YOU REALIZE THIS IS LABELED ‘K’?

IT SHOULD BE LABELED ‘M’.

Caught me off guard. Freaking hell.

You're horrible...

(throttling Saruman)

This is beautiful

This is rated K?

Finished last night! Rereading this first chunk of the tale (plus skimming the reviews/commentary provided at the end of each chapter) took nine days: July 25 - August 2. Something I discovered in the intervening period, and I don't know if you are already aware, but this story actually *is* on AO3. You had a number of your stories on the Henneth Annun Story Archive (HASA) and when that web site shuttered its story section several years ago, most of the stories were migrated to AO3 as part of the Henneth Annûn Story Archive Collection (archiveofourown collections /hasa) Typing "Llinos" in AO3 search box will net you six stories "by Llinos [archived by HASA_Archivist]." Again, don't know if you already know this but I figured I would mention it just in case you weren't already aware. Contacting the HASA_Archivist account is probably sufficient to attach the stories to your own account and control on AO3 should you wish to do so.

What a cliffhanger #92 ended on! Did you really write all of this material in the span of...eight, nine months (January - September 2002), or am I misunderstanding something? Anyway, it's an amazing achievement!

On to "Recaptured Continued"...

LOL! I love it: they jumped Sam! I really am having a fun time rereading this: so much that I didn't remember.

[Roadkill Writer: Please don't kill Smagnu or Grutfley
Llinos: Got to keep them both alive? I just hope you don't want slash - :-). No that really was a joke.]

Alas. Pervy Orc fancier that I am, I find the thought of Smagnu/Grutfley or Grutfley/Smagnu more appealing than Merry/Pippin. Part of it is also that Merry and Pippin's closeness growing up and the frequent references to them as children together make the relationship feel more "incestuous" to me. I know that first cousin relationships are legal in much of the world; it's the combination of them being cousins *plus* the close upbringing that makes me feel so. At the same time, the argument can be made that this is just what comes of growing up in a more insular community like the Shire, where everyone is related to everyone. Even as hobbits are probably looser about such relationships, at the same time, it's no wonder they have such a passion for family trees: they must if they are to avoid inbreeding.

Pardon the anthropological digression; carrying on...

Some stuff I hadn't remembered that struck me as interesting this time around: it is Grutfley who "gives" Pippin his name (Chapter 51; LOL on the earlier suggestions of "Poppy" and "Pop"), and it is Grutfley who saves their lives after the suicide attempt (Chapter 66.) But I have to say, I was very impressed by Smagnu's bravery - sure, in these more recent chapters, but also when he was willing to suggest to the Wraith that it might be a good idea to let him stick around for the interrogation (Chapter 62.) That was ballsy on several levels.

Got a kick out of the opening to this chapter, with Legolas making semi-casual chit-chat with his two captive friends. Also out of your explanation of the way telepathy works using phone service models. Actually, sometimes it reminds me of chat dialogue. I feel like I've seen humorous postings online by people translated great works of literature into IM or chat conversations. This story would be pretty hilarious given that kind of treatment.

"Pippin was a little taken aback He remembered what had happened at Orthanc but had Merry just been helping him or had he really, really wanted to? The younger one had never been too sure and so much had happened since then he had not had a chance to find out."

Although I did read those earliest chapters in their original form a long time ago and I think I know what you are getting at, this is a place, as I reread, where I think you allude to something that has since been revised or removed from the story altogether. (I also agree with another reviewer on this chapter that the story as a whole probably should have a higher rating, but I personally see it as a T, not an R or an M. It deals with some rough subject matter, far more often than it does the kind of sensual interlude we see in Chapter 40, but the voice that you employ is such a gentle one that for the most part it honestly does feel K, just hitting that occasional T.)

Ah, the chapter establishing the fateful curses. I always assumed, or at least hoped, that Merry would eventually recover his sight, but based on the wording of Saruman's spell, I wonder now if that hope was in vain.

What a particularly cruel curse this was for Pippin, considering how voluble he usually is in fanfiction.

Still hoping I'll be able to see this story someday on AO3, because I would *love* to be able to download it to my kindle as one big handsome book. Although I certainly saw and was excited when you resumed and finished "Recaptured Continued," I put off reading those last chapters until a time when I would be inclined to go back and read the whole story starting from the beginning. That day is here and I have just finished Chapter 3...

Llinos, are you still out there? I just started reading LOTR again after years and years , and figured a bit of fanfic wouldn't go amiss. I've read this before of course, but it's been so many years I'd forgotten it. Its quite the atory! If i remember correctly it was one of the big epics of our hobbity community that recided on LJ and . Seeing and reading it again now brings back many memories of hobbity adventures with you and Marigold and the knitted hobbits among other hobbity memories from over a decade ago!

Hope you are well
Anso, as I used to be called in hobbity circles.

As promised, a full review.

Okay just so awesome! It really made me more interested in Merry and Pippen as characters (not that I didn't like them before, but this made me a huge fan.) Really excellent writing and characterization of everyone, great Legolas, a lot of writers screw him up. Also, being a big fan of Eowyn, i was so happy to see so much of her, and she works well with Legolas (and of course Merry.) The mind-speak is interesting, as well as the different "dialects" people have (wonder what mine would be. Good word choice for middle earth, although just a few words seem too modern (narcotic, which is used frequently, is something I am unsure the characters would say) but really those are a tiny, tiny, minority, almost all words are perfect. Nice to see a bit more of Eowyn and farmir, who I really like. I was so happy when smagnu (yay, smagnu!) helped frodosam, they needed some cheering up, and also i love frodo, and there's a bit of a dearth of good fics with him, so yay! Also, nice when the witch king is all "throw him to the orcs!" and im like "oooh i can see where this is going " (smagnu rescue!)

Ok sorry to be going on about this (and again I fully intend to give at least one full review, quite likely more as I reread, which I intend to do) but you say at the beginning of the chapter that this fic is r rated but the rating is k and you don't give any indication of this in the summary or first chapter! I would totally be reading anyway, but if you're going to say "this is rated R so don't read it if you don't want that" say that at the beginning! Really like this, but R is an appropriate rating and it should be made clear. Okay I'm going to stop bugging you about this now, do what you will, I'm not going to stop reading or anything.