Oh. Oh, my. That story was beautiful!
The voice you used to tell it is incredible. The characters are wonderfully well fleshed out, and the progression of Saran's knowledge and feelings about it are--
My goodness. I can't even think of enough words to describe it.
All the things you mentioned at the end are too true! It's extraordinarily real and takes on its own life. I love it. I really do love it.
You completely swept me off my feet with this story. I'm in awe. Well done, very well done indeed. :)
~Ira

I'm so sorry I haven't reviewed this earlier! This has to be one of my favorite pieces on FictionPress :) It's got everything I love - fantasy, action, and even a tiny bit of romance. Your writing is captivating and absolutely beautiful. Great job ;)

I actually liked it a lot.

Oh my GOD. Can I just say that this was one of THE MOST amazing things I've ever read. I loved how you depicted the characters, and how you created an immensely deep world in the space of five chapters.

One thing though. How come Ervine was able to break into the tower with just one hex? I would've thought that the tower would be protected or something...

I love fairy tales, and I haven't read a good one since Ella Enchanted (love that book, don't care if it's for kids). I thought you had a good mix of the old reliable fairy tale stuff, girls in towers and all that, and your own take on things, which is what every good fairy tale needs. I wasn't sure if I wanted it to end with them dying or not, it would've been really romantic in a romeo and juliet kind of way and I have to admit that the attack was a bit too convenient, but I suppose it wouldn't be a fairy tale without the happy ending. Anyway, liked the story x

Two things I did NOT expect: Ervine never came back, and Marcel was evil.

Gareth's utter lack of gratitude was brilliant, and incidentally, the opening was crackerjack. Overall, characterization and non-stop action was a plus. Good plot construction, especially the side stories.

The invasion was way too much of a contrived coincidence however, even if it was timed too late. Saran's speech was also very heard-it-somewhere-before. Marcel's death, his first words, Saran's unhesitating desertion of him— now THAT stuff packs punch. I particularly loved your description of the tower (at first I thought it was a fight scene involving swords, heh) and the execution scene— fluid, very fluid.

The archaic-ness rubbed a few post-modern nerves. It's cool if the dialogue is convincingly Ye Olde English, but the *whole* narration? It's like Hans Andersen being ghost-written from beyond the grave.

The ending was bittersweet, but realistic; at least they're together, and there is such potential for a sequel that I hope you never write one; too much of a good thing after all...

Great story, although I feel sad that it ended so shortly, but I still love it, especially Saran's speech.

So far this is well written. I really like the characterization of Saran and how well you managed to show rather than tell what's happening. Just some small mistakes I wanted to point out:

In the sentence, "...with an ancient stone tree in the centre--an statue of an elm...", "an" should be "a"

In the sentence, "...except for the Black Tower than hovered...", "than" should be "that"

this is pretty good already
i cant wait to finish this! though for some reason it makes me think of eragon...

hey when i have the chance i'll finish this story
good so far though! i love/hate the prince!

I absolutely LOVED this story. I was sure it was going to end with them dying but it DIDN'T and I'm so happy and it's amazing! I loved it.

oh my god, this story is so sad! i was suspecting that she was the very saran that linde had mentioned once, but this was amazingly done and oh my gosh. yeah.

god, this story is amazing. I'm so involved in what will happen to these people!

ahaha, this is very good! I like it. I can't wait to see what comes next, but sadly I'm working at the moment. sigh...

So I am sorry I didn't review before now, because I was really smacked on the forehead at the end with "THE END". And it's the end!
...
Thank you for creating, posting, updating, and finishing this story, this uber-one-shot, this make-me-wonder-what's-around-the "river" -bend. (sorry, I had to. Now Pocahontas is stuck in my head.) Thank you for making, para haciendo, this amazing story, it is well written, the background of each character was very well detailed without drawing away from the storyline, which was wonderful by the way. The gradual realization of her potential, her powers, and what-she-was was very good also. I could list... on and on. But I shouldn't. Thank you so much.