The Simbul's Gift

Forgotten Realms: The Nobles #6

by Lynn Abbey

The perfect gift.
Is it the one given or the one received?

The Simbul, Storm-queen of Aglarond, is unhappy. Though she has triumphed over her enemies, she lacks an heir to the throne—a child to love and nurture. But now she's found the perfect father for her child: Elminster, the old mage of Shadowdale. All she has to do is win his consent.

And she has the perfect gift with which to accomplish this: A mysterious colt called Zandilar's Dancer.

Unfortunately, the colt belongs to Ebroin of the Cha'Tel'Quessir. And getting it away from him won't be easy, even for the Simbul...

Genres: Forgotten Realms, Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 4, 1997

About the author

Lynn Abbey began publishing in 1979 with the novel Daughter of the Bright Moon and the short story "The Face of Chaos," part of a Thieves World shared world anthology. She received early encouragement from Gordon R. Dickson.

In the 1980s she married Robert Asprin and became his co-editor on the Thieves World books. She also contributed to other shared world series during the 1980s, including Heroes in Hell and Merovingen Nights.

Abbey and Asprin divorced in 1993 and Abbey moved to Oklahoma City. She continued to write novels during this period, including original works as well as tie-ins to Role Playing Games for TSR. In 2002, she returned to Thieves World with the novel Sanctuary and also began editing new anthologies, beginning with Turning Points.

Reviews

[Jason Kalinowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Nobels is a series of standalone books in the Dungeons and Dragons genre, Forgotten Realms. This book is about the Queen of Agarlond, known as the Simbul who is several hundred years old and a young boy named Bro (yeah I said Bro) to include his horse. The antagonists, the Red Wizards of Thay--enemy of Agarlond. They have been spying on the Simbul and each other of course. They figure out where she is headed--to see Bro for his colt and try for an ambush... She escapes via magical means to the nearby and magical Yuirwood with Bro, his sister and the Horse! The crazy part so far, the Simbul only wanted the horse as a gift so a famous wizard will give her a baby--she could have just asked him otherwise Bro's parents might still be alive! Uggh, but now She has to leave Bro behind in the wood and bring his sister to safety. Then the sister is written off so the Simbul can figure out how she was spied. Meanwhile, Bro conveniently happens upon his biological father in the forest who drags him into another Red Wizard plot and dad isn't what he seems...In the background, the Red Wizards spy on one another filling out the book. As the book started to veer away from Bro, it became confusing and left me feeling sorry for Bro and his family. Overall the Simbul is one of those people who leaves a wake when she strolls through. One quote from the book, "...the worst thing that could happen to a man was when a god took an interest in his life." That about sums her up and she doesn't seem to care until it is too late and tries to fix it all. It ends with a truce between her and another Red Wizard but Bro, the missing sister, his PTSD'd father and the horse (I got lost where that went, into the ground of something) did not get any resolve and I didn't see any GIFT other than misery :( But the author succeeded in making feel sorry for Bro and his family...Get that kid some therapy please and away from the Queen of Agarlond! 🧐

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abbey does a great job making realistic characters in fantastic situations. The gods of the Yuirwood of Aglarond are some of the best in Faerun, and Abbey does a good job dealing familiarly with things like Thay and the Seven Sisters.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

re-read this one again. Liked it just as much the second time around.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it, I know people didn't but I thought it was quite enjoyable.

[Ícaro · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have just one question: where's The Simbul?
The author didn't show the principal character very well. It's a boring book. I really wanted to see The Witch-Queen, the most powerfull sorceress of Faerun, a strong and fierce woman but a altruistic one too. We have a numb and insecure one in this book. The central plot is nonsense, the secundary plots is more interesting but they were not worked.
I could spend all the talking about what I hated in this book...
DO NOT SPEND YOUR TIME READING THIS BOOK!

[Heiki Eesmaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Partly really well written, there's potential for the intrigues to be tense, for fleshing-out of big names from Realms lore, for a few action-packed sequences. I think it's mostly ruined by bad pacing and structure, nothing going on for tens of pages, then fast and unsatisfying resolutions, including the final one in the end.

But for franchise fiction it is still pretty good.

[Stuart Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very close to five stars on this one. Now I remember why Lynn Abbey was so good. Worth getting through the first five in the series to this one. I am impressed. Kept me guessing to the final page.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Yearwood Dances Tonight with Hope. We learn about the Yearwood and the Older God who live there. The forester who walk the Yearwood, the Hope's of Half Elves and children the Red Wizards. Highly recommended.

[Kagan Oztarakci · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The worst thing that can happen to a man was that a god took an interest in his life."

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read by this author. This one was better than the first, but still rather lacking.

Abbey stated in her first book that she was more concerned with 'character' than 'plot'. In my opinion, it did not workout well in the fantasy genre. Her characters where too real to make them any fun in a world where there is magic and monsters...

However, in this book the plot was much better...but not great. And I could still feel her trying to impose nonfictional (as in fairly common) problems on her characters. This process just rips the reader out of what should be a fantastical story.

The story itself has too many side plots that do not come together smoothly, a lack of action (I wanted to read about spell battles, I mean it's about one of the most powerful spellcasters in the forgotton realms cannon), and some of the characters were simply too blah...Seriously, who ever heard of a elf ranger accidently falling out of a tree and breaking his neck...could she really not think of something better?

Anywho, she did write some good history of the realms into the book, and I always appreciate that.

[Doris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book, as the Simbul was one of my favorite Forgotten Realms characters. However, it did not live up to my expectations. I felt it was written almost as a casual story to share in the way you might share an amusing tidbit about the cat and dog while in line somewhere.

[Valentin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes for an examination,
Written by Mehgrin, apprentice at Candlekeep,
placed, by accident, in Cirian's Concise History
and filed with it
(The day was very dreary, and the headache very bad)

[AndrewP · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as I was hoping as the Simbul is one of my favorite characters from the Forgotten Realms. Still, some interesting background information that could be useful.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book. Always with a twist. Gods are strange beasts.