Customer Reviews

The Veiled Dragon (The Harpers, No. 12)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I found this book the worst of the entire harpers series. It took me at least four times as long as all the other books to finish. I actually had to force myself to read it to the end. I don't know if it's because of the Shou background, but this novel has nothing of the spirit a good FR book should have.

The Veiled Dragon is the twelfth in a series of 16 novels focusing on the legendary Harpers, the primary secret organization fighting the spread of evil in Faerun.
The book picks up a few years from where The Parched Sea left off.
Ruha has made her way to the Western Heartlands where she has learned Common and joined the Harpers, meeting Storm Silverhand herself in the process.
The Veiled Dragon is set in the vicinity of Elversult, though the region's rich history, and that feeling of excitement and adventure is pretty much missing from this book.
Ruha, the Bedine witch, has become a Harper agent sent by Storm Silverhand to protect Yanderslara, Elversult's ruler, but what she encounters is beyond what any of us could have imagined due to the sheer lameness of the plot, making the Veiled Dragon is one of the weakest of the 16 Harpers novels.
It is indeed a rare occasion when a weak/poor Forgotten Realms novel gets published: among them The Night Parade, Death in Cormyr and Soldiers of Ice.
Specifically:
1) The poor style of writing resulting in some pretty tedious reading and great difficulty in concentrating and staying focused. It really does very little to keep the readers' interest, which is very disappointing considering how good The Parched Sea is.
2) The interim period is barely brushed upon! It seems there is a big part of the plot missing from what happened after the end of The Parched Sea until the beginning of The Veiled Dragon.
3) Ruha simply does not belong in this book. She seems totally out of place. A different character would have been better if only the plot was any good.
4) Tusks is a very weak character! I had no idea the Harpers have so much trouble finding someone less greedy...
5) The Imperial Shou embassy in the West involved with the Cult of the Dragon???
6) The silly coincidences and ridiculous encounters like Ruha who just happens to stumble upon the ginger... or her surviving a Dracolich attack after being badly bitten by sharks in freezing waters! REALLY!!!
7) Troy Denning choosing to name one of the minor characters... Yuan ti! WHY???
Is there a shortage of names? What's next? A baker named "Orc," or a fisherman named "Drow?"
8) The Shou prince and his collection of lizards, weasels, and ants as pets.
9) Veriana calls Ruha names (!), and of all the Harpers she wants Ruha, the "loser," to save Yanderslara??? (pp. 234-5)
10) The name Cypress brings to mind a female! Was it that difficult to choose a male name or at least one that does indicate a female?

Anybody interested in Shou Lang should read The Empires Trilogy.
In short, The Veiled Dragon is the sequel to a GREAT book and should have been a great book itself. A wasted opportunity and a great shame to see Ruha's story die out in this way/manner...

The Veiled Dragon is the twelfth in a series of 16 novels focusing on the legendary Harpers, the primary secret organization fighting the spread of evil in Faerun.
The book picks up a few years from where The Parched Sea left off.
Ruha has made her way to the Western Heartlands where she has learned Common and joined the Harpers, meeting Storm Silverhand herself in the process.
The Veiled Dragon is set in the vicinity of Elversult, though the region's rich history, and that feeling of excitement and adventure is pretty much missing from this book.
Ruha, the Bedine witch, has become a Harper agent sent by Storm Silverhand to protect Yanderslara, Elversult's ruler, but what she encounters is beyond what any of us could have imagined due to the sheer lameness of the plot, making the Veiled Dragon is one of the weakest of the 16 Harpers novels.
It is indeed a rare occasion when a weak/poor Forgotten Realms novel gets published; among them The Night Parade, Murder in Cormyr, Soldiers of Ice, and the very bottom of the barrel: Brien Thomsen's infamous Once Around the Realms.
Specifically:
1) The poor style of writing resulting in some pretty tedious reading and great difficulty in concentrating and staying focused. It really does very little to keep the readers' interest, which is very disappointing considering how good The Parched Sea is.
2) The interim period is barely brushed upon! It seems there is a big part of the plot missing from what happened after the end of The Parched Sea until the beginning of The Veiled Dragon.
3) Ruha simply does not belong in this book. She seems totally out of place. A different character would have been better if only the plot was any good.
4) Tusks is a very weak character! I had no idea the Harpers have so much trouble finding someone less greedy...
5) The Imperial Shou embassy in the West involved with the Cult of the Dragon???
6) The silly coincidences and ridiculous encounters like Ruha who just happens to stumble upon the ginger... or her surviving a Dracolich attack after being badly bitten by sharks in freezing waters! REALLY!!!
7) Troy Denning choosing to name one of the minor characters... Yuan ti! WHY???
Is there a shortage of names? What's next? A baker named "Orc," or a fisherman named "Drow?"
8) The Shou prince and his collection of lizards, weasels, and ants as pets.
9) Veriana calls Ruha names (!), and of all the Harpers she wants Ruha, the "loser," to save Yanderslara??? (pp. 234-5)
10) The name Cypress brings to mind a female! Was it that difficult to choose a male name or at least one that does indicate a female?

Anybody interested in Shou Lang should read The Empires Trilogy.
In short, The Veiled Dragon is the sequel to a GREAT book and should have been a great book itself. A wasted opportunity and a great shame to see Ruha's story die out in this way/manner...

Though an easy read, as most FR books are, I found this one dry and not as interesting as the other Harper books. I found myself not realy careing about Rusha, or any of the other Characters. This may be do to the fact that the author introduced almost all of the characters and did not spend time developing them. The Dragonlinch Cypress and the ship Captian Fowler were the only desirably interesting Characters. I was dissapointed that the author did not use them to the potential. Lastly, the book overall was missing that key ingredient that makes a Harper book, a Harper Book.

I think if I were Oriental I would be offended by this book. It's not uncommon at all for FR authors to incorporate real world nationalities into their stories, and its usually done to good effect. But for some reason, when some authors write Oriental characters, they always have ridiculously poor English. It was so annoying, reading the dialogue of the Shou characters. All of them were wealthy, socially high ranking, international figures, so is it too unrealistic for the author to imagine that they could have mastered English better than a native-speaking 3-year old child. Come on already! As for the rest of the book, Ruha is about as interesting as cardboard and so was the plot.

This is the worst novel Troy Denning has ever produced. I found Parched Sea to be entertaing enough that I read VD immediately after, and I was really disappointed. The main character, Ruha, was left of in Parhed Sea, having finally found her place in her tribe, in VD she has left her tribe to become a Harper with little to no explanation. The Shou are treated as though they had the language skills of a monkey. Were I Asian I would be very upset. Basically, this story could have had anyone in Ruha's place and it would have been the same tale.

I don't do reviews. I purchased the book because I have others in the series (Forgotten Realms) and I need a couple of more to finish the collection. I did recieve the book in the time that was alloted. I'm satisfied.