[Lalwendë]

Agree, the pacing was a bit patchy. And wasn't quite clear enough about who was who in Numenor. The events there made me think there could be something unsavoury about Halbrand yet again, both the violence and his ability to charm, but they then threw in a curve ball about his ancestry.

I think they'll keep chucking those curve balls about both him and the Stranger so we're never quite sure.

Numenor looked great, if very overcrowded, the city built on every hill like Rio de Janeiro. Wish we'd seen more of those main characters before going off with Elendil.

I enjoyed the parts with the orcs though it was a really desperate situation without much sense of hope at all, and why would you just kill your enslaved workforce if you were an Orc that couldn't stand the sunshine? Interesting to see the beginnings of Mordor too, and really sad to think of the lush green lands being destroyed - I like how Tolkien's green message is strongly portrayed. The elf character (I'm still not up on all the new names) continued to be a strong actor in this.

Now, the Harfoots....I really enjoyed this, we got a fairly deep look at their culture. It's not a wholly pleasant culture, but it was fascinating. Kicking off it was very Wicker Man, I was half expecting Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward to pop up and I really enjoyed that. I love a bit of jiggery-pokery and creepy folksiness. But there was a genuinely sinister side - the idea that Harfoots who get left behind when they 'migrate' are really left behind. Very Darwinian. And realising that Poppy was all alone. I get the feeling that this is going to be part of their story.

A bit messy, but some interesting potential plot development seeded.