Hello!

Found your story (´s) on this site and I am very happy about it! They are so unbelievable good and I like this one very much. Now, at the end of chapter 18... I am abaout to die because I want to see what happens next! Azof in full throttle... woah... this could be ugly.

Tis is such a sweet story, I hope Julienne will get her Azof back soon... Poor guy, always in trouble... she must take care of him...  ;-)

Greetings from Germany!

I have to admit to being very worried about what will happen to our heroes!  If Azof does give himself free rein (and if Shagrat lets him have free rein) to exact punishment on his tormenter, won't that put all of the Orcs up the proverbial shit creek without a paddle?  I figure the characters are too smart to let themselves fall into that trap, but it certainly does have me concerned about them.  Fun dialogue between Shagrat and Azof about how Farmer Drew's attempts at brain-washing, mind-control, torture and all the rest of it, are ludicrously feeble attempts compared to the same sort of stuff in Mordor.  It's nice to see Shagrat and Azof interact in some way other than being totally at each other's throats, and I will enjoy (hopefully!) seeing more of that develop.  (This review is for Chapter 18, currently the latest chapter posted--I still haven't figured out if reviews on here show up as being linked to the chapter one was in when one clicked "review.")  At any rate, I hope the gods of fanfiction writing are good to you (and to all of us!) and you are able to write/post updates for this tale soon.  I will be eagerly awaiting updates!

Chapter 14, in which Julienne first meets the other Orcs, is another of my favorites.  I find it a delight from start to finish.  The Orcs are as entertaining, funny and oddly appealing as always.  Melek is a particularly impressive character in her self-confidence and competence, her straightforward interactions with Julienne and everyone else around her, and her clear leadership qualities (but her lack of being full-of-herself).  I don't think I expressed that very well at all; hopefully it got at least slightly close to getting across what I was aiming at.  The voyage along the very narrow ledge is hair-raising, and Julienne's being able to deal with the emotional aftermath of it as well as she does makes me further impressed with her character.  It is, of course, fun to encounter Ludlow again.  I have to admit to a niggling discomfort with the "Bohemian Rhapsody" reference (or is that in the next chapter?), but I guess I don't really have any leg to stand on, complaining about that, since I used some Silly Wizard lyrics, "Men of Harlech," and assorted real life folk songs and drinking songs in my "Boromir's Return."  I love how Julienne interacts with the Orcs--how her growing understanding and caring for Azof and her feelings of tenderness and respect for him enable her to treat the rest of the Orcs with respect and interact with them without fear.

Well, I followed your suggestion and re-set my password so I could leave another review (or several) for this tale, rather than just getting annoyed by the site.  The "Enchanted April" chapter is (unsurprisingly, probably) one of my favorites.  I am extremely impressed with what you have done with Azof's character--as probably I mentioned in a previous review--how you have taken him from being such as serious pain in the a*** in his appearances in the Shagrat-centric tales, and made him such a sympathetic character with whom the reader can and does fully empathize.  (The reader, or at least this reader, empathizes with Julienne, as well, but that's less of a challenging journey than being brought to empathize with Azof.)  You have taken the fanfiction genre out of the realm of simple wish-fulfillment and brought it into a sensitive, understanding discussion of real life issues and their effects on the psyches of the people who deal with them.  "Enchanted April" includes a beautiful love scene and an immense depth of caring for the characters.  (And I love your author's note about being able to find research material online about happy surprises in the course of erectile dysfunction, not about the intricacies of women's relations with Orcs!)  I meant to comment on this earlier; Azof's erectile dysfunction makes his obnoxiousness in the Shagrat tales suddenly completely understandable.  In the Shagrat stories, it seemed that he was being such a massive jerk just because that's the way he is.  But now we can see that he was over-compensating, being such an aggressive jerk as a means of camouflaging the deeply personal failing that must make him feel so constantly weak and vulnerable.  

This is so sweet!  (Currently in the chapter in which Azof confesses to his difficulty.  I dunno if this site retains reviews' connections with the chapter that one was in when one pressed "review," or not.)  I love the idea of an Orc expressing concern about all the weirdoes and dickheads in the neighborhood!  Also it's fun to see his blackthorn-fancying appear here, and his noble attempt to act like he's enjoying the tea.  The description of what happened to Azof & Dokuz in the wake of the destruction of Sauron is really harrowing, and not just for the effect it had on his "old man," etc.  I hope Julienne will be able to speed his healing process! :-)

Hey, look, it's me again!  I am beginning to fear that I may look a little bit like I'm stalking you.  I'm not a stalker, honest ... I'm just an honest-to-goodness fan!  (Though in looking a little stalker-like, I guess I'm in good company with a lot of your Orcs.)  I followed the link that you sent to this story, and then decided I had to create a membership on here, since I wanted to review it.  And no surprise, it was a pain in the **** to set up said membership, too.  But, anyway ... I am having great fun with this, and I'm glad that you've come back to it, after being away from the fandom for a while.  One question, so far (I'm on Chapter Two): Azof in this seems a lot more laid-back than the taking-the-piss-out-of-everyone-whenever-I-can rather frenetic character that he tends to seem in the Shagrat/Faramir tales.  Is this because the tale takes place later than those, and so he's had a bit of time to mellow?  Or is he naturally more mellow with females than with his fellow males, who bring out his competitive urges?  At any rate--it is great fun and I am looking forward to reading more.  Though hopefully I will force myself away from the computer before too, TOO late at night (yeah, I've heard myself say that before).