eagle's song, if I might mix my metaphors. (Yet not all sad things will be undone. Boromir and Theodred will still be lost. Sigh.)

Thank you for your observations! Part of the reason I write is to try and make sense of people's actions and motivations. If the Easterlings and Southrons were evil in themselves, there would be no peace after the Dark Lord was defeated. Yet Tolkien himself gave us a glimpse into their minds in the passage I quoted in this chapter, when the Power that drove them faltered, showing that they were under compulsion and not marching into battle of their own free will.

We are well, and enjoying a respite in between heat waves. Ah, blessed rain, interspersed with gentle sunlight. I certainly resonate with Pippin's memory of cool sunlight and green grass.

((hugs)) Hope this finds you and yours well. I'm glad you enjoyed your holiday.

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