Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 8032356" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p><strong>#080 The Simbul's Gift by Lynn Abbey (Nobles 6) </strong></p><p><strong>Read 29/6/20 to 7/7/20</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]123540[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Book 6- and the best one by far, possibly... don't get fooled with me taking nine days to read this, I've been busy- oh so busy, I promise you. Work, actually jobs to do around the house, but also- some would say more importantly (that someone would be me) a crisis of confidence with regard my lockdown D&D VTT game. So, while I've been spending my days making fences, painting fences, digging and weeding, and... well, lots more bloody painting- I've also been spending my downtime reading through a variety of D&D modules trying to decide the scope and scape of my present campaign. Very important stuff, I assure you.</p><p></p><p>So, my fifty pages a day minimum hasn't gone out of the window, it's just that I've been reading D&D stuff- apologies, but it's been great.</p><p></p><p>Back to the book, this is one of the best written FR books that I have read so far, by which I mean the style, use of language, structure and the story-telling skills employed. Don't get me wrong- there's nothing astounding to be had here- save for the Red Wizard who loves his daughter (maybe) but it's just very well put together, and the story well-told. It treats the reader as an intelligent confident/e and tells us all we need to know- drip, drip, drip; and it just works.</p><p></p><p>All of the characters are well done, there's no-one here that has a voice who's thoughts aren't made all the more complicated by love, life, and/or lust. The situations and persons depicted are all well conceived, and offer amazing insights into the ways and means of those depicted- particularly the Red Wizards, and the Simbul (of course).</p><p></p><p>There isn't a character in the piece that the reader isn't left feeling something for- mostly sympathy, in contrast to many of the other novels its not simple, its not childish, its not whizz-bang... or indeed, very exciting. It's a great book, and a great author- and an incredibly interesting story (that mostly goes to all the usual places- only, mostly- there are a few welcome diversions) but its not gripping, it unfurls and unfolds- makes you smirk as you read it, every now and then.</p><p></p><p>You also get the feeling that Lynn Abbey has read Greenwood (and many others) and decided she'd like some of that- so there are all the authentic names of people, places, and events et al that jigsaw into the Realms canon, but she's much better than Greenwood- she's a great writer, if this is a fair example of her oeuvre.</p><p></p><p>It's so different from many of the other novels that have passed this way as to make me think that this one somehow doesn't fit, I'd like to see Lynn Abbey do some fantasy sequence action events et al, to get deep into the mythos and magic- can she write a really great fantasy novel, some of you must know, you've read ahead- can she do it? Does she have a great novel in here somewhere? If so, what's it called so that I can look forward to reading it?</p><p></p><p>Oh, but what's this one about- something's going on in Yuirwood (new/old gods arising), Ebroin of the Cha'Tel'Quessir is trying to decide who or what he is- and how he should live his life, and also if his father is his father- because he should be dead, but he isn't, is he? He knows that his mother is dead- he watched it happen, he knows that the Simbul is the cause of all of his trouble, and... he's discovering that the things that he thinks he knows are, well... he's questioning everything.</p><p></p><p>The Simbul is also having to do some heavy thinking, about some similar topics.</p><p></p><p>The Red Wizard Lauzoril is also finding out what's important in life.</p><p></p><p>There's a lot of hope here, again it's a great novel, but of a kind.</p><p></p><p>Great, well-written, and clever book- Read.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 8032356, member: 16069"] [B]#080 The Simbul's Gift by Lynn Abbey (Nobles 6) Read 29/6/20 to 7/7/20[/B] [ATTACH]123540[/ATTACH] Book 6- and the best one by far, possibly... don't get fooled with me taking nine days to read this, I've been busy- oh so busy, I promise you. Work, actually jobs to do around the house, but also- some would say more importantly (that someone would be me) a crisis of confidence with regard my lockdown D&D VTT game. So, while I've been spending my days making fences, painting fences, digging and weeding, and... well, lots more bloody painting- I've also been spending my downtime reading through a variety of D&D modules trying to decide the scope and scape of my present campaign. Very important stuff, I assure you. So, my fifty pages a day minimum hasn't gone out of the window, it's just that I've been reading D&D stuff- apologies, but it's been great. Back to the book, this is one of the best written FR books that I have read so far, by which I mean the style, use of language, structure and the story-telling skills employed. Don't get me wrong- there's nothing astounding to be had here- save for the Red Wizard who loves his daughter (maybe) but it's just very well put together, and the story well-told. It treats the reader as an intelligent confident/e and tells us all we need to know- drip, drip, drip; and it just works. All of the characters are well done, there's no-one here that has a voice who's thoughts aren't made all the more complicated by love, life, and/or lust. The situations and persons depicted are all well conceived, and offer amazing insights into the ways and means of those depicted- particularly the Red Wizards, and the Simbul (of course). There isn't a character in the piece that the reader isn't left feeling something for- mostly sympathy, in contrast to many of the other novels its not simple, its not childish, its not whizz-bang... or indeed, very exciting. It's a great book, and a great author- and an incredibly interesting story (that mostly goes to all the usual places- only, mostly- there are a few welcome diversions) but its not gripping, it unfurls and unfolds- makes you smirk as you read it, every now and then. You also get the feeling that Lynn Abbey has read Greenwood (and many others) and decided she'd like some of that- so there are all the authentic names of people, places, and events et al that jigsaw into the Realms canon, but she's much better than Greenwood- she's a great writer, if this is a fair example of her oeuvre. It's so different from many of the other novels that have passed this way as to make me think that this one somehow doesn't fit, I'd like to see Lynn Abbey do some fantasy sequence action events et al, to get deep into the mythos and magic- can she write a really great fantasy novel, some of you must know, you've read ahead- can she do it? Does she have a great novel in here somewhere? If so, what's it called so that I can look forward to reading it? Oh, but what's this one about- something's going on in Yuirwood (new/old gods arising), Ebroin of the Cha'Tel'Quessir is trying to decide who or what he is- and how he should live his life, and also if his father is his father- because he should be dead, but he isn't, is he? He knows that his mother is dead- he watched it happen, he knows that the Simbul is the cause of all of his trouble, and... he's discovering that the things that he thinks he knows are, well... he's questioning everything. The Simbul is also having to do some heavy thinking, about some similar topics. The Red Wizard Lauzoril is also finding out what's important in life. There's a lot of hope here, again it's a great novel, but of a kind. Great, well-written, and clever book- Read. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
Top