The Veiled Dragon

Forgotten Realms: The Harpers, Book 12

The Bedine witch Ruha has left the parched sea of Anauroch on her quest to become a Harper. That quest takes her to Eversult, where she must prove herself by discovering who has poisoned Lady Yanseldara. Simple enough. Find the poison and track the poisoner.

Simple until the Cult of the Dragon, a Shou Prince, an oriental merchant, and an ancient dracolich get involved. As Ruha soon discovers, life is never simple for a Harper, and poisoners’ plots hold more treacherous twists than the tail of a Shou dragon.

©1996 TSR, Inc., 2011 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Dated, and not in a good way.

I've been going through the old Harper's series from the late 80's/early 90's, and this is one of the series that doesn't hold up well. The characters are two-dimensional, and it was difficult to care or connect with any of them, specifically the protagonist, Ruha, who has more depth in previous works. It felt like I was watching a poorly-paced serial TV show that was checking all of the boxes of what fantasy fiction should be, but missing the mark on being good writing. Sadly, many FR-specific works play out this way. By the end of the book I was just waiting for it to end. I guess putting authors on deadlines has disadvantages.

Also, though the narrator did a GREAT job of narrating, the racist trope of asian-based broken English the Shou characters spoke was troubling. It harkened back to the "Kung Fu Theater" of the 60's and 70's, and was an unpleasant distraction. I wouldn't recommend this book except for the most die-hard FR fans who are mining it for lore.