I’m not quite sure you’re even active anymore, but this was amazing. So thought out and put together, and such a treat for history nerds. I loved the “impartial” view that the historians were trying to impart when we knew the truth of it all, and especially the reports that were simply false. More than that, your writing is just moving and perfectly captures every nuance of your characters without too much fluff or unnecessary details. I’m doing a deep dive of all your stories right now.

Does Pippin ever find out what he did? He just laughed at the very idea of his chatter being a turning point, but he deserves to know!

A standing ovation is due for this story. Your story is added to top 5 fanfictions that I greatly enjoyed. This incredible one deserves more reviews!

I generally only read fanfics with 400 reviews and up as a coarse way of sifting out ones not pleasing to me... and I almost didn't read this. Thank God I surveyed one of the 'outstanding and completed' fanfic community and stumbled across this.

There was are other thoughtful reviews done before me and I am a bit impatient to write a lengthy one now, but here is my short compliment. Thanks for sharing your literary talents! All the anecdotes, 'historical excerpts' and the omniscient narrative all seamlessly blended in. Meticulously written with good grammar, solid handle of the characters, loving attention given to the 'sidekicks' and 'extras' of the history. Not a word was wasted in any of the chapters. To be honest, I was worried that you would end your story with the tentative peace between Gondor and Easterlings! Yet you left no strings untied. Nice surprise developments to plot. Three major crisis of the story well resolved, and finally, almost reminiscent and perhaps even better than the Canon in your telling the story of the two 'battle fronts' and war of brawn&brains. Tolkien did it with the Fellowship, and you did it with the Aragorn / Faramir. What a treat it was to read this piece after a long day of work.

Omg I love the whole battle of wits and strategy and intelligence. Bravo! This is exactly what I wanted to read and I am so glad I picked this up.

Auuuu this was so sweet! The midsummer tradirions are something i have heard of to be still celebrated in Northern Europe and it is cool that you incorporated it here! And the scene with warriors carrying ithilien plants and Pippin and Arwen spending time together just melted my heart! Sighs...

Okay I haven't even finished reading this chapter yet but I must leave one now in case I forget and keep binge reading. If Tolkien's annexes are history and genealogy books, your fanfiction is a wonderful ethnographic and secondhand historical accounts of the 4th age. I have never seen anything like this and I am so glad that I decided to read it. I have read stories about Harad, but this is the first that deals with the Easterlings after the war. Nicely done!

At first, I was skeptical about the whole idea of changing POVs... and it's actually getting quite gripping! I will do a proper review later but for now it is suffice to say that I have become so used to the typical girl-falls-in-middle-earth stories too much, so that I am glad to read any unique imaginative stories with its own distinct plot that does not merely repeat the LotR story itself. May this story end strong as well as it carried out so far! :) My little eyes spy a potential masterpiece with merits of Sherlock Holmes and LotR

I have just finished chapter 1 and am grinning ear to ear! :) It was powerful!
I am happy (happy, happy!) and tremendously excited that I still have more than 150000 words and 25 chapters to go! :-) :-) :-)

See you soon in another review! ;-)

Brilliant! I love this story. :) Hannon le, mellon nin. :)

Great story! I love all of your OCs, and it was nice to see what happened to some of them after your other stories. All of the perspectives and little details, combined with the historians' accounts, made for an interesting read. The ending was perfect, especially Minir and Lainor's friendship and the new possibility of peace between Gondor and the Easterlings. I also enjoyed Mablung's unlikely friendship: an elf, a man of Gondor, a man of Rohan- and now possibly Kabil, too! Who would have guessed? ;) I can see how writing this whole story would be intimidating, but you did an awesome job. Thank you!

This is incredibly well written and just- awesome.

The Shadow of War was a wonderful story, one of the best long fics I've read; I would even venture to say there are probably not very many that surpass it in the LotR category. It was really excellent in practically every way.

Concerning characterization, it was generally very good. Almost everyone was almost always IC; Legolas in particular seemed exactly like his cannon self to me. Aragorn, however, seemed "nice" to the point of being a little OOC to me, but he was still pretty good. Something I did like about him was the attitude that both the nobles and peasants had toward him. I really appreciated the use of Pippin's POV. It gave the story a strong connection to and similarity to cannon. All the OC's were distinct and well rounded characters who I cared very much about; Mínir and Lainor were my very favorites.

Stylistically, The Shadow of War was amazing, with a complex, imaginative, and engaging plot. There were practically no SPaG errors. The flow, the tone, and the word choice were, with no exceptions, excellent. The different threads of the story were all fascinating and woven together seamlessly, while providing plenty of variety. I loved the different viewpoints. However, I personally didn't like the majority of the history book excerpts, finding them very depressing and also not stylistically much like real history books, with too much personal commentary from the authors to be realistic.

The Shadow of War was really the highlight of my month; I looked forward to the daily updates very much, usually devouring them as soon as I woke up. It was a great story and I am truly grateful to you for your dedication in writing a novel-length fic; I really appreciate the effort it takes to write something so long and complex and eagerly anticipate any more of your lovely stories you may choose to give your fans. And since everyone seems to be making last chapter requests, I'll throw in my two cents, I would love to read something set in southern and/or western Gondor, I found the glimpses that Shadow of War gave us of those fiefs extremely intriguing.

What a great finish! Thank you for posting this story! I would love to read about the "hostages" and their developing friendship, maybe you could follow them to the East?

This story is a gem - stylistically fascinating, spot on in characterisation, and so many beautiful moments! I really appreciated the wide view you gave of war- it does indeed affect everyone, the people on the streets as well as the great lords. Bedir's hedgerows and goblets reflect such a wise man, and with a man like that in Gondor as the Easterling's ambassador, I can see the peace he dreams of coming to pass. The budding friendship between Mablung, Lasdir and Cendred- and Kabil!- is wonderful to see, and I love how you gave just a hint of what was to come. Then there's Minir and Lainor, a perfect resolution if ever I saw one, and Daerion at peace and Seregon disappearing and Pippin coming to terms with his station and Aragorn's pledge to his land and Eowyn's happiness in who she is and what she has... I guess what I'm trying to say is that I truly loved how you captured that renewed sense of life's preciousness in the wake of war, that hope, and how you reflected it in the many quiet moments. Thank you for blessing us with this tale :)

Reviewing for chapters 25 and 26:
25 - I liked the situation with the hostages;it was nice to see a "merry" elf. I thought Seregon's bittersweet ending was good, though it felt a little repetitive since you used a similar one in To Kill a King. However, it's a very good idea and in actual practice would of course be a good solution for many people.
26 - I loved Éomer's POV section, particularly when he caught the flowers. The wrap-ups for Mínir, Lainor, and Daerion were all excellent.